PTE55: Fighting Sovereignty

[Neon Ignition]

It's now 2014 which means this year is the twentieth anniversary of the start of the King of Fighters series.

It's a series that has perservered despite its makers difficulties over the years and has highs and lows. Hopefully there will be a new entry to mark the occasion but as it stands what is your high point of the series?

Tell us of your KOF memories.

[J0e Musashi]

'94 ?120 used in CEX in 1994. Eoin Blood mastering '95 even though he didn't like fighting games. Swapping Euro Kizuna Encounter for '96 in 1996. '97's Mini Marquee selling for insane prices on eBay. '98 never being bettered by another game ever. Strikers don't improve gameplay in '99, or '00. 2K1 is good. 2K2 nerfed Takuma. 2K3 was a ?45 brand new MVS kit for a reason. Neowave is also good (especially in full-price AW kit form). XI needs to go home. Post-XI aren't even real KOF's.

[fuse]

It's rare that I'd peg the most recent entry into such a long-running series as my favourite, especially so from the SNK stable, but XIII is magnificent. It looks, sounds, and plays fantastically, and is probably my favourite fighter of 'last gen' (I feel dirty using these terms). It's great to watch too - last 2 years at Evo it's had an incredible showing.

Would love to see a new game come out this year but I don't think it's highly necessary. The jump to HD was a significant move, and whilst XII wasn't so great, you can clearly see why it was necessary as a building block for XIII. This does also mean that from here that there's not such an obvious way for them to innovate without shuffling things about at a grass-roots level, and well... I'd rather they didn't rush something like that.

edit:

'94 ?120 used in CEX in 1994. Eoin Blood mastering '95 even though he didn't like fighting games. Swapping Euro Kizuna Encounter for '96 in 1996. '97's Mini Marquee selling for insane prices on eBay. '98 never being bettered by another game ever. Strikers don't improve gameplay in '99, or '00. 2K1 is good. 2K2 nerfed Takuma. 2K3 was a ?45 brand new MVS kit for a reason. Neowave is also good (especially in full-price AW kit form). XI needs to go home. Post-XI aren't even real KOF's.

Haha! I like some of these, though I disagree completely re: XIII. I have a weird soft spot for 2K3.

[Neon Ignition]

I'm in no way a KOF officiado, took me a long time to settle with the series. First one I played was 94 on, I think, Neo Geo CD followed swiftly by 95 which I probably spent the most time with. I had a soft spot for 96 for a long time though. 98 is obviously a good one but 2000 and 2001 lost me. XIII is great fun but whilst not perfect if I had to play just one it's 2002 UM I go back to due to the content. Backgrounds, music... feels like the last time they nailed both.

[Neil]

Had all of them at some point on AES and MVS, another fan of 2003 here and would have to be boring and put 98 as my favourite. Not played any versions after 2003. I love the cover art too.

[Colin]

I really, really have a soft spot for 2000, the last of the SNK produced AES/MVS titles. To be honest though I like them all, but then I'm just a quick fix guy, I don't obsessively learn moves, systems etc. In fact, I don't even know what systems are..........

Nowt wrong with 2003 IMO either.

[endo]

Despite not really being a KoF nut, I have more KoF games than more or less any other series I own. 98 is by far my favourite, though I quite liked 2002 and I've also got a soft spot for 2003. 99 has my favourite background of any fighting game ever- the 'rain' stage.

[Koinos Kosmos]

I was introduced to KOF during the Davies era of CVG - a Yas Hunter 'High Five' review of the Saturn port of '96 piqued my interest but I wasn't yet au fait with importing due to a lack of decent local indie stores and mail order from the back pages of a magazine seemed risky and cost-prohibitive. The Cloister-Bell for the Saturn had begun to toll by then anyway and the thought of investing in a system that was floundering was unimaginable to me at the time, despite the frequent, amazing arcade ports from the likes Capcom et al.

Then, around 2001, a fighting game aficionado-friend of mine who hailed from Hong Kong encouraged me to pick up the remaining - or perhaps only-ever! - copy of 'Capcom Vs. SNK' for the Dreamcast from the local branch of Game (I had adopted a DC in the interim and sworn-off PlayStation for a time). I quickly discovered that I greatly preferred the SNK fighting 'Groove' to the Capcom one and Terry Bogard and Kyo Kusanagi became the mainstays of my team selections in matches against my friend - although he criticised my neophyte taste in the 'cheesy' Mr. Bogard.

After some time, however, the game began to lose its lustre - primarily due to the Capcom component - and I yearned for a more refined, SNK-centric experience. 'Dream Match '99' had never materialised on store shelves over here despite a brief appearance alongside the DC SFA3 port in an issue of CVG prior to the console's launch - I wasn't aware of the Aruze debacle at the time - and so, finally, I was left to contemplate importing as my one recourse in order to sate my hunger. While browsing online one evening, I happened upon the much-maligned 'Buy-Rite Videogames' based in the US. They had detailed review sections on the DC SNK titles for sale accompanied by sumptuous, high-resolution screenshots that seemed even more lavish than those featured in the Naomi-based crossover - oh, the still-untapped potential of Neo Geo and its glorious partnership with Sega! I pre-ordered 'KOF 2001' immediately and received it the following Christmas - critical lambasting be damned! In fact, it was one of the first fighting games that I truly marvelled at for its aesthetic sensibilities - the stage with the ceremonial dancers is still impressive today and oddly soothing. And yes, I'm aware of the soundtrack's numerous shortcomings but 'NESTS: Yami no Shihaisha' is one of the series' most accomplished pieces of music.

I proceeded to import more and more so-called 'retro' titles after that and largely ignored the Sixth Console Generation in favour of everything I had missed - including hardware like the Saturn. Eventually, my fate was sealed with a 'Mint/As New' Neo Geo AES from VGI and a mint copy of 'KOF '96' from eBay.

In short, KOF has made me the gamer that I am today.

[Colin]

I do miss my KOF collection, these games are at their finest when played on genuine SNK hardware. I must never get involved in AES again though.

[MonkeyJuggleDX]

For me, it has to be 96. The intro, the roster, the graphics, the OST, the transitional KoF if you like from the basic 94/95 to the more 'refined' 97/98. For me, this was the ultimate Neo Geo title.

Others in the series I rate highly would have to be 94 Re-Bout & XIII.

XII to me seemed a huge step down to what I'd call a 'Pre-94' KoF. More of an Art of Fighting 4 if you like.

[Paddy]

Although Street Fighter II introduced me as an impressionable child to the joys of one-on-one fighting, KOF '94 was the game that captured all that is great about Japanese fighters and continued/continues to do so through each installment.

Though there are some very noteworthy entries through the years (KOF '98, 2000, '02 and XI to name drop some) I'm happy to state that KOF XIII was a genuine labour of love by SNK Playmore. Seemingly a love letter to fans of the franchise, SNK packed almost all the good elements of former KOFs together with some interesting new ideas and probably the best looking graphics in the franchise to date.

You know that like SFIII: Third Strike and Vampire Saviour, KOF XIII will live on for years and be admired equally in 5, 10, 20 years and beyond as the hand-drawn nature of the game and its characters provide fighting game fans with one of the best examples of fighting to date.

[eastyy]

my fav was XIII but XI was a close second as i loved the tagging mechanics