OK why do all their King of Fighters games suck? Seriously, the graphics are absolutely crap. How can you possibly go from great games like Fatal Fury 3 (1995):

...To King of Fighters (1996)?

Likewise with Mark of the Wolves - released in 1999, its graphics are great:

...All the King of Fighters games gameplay and graphics suck BADLY. Why Crow, why?

Poll: Would you rather play ONLY FF3 and MOTW or ONLY all the KOF games?
(Vote): FF3/MOTW
(Vote): KOF

JesusCruxRH

New Zealand159 Posts

November 18 2007 11:01 GMT

I guess what I'm trying to say is - they're all made by the same company... How can games that came out after FF3 and MOTW suck more badly than their predecessors in terms of gameplay and especially graphics?

For those who have never played them - go to www.romnation.net and get the MAMEs.

HonestTea

5007 Posts

November 18 2007 11:08 GMT

Why does any bad game suck?

Making a new game every year really compromised quality on this series.

Basically, old recycled graphics + horrid, horrid balance + numerous bugs + poorly concieved overall game engine. And they never fixed these issues. In particular, balance and bugs were a problem for every fucking game in the series.

The merit of this series was always the great character design, plus the "dream matchup" effect. Somewhere along the way this became the definitive SNK fighter. Which is unfortunate, because I always thought the quality was shoddy and the game balance was terrible.

KOF games can't really be taken seriously from a competitive (tourny) point of view, so there's no real longevity either.

myrmidon2537

Philippines2188 Posts

November 18 2007 11:33 GMT

There are 3 decent KOF games I can think of: 98, 02 and XI others are just plain buggy and broken.

As for a tourny point of view, KOF players in the USA don't nearly make as much effort as other players (*coughcapcomcough*) at major tournaments at EVO, although its quite popular in Mexico and some other countries.

On a different note, they're also really popular at places where Arcade games are easily pirated (KOF 2001 SUPER RAINBOW HERO etc etc, as if 2001 wasn't broken enough)

SoMuchBetter

Australia10606 Posts

November 18 2007 11:40 GMT

because snk keeps releasing the same game year after year, recycling the sprites and engine without ever even attempting to change anything to freshen up the series

zXk3

Mexico1178 Posts

November 18 2007 11:55 GMT

How can i start... well, firsft of all let me congratulate you because you arent one of those arcade players who thinks that the best that SNK did was the KoF saga.. but you shouldnt be that harsh with the games, you should keep in mind that both of the sagas (KoF & FF) run over the same board.. the now deceased Neo Geo.. this board used cartridges and those cartridges were way too expensive in that era.. this was one of the points that led to the bankruptcy of the company in the earlys 2000's, now.. the answer to your question is.. while the FF sagas had a smaller character roster than the KoF ones (this was because KoF was oriented more like a "Dream Match" think about it like Nintendo Smash Brothers) this left a lot more room for higher quality music/sprites & animation/scenarios... also you need to had in mind this.. the kof's saga was developed by other ppl than the ff saga.. sharing some ppl, but thats all.. thats why you dont see a big evolution on the sprites, or scenarios.. FF3 (1996) had 2 "official" (not counting the "specials" that led to the origin of the kof saga's) games before and 6 years of experience, while KOF96 had only "Some" people from the others dev teams (AoF & FF mainly)and just 2 years, if you are going to be fair.. just compare MoTW to SNK vs Capcom Chaos.. being this the last "official" game developed for the Neogeo, using all of the great ppl that the NEW SNKP had to give the neogeo a well worth goodbye...

on a side note, kof was a "life saver" for snk.. but was also a big problem due the bootlegs & rom emulation.. just think about it, how much money did snk lost for it.. but also, how much easy money (because they didnt had to develop a whole new game, just "renew" a little the roster) did the sage give them..

hopefully my point of view can be understood, i cant be that fluid writing on english T-T

JesusCruxRH

New Zealand159 Posts

November 18 2007 12:01 GMT

On November 18 2007 20:55 zXk3 wrote:
How can i start... well, firsft of all let me congratulate you because you arent one of those arcade players who thinks that the best that SNK did was the KoF saga.. but you shouldnt be that harsh with the games, you should keep in mind that both of the sagas (KoF & FF) run over the same board.. the now deceased Neo Geo.. this board used cartridges and those cartridges were way too expensive in that era.. this was one of the points that led to the bankruptcy of the company in the earlys 2000's, now.. the answer to your question is.. while the FF sagas had a smaller character roster than the KoF ones (this was because KoF was oriented more like a "Dream Match" think about it like Nintendo Smash Brothers) this left a lot more room for higher quality music/sprites & animation/scenarios... also you need to had in mind this.. the kof's saga was developed by other ppl than the ff saga.. sharing some ppl, but thats all.. thats why you dont see a big evolution on the sprites, or scenarios.. FF3 (1996) had 2 "official" games before and 6 years of experience, while KOF96 had only "Some" people from the others dev teams (AoF & FF mainly), if you are going to be fair.. just compare MoTW to SNK vs Capcom Chaos.. being this the last "official" game developed for the Neogeo, using all of the great ppl that the NEW SNKP had to give the neogeo a well worth goodbye...

on a side note, kof was a "life saver" for snk.. but was also a big problem due the bootlegs & rom emulation.. just think about it, how much money did snk lost for it.. but also, how much easy money (because they didnt had to develop a whole new game, just "renew" a little the roster) did the sage give them..

hopefully my point of view can be understood, i cant be that fluid writing on english T-T

Mmm good post