Un autre avis , c un post de shawn sur neo.com. De mieux en mieux ce jeu
Another perspective from the location test in Japan, this author wishes to remain anonymous:
I just got back from the November 17th location test at Neo Geo land in Esaka, Osaka. So, here’s the skinny on the fatty that is THE KING OF FIGHTERS 2003. Well, I’ll say that I was instantly impressed. They managed to do new things with our decade old KOF series that hasn’t been done before. That is, there is a new tag battle system like that of Kizuna Encounter or Rage of the Dragons. So, yep, individual rounds are gone-a refreshing idea. Before the 3 versus 3 matches begin, you select a lead fighter and then the other 2 players. During battles, all 3 of your team members’ life bars are shown at the top of the screen. When fighting, you can command your current character to exit for a new team member who will jump in, and resume fighting from there. I’m not sure what the circumstances need to be that you can change characters, but it appears to be related to a power gauge at the bottom of the screen.
The matches I saw looked really fast and intense. Clearly, all the character animation was sped up making this game seem like it’s on caffeine & pop rocks or something. This KOF really has a hyper tempo.
Like myself, I’m sure many Neo Geo fans look forward to the “look” of each new KOF. I gotta say, KOF 2003 is one damn handsome game. Here’s a few descriptions: European street-looks like Dudley’s in Street Fighter III New Generation, Honk Kong Building Top. Now this is my favorite stage. It’s nighttime, and you fight on top of a darkened rooftop and in the background is a futuristic Hong Kong looking cityscape that is brightly illuminated by this kind of whitish florescent lighting-very cool. Moreover, there is a giant Japanese style Neo Geo logo, kanji, and flashing SNK signs on the buildings. Other stages are: a traditional Japanese background at night, the boss stage-a Rugal-esque stage similar to KOF ‘94’s, a train tracks stage-like the Midwest USA stage in KOF ’96, and a nice Indiana Jones style Egypt looking background. Overall I think these backgrounds are considerably better than the last 2 KOFs, and are on par with those in SVC Chaos. With a similar art style to last year’s KOF, the character headshots look great, but have more impact than KOF 2002’s. The design of the select screen itself borrows aspects of 2002 & 2001.
As far as I’ve seen, there are 5 new characters (Ash Crimson, Duoron, Shen Wu, Marin, & Adel), a couple characters new to KOF (Griffon & Gato), and of course, a decent amount of re-drawn characters-Terry, Kyo, Griffon, Robert?, Jhun, Yamazaki, Billy, Shingo, King?, Benimaru, & Athena (there may be more that I didn’t see). I felt the new fighters were really impressive and cooler than the NESTS team’s characters (though I really liked K’9999). Duoron is one bold character design. He moves like a snake, and looks like a combination of Lin, Ron, Foxy, and Vice. Ash looks a bit like Foxy, K’, and a smart looking Santa Claus-a pretty cool flame throwing character. Shen-my fav, stands a bit like Benimaru, and with an open shirt and blonde hair he resembles Dean Earwicker of Tekken. Finally, Adel, the boss, is a kick-ass, female version of Rugal-now that can’t be a bad thing can it? One move she has that sticks out in my mind is her Reppu-ken kick. In one word: NICE.
One thing that I usually don’t think much of prior to seeing a new game is the sound and the music. But of course it’s very important. Well, all the sound effects have a lot of emotion in them, like the voice actors were seriously pissed off when they did the recording. Ryo sounds like he did back in the first AOF. Good stuff. The music is incredible. Think the best parts of KOF 2002 but taken even further. It just has this really intense feeling to it, and would be very worthwhile to make a CD soundtrack of it.
Now, honestly I was really looking forward to this KOF in hopes that we’d see some serious old school faces, like charas from Burning Fight, etc. So, when I saw that most of the old cast is back, with only the 2 MOTW characters I was little let down. However, there is quite a bit here that is brand new, and great at that. I’ve read that some want the KOF series to continue hi-res on Atomswave hardware over the Neo Geo. Well, that’s swell and all, but the present KOF character sprites are one of the Neo Geo’s many, many charm points. Those classic pixels give KOF characters weight, and make it a solid & bold game. And, just like honorable old Yoda, I want KOF to die when it’s time, and at home.
However, I would like to see more of the usual KOF cast gone. I would love to see Han Baedal replace Jhun, and some new big guy in place of the un-aging Chang. Same with AOF, how cool would it be to boot Rob or Yuri for some old man Kyogenryu master, and I don’t mean Karate pants. Just ideas, but that’s what makes a game great-fresh ideas, and sharp execution. Small gripes aside, with the new characters, redrawn classics, tag fighting system, great music, and super sharp backgrounds this is going to be an awesome KOF.
