The King of Fighters XV

best FG i've ever played. makes me wish i'd gotten into KoF a lot sooner, but much better late than never.

First and foremost, KOF 15 is a fighting game. There's no character creation career mode, belt scrolling beat em up mode, rpg mode, or survival mode. You choose your team then fight on thru the dream. To younger fighting game fans I realize why this will come off as bog standard. I admit even I would have liked a few more options. But as an old head I remember enjoying the genre when it didn't throw in side gimmicks and "game journo insta wins" to bait the more modern audience. Let me give it to you straight. This is the best roster since KOF 11 and KOF 2002 Unlimited Match. Not the "biggest" roster in the whole series but the "best" roster. Memorable bosses, forgotten favorites, endearing old skool fools, resurrected remnants, and hawt dames all made it to the final casting couch. As many reservations as I had about Saudi Princes buying stock in SNK's catalogue, I have to admit KOF 15 in no way suffered from the recent backroom business backgammon. I may not agree with all their customs but at least the Saudis appreciate character appeal and rock solid fisticuff fundamentals. There was enough common sense left over on the cutting board to let the Japanese chefs continue to cook in the kitchen! Maybe "world peace" isn't just a pipe dream after all! Other things - I like the graphics! They are better than they were in KOF 14 though some people may have taken issue with the flicker in certain shadows, a few lower resolution textures, or some very mild clipping. Regardless, the game looks like Moon-Shine bought the very best KOF action figures made by the most meticulous of artisans then animated them in his stop motion style with only the most silky smooth of frame rates! It's somewhere between a flashy martial arts anime and an elaborate puppet show where the articulately detailed mannequins used in the production have real souls sealed deep inside them. (But not in a creepy way.) If you prefer the more pronounced slanted lean towards realism in Tekken, Virtua Fighter, and DOA then KOF 15 may come off as lagging behind. Yet as someone whom prefers style and exaggeration over uncanny valley, KOF 15's visuals slap hard with me personally. - Stages are audaciously awesome, especially the Ikari Warrior Metal Slug area, Frozen Forest, and the abandoned theme park. There's always a lot going on in the backgrounds and the amount of layers leading up to the arena proper is staggering. Some may take issue with background characters having much more jerkier movement cycles but as it has been like that since KOF 13 I'm not overly bothered by it. Most of the frames should go into to the combatants, not the crowd. - There are team endings but they are artwork and scrolling text as opposed to 3D cinematics. On that note, it is pretty good art and I don't need all my games to be movies. These endings are also more "fleshed out" and interesting than the previous ones in KOF 14. - Music as a whole is upper tier. Pleasant listening with some tracks that resonate thru my ear drums to my heart a little deeper than usual. - Teams are the sex. There's now a whole Samurai Shodown team, I kidd you not! Whomever you missed for awhile is back. Whomever you thought would be a great new addition just arrived. My only critique are some of my favorite weirdos didn't make the cut. (Oswald, Chang and Choi are deeply missed as is the South American team.) - There are special interactions between friends and rivals. - The newest boss is well designed as is her herald leading up to her epic arrival. - Mai is here. Shermie is here. B. Jenet is here. Chizuru is here. Athena is here. King is here. Yuri is here. Leona is here. Kula is here. Angel is here. Mature is here. Vice is here. Hinako is here. Heavens help me, I know I missed a few! This is probably the very best KOF for bouncy per ouncie, elegant maidens, milfs, and cutie-patooie call-backs ever to hit the streets of South Town! (Including new baddies like Dolores.) -Fighting feels like a amalgamation of KOF 13 and KOF 14 put into one of Shin Megami Tensei's demon fusion chambers then made into one harmonious being. Been really enjoying myself overall yet I'm sure truly dedicated practitioners of the ultimate duel can more accurately recognize both the hidden flaws and hidden improvements. This is the most important aspect to get right and by my measure SNK succeeded. Suggestions for the future of the franchise - Tag team character switching at any moment similar to Marvel Vs. Capcom. Seems like the proper way to up the ante as far as team based fighters go. Definitely would open up unpredictable combo chains between characters as well as the possibility of cooperative super attacks. - Give every character at least one alternative outfit at launch then make sure they are either nostalgic references to earlier entries or super extra sexy. Really "lean in" to that fan service so hard it might even make Capcom, Namco Bandai, and Tecmo Koei blush! That's how you know you are doing it right! - Make team endings more animated or more cinematic. "If" the budget allows for it. - Have branching paths thru the tournament where gamers have a choice on which teams to fight leading up to the final confrontation. Street Fighter V introduced this in its' arcade mode and I really appreciated it. -Don't be greedy diacks with the season pass hustle. Show good faith by releasing characters for free and recoup the losses by offering more outfits, more stages, more unlockables for gallery mode, and more soundtracks as dlc. - Bring back survival mode while blinging it out with more variables and customizations. Perhaps introduce equippable reward cards that can be used for stat management, resistance buffs, elemental modifications, and synergies like in a proper rogue lite. I know it is a very zoomer concept but the younger generations will probably need something "more" to hold them over! Warning Have not the foggiest about net-code, rollback, or how active the current community is. If you play fighting games merely as a social ap to network with other kindred spirits or to gain bragging rights by fighting thru organized tournaments you will want to do research into that before dropping your cold hard coins. I play fighters for the characters, stories, and mechanics cut off from the EVO based competition coalition. Makes me an odd duck among fighting game fans but not everyone is built the same. I will dig up and play a decent brawler long after its' online community buried it and moved on so long as I can have my fun with it! Conclusion I feel as if KOF 15 is the quintessential perfect love letter for the Old G homies whom got their honorary thumb blisters in the arcades. We all know KOF 15 didn't have the same budget behind it as a new Tekken or a new Street Fighter. Yet at the actual fighting and character side of things it is outstanding. By the way, you do get "everything" in the Ultimate edition. There's no swindling or tactical omissions to squeeze more dough out of the fanbase. Right now during the sale you can have it all for $14.99 (In my case $16.04 with tax.) Definitely a bountiful bargain. I highly recommend it.