Yesterday I saw that the US release of The King of Fighters EX2 Howling Blood for Gameboy Advance was finally out. Being the pure slave to 2D fighting games that I am I knew that I must have it. Oh it is good. It is very good.
Now I have reviewed the first King of Fighters EX on GBA and I would have to say that they were able to squeeze even more animation out of the Gameboy Advance pitiful ration of RAM.
The graphics deliver some good animation and almost all the animation of the other KOF games are essentially there. The backgrounds are a bit immobile but all the RAM is being used on the animation. Most of the sound effects were there but the music got a bit tin like.
The game is based on KOF 2000 and it shares the same backgrounds but there is a different roster of fighters including four fighters that you will only find on the Gameboy Advance games.
The teams are:
Kyo Kusanagi
Moe ( She was in the first GBA KOF game )
Reiji ( New Japanese fighter with weird hair )
Terry Bogard
Andy Bogard
Mai Shiranui
Ryo Sakazaki
Takuma Sakazaki
Yuri Sakazaki
Leona
Ralf
Clark
Leona
Ralf
Clark
Kim Kaphwan
Chang Koehan
Choi Bounge
Iori Yagami
Jun (A new hot girl fighter with low rider pants)
Miu (a new ninja girl who hangs out with Iori )
The boss of this game is a new psychic bastard by the name of Sinobu
The gameplay is right on and you will need two copies of the game to play another person. This is like most fighting games on the GBA due to the RAM limit.
I really hope they re-make the NeoGeo Pocket Color super deformed fighting games on the GBA.
This game is damn good. In fact I would say that it is currently the best 2D fighting game on the Gameboy Advance. Guilty Gear Advance and Street Fighter Alpha 3 are in the run of but I think that this game delivers the most animation, gameplay and ass kicking on the GBA. Besides a handful of new faces this game does not deliver much new but it is very well polished and fun to play.
More bite size KOF to go please!
Are there bouncing 'thingies' in this one or were they censored in this release?
Strangely enough I have not seen the bouncing boobs of Mai in the game but the winning pose where she turns and shows her butt thong is there
i like the new background. Didn't you have one that had more candy canes though?