The end of July is going to be a good time for fans of 2D fighters: the genre has seen a resurgence in popularity over the past couple of months, and SNK's King of Fighters XII is only one of many high-profile releases this summer.
According to KOF12's Twitter feed, Ignition Entertainment will be bringing the brawler over to the States on July 28, one day before Capcom's Marvel vs. Capcom 2 hits XBLA and PSN. And how's this for weird: We're getting King of Fighters XII two days before Japanese audiences, which probably means the world is about to explode.
Since there's only so much you can really say about release dates, here's a fun fact: The artwork for King of Fighters XII was all hand-drawn and each character took 18 man-months to create. The team faked the lighting by using different sprites, depending on where characters were on the screen. Another fun fact? The PS3 version of the game will support clans.
And, hey, to make this post worth your while, I embedded two gameplay montages that Ignition PR were kind enough to send over. The e-mail mentioned that they featured "devastating Sousai (deadlock) counters, critical counter attacks and guard attacks," but I don't know enough about the series to be able to find those in these videos. I like the art and explosion effects, and I like making people beat each other up, but I know that I will never, ever be anything more than a below-average fighter.
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I was praying that the July 20 date would hold. Oh, well. Still, I'm getting this day one. BlazBlue is a blast but it's not quite my style. King of Fighters will likely be my preferred fighter.
I disagree and must say that the dream of fighting game fans is to have the perfectly balanced game, where every variable has been painstakingly accounted for. The fighter where every player, if serious enough and willing to work, could play whomever he or she wises in tournaments viably. The perfect game needs no fatalities, perhaps tatters on clothing, but even that idea isn't so necessary. I think the perfect fighter needs only balance. I
believe any of the larger developers could create this game, of course, i'm speaking in ideals and this may not be possible. I would love to see another 2D fighter that runs smoothly at 60 frames per second.
Argh, seems like I'll have to relearn kof again now that I got a stick. Well, not that I wasn't a bit rusty to begin with. Playing KOF 98 on NOT mame so hopefully I'll be comboing into V Slashes on day one.
this game has the best looking animation I have ever seen in a 2d fighter. This is a must buy for me. I'm surprised it took a fledging developer to create an all 2D fighter. Thanks for taking the risk! I'm gonna go broke with all these fighters coming out this year. Its a great year to be a fighting fan
@ The Kojukinator: KoF XII is high-res. The difference between KoF and BlazBlue is that BlazBlue uses tradition cel-style animation whereas KoF uses true sprites, which are built pixel by pixel. The animation in KoF is much more impressive than BlazBlue. Also, I expect a more technical fighter in KoF.
@nilcam: thanks for the insight, I didn't realize they were using different techniques to achieve the end result. But it makes me wonder, why did they go the pixel by pixel route? Sprites are sprites, just an end result which is a 2d graphic surface. The art can come from a sketch, 3d render, vector drawing, etc... Are the KoF devs just so old-skool badass that they went with their method? I suppose I can appreciate that sorta leetness, but I still wonder about it.
Before my comment above, I compared the quality of the screenshots from BlazBlue to KoF XII and noticed much worse aliasing on the KoF sprites. Sure, they are not as pixelated as the Marvel vs. Capcom variety... but they are no Guilty Gear/BlazBlue caliber.
Also I agree that KoF will most likely be a more traditional and technical fighter. But BlazBlue is up my alley with over-the-top-characterization that I just have a thing for.
"Also I agree that KoF will most likely be a more traditional and technical fighter. But BlazBlue is up my alley with over-the-top-characterization that I just have a thing for."
Which is awesome! Fighting games for EVERYONE. 2009 is the year for the Fighting genre. I love it.
@ The Kojukinator: I think they went the traditional route because pixels are more scaleable. If you scale up the hand drawn stuff, it gets blurry and messy. Scaling pixels up makes them a bit more jagged but the character models stay truer to the concept, because pixels are vector-based (defined by mathematical points) rather than raster art. They probably feel the sprites are more their style and can be reused for at least 10 more years, as SNK usually does.
I love that this year has so many fighting games dropping. Not only is there something for everyone, but there are so many different techniques on display - 3D with 2D hit boxes, hand drawn 2D, pixel 2D, 3D rendered, etc. It's all good.
Too bad this game is receiving pretty crappy reviews, even in Japan!
Honestly though, it boggles the mind that anyone thought this game would be good. KoF has a long and strong history of mediocrity.
And major LOLZ to saying KoF12 will be a more "technical" fighter than, BlazBlue. The Guilty Gear series (which it is basically a continuation of) is BY FAR the most technical and has the most depth of any 2D fighter out there. Except for MvC, nothing else is really even close to it in terms of technical skill needed to win at high level.
Stick with Street Fighter IV, BlazBlue, and Tekken 6 if you want GOOD fighters this year.
I know you won't read this but you guys obviously don't play MvC at even CLOSE to high level.
The ridiculous combos and screen control needed to maintain lockdown and high damage output are quite akin to those of the Guilty Gear series.
It only LOOKS like a button masher to people who don't know how to play it seriously because you can mash and make a whole shitload of stuff happen on the screen. That doesn't mean Justin Wong wouldn't beat you 100 out of 100 times using whatever characters you want him to use.
Yeah, that's what he does. He accepts money matches at this game where you can choose his characters. That sort of consistency doesn't come from something that isn't a technical fighter.
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Contest:
12:40 PM on 07.14.2009
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At least they give us a date though...
Before my comment above, I compared the quality of the screenshots from BlazBlue to KoF XII and noticed much worse aliasing on the KoF sprites. Sure, they are not as pixelated as the Marvel vs. Capcom variety... but they are no Guilty Gear/BlazBlue caliber.
Also I agree that KoF will most likely be a more traditional and technical fighter. But BlazBlue is up my alley with over-the-top-characterization that I just have a thing for.
Which is awesome! Fighting games for EVERYONE. 2009 is the year for the Fighting genre. I love it.
I love that this year has so many fighting games dropping. Not only is there something for everyone, but there are so many different techniques on display - 3D with 2D hit boxes, hand drawn 2D, pixel 2D, 3D rendered, etc. It's all good.
Honestly though, it boggles the mind that anyone thought this game would be good. KoF has a long and strong history of mediocrity.
And major LOLZ to saying KoF12 will be a more "technical" fighter than, BlazBlue. The Guilty Gear series (which it is basically a continuation of) is BY FAR the most technical and has the most depth of any 2D fighter out there. Except for MvC, nothing else is really even close to it in terms of technical skill needed to win at high level.
Stick with Street Fighter IV, BlazBlue, and Tekken 6 if you want GOOD fighters this year.
MVC is a technical fighting game???????????Hem seriously have u ever play a KOF title?????
You are hilarious! Marvel vs Capcom is technical? Wow, you made my day! HA HA HA!
The ridiculous combos and screen control needed to maintain lockdown and high damage output are quite akin to those of the Guilty Gear series.
It only LOOKS like a button masher to people who don't know how to play it seriously because you can mash and make a whole shitload of stuff happen on the screen. That doesn't mean Justin Wong wouldn't beat you 100 out of 100 times using whatever characters you want him to use.
Yeah, that's what he does. He accepts money matches at this game where you can choose his characters. That sort of consistency doesn't come from something that isn't a technical fighter.