Daily Archives: Sunday, August 1st, 2004

After flipping past the official site again, I notice that, as a watered-down port of KOF2002 (itself a watered-down rehash of KOF’98), NeoWave is shameless enough to even retain the distinctive ’02 naming scheme for the teams. That is to say, the Iori Team is the “’96 Team” and the Burning Team is the “’99 Team”, and so on.

Now, if this naming scheme was poorly-conceived to begin with, its execution was even more questionable. Iori first appeared in KOF’95, so it feels strange that he is part of a team representing the following game (especially given how many other new characters were introduced in KOF’96). It is even weirder that there are no teams for ’94 or ’95, if the cast is truly supposed to present some kind of a retrospective of the series (itself not entirely a bad idea, for a dream match game — or at least I can see how it might sound like a good one). The rationalization comes from his teammates, Mature and Vice; indeed that specific team concoction first appeared in ’96. Yet something still feels forced here. Similarly, the New Face Team is listed as the “’98 Team” even though they first appeared in ’97. Again, it doesn’t really work.

Of course, now the 2000 and 2001 teams are absent — inexplicably in the former case — making the naming scheme basically meaningless for a game released in 2004. Although one would think that SNK could work out a deal with Eolith, I can understand how they might just not want to bother for a handful of characters SNK will probably rarely have burning need for again. I don’t understand where the 2000 agents went, however. Seth and Vanessa have become fan favorites (especially Vanessa, especially with me), and they are full-blooded SNK characters; among the last ever. So this decision just seems arbitrary. I don’t get it.

In effect, it means that even with the addition of Shingo, King, and Saisyu (all returned to the roster for NeoWave), the game has even fewer characters than the NeoGeo version. Given that NeoWave is SNK’s first game for the Atomiswave platform — a far more advanced system with, compared to what SNK is used to, nigh-unlimited storage and capacity — this is downright pathetic. What are they doing with all that empty canvas?

After some consideration, I have pieced together what I figure SNK and Noise Factory could have easily presented, for a game which in effect is supposed to be a celebration of ten years of The King of Fighters. The following took maybe ten minutes. With the current hardware, they would have all the space necessary, and more. They already have all of the sprites and most of the necessary code prepared. Aside from Eolith, all they would have to worry about is balancing — and in this case, I think some wobbly elements are excusable.

I have tried to keep with the “year” theme present in 2002 and NeoWave, for the purpose of illustration. Let’s see how I do.

Japan Team
Kyo, Benimaru, Daimon

Korea Team
Kim, Chang, Choi

Fatal Fury Team
Terry, Andy, Joe

Art of Fighting Team
Ryo, Robert, Yuri

Ikari Team
Leona, Ralf, Clark

Psycho Soldier Team
Athena, Kensou, Chin

Women’s Team
King, Mai, Mary

Girls Team
Malin, May Lee, Kula

Outlaw Team
Yamazaki, Gato, Lin

Justice Team
Tizoc, Bao, Jhun

’94 Team
Heavy D!, Lucky, Brian

’95 Team
Iori, Billy, Eiji

’96 Team
Geese, Krauser, Mr. Big

’97 Team
Yashiro, Shermie, Chris

’98 Team
Heidern, Takuma, Saisyu

’99 Team
K’, Maxima, Whip

’00 Team
Seth, Vanessa, Ramon

’01 Team
K9999, Angel, Foxy

’02 Team
Goenitz, Mature, Vice

’03 Team
Ash, Duo Lon, Shen Woo

EDIT
Chizuru
Shingo
Krizalid

BONUS
Kasumi, Xiangfei, Hinako

Depending on how you fare, either Chizuru or Shingo is the mid-boss. (Shingo is greatly overpowered in this case.) Again depending on prowess, the final boss is either Krizalid or a team of Kasumi, Xiangfei, and Hinako. The game would have some wacky, obviously non-canonical plot to explain why Shingo and the “filler girls” are such monsters. It would be the same for every team, although — as with ’98 — each team would get its own piece of art at the end.

And. There it is.

Oh well. Maybe in 2014, assuming that SNK is still around in some form, they might feel up to trying again. They might even have time to redraw a few sprites. (Please, no laughter.)