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[ BahamutZero's blog ]

12:46 PM on 01.08.2008

Dueling Reviews: King of Fighters XI & Neogeo Battle Coliseum
BahamutZero 19 comments




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.

19 comments | showing # 1 to 19

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VWGTI's Destructoid Blog
King of Fighters looks dope. Sadly, I haven't played a KoF game in years.

I did pick up NeoGeo Battle Coliseum a few weeks ago and I like it a lot. The characters are butt-ugly, but the gameplay is wicked fun.

2-D fighters will never die in my eyes.
Snaileb 's Destructoid Blog
Awesome! I'd hit it, while buying it.

Sad to say, you didn't list Smash Bros. in your top 5. Marvel vs Capcom 2 was absent as well. I wrote them both a tardy slip.
s0lesurviv0r's Destructoid Blog
Excellent post, Bahamut, I just got the games and am enjoying them alot. I really hope they churn out a series of NGBC games, I'd love to pair up Setsuna and Allen O'Neal(gattling gun bad guy from metal slug) someday.
MaxVest's Destructoid Blog
I just went to the official site of KOFXI to see if the sprites look any better there (they don't), and now my eardrums bleed. Thanks for the volume boost, SNK.
s0lesurviv0r's Destructoid Blog
BTW, what is that Neowave pic doing there???
Mister Disco's Destructoid Blog
I snapped these both up on their respective releases, and I gotta say that both of them are top-notch and rank high among my friends as our fighters of choice lately. On my HD TV Neo Geo BC sprites actually looks a lot cleaner than the KOF XI sprites for some reason.

I gotta disagree with ya, Snaileb. I have never considered Smash Bros. to be a "2D Fighter" in the traditional sense (and not because of the graphics, but the playstyle), which I know I'm not alone on. Nothing against it at all (I play it more than I should, probably), but it doesn't play like a 2D fighter, so I have never really ranked it among them. Perhaps Bahamut feels the same.

Also, MVC2, while fun, is an unbalanced train wreck compared to Bahamut's top 5. Have you ever played MOTW or Last Blade 2? Hotness.
Cowzilla3's Destructoid Blog
Big pics are big. Cool review man, don't think I'm going to get either but despereatley wish I was interested in fighting games.
BahamutZero's Destructoid Blog
lol @ soul... stupid google images labeled that as KOF and I didnt look closely
riomccarthy's Destructoid Blog
Wow glad to see I'm not the only one who picked up these two titles! Glad to see you enjoyed them as well as I did!
itemforty's Destructoid Blog
You adorable scamp.
Jordan Grim Devore's Destructoid Blog
I've only played King of Fighters once before (no idea which one it was), and I was that eagle dude. Sweet game fo sho.
13thDragon's Destructoid Blog
Nice write up. I'm a total fighting game whore. I picked up both of these, but haven't taken any time to really get into them.
nilcam's Destructoid Blog
KoF XI looks horrible on HDTVs because SNKPlaymore, in its infinite wisdom, ported the game from Japanese NTSC to European PAL and then to US NTSC. This resulted in the nixing of progressive scan support, hence the blurry sprites and slight lag.

I bought NGBC last weekend at Best Buy for $10 and have yet to open it thanks to KoF 94 on the VC and the wicked Hori Wii Arcade Stick.
balth's Destructoid Blog
I'm excited to get my free copy :) I used to own the Neo Geo, and the Neo Geo CD, and I kind of fell out until Capcom vs SNK (and 2). So I'm excited for these.

And I'll be the anti-Lemon and say what's on all of our minds:

What the hell are you doing posting relevant information here!?!?

Y0j1mb0's Destructoid Blog
I LOVE 2-D fighters..but just one teeny question.

You actually prefer Samurai Showdown 5 to Samurai Showdown 2??

..whoah.
galagabug 's Destructoid Blog
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

you pretty much summed up why the 2d fighters that aren's SSB-esque have almost gone instinct, and when its overwhelming to returning players, well, you know you fucked up somewhere...

i was always a capcom kid up to SFA3, but then the whole genre went stagnant, and there was no need to buy the new releases, i was content with my old ones. once i built the mame cab i discovered Garou: Mark of the Wolves, and enjoyed my first SNK game, but never felt the urge to really start learning the KOF series.
king3vbo's Destructoid Blog
It isnt MVC 3 (yah yah, I know it will never happen), so Im not excited
Hitogoroshi's Destructoid Blog
Great post. As a huge SNK fan I bought both. For $15 you can't go wrong.
Necros's Destructoid Blog
@ Snaileb

Come on, don't try to include Smash Bros. with regular fighting games. It's far too different.


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Name: Bahamut "Mancakes" Zero
Blood Type: ICE
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