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History Of The King Of Fighters Explored

Posted by simoniker on from the kof-right-off dept.

Thanks to 1UP for its feature charting the history of SNK's cult King Of Fighters series. The piece starts: "From 1994 until now and counting, SNK's King of Fighters... has almost as consistent a track record as EA's Madden football, and Madden didn't have to survive the protracted buyout and collapse of its owners." The yearly versions of these Neo Geo-originated 2D fighters are then analyzed, from KOF '94 ("Two dozen characters in a fighting game doesn't sound like much nowadays, but it was a hell of a cast in 1994") through the controversial KOF '99 ("a pretty daring move on SNK's part, delivering a complete overhaul of the series' tested gameplay"), to the present day, where a separate article delivers new details on the forthcoming KOF '03, revealing new rosters and "a tag battle system" for this latest arcade-bound iteration.

30 comments

  1. Over hyped by superpulpsicle · · Score: 1

    I do not know of one person that would prefer KOF over capcom's street fighter series.

    Have people actually played this game. It's the most overhyped 2D fighter. Not much to offer.

    1. Re:Over hyped by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      I don't know about being overhyped. It's the #1 alternative to Capcom fighters. If you are tired of playing Ryu and Ken games, then you should definitely check this series out. It's a drastically different style of game, more precise controls (think SF Alpha compared to Capcom vs. Marvel), and in many ways much more polished gameplay. The characters are much more balanced, and it's an all around good game.
      It's always going to be known as the "other" fighter series, but it's a good one with a smaller following and less notoriety.

    2. Re:Over hyped by AtaruMoroboshi · · Score: 1


      Overhyped by who then?

      I've got KoF 98, 99, 2000, and 2001 for my Dreamcast and I find myself playing them more often than my copies of Street Fighter Alpha 3 or Street Fighter 3: Third Strike.

      Honestly, SNK's Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves is my favorite 2-D fighter, but KoF 98 and (surprisingly) 2001 rank high up there for me.

      I definitely love the Street Fighter series, but King of Fighters is just as loved, and most importantly, more frequently played, at least by me.

      I think you'd find the KoF fanbase to be extremely strong in Asia, and from what I can gather, Mexico.

      .

    3. Re:Over hyped by jenoazrael · · Score: 0

      I know of plenty.

      It seems to be quite popular here in Sydney, AU - in the city's (good) amusement arcades there are usually an equal number of KOF and Street Fighter machines. Both series seem to be equally popular here.

      --

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      this is a sig
    4. Re:Over hyped by orthancstone · · Score: 1

      Street Fighter hit such a wall though. Yeah, SF2 was a great game but 10 years later there hasn't been much change to the Street Fighter formula.

      Course my favority fighter was Killer Instinct...helped further the combo theory of fighting but never got enough support to last :(.

    5. Re:Over hyped by Tofuhead · · Score: 1
      It's a drastically different style of game, more precise controls (think SF Alpha compared to Capcom vs. Marvel), and in many ways much more polished gameplay.

      You mean more precise controls are required to play the game. (Control precision itself is largely a function of the joystick hardware.) Capcom's 2-D fighting games pretty much all allow players to use what's sometimes called a "negative edge." This is a special move input method that involves pressing a button, performing the move's joystick motion, then releasing the button. It's how many link combos are easier to perform in Capcom fighters than the equivalent combos are in SNK fighters, and it's definitely something that even semi-pro SFers train to do without thinking. When these players try out KoF for the first time, they (I) typically encounter disappointing results.

      SNK fighters have always required precise movements, while Street Fighter is much more lenient about joystick positioning. The tradeoff is that Capcom's games normally require moves to be performed in a shorter amount of time than SNK's games, while games like Samurai Spirits/Shodown and King of Fighters can be more accommodating to slowly-performed moves.

      Because of these reasons, I love SF-style games for regular playing (casual or competition), since the moves come naturally after all these years of SF. (I used to play at Golfland Sunnyvale against players twice as good as myself, I'd hope they came naturally!) OTOH, I like to play the KoF games for technical practice, since careful joystick positioning is required for finer touches, like low jumps and implementing some of the crazy-ass special move motions that SNK likes so much into combos.

