Kabuki Klash problem

[ultima]

I've tried tweaking this game to the heavens but the problem doesn't go away.

I'm on ezxfba v0.35 (a1200) and I've put the rom into the mame folder, put the neogeo.zip file there, and it all seems to work, the game loads but then I hear the sound in the background, all the letters that appear in the game appear on the screen, just that the game itself doesn't run.
I can enter the battle, randomly clicking or just waiting, but when it starts there's only the sound in the background, the health bars, basically everything except the battle itself.

Can anyone try testing it on their a1200?

Here's the link to the game:

http://www.coolrom.com/roms/neogeo/1391/Kabuki_Klash.php

Thanks, I'd really like to play this game, it's the gem of my childhood.