King of FIghters XIII Announced!

[Veno]

The Japanese opening cinematic is awesome. Didn't expect the story to actually be the climax of the Ash Saga. I'm actually getting pretty excited for this, because it looks like they know what they're doing.

I'm really, really hoping they don't mess this up.

[the7k]

KOFXII was a transitional game. Every time the series has gone through a transition (KOF'94, KOF'01 and - to a much lesser extent - KOF'03), it's been pretty flawed. Hell, even Capcom has had this problem, with games like Street Fighter Alpha and Darkstalkers being mere shadows of their successors.

With KOFXII, a foundation was laid. Now, they can simply build upon that foundation.

[Veno]

Actually, that makes perfect sense. But you know, it's still worrying when a previous game does less than expected, but that's a really good point. Guess it's in the history of fighting games.

[wip3outguy7]

Yeah, Hwa Jai is in.

[the7k]

From what I've heard, Hwa Jai plays like a mix of Joe and Adon. Could be interesting, but I hope they change him up so that he's not such an obvious head swap with Joe. Also would like to know what his "Alcohol guzzling" move actually does aside from make him turn red.

Anyway, here is some info I've been getting from other sites:

Quote: The scenario of the Yagami team is fantastic. Both secretaries are indeed dead, but they don't really care about such trivial concepts. They appears as shadows first before taking their usual shape, and offer Yagami their help, because they like him, and so they can go against the guys who want Orochi's power, while he can go hunt down Kyo. I especially like the part "Iori felt the 3 eyes staring at him". Since they are dead, Mature's eye patch doesn't make any sense, it's just a fashion statement. Which I think is even better, in a way. Vice just doesn't care about fashion.
Also, Chizuru is still depressed and takes xanax, or something.

By Iggy


Quote: Just to clarify curiousity for the non-readers, the novel for Iori's team says that the two secretaries are supposed to be dead, and also hints that they've returned through some unexplained force.

As his cigarette burned to its last ashes, Iori abruptly slurred. "You're nothing but the dead, what do you want after all this time?"

As Iori watched, the shadows squirmed and slowly started to take form, turning into two beautiful women.

The story goes on with the two secretaries telling him that they're not pissed off at him, and they're back because the Orochi powers are being stolen by the weird new fellows. The previous storylines on the site explained that the Orochi seal was once again broken with Chizuru and Iori losing their powers (though it'd still take a few hundred years before the Orochi himself can come back). So I guess that kind of explains how the two secretaries can come back.

As for Chizuru, she's just resting in her house all day and night, completely lifeless and depressed that she's lost her powers. And it gets her even more depressed with self pity when Iori makes a visit. Because he's doing just fine, and he just beated his way through the bodyguards all over her house without the need of any superpower (yes, Chizuru's a millionaire).

By Professor

Professor at mmcafe

1- Hwa Jai looks like Joe-- in fact, I think they just replaced his head. His normal move set looks the same too. However he plays quite differently, at least from the Joe that we know from XII. For one thing, Hwa Jai doesn't have a projectile and he seems better off fighting in close range.

His dragon Kick from FF1 functions like a Tiger Kick when done with weak kick, but it doesn't have invincibility, or very little if any. Done with the fierce, it's similar to FF1 and he flies across the screen. He can also do it in the air, which gives it different performance than on the ground. Done with weak, it makes him kick downwards like a dive kick. Fierce makes him fly forwards in the air. So, you can do a weak dragon kick into the air and then drop back down with another weak dragon kick if you have a hyperdrive meter.

His Dragon Tail is a golden heel that can be done on the ground and in the air. I think it's unblockable on a crouch? Might be wrong, but I've seen a crouching Yuri get hit a few times with it.

It's not printed in the command list, but he has rapid punches similar to that of Joe's.

He can drink and turn color like in FF1 but its function is a mystery right now-- it doesn't seem to change the properties of his special or attacks. From what I heard, it's supposed to make his attacks do more damage or speed him up, but the move might not actually be functioning at this point of development.


2- Vice
Vice doesn't have her Outrage/Ravenous kicks but she's still fun to use. I'm not sure if she has her Mithan's Robe; people were using Deicide after the Mayhem. Vice's Deicide functions a bit differently and it now pulls the opponent right in front of her. I think it's supposed to be coupled with an EX move. Her new move, Splash, is like the Withering Surface from KOF98; she jumps towards the opponent and throws them. If she misses, she does her traditional stretching pose on the ground.

