King Of Fighters general

KOF 02UM set for February 27th. [1]

edited 30th Jan '15 11:05:38 AM by Niitris

Welp, time for me to start saving monies

Maybe it's just my imagination, but a couple of the characters (at least Shion and Momoko for certain), introduced in XI have really legit looking martial arts. Funny that the moe Japanese girl has better and more authenticate looking Capoeira than their raging stereotypes from decades ago.

And Shion's kung fu is the best I've ever seen in a 2-D fighter. Period. Really fun and creative character. Like seriously I can't get gush enough over how much I enjoy playing as him.

XI has my favorite version of the Psycho Solider Team hands down. Momoko is great and really satisfying to play (fuck the haters), Kensou was revamped and made his best ever, and Athena got Super Psychic Throw back (Psycho Shoot was never as good) along with a nice LDM and Psychic Teleport in the air. My only gripe is her outfit, a school uniform is fine and all but... c'mon they can do better.

Shion was loads of cool (androgyny and all), too bad they couldn't balance him with the rest of the cast.

XI has my favorite cast in Ko F and possibly all of fighting games. So many different playstyles, they adapted frikking Buriki One controls in a Ko F game and made it work (why doesn't Gai show up more often), and Silver's a total menace. Adel's a nice successor to Rugal but of course not quite as awesome as his daddy. And it has the DUCK KING; yeah I wasn't a believer at first too, how wrong I was. Returning characters got some nice things too for the most part; Kyo has both his fireball and his punch chains, Ryo got some great new moves, and Mot W Terry (I didn't know about Mot W at the time so seeing Terry revamped like that was extra special).

This was the first game I played that had Ash and when I learned he had a mode where he loses his charge times it really made up for his naturally poor first impression. Too bad it was an LDM, I'd much prefer it as some kind of "stance change" or something. And Oswald, I still retain the hope that he'll reappear one day. I could go on. Probably the only game where there's something I like about every character (yes even Magaki, annoying as shit but at least his beam spam was done with style). Jhun/May Lee, Hinako, and Angel would've made this perfect. Seth too (rip Hidetoshi Nakamura) but he got to be in MI 2.

Geese and Tung were in the console version at least so there's that. Also Robert appeared with Kei Inage getting the role back which was satisfying to hear. I nearly forgot, best color edit ever; being able to change the effects of nearly any move was just amazing.

Holy shit I just went into total fanboy mode but I fucking love XI, please port this to Steam based SNK.

edited 19th Feb '15 9:02:54 PM by Niitris

Cool soundtrack too. Koubai, Queen and Joker are my favorites.

I also have no shame in saying that I really enjoyed Ash Crimson and what he added to the series.

edited 20th Feb '15 10:29:55 PM by Vertigo_High

Bring Back Momoko◊ and her fuzzy seal friend◊

Ash never bugged me, Apparently his big sin was 'Different' and picked on Fan favorite characters.

I was never that overtly attached to the Orochi Trio to begin with, -and hell they had stopped being the 'hero' group for a while... but who tries to follow Ko Fs plot line?

edited 21st Feb '15 12:54:18 AM by FrozenWolf2

All of the XI newcomers need to return at least once. The roster (and game in general) being so different is probably what I like the most about it all. Even with using the same sprites it felt fresh, though the hi-res backgrounds certainly helped.

And yeah, how could I forgotten the soundtrack: really enjoyed the new themes and all, only beaten by 02UM. Speaking of, it's out next week on PC.

edited 21st Feb '15 2:48:57 AM by Niitris

It's very clear a lot of love went into the new guys.

Especially compared to absolute newest old-style KOF character Nameless, who I'm still scratching my head at over how well received he is in the fandom.

I liked k9999 more than Nameless oddly enough. But I love Akira so that's why. K9999 was a psychotic jerk. Nameless is kind of bland IMO.

I don't like Momoko though.

Well he's not made by Eolith (bleh), so I'd imagine the fandom would like him more. By how much idk.

K9999 certainly stood out better.

edited 21st Feb '15 3:27:18 PM by Niitris

My big problem with K9999 is how he's not so much an homage to Akira as much as he is a stright-up ripoff.

Nameless at least had a different character design and that blood-red fire thing going for him, I guess, and his backstory was the kind of tragic that tends to draw fans.

I really don't mind it because there's never going to be an Akira fighting game, so why the heck not?

The THAT'S MISTER KUSANAGI TO YOU PUNK shout out is also hilarious.

I like both of them because pretzels are fun.

If less than practical in combat.

edited 21st Feb '15 11:50:49 PM by KnownUnknown

So I like Clone Zero more than Zero. Hell he might be one of my favorite KOF bosses.

That theme is fucking intense for one thing. For two, I like his mustache.

edited 26th Feb '15 10:28:04 PM by Nikkolas

Zero was a boss in King of Fighters 2001, so that kinda undercuts his credibility right there. Also, Clone Zero looks more distinct to him, and he doesn't need any Strikers to fight. Just Shadow Powers that Zero lacks.

At least Zero made up for his 2001 theme with what might be my favourite Unlimited Match boss theme. (Tie between it and Save the Universe)

UM has such amazing music. For my favorite tracks from it it has to be either Save the Universe or the Team Orochi theme.

I guess their official name is the "New Faces Team" but everyone I see calls them Orochi Team.

edited 28th Feb '15 4:29:20 PM by Nikkolas

Wasn't a fan overall since there's zero diversity - they called in one composer who could only do rock music, so Iori had a shitty rock theme instead of jazz, which is criminal enough.

Given the fact we have Athena Asamiya and Kensou in their original appearances (black-ish purple uniform for the former and green Chinese martial arts uniform for the latter), how come we never had Ralf Jones and Clark Still in their original, shirtless appearances?

Likely because they used the clothing to make them look more distinct when they made it to KOF. Having them shirtless would make them look bland. As for their XIII appearances, I cannot defend them in any way.

... Sorry to burst your bubbles, but they did wear shirts in the first appearances in KOF94. Or are you talking about something else?

edited 11th Mar '15 5:15:32 AM by MarqFJA

I was talking about Ralf and Clark's original shirtless appearance from their home series (Ikari Warriors). If you can give Athena Asamiya (going full name with her to differentiate between her and the Greek goddess she is supposedly a reincarnation of) and Sie Kensou their original appearances for XII and XIII (former's is hidden though), why couldn't they do the same for Ralf and Clark for XII and XIII?

This is Ralf and Clark's original design.◊ Don't think that appearance would work for them given the identity they eventually gained; design they went with looks far more suiting, muscle mass aside.

Athena's uniform was originally a brighter blue than whatever they were going for. Then again, '94 had that same uniform in that darkish-blue color so eh.

edited 11th Mar '15 7:09:55 AM by Niitris

I meant going shirtless. I mean, making Clark blond is fine, for contrasting reasons.

That's what I meant though.

They're wearing red and blue pants without a shirt, not quite as elaborate as the mercenary/military garb they have now. Glad they didn't go with their Ikari Warriors look, quite plain looking.

edited 11th Mar '15 9:40:26 AM by Niitris

But given the fact they've been in martial arts competitions since 1994, why not go shirtless, and yes, Rule of Cool, but wouldn't having bullet belts, and as of XIII, vests with grenades on them, be impractical in fights?