King of Fighters XII - Breakdown of what we know

There has been a lot of chatter going around since the trailer for King of Fighters XII was leaked from the AOU show. I don't blame it one bit, because from what I've seen in the short clips showcasing King of Fighters XII, SNK Playmore has done its best to make Street Fighter IV seem obsolete before it even really had a chance to shine. Sure, Capcom has a lot going for them at AOU - the most votes polled, the biggest drawing exhibit, and the longest lines for hands on time - but even considering all of these things, it seems that whenever I see Street Fighter IV mentioned inevitably King of Fighters XII is right there with it as an example of what Capcom should have done.

Think I'm over exaggerating a bit? Check out the comments over at NeoGaf, or Postback's Forums, or Insomnia.ac, or Shoryuken.

There's a common thread on most of these postings that should be a bit concerning for Capcom and their positioning back into the arcade fighting scene. Yes, I'm sure it's possible that Street Fighter IV will turn out to be amazing, but when King of Fighters XII is able to begin taking as much hype away from Street Fighter IV as it seems to be doing, that's a sign that fans may already be starting to look past Capcom's flagship fighting franchise. Of course, this may all be my own giddy feelings that I now have about King of Fighters XII putting too much into the feedback being given, but all in all, I'm more excited now about this game than I ever was after viewing the Capcom teaser trailer for Street Fighter IV...

And I know I'm not the only one.


King of Fighters XII is currently early in its development, but there are quite a few unanswered questions out there and speculation based on interpretations of the trailer. Though I'm not an expert by any means, nor do I have any "insiders information" about the title, I do feel that there have been quite a few updates that can begin to shed some light on a few aspects of the game that may clear up some misconceptions being circulated.

First and foremost, there is a bit of a debate going on regarding whether or not the characters seen in the video are sprite based or polygon based. I'm blaming most of this discussion from two posts (one from Kotaku and the other from Wired's Game Life news). In each of these posts, it is clear that the writer is under the impression that the video showcases 3D polygon characters segmented and flat/cell shaded to appear as 2D sprites. I think it's important to note that in none of the coverage I have seen does it specify that this is the case and furthermore, as the discussion on Postback mentions, this does not seem likely based on the video itself. I also think that the references made by Nona in this Game Watch write up makes it explicitly clear that the emphasis in the video was on traditional high resolution 2D design, not 3D as pseudo-2D. Recap said it best (and I agree whole-heartedly with him) - "not a single polygon".

According to Trieu over on the SNK-Capcom forums, SNK Playmore actually toyed with both a 3D and a 2D version for the game prior to their final direction that was taken for King of Fighters XII. As Icycalm points out over on his forums, the last "official announcement" from SNK Playmore in regards to King of Fighters XII had the game firmly in the 2D camp. This doesn't look like it has changed one bit to me personally, but unfortunately, I think there's going to have to be a new official announcement from the company before it's cleared up due to the "authority" of the 3D as 2D sources... This, despite all the evidence to the contrary.

As for the platform, a lot of people seem overly eager to be talking about which consoles a home port will be going to. While I understand their enthusiasm, I believe its a bit premature for any talk about a home port. Of course, it's safe to assume that the two next generation consoles (PS3/Xbox 360) are probably the best fits based on the system specifications of the Type X2 arcade platform; outside of some vague references, I have not seen any information from SNK Playmore Japan confirming any console port at this time. However there was one mention on Kotaku in regards to a Xbox 360/PS3 release in 2009, but since it is from the same post as the 3D as 2D argument, it should be taken with a grain a salt at this stage. Is it possible that this information is correct? Absolutely. However, all focus should be primarily on the arcade release first and foremost.

According to Gamespot Japan, King of Fighters XII is being scheduled for a late 2008 release window. If I had to take a wager on when the first playable build will be seen by the public (outside of possible summer location tests), it will more than likely be at either the 46th AM Show or the Tokyo Game Show (both in September). Considering that SNK Playmore was a no show at this year's 45th AM Show and that they took several arcade cabinets to their set up at TGS, I'm guessing that the Tokyo Game Show may end up being the game's grand unveiling before its release to the wild.


Now, the next bit of contention that I've seen popping up is what role (if any) is Falcoon going to have with the design aspects of King of Fighters XII. According to Game Watch, those Falcoon haters have little to worry about... While Falcoon is busy crafting and baby-sitting his baby (the Maximum Impact series), Nona is handling the art direction on King of Fighters XII. I will admit, I was one of those who originally disliked Nona's direction when he first was brought to the King of Fighters (I always thought that 2001 was a huge step backwards from 2000 in terms of presentation), his work has grown on me especially with King of Fighters XI and the sprite work he did. I'm eager to see what he has in store for the new game...

Over at the Shoryuken forums, a good observation was brought up in regards to the short video sampling available. In both the King of Fighters XI segment into the shift to the new King of Fighters XII segment, there is a definite focus on keeping the battles 1 vs 1 (no tag elements were in the KOFXI shots). There are three icons underneath the health bar in the transitional screen shot for KOFXII, so 3 vs. 3 team battles look to still be in it, however, the dynamic tag system may be removed (or if it is in, may not be the "default" focus of King of Fighters XII).

This could also be simply due to the fact that the King of Fighters XII build at the show is still really early and they wanted some synchronism between the transition to KOFXI to KOFXII, but it is something to take note of none-the-less for future reference.

As for characters, from the video, we know for certain that Kyo, Ash Crimson, Kim, Athena, Terry, and Benimaru will all be returning. We also know that based on earlier promotional art, Goro, Elizabeth, and Leona will also be possibly making a presence. I'm unaware of any other characters shown off on any other material outside of this group, but as users on MMcafe point out, it is possible that the letter "explosion" at the beginning may represent invitees to the King of Fighters tournament. If so, the roster may end up being huge (which is usually a staple for the series).


I'll be keeping an eager eye on King of Fighters XII as time goes on. I doubted that SNK Playmore could deliver on their promises, but based on what little I've seen so far, King of Fighters XII is shaping up to possibly be one of the most important releases on Taito's Type X2 platform... A bold claim considering the surprising amount of support Taito has been receiving from a number of major arcade developers. If anyone else has picked up on anything in regards to King of Fighters XII that I may have missed, feel free to leave a comment or discuss it on the forums. There's not much out there yet, but I'm sure it's all just the trickle before the flood...

Thanks to Fighter's Frontline for the snap shot images of the video.

Several other images and a torrent link to an alternate lower quality version of the trailer from AOU 2008 can be found over at NeoGaf.

[Update] - I've changed the link to the GDC Gametrailers trailer due to the higher quality nature of the video.

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