      < tofuhead >

      --
      It is still the dark of night.
    6. Re:Over hyped by Tofuhead · · Score: 1
      I've got KoF 98, 99, 2000, and 2001 for my Dreamcast and I find myself playing them more often than my copies of Street Fighter Alpha 3 or Street Fighter 3: Third Strike.

      Well, assuming that you're talking about the Dreamcast port, you might have liked SFA3 better if the DC port were anywhere near as good as the Saturn port. The DC port was a translation of the Playstation port for expediency's sake, and was therefore not translated directly from the arcade version as the Saturn port was. I guess it helped that the Saturn port was developed after the others were.

      I am not a fan of the Street Fighter 3 games, so I'm not the guy to ask about Third Strike. All I know is that I prefer Garou:MOTW to any of the SF3 games as well.

      < tofuhead >

      --
      It is still the dark of night.
    7. Re:Over hyped by Tofuhead · · Score: 1
      Street Fighter hit such a wall though. Yeah, SF2 was a great game but 10 years later there hasn't been much change to the Street Fighter formula.

      No offense, but someone who'd played the SF games to the degree that would qualify themselves to make that statement probably wouldn't have made that statement. On top of all the games carrying the Street Fighter banner -- each of which is different, especially across the different numbered series -- don't forget that the SF franchise has branched off into the Capcom vs. SNK series (for better) and the various Marvel vs. series (for worse, IMO, YMMV).

      Course my favority fighter was Killer Instinct...helped further the combo theory of fighting but never got enough support to last :(.

      I always thought Killer Instinct took the idea of combos in a weird direction. When I started playing the first KI game, I played it exactly as if it was a Street Fighter game, and I noticed that I wasn't consistently being outperformed by friends who had mastered that game's crazy automatic combo system. That just showed me that the mechanics of the game were overthought, but not well fleshed out. And it didn't help that the character designs looked like MK-style abominations to me, except they were pre-rendered 3-D designs instead of digitized humans.

      < tofuhead >

      --
      It is still the dark of night.
    8. Re:Over hyped by NonSequor · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I'll take Soulcalibur any day. Of course, maybe that's just because I could never stomach learning endless combo lists.

      --
      My only political goal is to see to it that no political party achieves its goals.
    9. Re:Over hyped by Zangief · · Score: 1

      This must be a joke! perhaps you should have been moderated as Funny. While every snk character has more moves than the average capcom character, ANY soulcalibur character has a stupidly long array of moves.

      I have never understanded why almost every 3D fighting game (VF, Tekken, SC) relies on the player learning an endless amount of movements, and each one has a different way of blocking/countering, while 2D prefer simpler set of movements, combining them in diferent ways to get complexity.

    10. Re:Over hyped by orthancstone · · Score: 1

      I actually was trying to seperate vs. SNK and vs. Marvel. Those games, due to the team system, felt very different to me. I didn't really feel all the difference in the SF series like you did. Granted, there we games with even less innovation (like MK).

      KI was a love/hate game for everyone. Those who loved it mastered the combo system. Those who hated it either lost or found the easy way to win with a cheap victory (projectiles). :|

    11. Re:Over hyped by PsychoKick · · Score: 1

      I have never understanded why almost every 3D fighting game (VF, Tekken, SC) relies on the player learning an endless amount of movements, and each one has a different way of blocking/countering, while 2D prefer simpler set of movements, combining them in diferent ways to get complexity.

      Technical limitations.

      It is much, MUCH easier to animate the fighters in 3D games. Each fighting technique merely requires a bit of extra skeletal animation, so 3D fighting games can afford to have hundreds of different fighting animations per character. Whereas in 2D games, each new technique requires drawing a whole new sequence of unique bitmap images, so there is more of an emphasis of chaining together what is already there.

    12. Re:Over hyped by Zangief · · Score: 1

      It is much, MUCH easier to animate the fighters in 3D games. Each fighting technique merely requires a bit of extra skeletal animation, so 3D fighting games can afford to have hundreds of different fighting animations per character. Whereas in 2D games, each new technique requires drawing a whole new sequence of unique bitmap images, so there is more of an emphasis of chaining together what is already there.

