If I get a Japanese NGPC, am I partially screwed?

[migo]

I'm strongly leaning towards getting an NGPC right now, and I've found a few Japanese ones on eBay that are a reasonable price. My assumption is that since they're not region locked as long as I get English games they'll work in English. Is this the case though, or are there games that come with multiple languages that'll go to Japanese and give me no option for English even if they're a US/UK release?

[Ed Oscuro]

No, that's just the fullsize Neo Geo MVS / AES games that have ROM space to waste on multiple languages. Region locking didn't happen in handhelds until the DSi, afaik, and the NGPC certainly isn't.

[Swamperon]

. Region locking didn't happen in handhelds until the DSi, afaik, and the NGPC certainly isn't.

And that's hopefully where it will end.

[A Black Falcon]

Actually, looking at emulators, it does look kind of like the Neo-Geo... that is, NGPC emulators have an English or Japanese language setting, and some games do determine the game language on the system's language setting, while others have different versions for each region. What I don't know is whether you can change the system language in the system options somewhere with an actual NGPC, or if it's hard locked... of course though, any game will work in any system.

The Game Gear is similar, it has internal regions that can determine which version of a game you see, but all games will work on any system. What is different with the DSi (and, presumably, the 3DS) is that the lockout isn't just a language marker, but a lock that restricts you from playing games from other regions. It was indeed the first handheld ever with such a lock. It wasn't the first ever with internal regions, though; it's just that nobody had ever actualy locked out games from other regions before, because of how dumb and pointless an idea it is with handhelds...

[retroman]

There is no lockout....as for language, if it was coded in then maybe.

[The_Chosen_One]

You can change the language settings on the NGPC, so regardless if it's Japanese or not you'll still be okay, and of course as has been mentioned no region lock.

Any US or Euro (and some Jap) games will play in english.

Shameless Plug - I have lots of Neo Pocket stuffs for sale here - no systems left though.

[Logicdustbin]

there are some games that did not get translated, but every neo geo pocket game will play in a NGPC.

there are also some NGPC's that you can only get in Japan; special models, difference 'clear' colored models.

but any system will run just fine for you,


you might also consider getting a modded system (front light mod)

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v2...t=MOV00525.mp4

these cost more because you need to take a donor GBA SP and transplant the light screen into the NGPC.


http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=145535

[tomwaits]

You'd be fine with a Japanese NGPC, but as noted some Japanese carts will only play in Japanese. Mostly the Japan exclusive titles and games with a lot of text like Faselei!, Cardfighters Clash, maybe Dark Arms?, etc. won't change language to match the console's setting. Just make sure you buy US or Euro carts for those games...

[Mayhem]

Some of the early carts have both English and Japanese on them, the later ones generally do not.

[A Black Falcon]

You can change the language settings on the NGPC, so regardless if it's Japanese or not you'll still be okay, and of course as has been mentioned no region lock.

Will that affect games like, say, Samurai Shodown 2 that in an emulator display in English only when the emulator is set to English and in Japanese only when the emulator is set to Japanese? I'm thinking yes, but it's a pretty important point to make sure about...

[The_Chosen_One]

Will that affect games like, say, Samurai Shodown 2 that in an emulator display in English only when the emulator is set to English and in Japanese only when the emulator is set to Japanese? I'm thinking yes, but it's a pretty important point to make sure about...

I'm guess I'm not sure where your going with it. Basically I was saying that if you have a Jap Pocket and you set it to English, any US or UK game will play in English, and some Japanese games will too.

So......yes, if it's set to Japanese on the pocket (regardless of the pockets region) Samsho 2 will probably play in Japanese, and if it's set to English it'll probably play in English.

I say probably as there are some games that are exempt from this as has been mentioned, the later Jap releases etc. and I can't remember them all.

[Kiddo]

IIRC these titles did not have any language options of note (Note that I'm kinda cheating here by looking up a ROM list. Aw, well!)

- Biomotor Unicron (Get a US/PAL version)
- Evolution - Eternal Dungeons (Get a US/PAL version)
- Faselei! (Get a US/PAL Version)
- Gals Fighters (Get a US/PAL version)
- Last Blade: Beyond the Destiny (Get a US/PAL version)
- Magical Drop Pocket (Get a US/PAL version)
- Rockman Battle and Fighters (I recall a fan translation was being attempted for this a while ago - IIRC that project is dead.)
- SNK Vs. Capcom CardFighters Clash 2 (The fan translation on this one, however, I think was completed. http://cfc2english.blogspot.com/ )

By no means a complete list, but... I didn't want to check every single Pachinko and Mahjong game release.