The King of Fighters EX2: Howling Blood

Today I am checking out The King of Fighters EX2: Howling Blood which is an SNK fighting game that was released for the Game Boy Advance. The original Game Boy and Game Boy Color really struggled with fighting games. The GBA however, was able to more than hold its own and this is another solid fight game for the handheld.

A Warrior In A Boys Body

Stories in fighting games have just gotten better and better over the years. The King of Fighters EX2: Howling Blood was released in 2003 and storytelling in fighting games was not quite there yet. This is actually an alternate timeline story from what the Neo-Geo and arcade KOF games offer.

Basically, we have a guy called Gustav who is trying to revive the spirit of Goenitz. If you have played a KOF game before you know this is a bad idea. He does this by putting the spirit into a boy’s body and now he tests this new “weapon” by hosting another King of Fighters tournament.

Two Buttons Are Better Than Four

This is a 3 on 3 fighting game where you pick your team and then take down your opponents. The GBA may only have four buttons, but The King of Fighters EX2: Howling Blood comes very close to matching the arcade and console experience. I like how they give you two control methods. One uses all four buttons as your moves, two for punch and two for kick. You can then hold L or R with another button to do your roll and character summon. It works, but I found it a tad clunky. I preferred the method where use A and B for punches and kicks and how hard you press the button results in the power of the move and then L and R are used for characters and rolling.

The gameplay on offer here is great. It is fast-paced and the challenge feels fair. You have 21 characters to play as with three of them being brand new to this game. Now, if you have played an SNK fighting game before you know that the bosses can be infuriating and that is the case here too. It will take a lot of practice, patience, and rage to beat the game with all of the characters.

Little Screen, Big Presentation

The King of Fighters EX2: Howling Blood looks great on the Game Boy Advance. Even Mei looks sexy as always here! The animation is great and I think they did a wonderful job bringing such a graphically demanding series to a hand-held console. As well as a few new fighters, a couple of new backgrounds are here too. The characters when you beat them lay on the floor too which is awesome and something, I am surprised they were able to do.

The music is great, it has some tunes that you will most certainly recognize and the few voice samples that are here may be a bit scratchy, but they are the same as you would get in one of the console games.

Pros:

• 21 characters to play as with 3 brand-new ones
• The fighting feels fantastic
• This is a great looking game
• They managed to get the full KOF on this little cartridge

Cons:

• The four-button setup feels a tad off to me
• That final boss is cheap as hell!