NO! This is NOT about BlazBlue! This is about that other 2D fighter coming out this month! BlazBlue will NOT be talked about here... although... BlazBlue is pretty awesome... WAIT, NO! NO BLAZBLUE!!!

I'm talking about King of Fighters XII! Last night I was looking through the internet at stuff like KoF '02 UM's chances of coming to XBLA, and started thinking to the more immediate future that is XII.

Now, if you don't know by now, XII is supposed to be the "rebirth" of the series. Its like what 98 was and (I think) 02 was, where it has nothing to do with the story, and its just a bunch of fan favorites duking it out. Now, as a note, I will buy this game, and probably love it (not as much as Bla-NO! NONE OF THAT) but I'm concerned about it.

It really seems SNK just got lost with this game along the way, and the so called "rebirth" might have to wait till KoF XIII. If you've been following this game you know what some of the complaints are, and the big one is the roster. You have a bunch of the main characters like Andy, Terry, Kyo, Iori, Joe, ect. Hell even Ash is in there, and he's just barely the protagonist of the series now But as a rebirth of the franchise they're certainly missing a lot of fan favorites. Here, take a look at the roster (note, it is missing Elizabeth and Mature)



Now, one of my biggest complaints is the fact that they omitted some really popular characters in favor for some of the B squad cast, that no one really cares about it seems. Three that I really feel could be substituted with better, more popular characters are Duo Lon, Daimon, and Raiden. ESPECIALLY Raiden. When you're in the process of a "rebirth" a character that was in the old Fatal Fury games, and made unplayable cameos in previous KoF games isn't necessary. If they wanted to keep the roster relatively low, that's fine, but don't waste space on characters no one has even played as. I can think of a few more characters that would be better suited for this game... like oh I don't know...



I will not stop bitching about this. The fact that these two popped up on the KoF Anniversary site in KoF XII style art and STILL haven't been announced for this game is completely absurd. And unless this recent delay was to put them in the game (which I doubt) then son of a bitch, I don't see them being as DLC because NO fighter has ever put new characters in as DLC, and the only way around that with out fucking up is if they include them in the disc and sell the key online.

But seriously, talk about missing some god damn fan favorites. Mai is the number one favorite female fighter in the SNK universe, and for obvious reasons. I don't buy one second that they didn't include her in the game to save the T rating, because suggestive themes or not, its still going to be rated T. Think if a Street Fighter game besides SFIII didn't have Chun Li, how fucked up would that be? Then moving on to K, correct me if I'm wrong, he was the protagonist of the series from 99 to 01 right? So why Ash Crimson and not K? Stupid stupid stupid.

Moving on, now to some other ways they might of fucked up this game



Iori doesn't have his powers anymore... and neither does Mature. This is because something in the story about Ash Crimson taking them or some shit like that. Okay fine, whatever, its fucking stupid but I accept it... IF THIS GAME HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE STORY! Which it doesn't! Theres no reason to completely redo characters like Iori's move set for a "rebirth" game due to something that happened in the forgettable story of a past fighting game. So yeah, no more cool Kyo like powers for Iori, no more long ranged attacks, just fucking scratches. This sucks because Iori was one of my favorite and most used characters in old games, and now its almost like he's a completely different character. For god's sake if this game is for the fans, give them what they god damn want.

Last complaint, and the most minor. Athena. I hate her "old" design. If you aren't familiar with it, it's her Psycho Soldier design, from the first game she was in. Okay fine, fan service, but in this case, it doesn't fit. She looks so out of place in the art style, it's ridiculous. Look at that roster picture again, everyone has anime influence to it, but god damn Athena looks like she's a straight up SUPER KAWAII HEEHEE MOE >o< V MOE~~~~!!!! anime stereotype. Fuck that.

Whatever... I'm still buying the game, but I'm going to be moody when I play it. SO TAKE THAT SNK!