A whole lotta KOF going on: KOF XIII KOF 2006: Unlimited battle and KOF SkyStage

There were quite a few people who were disappointed with The King of Fighters 12 when it released last year. And yes, there were quite a few good reasons to be disappointed. Compared to Capcom's latest fighter, Street Fighter 4,  KOF 12 had poorly designed netcode and game breaking bugs that ruined what was an otherwise awesome game with some of the prettiest animated sprites this side of 2D fighterdom! So naturally now everyone's cautious as to what this year's KOF will bring.  Well yesterday I spent some time digging around on the KOF 13 website and here's some of the awesome things compiled here for your viewing pleasure.

First of all before we get to the meat, let's talk about the other KOF projects that's making it's way around: KOF skystage. It appears to be some kind of bizarre SHMUP featuring the series characters as they fly around various areas and using their martial arts technique to blast their enemies out of the sky. It  kind of reminds me of Psycho Soldier, which is probably why Athena Asiyama is listed as one of the bosses. If you're interested, be sure to check out the KOF SkyStage blog. There's a fun little flash version of the game with chibi sprites.  The other news is KOF: Chapter of Orochi  seems to be heading over to PSP. Why? I do not know considering the system is pretty much "ghost ship" status in the West. Then again, in Japan, handhelds are more prevalent so it works out in some strange way.

 For fans that can't get enough of KOF 2002 there's KOF 2006: unlimited match. It looks to be a remix of the original with all Nests arc characters included sans K' 9999. I have my suspicions that the new guy with the shock of white hair (currently known as "Nameless") on the website may be his less Tetsuo like stand-in (smart move for fixing licensing issues) However, since I, myself can't read Japanese, and have an otaku level understanding of the language I've hit a bit of a quandary. I do know that the game will release in Japan this June. Oh well, let the hype and speculation begin!!

Back to KOF 13 which is officially noted as the conclusion of the current story arc Like 12, 13's animation is a bright shimmery white hot awesomeness that may or may not confirm Riot of The Blood Ash Crimson. (He probably thinks that stealing the  Orochi corrupted Yasakani no Magatama from Iori will make him strong enough to defeat Kyo? ) The video also reveals more about "those from the past" who seems to be observing Rugal Bernstien's kids for some reason. I guess in the end everyone has some kind of tie to Orochi.

If you're in the "No Mai, no buy" camp, then you'll be happy to know that the bouncy kunoichi is back for another go, with King and Yuri to make a full Woman's team. This is an improvement, considering the arcade version of 12 was a bit of a sausage fest. Still no word on who is filling the empty team slot. Rumor has it that it's going to be a set of new characters, but I'm kind of hoping that the K's team makes a reappearance. Considering the fact that Heidern and the Ikari team were on the same battleship at the time of it's attack in the ending of KOF XII, It would be a nice way to tie up loose ends. Well that and the fact that K is one of my favorite characters to use in KOF so I have a vested interest in his fate.



Much like the previous year's installment 13 will be running on the Taito type X arcade board, which is fine. The real question is that will Ignition Entertainment still be on board for publishing the home version, and will they be just as adamant about making sure the netcode in this version is running better than the hot mess that was KOF 12's netcode? Well I don't know, but if I were to wager a guess, I'd say that if they could establish something like GGPO (Good Game Peace Out) or even utilize their system to work with their game, then the battle will be half won in that aspect.  Of course I'm giddy with excitement over finally seeing this arc conclude, but I'm still going to be in observation mode until the final product reveals itself.

Game on!

Source(s): KOF Skystage blog  (in Japanese), KOF XIII website (in Japanese), KOF 2006: UB website.