Awakening Blood is interesting-- Vice looks away from the screen and undresses her upper garment a bit, revealing a red tatoo on her back. Then the screen goes black, the mark of her tatoo appears, and we see that the opponent's hit when the screen turns back to normal.


3- Other Tidbits
There's pre-bout dialogues for each round when you're playing single player mode. It's pretty much the same as in SNK vs Capcom, but with new artwork. And yes, each character has a set of graphics for facial expressions.

Also, there's an intermission scene between stages when you're playing single player mode.

The intermission starts with Rose being interviewed by a reported about the KOF tournement, and she's says something to the point of "Oh, money is no concern".

The scene then switches to Botan and her gang watching Rose on TV (same scene as that in the intro movie released a week or so ago), and then switches to a front view of Botan, who says something to the extent of "things are going to plan".

After Botan's scene, it changes to a sideview of dark place resembling a king's throne. Mukai is seen kneeling down to someone in the chair. "You're called Mukai, right? You're really useless, you know." "I understand.."

Then we find out that it's Ash that's laying on the chair, seemingly kind of bored as he looks at his manicured fingers.
"In fact, you should all die."

Camera switches to something that looks like a zoom-up of a red orb, and the intermission ends.

The NEO MAX moves looks very good for some characters and kind of bland for some others. Ash's, which is up on the official site, is one of the more boring ones-- he just holds the opponent and engulfs himself together with them in his flame, kind of like how Kyo did to Goenitz in KOF96's ending.

I'll have more details on the game in like 3 or so hours, Gunsmith asked to Q&A me then. We were supposed to have met up but things happened.

But... I think most of the new stuff can be seen in the HongKong videos anyways? I'm sure half the materials I've wrote on this post can be seen in them too. Tudow doesn't load well for me so I can't check.
Just to clarify on this thing. When you're playing single player mode, there's a text box underneath your life bar and it gives you various missions, like 'roll 3 times', or 'do a combo with X amount of hits". It's just an optional thing on the screen and you can just ignore it, but if you accomplish the task, the game rewards you with a bonus.

I forgot to mention, single player mode didn't feature a boss at the current time. After you finished fighting another team in Rose Coliseum, the game ended with a message from the developers and a scene from the intro movie where the Ash chapter characters dropped from the sky.

BTW one bad news- still no taunts. Start button does nothing.

The intermission demo starts off with Rose being interviewed by a reporter.

"That's correct. The Bernstein foundation is holding this tournament on its own. Oh, money is of no concern."



Scene switches to Botan and her gang, watching Rose on a wall of screens (same scene as that from the intro).

"Things are going as planned. With the tournament now in place, all we have to do now is open the gate."

(Note: I think she said, "With the tournament colisium set on the top of Orochi's resting place, all we have to do now is to open the gate".)



Scene switches to a sideview of a dark location that looks like a king's throne. Mukai is kneeling before someone on the chair.

"So your name was Mukai, right? You're completely useless, you know that?"

"It's all my fault sir. But Botan, she is handling things accordingly."

The camera zooms into the character that's slouching on the chair and looking kind of bored. And we see that's it's Ash, except he looks a bit different than usual. He's wearing a white costume, and has his hair down and long, no hair band. Actually, the scene can be seen in KOFXIII's opening trailer, around 0:26 seconds.

"Magaki's dead, Shion's missing, and we've only got one chance. You guys should all just die. Your lives are worth crap, but at least you can make some decent use out of it."

"I understand sir. Thank you for your kind words."

Camera switches to something that looks like a zoom-up of a red orb, and the intermission ends.

So is it the Ash that we've known since KOF2003, or some kind of an evil twin? Only time will tell.

Athena
"Psycho Medly" NeoMax makes her hit the opponent, then attack from multiple directions on the screen as she wears outfits from the previous KOF games. The developers didn't go though the trouble of making animations for each of the attacks, so they're just single frames that appear for a split second.

Benimaru
Neomax: He does a stylish pose where he raises one of his hand, and then shoots a laser of lightning across the whole screen.

