The Gamer's Quarter

[Shapermc]

So, I admit I have been out of things for a little while with king of fighters. Well, KOF XI is coming out in Japan on June 22 and I am pretty excited. I haven't seriously got into any KoF since KOF2002 came out and I didn't have money to import it.

A little while after that a friend got me back into actually playing the games in stead of bantering back and forth about them (King of Fighters has a pretty excellent story line to discuss and speculate about) with KOF 2003 when we found it in our arcade. I really enjoyed the game even though it was fairly unbalanced, even for a SNK game. KOF03 really showed that SNK wanted to put the effort into making a good game and because of it there were some really nice new and unique elements in KOF that sped up the fights (if not "Marveled" up the fights, which is still popular among many, myself not included)



Did that make you nervous? No, seriously, it has been being passed around for a while that SNK really just needed to take a break from the every year format. They did it for 10 years, good job, you proved that you could do it (even if the releases started to slip further and further back into the next year), thank god they stopped. Really it has only been a couple years since KOF03 was released (March 11 2004 and even more recent for the US home release), but they still needed the break.

SNK also needed to get use to the Atomiswave. At first it seemed like they were having some problems programming for it, but they seem to have shaped up quite a bit as Neo Geo Battle Coliseum on the PS2 has shown me. So '04 passed and no KOF then the announcement came for the change to roman numerals so that they can actually finish and polish the game up (lets forget that Maximum Impact was changed to KOF in the USA with the year designation, I know I have). Well the game was released in Japan and the little bit that I have managed to hear about was all positive. As far as I know it is even still being played in arcades.



Yea, I got a small chance to play it in arcades, but the button configuration was exceptionally messed up (not to mention that it was more a social event than playing KOFXI vs Toups would warrant). I really enjoyed what I played, but I need to get into the systems and see what was added and tweaked, just a few minutes with it mostly trying just to punch, not kick, was too much.

Lets go over what was added or tweaked from KOF03 first. As you may remember the team can be changed out on the fly for all the characters that you pick. You share super bars with all team members, but only the captain can do what would be equivalent of a level 2 super. Something was done in just two manners previously which was "standard" (don't know the technical term) and switching into a combo (which cost you a super bar).

Now you have three kinds items relating to the use of super bars that are not really "supers." The first is "quick shift" which is similar to the combo team member shifting attack. The second is "saving shift" which will shift your teammates while you are in the middle of getting your ass kicked. The last is interesting, "dream cancel" which will allow you to go straight into your team leaders level 2 super attack from a combo (I think!).

There is now also a judgment indicator which will determine how well you defeated the enemy (which is nothing really new to fighters). I know it does something interesting for the balance of the game but I don't know exactly what.



Now, lets see what was added for the PS2. Most interesting is the Broadband online play. While not really new for SNK, it is worthy to note that this is the PS2 which hasn't gotten a whole lot of support in this area. There will also be 4 new stages added (Concert Hall, Gondola, Space Shuttle, and Inlet Slope) as well as an arrange mode for character colors.

The cherry on top is the addition/return of 7 characters: A version of Mai, Mr. Big, Robert Garcia (KOF03 version), Tung Fu Rue (see above), Geese Howard, EX Kyo, and some masked fellow who I don't know. For more information and pictures you might want to check out SNK Playmore's website.

This makes me pretty excited. Now that they can really focus on the game and the balance (which they seem to have put many fail safes in place) and not about a time line I think that this may be the culmination of what SNK has been working towards for quite a while. For me KOF03 was the first really excellent KOF since '98 which was just a dream match.
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“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

[OtakupunkX]

I really, really want to play XI. All the Atomiswave units in my area have that Sports Shooting game installed.

[aderack]

[Shapermc]

[TheRumblefish]

That "Dream Cancel" bit kinda made my heart jump for a second. Maybe a second. That's all though.

I am really digging the art direction of the KOF series as of late. The story still confuses the hell out of me though.
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[OtakupunkX]

[Shapermc]

So I got a copy from a friend and have been meaning to play it for about a damn week now. Something keeps getting in the way of that happening though, so I will come back with some more in depth reports later.

I will note one thing: Anyone who has played an Atomiswave SNK port on the PS2 knows how bad the loading times were. They seem to have greatly fixed them in this port from all reports.
_________________
“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

[friedchicken]

[dark steve]

I also scored a copy. This is exciting, guys!

[Shapermc]

[friedchicken]

[Shapermc]

[dark steve]

You know, putting high res backgrounds behind low res characters is totally not attractive.

[GSL]

Be sure to get around to telling us how KOF IX is, Shaper. I never really got into the KOF series, mainly because my childhood was filled with more Street Fighter cabinets than anything else, and the only NeoGeo units I saw until college invariably had Puzzle Bobble running on them. I'd like to really get into KOF now, but I'm not sure really where to start--I figure getting 2001 or 2002 on the Dreamcast is a good way to go, though.

Oh, and SVC: Chaos was pretty awesome. Despite having a good amount of Capcom characters, the overall feel was of the few KOF games I've played. Plus, nothing bad can be said about a game in which Mars People is a playable character.

[Shapermc]

[GSL]

I'll play next time!