King of Fighters EX: Neoblood
Score: 70% ESRB: Teen Publisher: Sammy Games Developer: Marvelous Entertainment Inc. Media: Cart/1 Players: 1 - 2 Genre: Miscellaneous
Graphics & Sound: It's been a while since the King of Fighters crew saw some handheld action (R.I.P. Neo Geo Pocket!), but now they've made their way back... and there was much rejoicing in the land of SNK fanboys. Developers at Marvelous Entertainment sought to bring a combination of KOF '99 and 2000 to the GBA whilst keeping arcade functionality intact -- even though the purists said it couldn't be done properly -- and it seems they came out with the best possible product any non-SNK company could've forged. Graphical quality goes a long way on the small screen in King of Fighters EX: Neoblood. Never mind the fact that 11-year-old hardware powers every arcade KOF title out there -- attempting to match the real thing isn't easy on the GBA, but they nailed it. Familiar settings include the dinosaur museum, Kim's training area and Geese's lair (also seen in the Dreamcast's King of Fighters Evolution) in crisp, clear detail. Each character carries enough animation frames to seem more fluid than robotic, and most look exactly like sized-down rips from previous games. That's a good thing, by the way. Can't really say much for the sound department, though. I've heard better music on the Game Boy Color years ago, and the horribly digitized voices nearly ruin the entire experience. A quick general rule all handheld developers should follow: digitized audio will always carry a terrible modulated ring sound with it, and that's never pretty. I highly recommend playing this game with the sound turned down completely, after hearing a few seconds for yourself.
Gameplay: Now, I've been a devoted fan of the KOF series for many, many years. Hell, I've even got my very own (fairly affordable) MVS 25 arcade cabinet with King of Fighters 2001 sitting in the dining room. I know a portable adaptation could never stand alongside any arcade version, but this one seems far better thought-out than, say, Mortal Kombat Advance or Guilty Gear X Advance Edition. All the moves are intact, plenty of fighters are available from the start, and we even get a new character -- Moe Habana, a combo-oriented girl with a style vaguely reminiscent of Angel from 2001. Much like the versions available on the Dreamcast, KOF EX: Neoblood utilizes the Striker system for calling assistants for higher combos or meter bonuses; Counter Mode and the seemingly useless Armor Mode can also be performed in lieu of three super bars in traditional fashion. Don't want to memorize the game booklet? MMV had the common sense to include each fighter's move list, accessible at any time in the Pause menu. It's not too tough to pull off any non-Dragon Punch-style move on the GBA's thumbpad, and supers tend to come out with ease. So, is there anything wrong with the gameplay in general? Well, the damage level is nuts, especially when throws are concerned. A well-seasoned Chang player can smoke an opponent with four or five well-placed hits. A toss-happy Moe can win a match in seconds. KOF titles usually tone down the amount of injury dealt comparatively, and the same attention should've been paid here. Also, gamers obsessed with KOF's drawn out, confusing storyline won't get much satisfaction from Neoblood's complete lack of ending variations (or cheap boss battles, for that matter!).
Difficulty: SNK gamers worth their salt will have to set the difficulty on Very Hard, as the CPU barely puts up a fight on the other settings. Even the final fights against Iori and Geese -- which are way more underwhelming and repetitive than they should've been -- don't present much of a challenge. Actually, the hardest part is trying to perform a MAX super with the L and B buttons together. Apparently it's impossible, even though the move list suggests otherwise.
Game Mechanics: After playing for a while, the controls seem to flow quite nicely (barring the MAX super problem, which I never did get to work once). Sure, it's nothing like the Neo Geo Pocket's wonderful thumb stick, but the GBA does its best. There's a three-button control scheme available in addition to the default four-button, in case you feel the need to make things harder on yourself. Be warned, though: three-button mode makes no sense! The logical choice would've been to assign an 'all-punch' or 'all-kick' function to one of the triggers to make MAX supers actually possible, right? Yet this mode simply puts both strong attacks on the R trigger, depending on the direction the player presses simultaneously. Whatever. Since we're still waiting for Street Fighter Alpha 3 Advance here in the States (what, four years after the arcade release?), King of Fighters EX: Neoblood currently ties with Tekken Advance as the GBA's number one brawler. It might not come with any flashy endings or loads of unlockables -- actually, it would've been nice to have a character development mode like KOF R-2 on the Neo Geo Pocket -- but what KOF EX lacks in extras is replaced by good old arcade-style substance. I personally believe that a KOF handheld title should hit shelves every year; thankfully, King of Fighters EX2: Howling Blood is already scheduled for 2003. Even after SNK breaks up, the legacy always continues...
-Ben Monkey, GameVortex Communications AKA Ben Lewis
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