Well, Bonnou Kaihou came out today, and I've had a chance to play the game briefly. Excite, not Atlus, is the publisher this time around, and rather than be just a straight Neo-Geo port, they've added content and improved the visuals a bit, while also having (unfortunately) removed the four bonus characters from Rage Of The Dragons, so it seems.
Although the game only has one new character, in the form of popular martial artist Bobby Olgan(sp), who has been animated in such a way that he fits in perfectly with the rest of the wacky cast, two characters from Power Instinct 2, Angela Belti, and Kintaro are also back.
In addition, the transformations from past Power Instinct games have returned as well, resulting in the "loss" of one character, since he has now back to being a transformation. The following characters are able to transform, effectively turning them into new characters with different attacks and combos for a limited amount of time:
Ume --> Young Ume (the classic transformation; she regains her youth)
Tane --> Young Tane (ditto)
Kurara --> Super Kurara (From PI2; she goes from little girl to scantily-clad woman on roller blades)
(Muscle) Kanji --> (Weak) Kanji (the only character with no transformation time limit; you can change his body type back and forth)
Kintaro --> Pochi (I would have preferred for Pochi to have been kept separate)
So far, I've only seen one new stage, which is another variation of the arena level for Bobby. Interestingly enough, the arena stage that shows "footage" from Rage Of The Dragons remains intact.
Bonnou Kaitou also features a new card collection system. So far, it seems you can only make use of the cards in versus and training modes; I don't see an option to use them in single player, and the same goes for Bobby and Sissy. There are a total of 70 cards to unlock, which you have to purchase with points you can get in the single player or mission mode. You cannot buy all the cards from the start; they are unlocked for purchase by completing missions and beating single player with all the characters. The game lets you use some cards in battle, but so far, all I've seen are cards for extra character colors, and one card that makes a tiny spirit follow your character; no idea if it actually does anything or not.
Visually, the game's sprites and backgrounds look the same as they did on the Neo-Geo, but all the character artwork, lifebars, onscreen text, and gauges have been made high res. In addition, all the special and super attack effects have been redone, also in high res, with some transparancies. It definitely looks better than the original game.
Audio remains the same, which is fine, since the original game, with its CD quality BGM filled with lyrics, was already high quality.
Finally, online play (only for Japan) is available, and a new animated intro, along with an animated cut scene for Bobby, have also been added to the game.
I'm still hoping that the Rage Of The Dragons characters remain intact, and have been changed to unlockable characters you have to purchase, but I'm not going to get my hopes up. It's nice to see such a high quality Neo-Geo conversion, however, and the added characters and transformations are welcome additions. Definitely a recommended title for 2D fighting game fans.
