TAI-X

Those can't be the final English trophy listings, not nearly punny/meme-referential enough. Though this is an XSeed localization and not Aksys.

It's too bad that Rash is going to be the new #1 scrub character. He has a run, a one-button autocombo and bike spamming while powered up, coupled with his memetastic status. Also too bad he doesn't seem to have the crotch grab multi-punch from Battletoads Arcade, lol. Will still enjoy playing as him.

I am unconvinced by this. 2002UM was the culmination of about thirteen years of refinement and experimentation building on top of the playstyle and sprites that were introduced in '96. XIV represents another clean break with the previous generation of the series with none of the same code or assets, and aside from what's been spat out by the hype machine, so far there's little reason to assume that it won't turn out almost as broken and insubstantial as XII did. And I'm not even that concerned with "balance" in the usual sense, more about whether it feels like it all holds together and flows in a satisfying manner with a high degree of control, regardless of which character is picked. MvC2 is a game with a severe power imbalance in its roster that I would still say has excellent "balance" and flow all around. A poor example of this is 2001, which felt like it was completely falling apart at all times, with a weak sense of consistency in mechanics and graphics. Remember that XII's reveal wowed a lot of people, including myself, and early impressions were fairly glowing. Then we actually got our hands on it. There's even fewer veteran staff left at SNKP, now. And if Street Fighter V can't even launch with 20 characters, how can KOF be expected to handle FIFTY right out of the gate? They aren't cheap and fast to make like little Neo-Geo sprites, either.

You got me there. Still, that's one version behind arcades, and CPE will no doubt remain the most current Blazblue on PC for a long time after CF hits consoles.

Do they mean 50 characters at launch, or 50 characters after the final update to this release? There is NO WAY they can have 50 balanced, well-designed, full-fledged playable characters with new models ready at the game's launch. This isn't a Dragonball Z fighter with miniscule movesets and oodles of clones. Maximum Impact 2 really stretched its roster with all sorts of random clones, but this isn't meant to be that style of game...right?

A recent huge leak of unreleased Steam package listings contained a lot of interesting stuff, including this listing for a PC version of -Sign-. This doesn't guarantee that the game is actually coming to Steam, but in this case it's probably safe to take it as a confirmation - as opposed to the Steam package listing of Halo 3 that surfaced back in October, which was an extremely unlikely long shot of which nothing more has been heard of. I think we all knew this was going to happen eventually, but like with Blazblue, PC players are always going to be one version (or more) behind. Don't expect Revelator on PC until 2017 at the earliest.

Do you have a source confirming that Sony is actually funding KOF XIV's development and offering technical assistance in the same manner as with SFV? The fact that the game was revealed at a Sony conference isn't a confirmation of that in itself, and there should be no need for moneyhats now that SNKP found a wealthy buyer. They probably just decided to skip the Xbox One because there's almost no market for it in Asia. Also, there's no precedent for any SNK game ever jumping to arcades after first debuting on console, and the KOF series hasn't already been absent from arcades for several main series entries, like Dead or Alive was from DOA3 to DOA5U. While Maximum Impact didn't arrive in arcades until its third entry, Regulation A was an entirely standalone game designed for the arcade market and not an update to MI2.

I still think the models themselves are fine, but something about the ropey animations coupled with the camera placement indeed feels really off. I think the aesthetics would have held up much better had this been another Maximum Impact game with 3D movement and the characters much closer to the camera. Hell, it doesn't even look as appealing as any of the Hyper Neo Geo 64 fighters. I'm with Vulcan in not trying to judge how it plays until unedited video of a full match with a visible HUD is available. Of course, my opinion is probably going to skew towards the negative, because snappy editing always makes things look more exciting than they actually are, and this trailer still made it seem anything but exciting. Have they said ANYTHING about an arcade release yet? If this is really going to be the first main series KOF that goes straight to console, it doesn't speak well for the amount of faith they have in it. There should at least be multiple open beta tests like with SFV if they don't want the game to be utterly broken out of the gate.

The new "SMACK SMACK SMACK" hit sound effects in BBCP bothered me at first, but I never noticed them after only a short time.