Hwa Jai
His voice is very high toned, kind of like Adon from Capcom's Street Fighter Alpha series. His Neomax looks standard but it's a bit weird. He attacks the opponent with a stronger version of his horizontal Dragon Kick, and when he hits, the screen flashes white. When it turns back normal, you see Hwa Jai on the ground, his hands raised in the air as though he's either doing a victory pose or praying. But when you look at his face, he looks totally crazy like a mad Yamazaki, drooling (or spilling out booze?).

Yuri
Neomax is a huge Raikouken. Not too flashy. Her pre-fight dialogues are hilarious.



Pre-fight dialogues
First and formost, these are from memory and short notes so they're not word for word and lines are missing. Please don't, DON'T blame me for any mistakes. They should give you a good idea of how the dialogues go though, and should be better than nothing at all.



Iori vs Kyo
Kyo: Man, you've lost your flames, but you still haven't changed a bit, have you?
Iori: Shut up and Die, Kyo.
Kyo: Oh what's this, are you rushing for some reason? It isn't like you now, is it?
Iori: Shut up! I said die!

Yuri vs Robert
Robert: Hey Yuri, let's go out after this!
Yuri: Oh I'm sorry, I need to attend a celebration afterwards. But I'll see you at the hospital! Because I'm going to send you there!

Mai vs Raiden
Mai: Mr. Bear, is that you?
Raiden: No! I'm Raiden! I-AM-RAIDEN!
Mai: Huh? What's up with you? Why are you wearing a mask?
Raiden: Don't ask sensitive questions like that!

(Raiden is Big Bear. That's the joke)

Yuri vs Raiden
Yuri: Is it true that you hate Koalas?
Raiden: That's right. Koalas, you can't understand a thing that they're thinking.
Yuri: But Koalas are bears too!
Raiden: No! A bear and a Koala is different! Don't put them together!

(Again , Big Bear -> bears.....Koala's)

Yuri vs Vice
Vice: Cripes, your voice just gives me headaches! I need to shut you up!

Yuri vs Mature
Yuri: An eye patch! What happened to your eye? Did you have an accident? Are you diseased?
Mature: Oh no, it's not something like that. Would you like to see it?
Yuri: Erm, I have a bad feeling about it... No thanks, I'll pass.

Mai vs Hwa Jai
Mai: Oh my God, another guy that's just wearing nothing but boxers!
Hwa: What? So you know about Joe?

King vs Mature
Mature: Oh, what a beauty we have here! You're just as beautiful as a rose.
King: Well watch out, because this rose has thorns!
Mature: I enjoy ripping pedals off from beautiful roses. It must be wonderful to see and hear you in agony too.

King vs Elisabeth
King: Looks like you've got class. Why not come have a drink at my bar when we're finished?
Elisabeth: Yes, let us drink-- to my victory!

Athena vs Ash
Athena: I didn't realize it before, but you have a strong will... you're determined to do something.
Ash: And so what? Not like I want anyone to understand.

Athena vs Athena
Athena: Huh? What is this? Are we having some kind of an event or something?

Rex Dart

Just got back from the Shinjuku loke test. It as pretty packed. Much busier than the previous one. I'd estimate there were always around 25 people in line or playing. People seem to be digging it.

I think there's been a lot more coverage this time around than last time, so please forgive me if I repeat stuff that's already been mentioned. It's hard to keep track of old/new news.

System
- Unlike the previous build, Drive Cancels now take up half of your Hyperdrive meter. But the Hyperdrive meter starts full-sized. (In the previous build, DCs took up 25%, and the meter got longer with each subsequent character, allowing for more cancels.)
- While in Hyperdrive mode, you can't seem to build any meter. That means that, if you have three stocks and are trying for a NeoMax move, and accidentally do an EX move or a normal DM, there's no way you'll be able to do your NeoMax.
- As was mentioned elsewhere, the attendants kept having to restart the machines. Apparently the game starts to slow down if it's been running too long. Strange. Better fix that!
- Your power bar builds more slowly.

Andy
- It seems he can break his kick again.
- The DM listed in his command list (QCBx2+P) doesn't seem to exist. I tried repeatedly to do it and just got his normal projectile. I'm not that bad. Seriously, it was like they forgot to add it.
- Most popular drive cancel is Elbow (DB_F+P) -> DC Shoryudan or kick or super.
- His NeoMax is so damn fast. SO FAST. Not very flashy, but it gets the job done.
- Has an Eiji alternate (purple with red flames).