      Mmm. probably. That means that mocap is cheaper than hand drawing.

      I would have thinked it was the other way around!

    13. Re:Over hyped by qed123 · · Score: 1
      Nice troll :) I don't know if it's neccessary to make it into a big rivalry, Capcom and SNK both make EXCELLENT fighting games. King of Fighters is a series that brings a new game every year with:

      * TONS of fighters, the cast changes every year with some old faithfuls and some new

      * new moves and old moves and removed moves, not the same moves on every character every game

      * very good new artwork and music

      * extremely deep gameplay and combos

      * a well thought out storyline (except 98 and '02, which are more Dreammatches)

      *an excellent sense of humor

      * challenge, ESPECIALLY the bosses

      Capcom has many of the same plusses but it varies of course, it's like comparing apples and oranges...both are good (unless you hate fruit).

      I question your video game guru credentials if you consider this series overhyped with not much to offer.

    14. Re:Over hyped by NonSequor · · Score: 1

      There are lots of moves, but anyone can walk up and start mashing buttons and figure things out. Most of the moves are relatively simple and can be learned through experimentation (Maxi is an exception to this and the difficulty of learning him is yet another reason not to play him). The internet guides are only there to help refine your understanding once you've gotten the hang of a character.

      In Soulcalibur the focus is on predicting and preparing for your opponent's next move while at the same time trying not to let your opponent predict your own move. Practicing sub-second timings is less important than playing against other people and observing how they play.

      --
      My only political goal is to see to it that no political party achieves its goals.
  2. Strangely by dtfinch · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    I've never heard of this legendary series of fighting games until now.

  3. Haven't played KoF? by neostorm · · Score: 4, Informative

    If you haven't played any of the King of Fighters games then you don't go to the arcade very much, or at least a very good one.
    King of Fighters doesn't get many home console ports, but it's a solid series with greatly polished gameplay and much tighter control than it's Capcom competition. It has a huge following in the arcades, but I don't see many people that know of it outside of that environment.

    Sweet stuff, check it out.

    1. Re:Haven't played KoF? by Tofuhead · · Score: 1
      King of Fighters doesn't get many home console ports,

      Every KoF game has been released on a Sony or Sega home console, except 94 AFAIK. In fact, one of the more common bargain bin games you will find nowadays at game shops in the U.S. is King of Fighters 99 for Playstation.

      I have almost every Sega release so far, from 95-00. Not being the biggest of KoF fans, I haven't picked up 01 or 02 for the DC yet.

      but it's a solid series with greatly polished gameplay and much tighter control than it's Capcom competition.

      You're the second person to use these words. But as I posted previously, I think it's more accurate to say that you have to be more precise when playing the game than it is to say that the game itself features more precise gameplay as compared to Capcom's offerings, especially their hardcore games like SSF2X/Turbo. There's a difference. (For example, neither Capcom's hardcore fighting games nor SNK's fighting games are as sloppy with character placement after jumps as the Marvel vs. series games are.)

      < tofuhead >

      --
      It is still the dark of night.
    2. Re:Haven't played KoF? by axolotl_farmer · · Score: 1

      If you can't find them in the arcade, all of the KOF games are perfectly emulated under MAME. My favourites are KOF 96, '99 and 2K1.

      The PSX ports just don't have the timing of the original, the DC ports are somewhat better.

  4. Oversea popularity... by Arkhain · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Unfortunately, the game series is much less popular in the US than it is in Japan - the same goes for many, many of SNK's games.

  5. Good news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    '94? '99? '03? Unlike Capcom, SNK at least appears to know how to count.

    1. Re:Good news by Tofuhead · · Score: 2, Interesting

      But Capcom treats their games differently. Street Fighter Zero/Alpha is not a sequel to SSF2X/Turbo.

