Kotaku: KOFXII

Here Are New King of Fighters XII Fighters, Screens

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 03:00:00 MST

Six new characters have found a place on the upcoming The King of Fighters XII roster. They are: Goro Daimon, Clark Still, Joe Higashi, Sie Kensou, Chin Gentsai and Duo Lon.

Love how they announced six characters at a time instead of one or two. So fitting for a 3-on-3 fighter. The hand-drawn KOFXII will be released in Japanese arcades next Spring. New (and so very hot) screenies highkicking in the gallery below, plus bonus character art.

『KOF XII』に参戦する6人のキャラクターと新システムの情報が明らかに！ [Dengeki Online]

Confirming what we heard last year, several ...

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:20:00 MDT

Confirming what we heard last year, several sources tell us that eagerly awaited (and purdy fighter) The King of Fighters XII will be coming to Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. Hope to hear more about the game come later this week when the Tokyo Game Show gets fully underway.

Here, Another Gorgeous King Of Fighters XII Trailer

Luke Plunkett — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 06:20:00 MDT

And this one's not some shaky cam one, either. It's a proper one. A long, proper one, that shows off better than any before the hundreds of frames of animation that have been poured into each character.

New The King of Fighters XII Screens

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 07:00:30 MDT

The King of Fighters XII is pretty. Really pretty. But, it's 2D pretty, which is lost on a lot of the grainy screenies we've posted of the game. These screens from Japanese arcade mag Arcadia are only slightly better. But! They do show images of the French stage filled with fat ladies. KOFXII oozes everything that made SNK famous for its fighters in the first place. A return to form.

KOFXII Screens [eNe3 via PS3Forums via PS3 Fanboy]

The King of Fighters XII First Mag Scans, Location Test

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:00:21 MDT

Hooray! This April, The King of Fighters XII is getting its first official play test in Japan. As pointed out in Famitsu, it's traditional 3 vs. 3 team match-ups. Also, the screen's edge forms a hard barrier that players will have to balance. What's more, attacks can cancel each other and there's a Guard Attack system that lets players switch from offensive to defensive modes on the fly. SNK says that the game system had gotten too complex and they were aiming showing that would be more approachable and put emphasis on "reading the opponent's mind." Famitsu scans below — which do the 100 percent hand drawn game no justice whatsoever.

KOFXII Info [mmcafe via Arcade Renaissance]

Holy Crap, King of Fighters XII Is 100 Percent Hand Drawn

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 07:00:50 MST

When SNK showed off The King of Fighters XII at arcade show AOU in Japan and industry event GDC in San Francisco, the unanimous reply was: Nice cell shading. That, or it's "just" hi-res 2D. Thing is, that's totally incorrect. And for SNK, who's been working on the game for the past three years, frustrating! Today, I checked out the game's latest build at SNK's Osaka office and saw a few stages that haven't been revealed. Screens weren't available, but there was a French stage, complete with fat, rich women and an Egyptian one that had loyal subjects worshiping before the Pharaoh. Colorful stuff and classic SNK. The company set out to make the ultimate 2D fighter — unparalleled by anything else out there, attempting not only to raise the bar, but snap it in half. KOFXII producer Masaaki Kukino tells Kotaku:

The game is one hundred percent hand drawn. There is zero cell shading in The King of Fighters XII.

Hardcore. That means that an actual human hands lovingly drew and colored in everything in the game. Every single frame, every character and every background. Everything — down to the game's in-game title. SNK gave us the full rundown, so here's how it worked: The original character drawings were modeled into 3D. Those 3D models were then rendered back into 2D. That way the 2D characters could have a greater depth of motion. Since the 2D models were devoid of color and details, artists went through each character, background, image and painstakingly added colors and drew in details pixel-by-pixel on a tablet PC. In one day, one artist would be able to draw one frame and a half for whatever image he or she was working on.

"We knew it was going to be hard going in," says Kukino. "But we wanted to make the ultimate 2D fighting game." Up close, that meticulous attention to detail becomes apparent, and you're always noticing a flourish here or a nice touch there. Every inch of the screen has something interesting going on. "We wanted the look of the game to have more in common with manga or anime," Kukino adds. With KoFXII, it looks like SNK hasn't only created another stylized 2D fighter, but this time, a genuine work of art.

What Does SNK Think of Street Fighter IV?

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 22:00:12 MST

We've got a buncha new fighters coming out: SNK's The King of Fighters XII, Capcom's Street Fighter IV and Namco's Soul Calibur. We are totally! Whot does SNK think its biggest competitor is? Says Masaaki Kukino, King of Fighters XII producer:

Street Fighter IV... I saw it at the AOU 2008 show... I was impressed. It's very similar to King of Fighters in that we're trying to do something new with the franchise.

Right on. Anyone who likes fighters should be very, very happy right now. Tickled pink, even!
KoFXII Interview [1UP]

First The King of Fighters XII Trailer [Updated]

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:28:00 MST

Look. At. This. Well, we called it, here's the 2.5D King of Fighters XII clip. And damn, it looks nice. The game is slated for 2008. Can't wait. [Thanks, Bryan!]

Hit the jump for a higher quality clip. Do it!

King Of Fighters XII Unveiled This Weekend

Luke Plunkett — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 21:40:00 MST

This weekend, the AOU 2008 expo goes down in Tokyo. Seeing as this is only the world's #1 arcade gaming show, you can bet some big-name games will be paraded around. Like King of Fighters XII, which will be shown publicly for the first time, albeit in video form (it sadly won't be playable). Little is known about this latest installment in the series, though it should be coming to the US in 2009 on both PS3 and 360. We've also heard that the game will be neither 2D nor 3D.

Street Fighter IV will also be making an appearance, most likely in playable form. Despite persistent reports that Osaka-based DIMPS (comprised of former SNK staff) are working on Capcom's flagship fighter, Capcom themselves are officially stating that the project is being developed in-house. Either way, should be a good weekend for fighter fans, who probably haven't partied this hard since the summer of '93.
THE KING OF FIGHTERS XII（映像出展）[AOU 2008]