Now, I know most of the mainstream audiance as it's heart for Capcom only, but if you like a kind of thing (let's say "chocolate"), wouldn't you try more products of that kind (say, chocolate Ice Cream, chocolate bars, chocolate milk...)??
SNK has always been a favorite of mine, since the goold ol' days^^
They had a different audience. The Neo Geo, their own system, was pretty much for an hardcore fan base than your 10~something year old kid.
So on KOF13 now (I'm not here to discuss past KOF or other fightin' games today).
YES! We all know KOF12 was... kinda lacking! It's had it charm sure! I still consider it the most beautiful game of this generation! 2D sprites will always look prettier than 3D models to me! Hey! I'm an artist/graphist!
KOF12 HAD to be release as it was! You do know SNK went bankrupt for making games only their fans loved/not mainstream enough?? They kept 2D alive up until the years 2000'! Since they didn't released a thing since a long time, they just had to! Would you rather have the series die??
The current developer SNK Playmore is made of old fans who re-bought the brand and franchises and are tryin' to keep the torch alive! Not all of their games were great, oh no! Most of the times they needed a sequel to fix most of the things around. Maximum Impact? Blad, slow, simplistic gameplay, simple 3D models... MI2? Faster, punchier, deep gameplay of cancels,supers,combos... Their first KOF? First Samurai shodown? same! But eventually they try to fix a lot in the sequels.
KOF12 was HD sure, pretty, all new backgrounds, music and sprites!
But the cast was pretty slim, there was no boss this time, no challenge/bonus/mission modes around! And a very poor gameplay compared to KOF11!
So what do we know of KOF13 so far?
Pros
- Character team selections are back! Up to ~10 characters will be added, bringing the cast to a better standard! Yuri and Mai are back^^ (I still cross my fingers for NEST characters K', Kula...)
- More complex fighting system: Specials, Supers, EX, Drive Cancels, Hyper Drive! The game will be a lot closer to KOF11 with a great deep system!
- A plot! The story will revolve around the end of the ASH SAGA (you know, the girl dude in red!)
- Easy choice of color palette and/or costumes! Neat new feature!
- More stages! (they were all pretty beautifully done in KOF12 so, it's great to hear that!) 4 stages show for the moment!
Cons
- Only 10 characters, but come on! The total will be over the double of the BlazBlue cast!
- May have a full retail price! And I know some "cool kids" will argue about that...
- The zooming effect from KOF12, like in the Samurai Shodown games, is taken out so nobody will complain about the pixelated look. (oooh : ( i liked that!!)
- Nothing heard about challenge mode/missions for now... It was a great way to introduce the gameplay for n00bs! I hope it is in this game!...
Well, that's it for now!
Keep your hears open! I'm expecting more news in the coming days! KOF is a game for fans of the fightin' genre. It never does "blockbuster" types of sales and it doesn't need to! Not every game is a AAA-list game! This generation really changed people's mind about games... I like smaller games with "heart"! I'll take that over a Gears/God of war any day!
Anyway that's all.
Here's a link with some pictures/news http://www.moetron.com/2010/03/25/king-of-fighters-xiii-gameplay-footage-info/
And by the way, what's up with Yuri's look in this japanese post:
A different costume/palette that makes her look like a Ayane (Dead or Alive) type of gal?
So the palette swaps will make the costumes slighty different?? (below a comparison with her "normal look")
The costume/palette swap thing is a good idea to have some unique and interesting looks this time!
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