I want Iori to get better too.
He is! Read the King of Fantasy: Iori has a lot more personality than everyone thinks. The games where he shows it the most are stuff like XI/XIII/XIV, but the biggest issue with those games is that they keep writing him as incapable of saying anything but DIEdieDIEdieDIEdieDIEdieDIEdieDIEdie
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I can see him transitioning into more of a K’ grump.
King of Fighters, ranked by Athena looks*
- 2001
- 2000
- 2003
- '99
- 2002
- XIV
- '97
- '98
- XIII**
- XI
- XII
- '94
- '95
- '96
This is where I admit that me not liking the '96 costume is nearly the entire reason why I didn’t seriously consider trying out that game when I asked a month ago. Honestly, if it weren’t for 2002, XI and '96’s placements, I’d actually say this isn’t a terrible metric.
Also, given that the NESTS era is also clearly peak Athena costume era, SNK should definitely have her cut her hair again for XV.
*Maximum Impact 2 is disqualified for fairness purposes.
** Entirely because of the various color editing options.
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Seriously, Athena had her rave game together for the turn of the millennium.
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It’s funny to come in here and see this Athena tier list right after I left an anime con where my last picture was of an Athena XII cosplayer.
My run through the series was when I was very little so a lot of my memories of each game are hazy. Last year I meant to playthrough the entire series again to refresh my impression of it but, uh, '94 sure is clunky by modern standards! I never got around to playing more for one reason or another!
Talking of the story, how much of it’s quality was apparent at the time of each game’s release as opposed to after the fact? After multiple games built up a progression of events to create coherent arcs for the cast?
there’s a live action athena tv show from the 90s, 0 episodes of which are currently subbed
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Also a PS1 game based on that show I believe?
or possibly the other way round
or it’s one of those japanese multimedia things where they both came out at once
Guess I should have mentioned yesterday, there was a sale for a bundle that included KoFXIV, that pre-Neo-Geo SNK compilation Brandon and Frank worked on, the Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap remake, a decent Atari arcade anthology, and a couple other random things, for I think $4? Just thought of mentioning it, but it’s gone now!
I’d been wanting to try out the SNK anthology since Brandon first mentioned it was happening. I’d been wanting to see a proper one for years before then, really. And four bucks is a good price for it alone.
It’s really well put-together. As expected. Haven’t picked away too much yet. (It of course lacks the thick book that comes with the physical version…)
Having bought the physical version, there was no thick book with mine.
in general, I think you can judge the quality of the KOF just by whether they decided Arashi was worth revisiting, and if so, how well they did
Arashi 1 on XIV is a pretty solid, weird, chill remix (which is a good way of looking at XIV if you think about it)
I want to interject here just how… appropriate most of the new characters are in XIV. Most of them feel like classic SNK characters, some of whom might well have their origin in other non-KoF series. During the Playmore era, character design could at times feel like it was off on one, getting carried away with broad anime fripperies that might apply to any number of other series by other developers. But these new designs (e.g., Nelson)? They tend to feel grounded and very SNK-ish.
It also helps that the game feels confident enough to just be stupid. Which is itself rather SNK.
The thing that always defined SNK character for me was whether a character felt like they had a life outside of fighting. The NESTS saga characters always had an edge to them, even the goofier ones (except Hinako, who is coincidentally the best character), and I could see someone like Nelson fighting right in if certain parts of his history were emphasized more (his robot arm, which actually is NESTS related). But Nelson’s dialogue and backstory doesn’t hinge entirely on some sort of connection to real life combat.
In that respect I’ve always felt Kukri was the weakest link of the new characters. Individually I like him but the totality of his character is “he’s mysterious”. Ultimately I guess he’s just some random mercenary, doing jobs for hire? The only wrinkle in him is his personality, which feels more like an annoying child going through puberty than his look would indicate, and that contrast makes me wonder a bit more about what his actual deal is. But as far as what’s presented in KOF14 I don’t know that I have enough to latch onto.
I like what Sylvie brings as a foil to Athena and sets up potential interactions between them, as well as someone who can be a foil to Kula and develop her further as well. Many of the old characters could probably use some new storylines by this point (is Mai’s schtick still just being mad at Andy?) but KOF14 did not provide too much in that regard unfortunately. It was more like a class reunion after a long time, everyone just saying hi to each other and asking how they’re doing.
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Kukri is a shitlord 4chan poster.
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does Kukri ever appear in those KOF twitter things or did he get banned
He must have twelve sockpuppets, though.
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Got SNK 40th Anniversary Collection; it’s the first time I’ve played any of the games (with the exception of Crystalis, and even then it was the reportedly crappy GBC version). This also means it’s my first real time experiencing Psycho Soldier, and I’m sorry, what the fuck has SNK been doing not bringing its elements into KOF canon (cameos notwithstanding)? I mean, say what you will about coherent world-building, but darn it, we could have been getting UFOs and trenchcoat mobsters.
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