Another week, another issue of Advance Weekly. Issue 21 to be precisely. And unfortunately, last week wasn't nearly as riveting as I hoped for...

First thing that happened this week was Atlus officially announcing what we already knew: King of Fighters EX2: Howling Blood and Shining Soul 2 are set for a release outside of Asia.

Atlus will start with releasing King of Fighters EX2: Howling Blood, yet another Street Fighter clone if you ask me. Well, not exactly a straight clone... KOF EX2 does have some 'new' features. First of all, all 21 characters (including 3 GBA specific ones) will gain experience throughout the matches. This allows the player to refine their skills and unlock secrets and new moves. We were also told that the game will feature 6 different modes of play, including the 'classic 3v3 battle', '2-player VS' mode and a GBA specific story mode. Though this may sound a little bit straight forward, Atlus has revised and enhanced the 'Striker' fighting system. This allows a friend to jump into battle and fight by your side to turn the tide of battle.

Like I said above, Atlus will also release Shining Soul 2 for the Gameboy Advance. I don't really know how to describe Shining Soul 2, since I don't want to do the much-loved classic action-RPG any harm. For the people who already know Shining Soul, 4 new character classes (Priestess, Dark Wizard, Ninja and Brawler) and new side quests to build your character to the max. If you really want to see the game in action, just check out the links near the bottom of this article (we've found you some gameplay movies).

Next up: Pokémon sales-figures. We all know that the Poké-madness is still running. Nintendo of Japan acknowledged that they've sold over 5 million copies of Pokémon Ruby & Sapphire in Japan alone. With the madness still going on in Europe and the US, combined with the fact that Pokémon Pinball Ruby & Sapphire being released next week (November 14), I'm certain that we'll be reaching new records soon.

Like I said, this wasn't really a turbulent week is we look at news-stories or new games being announced. I do have some links to new screenshots and/or movies on various games for you in store.

• Disney's Magical Quest 3: Starring Mickey & Donald (screens)
• Double Dragon Advance (movies)
• F-Zero: Falcon Legend (movie)
• James Bond: Everything or Nothing (screens)
• King of Fighters EX2: Howling Blood (screens, movies)
• Shining Soul 2 (screens, movies)
• Terminator 3 (screens)
• Tony Hawk's Underground (movie)
• Fire Emblem (trailer)

It wasn't a really eventful or exciting week, but I hope you still enjoyed reading issue of Advance Weekly. Comments are welcome (especially positive ones) and can be send to [email protected].

Dennis Stam (aka Blackbird on the boards)