King of fighters XI

[eastyy]

Had a brief 20 minute go on this when i went home for lunch


Really enjoyed it to seems a step up from kof 2003 with a much better tagging system

Tagging is far quicker and also you can tag in the middle of a combo and keep the combo going.

I think for stuff like that though there is a style bar when that fills up you can cancel a move into a tag (twice i think)

Few good things i noticed on initial play was sound effects are much beefier and when blows connect there is a more feeling of impact.Also the new characters seem to have tons of potential.

Backgrounds are not to bad i think there is some ps2 exclusive 3d backgrounds one being set in a giant london eye type thing and you are inside one of the cabs fighting

Characters do seem to look better.Certainly more animation terry bogard looks far far better then in kof 2003.Also kim seems to be very well animated reminded me of ryu from street fighter 3.I still wish they would have redrawn all the characters in hires

Oh good news the load times are almost unoticeable (very nice having undured battle collesium)

[JamesS]

What on earth is going on with that final boss? I can barely touch him.

[Sane]

What on earth is going on with that final boss? I can barely touch him.

That's tradition .

Can't wait for my copy to arrive, it's been a while since we had a 'proper' new KOF.

[eastyy]

Having played the game quite a bit i have only one thing to say


WHOEVER AT SNK DESIGNS THESE END OF GAME BOSSES NEEDS A DAMN GOOD KICKING

Again we have a over powered cheese fest of a boss that killed all of my characters before i could even lay a move on him

He teleports he has the usual frustrating anti air move a overpowered supermove (and most normal moves are overpowered)

Even worse he has a projectile move that goes in one direction and then will appear behind and hit you in the back so dodging is useless

And then to top it off he has a low hard to see slow based projectile attack that if you manage to land a jumping attack on him will alway interupt your combo

[eastyy]

Oh it seems there are some secret characters to

Completed the game and unlocked one character (think it was a boss from a previous kof game not sure of the name)

[Baseley09]

This is probably the only game that id get my PS2 out of its box for, if it actually comes to pal region

Unless that dog game comes out for a tenner.

[MiaBocca]

Oh it seems there are some secret characters to

Completed the game and unlocked one character (think it was a boss from a previous kof game not sure of the name)

There unlockable characters are:

The mid-bosses:
- Gai Tendo (Buruki One)
- Silber (boss from Buruki One)
- Sho Hayate (Kizuna Encounter)
- Jyazu (boss from Kizuna Encounter)
- Adelheid (Rugal's son from KOF2003)

The main and sub-bosses:
- Shion
- Magaki

PS2 exclusive characters (ports from NGBC):
- Geese
- Hotaru
- Robert
- Mai
- Mr. Big
- Tung Fu Rue
- Kusanagi / EX Kyo

[Super Monkey Balls]

Have they sorted the difficulty curve out? Only thing wrong with the arcade version.
If you liked 2003, this is a must. Great game.

[eastyy]

I did have some EXTREMLEY hard battles before i even got to the final boss

Gato took me quite a few attempts to beat

[SummAh]

It's a fantastic port. From the packaging to the green on the disc to the colors in the game, SNKP went all out in terms of packaging n presentation of the game. And finally, a 2D KOF game from SNKP that has awesome music!!!!

Hmmm...AI on LvL 8 isn't hard at all. That was certainly disappointing. Survival mode in 98 (AES cart) remains the hardest AI I've ever encountered from a SNK game lol.

Easty: you had problems on Gato, well that certainly wasn't surprising. He remains one of the few characters scripted to attack n combo the player asap.

Others however, aren't done well at all. Whip for example, would just stand n G all day. On the odd occasion, she would choose to attack...that's it. There are many other similar AI behaviour in force but what the ghey, doesn't matter. It's the 2p games that matters in a fighting game.

Tip: for anyone having problems with Magaki...he's actually quite simple. The next time you fight him, try to get as close to him as possible. The best possible scenario is roll behind him. He is totally open after that.

Of coz, the question remains; how to get close to him? In the opening moments, he hardly ever attacks. That itself is a good chance to nail him. If you missed it. Stay calm. The mistake ppl make is trying to rush Magaki without a plan.

Unlike other fighters, SNK designed their bosses kinda like a 'mini stage'. Look closer, you'll discover Magaki's behavior / pattern / loophole quite easily. This is why I say SNK designed their bosses like a mini stage that forces the player to find / memorize patterns.

Have you guys tried arrange mode yet?
There's some serious changes to it. Think of if as SFZ3 Upper. A revised edition that would have been released on the arcade if they are indeed thinking of balancing the game.

Gone are the 'all juggle' system. I'll just explain things briefly for readers that haven't tried out this great game. This means characters like Gato, K, Kim, Oswald, etc etc won't be able to simply hit u while u're in the air > Leader super before you touch the ground. For example, Kyo jumps in, Ozwald does stand A. Kyo is hit while he's still in air, thus he is technically deflected and has to return to ground. It is at this moment that Kyo (while still in the air) is vulnerable to Ozwald's Leader super.