Ash
- Has a Joker alternate. Green hair, white face, purple outfit. Good job, SNK.

Athena
- Her NeoMax looks great. She dashes forward, and proceeds to pinball her opponent around between various still frames of her old outfits. The move concludes with her commanding a host of angelic arches to fire at her opponent.

Clark
- EX SAB has scary good range. Looks like it eats most attacks too.

Iori
- I saw someone manage to connect an uppercut (DP+P) AND his DM after Iori's HCF+C throw, but the timing seems amazingly strict. It's safer to just go straight for the DM.
- C -> HCF+C no longer works, but QCB+K -> DC HCF+C does. Very handy.
- I'm convinced his NeoMax wasn't included. I saw at least three people try to do it. They would very obviously try to build up three bars, enter Hyperdrive mode and then... Either an EX DP+P or an EX HCF+P. You could perhaps write off my earlier comments about Andy's DM to my own execution failure, but honestly, I saw multiple people fail to execute this move.

King
- NERF'd! Her slide no longer knocks down and her Tornado Kick (HCB+K) no longer passes through blocking opponents. She's still solid though.
- Double Strike (QCFx2+K) is still a DM. The projectiles are now red, as opposed to blue.
- Trap Shot -> DC Surprise Rose (QCFx2+P) whiffs. Disappointing.
- Close D -> Trap Shot (DP+K) -> DC Tornado Kick -> DC Venom Strike (air) OR Neo Max.
- Her NeoMax (Venom Shot) is a huge, HaohShokoken-sized projectile. Well, it's more like many projectiles since it hits multiple times, but they all appear as a single wave. You can perform it on the ground or the air, but if done on the ground King will jump up a short distance anyway. The move is aimed diagonally downward.


Leona
- A version of her X-Calibur is the classic (pre-XII version). C version is XII-style.
- Her NeoMax is called "Leona Blade."

Mature
- Her NM start-up is her pulling back her eyepatch, revealing the Orochi eye. It's almost identical to Vice's, but I couldn't figure out what kind of conditions it had for connecting. It didn't seem like Mature traveled the same distance as Vice did. My guess is that there are some subtleties that aren't immediately apparent.

Raiden
- His NM is a bit weird. He strikes the same pose he makes during his grab DM (finger in the air), and then charges forward to do an incredibly damaging clothesline. Not as flashy as some of the others. It's called "Raiden Bomber."
- His Super Drop Kick now only needs to be charged for four seconds, as opposed to ten.
- He has an alternate that looks just like Patrick Van Heyting from Buriki One. No one remembers who that is, but his outfit is just a black speedo + boots.

Ralf
- He has his Bareback Vulcan Punch (QCB,HCF+K) DM back! SNK really likes Ralf.
- His EX Gatling Punch looks just like his old '94/5 DM. In other words, it's Gatling Punch + Vulcan Punch + uppercut finisher.
- Awesome: Vulcan Punch -> DC Neo Max (Jet Vulcan Punch) = 97 HITS! Holy ****, with better timing Ralf really would have the Hyakuretsu Ken.
- If his Neo Max misses, he doesn't enter the cool down phase.
- Gatling Punch -> DC Gallatica Phantom.

Ryo
- Multipunch -> DC HCB+D -> (in corner) uppercut. Very cool-looking, and good damage.
- EX version of his Ryuko Ranbu has him adding a Haoh Shokoken to the end of it, a la Takuma.
- Saw f+A -> Ryuko Ranbu.
- His Neo Max has a strange energy effect upon hitting. Reminds me of Maxima's QCB+P. It doesn't dizzy the opponent.

Takuma
- His projectiles are huge and fast. Other projectile-heavy characters (Athena and King) can't seem to keep up with him.
- His walking animation is great. He confidently struts forward with a big grin on his face.
- He's slower and heavier than most other characters.
- Feels like a mix of classic Takuma and a new Takuma.

Terry
- Close C -> Buster Wolf -> Neomax (Trinity Geyser). Flashy, but probably not worth the extra bar. Just like with his Dream Cancel in XI, Buster Wolf hardly does any damage. Better to just do Close C -> Trinity Geyser.
- EX Rising Tackle now does around 17 hits.
- C version of Power Wave doesn't travel as far. EX Power Wave is full-screen. (I suspect his normal Power Waves are no longer full screen just so that the EX version has more advantages.)