This is true, but when they're handled badly, they invariably wreak an awful effect on the overall game that comes close to ruining it. Of course, Ultras are hardly the only thing fundamentally wrong with SFIV. They are the #2 worst, behind MvC3's X-Factor. Ultras are terrible in part because they completely lock your opponent out of using certain moves safely once you have enough Revenge meter (i.e. no more fireballs against Abel once he has an Ultra ready). SFxT's Pandora is a legitimately good and risky comeback mechanic that deserved a better game, though. Other positive examples that improved their respective games (or at least didn't interfere much with them) are Tekken 6's Rage Mode, DOA5's Power Blow/Power Launcher, and Xrd's Hell Fire.

He doesn't have any known credits before SFIV, though he might have used a pseudonym that isn't known. He may have had some marginal position at SNK for a short period of time; Capcom and SNK staff used to jump back and forth between the two companies pretty frequently in the nineties. At any rate, SFIV stands as the defining work of his career and a strong indicator of what we should expect from him. He was also the lead director of the Arcade Edition update.

This is...worrisome. Were there really no veteran employees up for the position left at SNKP, or at least staff from XIII? Unless you count Critical Counter in XII, KOF's still never had a real "comeback mechanic" to date and I'd prefer it stayed that way. Sure, the earlier games gave you infinite SDMs at low health, but they still had no special priority advantage, and most of them were highly punishable while being difficult to land consistently. I'm sure he likes '94 the best because it has no short hops and plays the closest to Street Fighter II. I've never heard of anyone else calling '94 their favorite - I'd hope that anyone with a preference for those stiff, early mechanics could recognize that the similar '95 is an improved and superior game in every way.

No rekkas outside of V-Trigger though?! No 360 command throw (which was originally the starting point for her craziest V-ISM combos)? Not even her Geese Howard counters? WTF were they smoking? My Alpha 3 main is ruined, and R. Mika is even more stupid in her own ways now. No I don't care how "broken" they are, it's about being interesting and rewarding to play as. I hate how Capcom has dumbed down rekkas since SFIV, where if you connect with one hit on the ground you're guaranteed to hit with the rest if you keep mashing the same command. Fei Long may be SFIV's most honest character, but there's a lot less subtlety and finesse involved in playing him well than in Super Turbo. This is also now true for Karin.

It looks fine. I'd guess you'd prefer everyone to be mud-painted, square-jawed, bulbous steroid freaks sculpted out of clay.

ASW has already caught shit for having on-disc DLC characters in BBCP and Xrd -Sign- with no method to unlock them other than payment or preorders, but unlike when Capcom did it in SFxT, it doesn't seem to have negatively impacted their bottom line. I'd reckon it's actually made them a solid chunk of change that they'd have missed out on otherwise. Granted, we're talking two characters per game instead of 12, but the point stands (and SFxT's roster is far shallower than that of any recent ASW fighter, anyway). Actually, I seem to remember most people pissing themselves with ecstatic glee when Kokonoe was made playable, with very few voicing discontent about having to pay for her. It's going to be the same way with Buri-chan, if not on this forum, then on a lot of other communities. He's a perfect cash cow for the game like Koko was for hers. Even if he is a "returning character" he has yet to appear in 3D or in this game system, and will almost certainly have major changes to his moveset.

Bridget and Baiken are a given, since they were #2 and #3 on the poll. I'm sure Team Red has already been working on Buri-chan for a while now. You just know that he's gonna be a mandatory paid DLC unlock like Leo - there's going to be a significant number of fetishists in Japan who'll buy the game just for him. I'd say it's highly likely that Testament will be in Revelator as well. His playstyle is too iconic, and almost as beloved by tourney audiences as Zato and Faust's. He also has crucial story importance if Dizzy's going to make a full reappearance. Regardless of the anomaly of Anji placing fifth, Anji and Zappa will probably take at least another revision to get added and it's a damn shame. I hope Zappa comes back with a completely new, and equally awesome set of familiars. My +R main Kliff finished dead last in the poll, so the old man's got no chance, even if I-No could pull off some more time travel shenanigans. Justice is now out for the same reason that Ridley will never be added to Smash.

I'm surprised that a brony game wasn't made as a Linux exclusive to begin with. *tips fedora*

Expected but disappointed. Still, happy that PS3 players aren't being left out in the cold. I'm still wondering how Wyrdwad and crew are gonna try to market this one stateside. I'm sure they'd like to push the Saya connection more, maybe even doing some kind of tie-in with JAST, but are understandably hesitant to place emphasis on a 18+ VN (with an arguable loli) in relation to a Playstation product. They'll probably just settle for some generic and vague ad copy about fighting anime waifus, as if it was another Arcana Heart or Senran Kagura game (though of course it does include characters from both those series).

