I, much like the Japanese, haven't given up on 2D fighting games as a genre, despite the hateraid and graphicism (yes I just made that up.) heaped on the series by the western press, every iteration of the King of Fighters has been a fun expansion of previous games despite the fact each one maintains similar styles and characters from year to year. Like a madden fan looking forward to real-time weather and a roster update, I'm ashamed to admit that I'm a slave to the series. I realize the games are certainly an acquired taste, with new additions every year to the counter system, power gauges, super cancels etc that can be a little overwhelming to learn from scratch.

However, these SNK fighters aren't made to cater to someone who's entering the series for the first time. If you play through them chronologically, you'll see each update (for the most part) is a logical step from the ones before it, building and expanding on the intriniscally simplistic battle system. Even better, with King of Fighters you are given characters from other games, where, if you knew said characters' moves, they are ported flawlessly into each iteration.

It's like having a sad, violent family get together where people die and only dad is left standing. So, pretty much like Christmas at my house. But the sense of camraderie is there, and the familiarity of the same characters with tweaks and updates every year is comforting.

If I may digress (pardon me for digressing) I'd like to list my favorite five 2D fighters of all time:

1. Garou: Mark of the Wolves
2. Last Blade 2
3. Samurai Showdown 5
4. Street Fighter Alpha 3
5. Guilty Gear X2



This is relevant to my review of Neogeo Battle Coliseum. If you've never played any of these games, you will HATE neogeo battle coliseum. The game, like King of fighters, is a mashup of characters from many SNK fighters like the five I mentioned above. It is a fighter's fighter, and particularly for those who love moves where your character's projectile attack is to be swallowed up by the ground and spat out on top of your enemy by a giant whore-demon.

The sprites don't look quite as good as KOF XI, nor do the backgrounds, although the 3D backgrounds (something KOF doesn't have) in NGBC are pretty fun. I probably forgot to mention that you can fight as Marco from Metal Slug or the octopus "Mars man" also from metal slug, which adds a few interesting twists. Killing Haomaru from Samurai Showdown with the Metal Slug tank cracks me up every time. But this is where the game suffers: if you don't know the characters, or each one's 10+ moves/specials/cancels, it is overwhelming and possibly boring, especially because it doesn't offer much beyond the standard arcade options. The fighting is well balanced with a tag system and a few new additions like step shift and tag combos, and on the whole the music and sound effects are pretty standard.

If you've played the five games I mentioned above (especially last blade 2 or garou mow), or like metal slug and that 2D art style, my verdict is an 8.2. My only warning is that the interstitial character art work is atrocious. If you haven't? Don't bother, it'll seem like a bland 2d fighter with too many characters.



King of fighters XI, however, has a little bit for everyone, and I can see the common street fighter fan actually picking up and enjoying this game. Rated "Best in the series" by our very own RiserGlen, KOF XI reinvigorates the series with a shot of style.


The menu art is very sleek and clean, and the character roster has been scrubbed of much of the dead weight that has accumulated over the years. Everyone has their favorite person, but it's too much sometimes, and many characters are simply useless. I'd say this has the best selection of any KOF game to date, and as a bonus brings in three people from Garou: Mark of the wolves. The chicks are especially sexy in this outing, the sprites are bigger and cleaner, and the action feels faster and has a lot more energy. The three new characters are all fun to play with as well, and don't feel forced or out of place.


Better?

Overall, for the non 2D-fighting fan I'd give this game a 7.7 which is a strong rent/buy recommendation, especially considering it's only fifteen fucking dollars NEW.

For anyone familiar with KOF who enjoys it, the game is easily an 8.6, which means must-own.