NGPC

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Neo geo Pocket Color

The Neo Geo Pocket Color is a 16-bit color handheld video game console manufactured by SNK. Released in 1999 when Nintendo dominated the handheld marketplace. Its failure is attributed to a lack of 3rd party support, low retail support, and the popularity of Pokemon and the anticipation of the 32-bit Game Boy Advanced. Was SNK's last hardware release as a single company before becoming reconstruction.

The system in question (picture from Wikipedia)
The NGPC

The NGPC

Technical specifications:
CPU's

Toshiba TLCS900H core (16-bit) @ 6.144 MHz as the main CPU
Z80 (8-bit) @ 3.072 MHz as a dedicated sound CPU

RAM:

12k for total ram

7k reserved for the 900H
1k for the bios
4k shared with the Z80

Graphics: custom

2 independent scrolling planes + 1 sprite layer

each consist of 8x8 pixel tiles in a 32x32 grid

Colors

16 palettes per plane, 48 total palettes, 146 out of 4096 colors total

A common trick is to draw graphics that need both planes to get 7 colors:

Plane 1: 3 colors + transparency
Plane 2: 3 colors

Dark Arms
Beast busters

Dark Arms Beast Busters, low resolution art

Faselei

Faselei!, High resolution art

The last blade

The last blade, High resolution art

Sonic Pocket
adventures

Sonic pocket adventures, low resolution art

Programming options are native assembly or the C programming language,