After a long hiatus, I am back to wreak more havok on the industry. Let's see, what's been going on in the industry lately? Well, a successful GameBoy Advance launch, and....well, not much else. Great releases like Metal Slug X, KOF '99, and Cannon Spike actually happened in the US, which was surprising, and even more surprising now is the positive announcement that Agetec is bringing The Last Blade 2 to the states! This is great. Now, SNK is nearing release of Garou in Japan for the DC, and with any luck, Agetec will see how much we love The Last Blade 2 when they bring it here, causing them to bring Garou to the states as well. Hopefully this happens; if it doesn't, man....what the fuck do we have to do to get Fatal Fury games to the states?! Sure, Wild Ambition came here, but we all know they only brought it because it was 3-D. Shit, the last Fatal Fury game brought here was so long ago, thinking about it might give you a headache! Same with the KOF games, so it was great to see KOF '99 and KOF '99 Evolution in the US (although at 'bargain' prices...arrrggghhh). And now, SNK announced KOF for GBA! All these big 128-bit power systems, and the GBA is the only system announced to get a new KOF game? The GBA is a great machine, and many (even myself) are calling it the new hailer of 2-D gaming - the hardware to revive hardcore. I hope this system will have loads and loads of shooters and fighters for it because it would handle them well.

Castlevania Circle of the Moon is actually a great game with lots of smooth animation, great sound, and detailed stages, and this is just a first generation game. With as good as the sound was on this game, I think the GBA can deliver when it comes to sound; all the effects and music were just amazing to hear coming from a portable system! Imagine what can happen in the future with the newer techniques and ideas. Super Street Fighter II Turbo Revival looks fantastic, and I am positive 100% that I will get this game, absolutely positive. The GBA is pushing a CPS-II game, with no problems; this is beautiful. The animation is smooth, the characters sound good, so we might very well get more Capcom greats on the GBA in the upcoming year. Capcom has already announced Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper for the GBA as well - Upper? Wait? Isn't that a Naomi-powered SF game? Yes, it is, which leads to my biggest question lately: how will the GBA power this game? Will it have online play? Different stages? We'll just have to wait and see (you can bet everyday I'll be waiting at Madman's Cafe for the first word). Now we just have to hope that Capcom will bring a ton of their other CPS-2 games to the GBA as well, like some of their side-scrollers and shooters.

And then there's SNK with the new KOF, which I am really excited about. If this motherfucker doesn't come to the US, I am going to be furious. This game is looking absolutely beautiful even at it's eraly stages in development, with nice color, and graphical detail accomidated by advantages given by the wide GBA screen. The GBA screen is wide, with great resolution, which is one reason arcade-based games look so great on this system. Just look at Final Fight One and tell me the resolution isn't great (don't even think about it...). And for shooters, Kemco has a Phalanx game in the works for the GBA too; while this isn't much, it will hopefully start other developers on making shooters for the GBA. What a great system that doesn't fail to deliver quality (Capcom/SNK goodness!). Maybe with this system, we can have online Capcom/SNK fighter gaming at last? Sure, it probably won't happen, but we can dream, can't we? Props to such a great system all-around. Definitely a system that will have my hard-earned cash. The GBA is on-time.