Another perspective from the location test in Japan, this author wishes to remain anonymous:
I just got back from the November 17th location test at Neo Geo land in Esaka, Osaka. So, here’s the skinny on the fatty that is THE KING OF FIGHTERS 2003. Well, I’ll say that I was instantly impressed. They managed to do new things with our decade old KOF series that hasn’t been done before. That is, there is a new tag battle system like that of Kizuna Encounter or Rage of the Dragons. So, yep, individual rounds are gone-a refreshing idea. Before the 3 versus 3 matches begin, you select a lead fighter and then the other 2 players. During battles, all 3 of your team members’ life bars are shown at the top of the screen. When fighting, you can command your current character to exit for a new team member who will jump in, and resume fighting from there. I’m not sure what the circumstances need to be that you can change characters, but it appears to be related to a power gauge at the bottom of the screen.
The matches I saw looked really fast and intense. Clearly, all the character animation was sped up making this game seem like it’s on caffeine & pop rocks or something. This KOF really has a hyper tempo.
Like myself, I’m sure many Neo Geo fans look forward to the “look” of each new KOF. I gotta say, KOF 2003 is one damn handsome game. Here’s a few descriptions: European street-looks like Dudley’s in Street Fighter III New Generation, Honk Kong Building Top. Now this is my favorite stage. It’s nighttime, and you fight on top of a darkened rooftop and in the background is a futuristic Hong Kong looking cityscape that is brightly illuminated by this kind of whitish florescent lighting-very cool. Moreover, there is a giant Japanese style Neo Geo logo, kanji, and flashing SNK signs on the buildings. Other stages are: a traditional Japanese background at night, the boss stage-a Rugal-esque stage similar to KOF ‘94’s, a train tracks stage-like the Midwest USA stage in KOF ’96, and a nice Indiana Jones style Egypt looking background. Overall I think these backgrounds are considerably better than the last 2 KOFs, and are on par with those in SVC Chaos. With a similar art style to last year’s KOF, the character headshots look great, but have more impact than KOF 2002’s. The design of the select screen itself borrows aspects of 2002 & 2001.
As far as I’ve seen, there are 5 new characters (Ash Crimson, Duoron, Shen Wu, Marin, & Adel), a couple characters new to KOF (Griffon & Gato), and of course, a decent amount of re-drawn characters-Terry, Kyo, Griffon, Robert?, Jhun, Yamazaki, Billy, Shingo, King?, Benimaru, & Athena (there may be more that I didn’t see). I felt the new fighters were really impressive and cooler than the NESTS team’s characters (though I really liked K’9999). Duoron is one bold character design. He moves like a snake, and looks like a combination of Lin, Ron, Foxy, and Vice. Ash looks a bit like Foxy, K’, and a smart looking Santa Claus-a pretty cool flame throwing character. Shen-my fav, stands a bit like Benimaru, and with an open shirt and blonde hair he resembles Dean Earwicker of Tekken. Finally, Adel, the boss, is a kick-ass, female version of Rugal-now that can’t be a bad thing can it? One move she has that sticks out in my mind is her Reppu-ken kick. In one word: NICE.
One thing that I usually don’t think much of prior to seeing a new game is the sound and the music. But of course it’s very important. Well, all the sound effects have a lot of emotion in them, like the voice actors were seriously pissed off when they did the recording. Ryo sounds like he did back in the first AOF. Good stuff. The music is incredible. Think the best parts of KOF 2002 but taken even further. It just has this really intense feeling to it, and would be very worthwhile to make a CD soundtrack of it.
Now, honestly I was really looking forward to this KOF in hopes that we’d see some serious old school faces, like charas from Burning Fight, etc. So, when I saw that most of the old cast is back, with only the 2 MOTW characters I was little let down. However, there is quite a bit here that is brand new, and great at that. I’ve read that some want the KOF series to continue hi-res on Atomswave hardware over the Neo Geo. Well, that’s swell and all, but the present KOF character sprites are one of the Neo Geo’s many, many charm points. Those classic pixels give KOF characters weight, and make it a solid & bold game. And, just like honorable old Yoda, I want KOF to die when it’s time, and at home.
However, I would like to see more of the usual KOF cast gone. I would love to see Han Baedal replace Jhun, and some new big guy in place of the un-aging Chang. Same with AOF, how cool would it be to boot Rob or Yuri for some old man Kyogenryu master, and I don’t mean Karate pants. Just ideas, but that’s what makes a game great-fresh ideas, and sharp execution. Small gripes aside, with the new characters, redrawn classics, tag fighting system, great music, and super sharp backgrounds this is going to be an awesome KOF.
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