Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo: Nosehair Technique - Explosive Hanage Shinken (ボボボーボ・ボーボボ 奥義８７．５ 爆烈鼻毛真拳, Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo Ougi 87.5 Bakuretsu Hanage Shinken) is a video game for the Game Boy Advance, based on the manga and anime series Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo. It is the first Game Boy Advance game in the series, as well as the first Bo-bobo video game title overall. It was released on December 19, 2002 in Japan and was developed and published by Hudson Soft.
Plot[]
The plot of the game is mainly a near one-to-one retelling of the events in the original manga, up to the Gunkan and Pomade Ring arc. However, there are side-quests that expand the game's overall campaign. Hair Hunter blocks that were only so much as mentioned in the original manga are now optional locations to explore and defeat.
The most notable addition to the story is the post-game plot involving the Flower Demon King: Hisae, who is the leader of the group responsible for the death of Gunkan's friend, Flowerman. After being attacked by one of the Flower Demon King's subordinates, they find out that they need to return to Jerry Town and speak to a strange-looking bird who can take them to the castle.
Once they speak to the bird, the rebels are suddenly warped to the mysterious castle where they are greeted by a voice that keeps addressing them all as "Tanaka"...
Gameplay[]
The game is very linear and has the player go from area to area battling foes and picking up new words and allies to aid them along the way. Once a location has been fully explored and completed, there is little reason to return.
There are two game modes, a standard RPG-style story mode and Hajike Versus mode, a 1v1 multiplayer match. The story mode has players explore environments and face off with monsters in traditional turn-based battles. Hajike Versus mode has two players face off with their characters.
Battle[]
The game has a basic RPG battle system. At the top of the screen, the icons of the player's party appear and are both accompanied by a bar labeled Hajike Points (this game's version of HP). At the bottom of the screen, there are three menu options: Items, Hanage Shinken (Attack), and Flee. The biggest difference with how this game plays compared to typical RPGs is that players attack with words, which make attack names and joke phrases. To use these, words are selected from a fast-paced slots-like system called the Word Reel. Starting words on the reel are in white text, the next part of an ongoing joke phrase is in flashing yellow text, and complete phrases are in flashing red text. The player must carefully time their button presses in order to string along combos of words to complete an attack. The same slot-machine style gameplay is also applied to the Hajike Versus mode.