Such a juggle system means certain characters have an outstanding advantage in battle. With Arrange mode, this feature has indeed been removed.

The usual mandatory of nerfing characters also took place within arranged mode. Since I won't get to play arrange mode in the arcade, I didn't bother to tinker with how the characters were affected. What I do know is, the timing for command input has been revised as well.

For example the arcade version allow players to easily press b,b (while crouched) and get a simple 2 hit chain going > combo chance. This sorta of 'ease' has been relatively tighten in arrange mode. If anything, it feels like KOF of the old. For those KOF heads, just think of 98. In arrange mode, player will not be able to just spam b, b and expect to see a two hit chain going. Timing(skills) will be needed. Personally, I don't find it that big of a change. Still easy imo.

Training mode is done rather well. Easy access to skill list via select button (which has to be configured in training mode option). Dummy can be configured, settings can be made. I think the best news of all is 2 player training where you and ur friend can work out tactics n try em out without worrying about lifebar n stuff.

Each character has a total of 12 colors available. ABCD is the first set. Hold R1+either 4 buttons for the 2nd set. L1+ either 4 buttons for the third set. Some fantastic colors available for all. Others can be quite shockingly scary.

For the uninitiated, SNKP made some fantastic inclusion in their game design. You've heard of tagging in to create new combos. That's Quick Shift. There's also Saving Shift (you guessed it!) designed as a get out of jail card. Unlike Marvel n it's unlimited tagging, the rules in KOF XI are rather different.

On the bottom of the screen is a super bar and two skill stocks. I'm sure most players know how a super bar works. Skill stocks though, is rather different.

Players get a max amount of 2 skill stocks represented by two tiny circles above the super bar. Now next to the skill stocks is a tiny skill bar. This skill bar auto fills itself whenever a skill stock is used. So at the start of a round, it takes at least 10 secs for a skill stock to be available (subsequent 10 secs for 2nd skill stock). Before anyone thinks it's unfair, trust me...it's not. 10 secs can be forever in a fighting game.

Saving shift also has a few rules of its own. You cannot interupt a combo with Saving shift if u've missed the window of opportunity. Specifically, if opponents decides to do a 4 hit combo one you, you MUST input Saving shift command as soon as the opponent has inflicted the first hit upon you.

This puts both parties into a very fun guessing game. If you decided to use Saving Shift to get yourself outta jail, it can be countered VERY EASILY by ur opponents if they anticipated your move and varied their 'combo' accordingly. Using Ryo vs Kyo as an example. Ryo has a very bread n butter combo since 97. Crouching B > crouching C > fireball. If kyo decides use Saving Shift, well naturally Ryo loses. But, if the Ryo player manages to outguess Kyo, he can simply input crouching B > Shoryuken. At this exact moment, Kyo's partner that was supposed to save Kyo ends up eating a dragon punch. Now, from here, you should be able to see that if Kyo decides not to use Saving shift at all (but ryo fully expects kyo to), the outcome will be quite different.


New to KOF is judgement system. There's a new bar that's always swinging in between the two healthbars. This system is designed to punish turtles for the lack of it. Each time a player attacks, the judgement bars swings in its favor. For example, both teams are down to last man, 10 secs on the clock...with the judgement bar in favor of 1p but health bar in favor of 2p. Upon time up, 1p wins due to judgement bar being in its favor.

So uhm yeah, NO TURTLES! (Gotta crush them all). However, from a competition pov, this judgement system needs refinement tbh. Part for now, it's quite 'ok'.

PS2 port has 40 new challenges for players to complete. Finish em all to unlock all characters /ending /artwork. It's quite pretty. However I find SNKP to be really lacking imagination in their challenges. Akin to KOF MI2, it's just one boring challenge after another. For first timers, this mode can easily be renamed 'frustrating mode'. Newcomers not knowing the rules of the game (and barely explained) will easily be frustrated by the supposedly 'challenge' ahead of them.


Anyway, this might just the best port SNKP has ever done for SNK fans. Their best effort till date. Despite the flak they recieved when they first appeared, I find their home products generally quite ok and always getting better as time goes by.

[eastyy]

One thing i did find cool was that whoever you picked as leader can cancel a super move into there leader super move

[SummAh]

There in lies another layer. Apart from picking a character u're good at..u have to make sure the team dynamics allow for a flexible combo chances. Choosing a wrong team leader results in reduction of damage.

For example, Iori as a team leader is clearly, not good in comparison to K. Iori's leader super (otherwise known as LDM) is clearly, weak.

[eastyy]

I love combos so it really appealed to me that tagging could be worked into combos
Its also cool that L2 performs a predetermined combo
Definetly one of my favourite king of fighters
Now all i want is for them to redraw all the characters in hires


I did notice with the AI it did seem better thought you are right and gato would be constantly trying to get the same combo on me

[SummAh]

Interested in DLing combo vids? I can supply the links to you in PM
(I'm not sure if I can paste it to public)

[eastyy]

yes i would like to see them


Downloaded a few match vids a while back saw some excellent stuff