Vice
- Damn strong. In this version of the game, I'd say she's probably one of the strongest characters.
- She can do Mayhem (QCB+P) -> DC Da Cide (HCF+K) -> DC Mayhem -> Etc. Shenanigans! Of course, unless she's in Hyperdrive mode, she can only DC twice.
- Maybe it's just the trajectory, but it doesn't seem like Splash (her DP+P move) makes a very good anti-air throw outside of a follow-up to Mayhem. Was mostly used to catch crouching opponents.

Yuri
- The addition of her uppercut has made her a crowd-favorite. CrB -> CrA -> DP+P -> DC ANYTHING.
- Her NM has the same basic animation has her Raioken (QCF+K) but instead of her normal projectile she throws something that would be best described as a nuclear weapon cleverly disguised as a projectile. Big explosion.

------

New York Stage
- There's a blimp with a television screen on it showing the current match. Just like the TV in the stadium stages. Lots of floats can be seen. (My favorite is the dinosaur.)

Brazilian Stage
- Heavy falls (usually caused by DMs but not always) cause things to drop from the trees above. I saw some fruit and even a snake.
- I love the attention to detail in this stage. Especially the small lizards and frogs off to one corner.

France Stage
- Saw Shermie. She appeared in the third or fourth round. She kind of stands out because, unlike everyone else, she isn't animated. Still, a nice easter egg.

China stage
- I hadn't noticed before, but everyone in the background is now on a boat bobbing up and down.
- Li Xiangfei cameos on one of the rooftops. Similar to Shermie, she appears randomly in the third or fourth round. She has some dim sum bowls. (Are they even called bowls? Don't know the proper terminology.)

England stage
- The weather changes slightly during the course of the match. There's a lot of fog in the first round, but some rays of sunshine appear by the fifth match.

-----

Thinking I'd like a chance to practice the game, I got in line to do the single player. This turned out to be a mistake after about half an hour, when I realized I had barely moved in line. Turns out, it takes a long time for people to play through six stages. I think this is because people either wanted to try out lots of combos and NeoMax moves, or they wanted to see all the cutscenes and intro dialogues. They only had one machine set-up for single-player too.

Anyway, the good news is that XIII, in complete contrast to XII, has an incredibly robust single player. More so than any other arcade KOF. The challenges are a great idea (and remind me of Heart Attack mode from Outrun 2). The challenges I saw:
- Roll three times.
- Jump three times.
- Get a three hit combo.
- Drive Cancel a move.
- Hit the opponent with an EX Special.
- Hit the opponent with a DM.
- Hit the opponent with an EX DM.

And the intros are fun.
- Terry pisses off Takuma by not remembering the name of his alter-ego. (He calls him "Mr. Tengu.")
- Everyone makes fun of Terry for being a hobo. Well, they more nicely refer to him as a Freeter (wikipedia it), but the meaning was clear.
- If these get a good translation, I don't think very many people will be missing the animated intros.

As everyone has already seen, the animation quality is superb. No voice acting yet, but hopefully that will come later.

Overall the game is shaping up amazingly well. It already seems very complete, except for a few small details:
- Hwa Jai's clonage is a bit obvious.
- In single player mode, the lack of team stages is odd. I fought the Psycho Soldier team in the Egypt stage, and their happy, upbeat music set against the creepy Egyptian dudes was very incongruous.
- The above-mentioned slowdown (after extended gaming).

Overall, everything is going great. Good luck to SNK with the last 10%.

[the7k]

Ahhh! It's K'! It's K'!

http://game.snkplaymore.co.jp/official/ ... index.html

[Veno]

Is he gonna fight with the sunglasses on all the time? Other than that though, he looks badass.

[the7k]

The reaction from everyone else seemed to indicate that him fighting with the sunglasses on was a good thing.

[Ack]

Hmm...looking over the characters there, I'm a little upset because I don't see Kula. I thought she might end up in this one, but...oh well, I guess not.

At least Kim is still in. I guess that'll be the team I focus on first.

[the7k]

Didn't you notice that there are two "Coming Soon" spaces on K''s Team?

I'd think it's a pretty safe bet Kula and Maxima will be filling those spots.