We cannot deny it. the king of Fighters is a video game series that forged the Mexican community that follows fighting titles. For this reason, a legacy has been built not only of passion for the game, but also that national players have gone far in various tournaments. From world championships to victories over the best players on the planet. Even a culture of its own, from the saying about the personal and moral preferences of those who play with Rugal even how do you name Iori under the disturbance of the blood.
The King of Fighters XV It arrives in just over two months from the publication of this text. The hype of the community is high, not only for the fact of being a new delivery. Also for representing the arrival of a new generation, visually speaking, but for the new possibilities in terms of gameplay that it promises. Not counting, of course, the chapter that it means in narrative matters. Because if a lore of fighting games has stood out and impacted in his community, it is that of this franchise of SNK.
The weekend of November 18 we saw a public beta of the game. Classics like Iori or Kyo, returns like that of Yashiro or Shermie, recent signings such as that of Shun’ei or new characters like Dolores were in the limited roster. The players had in their hands the possibility of testing both their movements and their gameplay. Including, of course, prominent members of this local Mexican community.
Players who have competed at the highest level in the franchise, especially in recent times, had not only the opportunity to develop an opinion of what this game can present. Also to share it with the rest of the players. Not only through their own social networks and their own content. They spoke with us about their views on the project and what it will mean for the community.
The Netcode is a flown
Antonio Medrano is known as “Kusanagi”. He is a featured fighting game player in various titles, ranging from classic air dashers to Arc System Works like the series Guilty Gear until Street fighter v. In the latter, he was a participant in the Intel World Open Olympic event and a medalist for the North Latin America region.
Of course The King of Fighters is a series that has not been far from its activities. He has been a participant in events such as Evo for deliveries such as XIII and XIV. With that background, he has an important opinion about what has been the evolution towards the 15th installment of the franchise.
“It’s an improvement over the XIV for sure, but it feels unresponsive at times. It may be a matter of getting used to, but he does feel closer to his bases and in general it’s fun ”, the player told us. “If you like The King of Fighters you should give it a chance.”
Another aspect that draws attention is the netcode. Was promised rollback, an important change from the delay based that is regularly worked on in Japanese-made fight titles. The beta had, among other aspects, a priority of testing its operation.
“The netcode is still a fluke. Sometimes it feels great and sometimes it feels dire. But they are on the right track ”, the Olympic medalist told us about an aspect that is key. So fundamental is that, due to the performance problems that it has had in several Japanese fighting titles, the online competition could not be exploited during the pandemic.
Alignment and balancing
Rolando Neri has as gamertag “Violent Kain”. A world runner-up in The King of Fighters XIII within Evo 2016, he has remained a high-profile player in the XIV edition. For this delivery he achieved regional titles and, in fact, beat the Chinese player Zheng “Xiaohai” Zhuojun in the 2019 Neo Geo World Tour. Gamer currently considered the best in the franchise.
Violent kain He has been very active in the series for the past two years. The XV installment was no exception, especially regarding the beta. He participated in tournaments around it and, in addition, he produced various content. Not only commenting on the trailers, but also gameplay as soon as the possibility was given.
“The recent beta of KOF XV seemed excellent to me, since we were able to confirm things that we had been speculating for a long time, in addition we could see certain changes that were not so obvious,” said the Mexican player. “The overall system is very similar to the KOF XIV, but balanced, that is, you can already use EX movements outside of Max Mode and they only cost half a bar.”
Violent kain tells us that, in this new installment, the Max Mode has changed from one to two bars as a cost. Quick Max, on the other hand, causes a slight pause in the game and makes it difficult to frame trap in this situation. Although these changes are not compared to new mechanics.
“We have a new mechanic, the Shatter Strike, which is a very similar move to the Guard Break Attack seen in KOF Neowave, combining the CD wire damage that was introduced in XIV. Its cost is one bar, but if it connects, the player is rewarded by recovering half a bar of power ”, Rolando tells us. “If he lands on the ground, the opponent is on the ground but on the first hit the opponent is considered an airborne. If he connects in the air, wire damage occurs, being able to punish the opponent after the bounce off the wall ”.
Is it Nerf or nothing
It is common to have the narrative that there are broken characters in the various fighting games. Plus, naturally, players are blamed for being moved by the fighters rather than the opposite. In the edition XIV From the series there were characters accused of this, plus high-profile fighters in even older versions are back. Naturally, there is an opinion about it.
“Shun’ei in this version is severely nerfed, compared to his version in KOF XIV, but that doesn’t mean he’s low tier. He’s just a good character. For example: the move Scarlet Phantom EX previously towards wire damage (bounce off the wall), is now hard knockdown. After the Aqua Spear EX movement, you can follow-up to continue the combo ”, considers the player.
“The only significant change that Kyo has is the strong blow from afar, which now steps forward while striking, which is a very useful tool and definitely makes the character stronger than before,” adds Neri. “Iori has several nerfed moves, like ‘la chueca’ (j, b + B), that the hitstun was reduced or the strong kick from a distance, so it takes much longer to start and recover, among other nerfs. Still, the character feels strong, and has new combo routes. “
“Shermie, Yashiro and Chris are almost the same as their 2002 KOF version. Some have had a move taken away like the ‘Shermie whip’ that can no longer smash on the floor. Others were nerfed by something, like Chris’s sweep, which already has a bigger hurtbox and it takes much longer to recover ”, commented the player about a highly anticipated team of the title. “Dolores surprised me a lot, she has a unique style compared to all the characters that have appeared in the saga, because she has teleports, command grabs and powers that hit from very close to very far.”
Violent kain emphasizes that this version of netcode It is a very particular one, known as GGPO, which is one of the best in the world. With him, he indicates, a tournament with players could be held during the beta from Canada to Colombia without much trouble. In addition, in his opinion, it is a title that has the potential to become one of the best in the entire series.
It will be the February 17th next when, on PS4, PS5, Xbox Series and PC, we see the result of a work to give new luster to a series of fights much loved by the Mexican public. High profile players see in this project a very high potential to achieve this goal. It is up to SNK to close this cycle and build, in a more than satisfactory way, a title that returns the saga to the place among the best of the genre where it belongs.