      They generally only increment full version numbers with complete engine overhauls, which are also accompanied by storyline changes. So, talking only about 2-D Street Fighter-branded games, we have:

      • Street Fighter
      • Street Fighter II series
      • Street Fighter Zero/Alpha series
      • Street Fighter III series

      Each series is distinct enough in gameplay to merit differentiation from the others. Even a master of the games in one series MUST learn new skills to perform well in the others, especially in areas concerning defense.

      Now, similar things can be said of KoF moving from one edition to the next, but since it's SNK routine to bring out a new KoF game every year according to tradition, it makes sense that they name their annual game series according to the year. Big deal, this is just how SNK works. If Capcom's release schedule were so rote, it would probably make sense for them too.

      Me, I like Capcom's infrequent, multi-series release strategy. It provides focus and stability to the competition scene.

      < tofuhead >

      --
      It is still the dark of night.
    2. Re:Good news by Jeff+Reed · · Score: 1

      I prefer the roughly-yearly installments that actually have notable changes, for better or worse, to Capcom's "do a 'new' installment with a few tweaks every year or two" method. Not that I don't love SF3, but come on. Capcom also hasn't done an honestly new Street Fighter game in ages. All we've got is SF characters appearing in a number of other games.

      Oh, and storyline changes - The King of Fighters series has always had a hell of a lot more story in the SF games - and more importantly, more of it IN GAME. SNK also didn't feel the need to go back and change story elements to fit their whims. (Cammy becoming a clone, anyone?)

  6. KOF always seen as SNK's big game... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    ...but SNK's *other* 2D fighting franchise; Fatal Fury has always been the better in my opinion.

    The line change cabability of Fatal Fury Special and the earlier games was a unusual feature, but one which, imo, works well.

    The later games, Real Bout, RB2 and RB Special took the series and gave it a really slick and cartoony fluid style, more towards the Capcom style of things (thinking Darkstalkers/MVC/X-Men).. something which reached its pinnacle in the guise of Mark of the Wolves; the latest in the Fatal Fury line.

    Probably one of the most advanced 2D fighters yet.

    However, the ultimate 2D fighting game has got to be the ultra polished Last Blade games. Even now, LB and LB2 have got gameplay and game mechanics to die for.

    Rumours are that there is another sequel coming in 2004 and it is NOT KOF or Samurai Shodown (already available on MVS cart). We're guessing either another Mark of the Wolves (fab!) or a third Last Blade game (excellent!). A second SNK v Capcom game would be unlikely, but would definitely kkep the Neo Geo alive for a few more years yet (the thing just refuses to die!).

    All of this assumes the use of SNK hardware (home console or MVS/arcade)... the games are *good* on other systems, but just seem to lack something in the translation :-)

  7. PLEASE. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Leave it to a bunch of SNK fanboys to compare the King of Fighters series to Madden.

    Oh, it's had a consistent track record, all right. Consistently since 1994, nobody has cared about it but you.

    1. Re:PLEASE. by Stormwatch · · Score: 1

      Indeed. Nobody but a few stupid fanboys still give a damn about Madden games!

      --
      Circumcision is child abuse.
  8. Comparsion to Street Fighter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't know anything about this KoF game. Can someone please make some comparisons of the important features to Street Fighter? You know, stuff like whether any of the fighting chicks have better bodies than Chun Li, whether there is a nice selection of ethnicities (don't want them all to be asian babes -- unless they all look like Chun Li), do the cries they make sound kinda erotic, etc.

    Actually, to be honest, I haven't even played Street Fighter the game. But I have read an awful lot of Street Fighter erotic fiction and *ahem* enjoyed a lot of fan art featuring characters from the game in non-fighting situations.

  9. My money's on Last Blade, then.. by Scott+Francis[Mecham · · Score: 1

    ..since KoF '03 is featuring MoTW characters.
    The news that '03 will be on the Atomiswave gives me goosebumps..and a not a small bit of regret for the MVS, the "BSD is dying!" of the console world.

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  10. Cheaper != easier by PsychoKick · · Score: 1

    Mmm. probably. That means that mocap is cheaper than hand drawing.

    I said "easier", not "cheaper". Motion capture has higher initial costs, but it is far less work-intensive than hand-drawn animation.