Fall of Incarnates. Welp, that was fast. What a ridiculous failed experiment this was. I still think they could have potentially made a solid Gaijin EXVS without the Gundam license, but the mechanics and controls needed to have been EXACTLY the same. A console version with crossplay would have also greatly helped it to reach the audience it needed. But it's obvious that Bamco had no faith in it from the beginning, and that the devteam was a skeleton crew with a shoestring budget. It was always doomed to be nothing more than a weird footnote in the history of the series. Final day to play is Dec 15 if you already downloaded the game. Though if they had released this as a pay-to-own instead of following the typical League of Losers F2P MOBA model, we wouldn't need to worry about it not being playable and preserved years from now.

Ultimately it didn't mean much in XIII anyway. Mature and Vice were brought back as "ghosts," long after they had been killed by Iori in '96 (they even have transparent alt colors). SNKP paid good money to get that Mature sprite for XII and they weren't going to let it go to waste, continuity be damned. Wouldn't surprise me in the least if Ash got the same treatment for XIV, despite having been erased from the timeline. Color me unsurprised that SNKP's overinvestment in pachinko turned out to be a colossal waste for everyone involved. The industry's days have been numbered for years now, because the younger Japanese generations who grew up with video game controllers in their hands have no patience for that noisy bullshit. I still feel like they're only finally pulling out because the Sinos in charge said so, though.

Hilarious to have a PS4 release without online play. Like with Chaos Code, this wouldn't have affected my purchase decision if I was actually interested enough in the game itself, though. Guess they decided it wasn't worth it when probably 75% of buyers will be either story mode casuals who bought it for the Tony waifus, or arcade scene pros who will exclusively use practice mode. Can't say I blame them.

Tolerated, WTF? Eolith aside, the Neo KOFs had consistently impressive graphics given the hardware. Not on the level of SNK's own Last Blade or Garou, mind you, but very well drawn and appealing. Several of KOF 99's backgrounds are still jaw-dropping today. Unless you're referring to how they kept using upscaled Neo sprites for the characters in Atomiswave games, though I thought they still looked fine against the backgrounds of NGBC and XI. Some of the new Neo-resolution sprites they made for the Atomiswave were downright awesome, such as Neo Dio & Jyazu's reappearances and Ocha-Maru in SS Tenka. It's way too soon for another dream match after the plotless XII, and fans are starving for a new saga after over ten years since Sacred Treasures started. I don't expect the Chinese "multimedia" plans to pan out any differently than how SNKP had already been operating on their own post-Atomiswave, except that there will probably be even more licensed crossovers with Asian MOBAs and the like. The influx of cash brought by the purchase will no doubt do them some good in enabling them to work on stuff we might actually care about, and may be responsible for giving XIV the push it needed to finally get a formal reveal. SNKP's change of ownership might even result in them focusing less on pachinko, since that shit's illegal in China (at least on paper lol). Was kind of hoping that IGS would buy them out instead, though. Taiwan > mainland, and IGS has always been SNK's closest spiritual brethren in the Chinese-speaking world, even designing their own cartridge-based arcade system very much like the Neo. They also made Martial Masters, which I'd say is at least a better fighter than the Eolith KOF entries and XII.

I see this parroted all over the place regularly, but the truth is that it makes hardly any difference unless something is seriously wrong with your wifi setup. Most of the time it's just used as a convenient excuse. Wired vs. wireless game controllers is a more significant distinction, and even then, usually only at the highest levels of play.

Ugh, looks like the love child of Tekken's Christie and Skrillex. At least she seems to be a BJJ practicioner, judging by the chokeholds - I really don't think we need to see a new capoiera character in a fighting game ever again. Still, I can't view her inclusion as anything other than cynical demographic pandering aimed at roping in the massive Brazilian playerbase (who are all just going to pirate the PC version of this game anyway lol). SNK has been guilty of this too, but Ramon was way cooler and more interesting from the get-go.

XSeed's original announcement lists the PS3. I'm not worried. We still don't know whether one or both of the systems is getting any kind of physical release here, though.