Last Blade [Neo Geo Pocket] - A Quick Look Back

Was supposed to set up the MVS this weekend to play a little Last Blade 2 but since i had other things to do during this weekend i never really got around to it. So instead i did the next best thing and decided to play the Neo Geo Pocket version, since i've pretty much had it sitting on the shelf for a year since my friend helped me buy it...

Like the other fighting games on the NGP the game uses chibi style characters instead of going for a 1:1 version of it's console/arcade counterpart, which is actually something i like about NGP versions, as handhelds (especially not back then) aren't exactly designed for serious fighting gaming.

Sadly the instruction book instead seems to use the standard stock art from the original version of the game instead of going for a chibi style. (There wasn't much worth noting in the instruction manual so i only took the one photo.)

Above you can see the five unlockable characters in this game, the copy of the game i own already has them unlocked but i'd assume you would have to play through the game to unlock them.

Interestingly you are able to pick both versions of Kaede, and as you can also see in the photo above backgrounds in this game although scaled down are still pretty faithful to the original version. 

Also included along with the standard one player modes are a couple of mini games, the first featuring Mukuro. This game you may actually recognise if you know the series well as it is based on his ending in Last Blade 2. (Annoyingly blogspot has decided to upload some of these images sideways...)

And the second mini game is a baseball home run contest featuring Akari and Juzoh, though not quite as fun as the previous mini game though in my opinion. 

Strangely the game doesn't actually include Mukuro and Juzoh as playable characters, and Musashi is not in the game at all.

Overall it's a great little game, and considering the limitations of the NGP actually plays pretty well.

Hopefully at some point SNKP will port the NGP games over to one of the more current generation handheld, like they have been doing with their Neo Geo titles, especially since it's really hard to play anything on the NGP unless you sit under direct lighting.

Other companies seem to be jumping on releasing titles for the 3DS's virtual console service, which will begin service next week, and i hope at some point SNKP would consider it too as there are so many great titles for the NGP.

Just to finish up this entry check out this combo video made by KOF Union, uploaded by tobemorecrazy: