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

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

vincentc — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:29:31 MDT

Whoa didn't know The King of Fighters is still alive until my wife showed me this link; it has been years since our KOFOnline.com website shut down.

Hopefully someone will create a good KOF XII site to revive the flames of KOF! ^^

vincentc

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

N15PCA — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 13:07:38 MDT

It about time they update the King of Fighters to 2008 standers.

N15PCA

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

man in gauze is king ramses II, actually — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 22:24:36 MST

I don't really know...it seems like a lot of work for no real gain. I can't see any difference, myself. How did they keep the art consistent with so many artists?

man in gauze is king ramses II, actually

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

supercrap — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 11:55:45 MST

Hadn't been paying attention till now, but this looks fantastic.

supercrap

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

Tyle-Shananigin — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:09:40 MST

Jesus, I can only imagine the JP People sweatshop.....
But, should make for a great looking game though.
T~S
www.kotakuite.com

Tyle-Shananigin

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

MrSatan — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:55:53 MST

Looks pretty good, but I will have to go with BlazBlue because I love me some Guilty Gear. I always liked Samurai Showdown more than KOF but I have been known to kick some ass with Terry Bogard.

MrSatan

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

Cameroo — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:24:58 MST

Handdrawn rules. CG drools.

Cameroo

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

Billkwando — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 15:30:48 MST

@dv8godd:

LMFAO

Billkwando

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

dv8godd — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 15:10:55 MST

@Billkwando: Shhhhh... you're giving away my secrets! If they find out I have no idea what I'm talking about, that I cover it up with excessive verbosity and punctuation, they'll eat me alive!

People ask how we win, the answer is simple: volume.

Maybe I've played too many games with bad AI. Rather than construct a better solution, just throw lots more of the bad one at the player.

dv8godd

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

Billkwando — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 14:31:40 MST

@DaiMacculate:

LOL. It really needed a title. The Heroes Night Note Massacre of 2008

@dv8godd:

I'm glad I'm not crazy.

You do scare me a little with your big posts. I feel like if I disagree with you you'll just bury me in a ton of vowels and consonants and they'll never find my body. :P

Even if you're wrong you sound right. ;)

Billkwando

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

dv8godd — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 13:56:57 MST

@Billkwando: Agree. I too tend to wish people luck with better posting when they fall flat. I had personally lurked here for over a year prior to my first comment, and it still took some time to find the right ground for me.

As for the disturbance in the force, I've been trying to avoid too many conflicts as of late... I just haven't had the patience for as much of it as I had a few months ago. I see a red flag go up and I tend to get away more often than not lately. Honestly, Witz told me about that thread, but I hadn't really seen the carnage myself.

When I do get involved, I tend to talk people to death. But as I've said to Witz... I don't necessarily think outright slaughter is bad either. Ban Monday frequencies have steadily grown over time, even some late night bloodlettings have occurred, and we now have a hammer tzar... the trend has continued, really, not gone down. I know Witz sometimes has second thoughts about hammer use... but I tend to think walking into a room and nailing the first guy who starts to go out of line tends to prevent a lot of outright wars too.

I've been trying to look at the effect in aggregate, rather than lament the individuals who "maybe" didn't mean harm. Innocent kids die in wars all the time, the difference here is they can always insert another quarter. :)

@DaiMacculate: Yeah, I hope he comes back too. I didn't mean to be rude in my own comment to him... he just caught me totally off guard. Stunned really. It was a strange confluence of events that seemed to have everyone influenced by something else not part of the topic. The whole thing was hardly worth this much effort. Sad that he ate hammer, because he's better than the way this turned out. :(

dv8godd

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

DaiMacculate — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 13:25:22 MST

@Billkwando: since the Heroes Night Note Massacre

I was unaware that it had gained such epic status already ;)

I agree with both you and Dv8, if thats possible. I hope sadkermit finds his way back to us at some point, with perhaps just a shred more caution this time.. :)

DaiMacculate

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

Billkwando — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 13:15:47 MST

@dv8godd:

Yep, I agree with everything you said. :)

I honestly think sometimes it's a "woke up on the wrong side of the bed" thing, rather than anything else. :P

As I mentioned, the guy who DID get banned was a grammar nazi. No biggie. The guy who didn't get banned was a meme poster. Good luck to him with making better posts in the future, since he survived (last I checked).

I'm glad you see my point. It just seems like since the Heroes Night Note Massacre there's been a disturbance in the Force.

Oh well.

Billkwando

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

dv8godd — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 12:57:55 MST

@Billkwando: I can see your hypotheticals, really... But that said, I did read Mr. WTF's post history prior to formulating an opinion. He may have something worth adding to conversations as a person, but he didn't seem to do much of it yet. I mean, his first comment ever consisted of one word, "video". It's not "offensive" per se, but it's not something I feel compelled to read either. If Kotaku had video, they'd probably put it here... if that had screenshots, they'd do that too. Kotaku is hardly the place that holds back information, rather Brian gets himself in hot water by being too open to the public sometimes. He's also had other posts that were just meme echoes (like: "you win an internets"). Like I said, not offensive... but not really adding much worth scrolling through either. ;)

True enough that we're in shady ground not staying on topic in the first place. I think you run less risk of bannage if two things stay true:

1) You generally add something worth reading more often than not.
2) You don't go apeshit on someone holding a hammer.

It's true though too that there is some degree of "murkiness" or selectivity to the enforcement of unwritten guidelines. But I think that comes about partly due to two factors which aren't necessarily bad:

1) The editors are extremely busy with tasks other than crowd control... so some things slide which others get caught. Hell, I one time suggested the hammer for a guy whose every post was suggesting raping or beating women... and he'd been doing it for months, somehow under the radar. In other words... some things seem unclear because not everything gets rated for quality due to time constraints.

2) There is possibly a double standard. Not in a bad way though. I mean, it makes sense to give a little leniency to posters with a great legacy, as long as they don't go way over the line. If I get drunk some night and say "I'd hit it", it would be regrettable of course, but I'd like to think that I have enough history to allow a judgment call to go in my favor. Someone that joins up and says little else should be judged by a different scale, I think.

In this context, with SadKermit's history, he probably could have gotten away with a lot... just not as much as he attempted, and judging by his final username, I think he suspected as much.

I even said to him in his personal page that I do think he probably has a point worthy of consideration, it just seems the wrong way to state it.

Either way, I tend to feel that those of us that have been around a while should do our best to act as good role models where possible. There are a number of ways to express concern over policy enforcement, like in banhammer post discussions or through direct email.

So... yeah, it does seem somewhat selective at times, but I don't think it's an intentional thing, I think it's a "lack of time to be thorough" thing. I tend to feel, in that sense, that it falls to us, the commentors, to keep the quality up to retain some of the reason we started coming here in the first place.

dv8godd

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

Billkwando — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 12:01:51 MST

@i_am_not:

I've never liked Falcoon's style much myself. Some say his art just reflects his own fetishes and proclivities that he superimposes (or just plain "imposes") upon the KOF cast.

@dv8godd:
Oh and I meant "maybe" sadkermit had a point about the banning. I do not agree with his comments about Bashcraft's writing or anything else.

Heck, Night Notes are half or a third of the reason why I love this place.

Billkwando

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

Billkwando — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 11:53:47 MST

*craze* not "crazy"

Billkwando

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

Billkwando — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 11:53:11 MST

@dv8godd:

Yes, it probably was Witz who did the banning (what with the Youtube ban-gloating...I thought that was frowned upon?). I meant to throw him in there too.

A) What if Mr. WTF was trying to be genuinely helpful? Maybe he assumes that the "pics or it didn't happen" crazy hasn't reached Japan? ;)

B) What if Mr. WTF was defending someone who, for all we know, is new to the internet and just suddenly stumbled upon the comedy gold that is "pics or it didn't happen, lol"?

Either way, the standards seem to be getting less clear and more arbitrary as of late, in my perception.

In theory, we could both be banned right now because we're not talking about KOF. Of course, that option only ever seems to be exercised when you piss someone off.

I'm not defending anyone. They all did wrong in their own way. However, each of them could be seen as trying to do the right thing, if looked at in the right context.....even if their execution was wrong.

As I was pointing out to someone earlier today:

"I'm trying to tell you about what I perceive as a real issue......and if veteran posters are getting banned trying to tell Kotaku the same thing, isn't that indicative of something?

There is no forum for the discussion of Kotaku itself, so if you have an issue to air about something that happened in the comments, where have you to air it but in those very same comments?

We all go off topic sometimes, but this is a perfect example of selective enforcement of the rules. He pissed somebody off and got banned."

Did he act like an asshole? Yes. The question is, did he have a point?

Billkwando

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

dv8godd — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 10:51:15 MST

@Billkwando: Well, you're assuming Bash did that banning, which isn't necessarily true. Witz is in here with the hammer as well.

As for whether we're going to look at quality subjectively or objectively, I don't personally see how echoing memes or their definitions as the entirety of a comment is quality (or often even on topic) in either case. If people want to say little more than "I'd hit it", "first", and "screenies or it didn't happen", then there are literally hundreds of other gaming sites where that behavior is not frowned upon. However, it is frowned upon here, and the editors have frequently requested "better" commentary in a number of ways.

It's one thing to protest banning someone who is actually trying to add something substantive to the discussion... but I'm not going to defend any old person as though Kotaku is some democracy of the people where everyone is a beautiful and uniquely valuable member. I came here from other social anarchies, I actually appreciate that Kotaku has some standards, even if they're not always clear.

If that comes across as a bit brash to some folks, so be it, but this is still a private site run by private individuals... we should act like the guests we are, and that means obeying the rules, even if they seem somewhat arbitrary at times. Certainly we can try to influence those rules, and we can even try to debate whether they are objective or subjective, I suppose... but assuming the person making the rules is an idiot by posting the definition or a meme, or calling him a "nazi", saying he doesn't "anything useful to the world of journalism" and telling him to "relax" hardly seems like the right place to start such a discussion.

dv8godd

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

i_am_not — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 09:56:31 MST

Well, it's nice but Falcoon's art is meh to me... Never liked his drawing.

i_am_not

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

Billkwando — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 08:56:02 MST

@dv8godd:

Perhaps if Bashcraft had banned the meme poster it wouldn't be as ironic.

He didn't. He banned the person who simply posted "WTF" with a link to the definition of "pics or it didn't happen".

I think maybe we need to give some thought to objective vs subjective quality in posts.

Billkwando

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

Black Arts Viper — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 07:23:14 MST

@HowardC: You must be insane or blind. Seriously I have played all of the games, if you look at the HD trailer you will see a huge difference in the sprites.

Black Arts Viper

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

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 07:13:59 MST

@Brian Ashcraft:
Make that "Apparently, the official word from Capcom is that it's being developed internally as some fans would freak out if it was NOT Capcom HQ making it."

Fuck, I need to sleep. T_T

Brian Ashcraft

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

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 07:04:36 MST

@Grave:
I... was pretty sure that everyone else knew it was hand-drawn after watching the video! But maybe I'm crazy. Seriously, Ashcraft, I mean no offense but Brandon at Insert Credit is not pulling this stuff out of his ass. The video said 2D. 2D? Terry in old outfit? TIME PARADOX! Honestly, this site is the only place I've heard that KOF XII was ever expected to be 3D, or that SF4 was going to be developed by Dimps, and I've never understood why either was reported. Would it be out of line to ask for an answer on the Dimps thing, at the very least? It was reported here more than once, and it's been bugging me for a while.

No offense taken! Re-read the post. Hi-res 2D and hand drawn 2D are different. Brandon went off half-cocked — as SNK told me they hadn't told anyone how they made the game, and the producer of it was complaining to me about how the majority of folks misunderstood the game's art. We said it was 2D before the video hit (or rather, 2.5) and posted that new KOFXII trailer when that hit. The key here is SNK told us they hand drew all of it. They told me Kotaku was the first to hear that. End of story.

Also, we've never reported that KOFXII was going to be 3D. We said it was going to be 3D re-rendered into 2D, and it is.

Regarding the DIMPS thing, I've heard that from several insiders. Apparently, the official word from Capcom is that it's being developed internally as some fans would freak out if it was Capcom HQ making it. Perhaps DIMPS was just doing the heavy lifting!

Brian Ashcraft

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

Scuba Steve — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 03:58:48 MST

So what systems is this coming to in the US, PS2?

Scuba Steve

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

burningranger01 — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 03:07:52 MST

Now that capcom has pumped out crap, is it is time for snk to shine...shit! some how i still feel the masses will go with the name over the content.

burningranger01

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

Grave — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 02:11:30 MST

I... was pretty sure that everyone else knew it was hand-drawn after watching the video! But maybe I'm crazy. Seriously, Ashcraft, I mean no offense but Brandon at Insert Credit is not pulling this stuff out of his ass. The video said 2D. 2D? Terry in old outfit? TIME PARADOX! Honestly, this site is the only place I've heard that KOF XII was ever expected to be 3D, or that SF4 was going to be developed by Dimps, and I've never understood why either was reported. Would it be out of line to ask for an answer on the Dimps thing, at the very least? It was reported here more than once, and it's been bugging me for a while.

@HowardC: You is crazay.

@KeroseneClimax: I tried! I really, really tried! I wanted to like SvC Chaos a lot ever since it was announced. The look of the game certainly was dated, even then, but it did low res with style. And the roster struck me as interesting in general, in both the "new" (to fighters) characters and the choices from the established lineup. Seeing Shiki in 2D was a thrill, seeing the enormous SNK-ized Demitri for the first time rocked too, but to bring Goenitz back too?! And to have an evil version of Ken in Violent Ken? This totally should have been my game, right? Right?!

Eh... I was at Otakon in 2003 and someone there had one of the dedicated SvC boards (before the MVS cart eventually came around) hooked up to a supergun and a projector, and it was a really fun time to play with everybody there. When the MIT arcade got it, I tried to convince myself I liked it there too. But when I got the Xbox version, there was no hiding from it. Questionable gameplay systems, sloppy control, weird hitboxes... SvC Chaos just isn't the game I wanted it to be. I gotta ask you something, though! Never played it in emulation, how does the input feel to you compared to the Xbox version? Maybe this is something I ought to look into.

For the SNK side, NGBC is a little bit closer to something I enjoy. Still not 100% there, but a big step forward in terms of gameplay. If SNK and Capcom were ever to do another crossover game, I do hope they'd let the folks who handled CvS2 handle it. And that it'd be 2D. Now would be the best time! Ash and Vanessa vs. Remy and Dudley! I need it to happen!

@Witzbold: Makes sense! But... that Tager dude totally stole Potemkin Buster! >:( Maybe in that world, that's what all the big guys do...?

Whew! Long comment.

Grave

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

Random J — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 22:04:31 MST

The graphics look hot. But it doesn't look amazing to me. The backgrounds sport smoother animation than the fighters themselves. The sprites certainly look like they sport a higher resolution than the likes of Street Fighter III, but Street Fighter III definitely has more fluid animation. I went a tad crazy when I first saw Ryu's clothes flow all over the place when he pushed out a fireball.

I'm a big fan of the raw 80's arcade style music that plays in the trailer though. It took me back and almost made me shed a tear. *sniffles*

Random J

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

108 — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 21:19:28 MST

oh man, the english subtitles on that are kind of hilarious.

"please note that all screens were created in development".

yeah, i think they mean "this is a work in progress".

"in development" is like, the . . . babelfish way to translate 開発中.

hmmm.

108

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

RedFive — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 21:15:12 MST

Wow, looks super hot. I hope this makes its way to Xbox 360 and PS3!

RedFive

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

Spartan1308™ — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 21:05:58 MST

@Striderhayasa - Phillyyakk on PSN and Live.: Not sure how you can look at the videos of both and say KOF looks better.

Spartan1308™

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

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 20:48:11 MST

@interficium:
According to SNK, we were the first to know it was 100 percent hand drawn. That makes it exclusive. Hint: check the title. :)

Brian Ashcraft

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

GameNutt4Life — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 20:44:05 MST

@D-Lish: I completely agree.

GameNutt4Life

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

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 20:40:26 MST

@sadkermit:
Wow. You really disappoint me. Really.

Brian Ashcraft

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

GameNutt4Life — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 20:20:21 MST

For the 360 owners who desire a authentic arcade fighting stick. Way better than the DOA/VF5 Hori stick.

NeoGeo style [www.arcadeshock.com]

Here is one with a SF layout with multiple options down to your own custom art. [www.arcadeinabox.com]

GameNutt4Life

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

HAGE — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 20:18:20 MST

Hoh-lee shite, KOF GET!

HAGE

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

D-Lish — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 20:01:59 MST

All these resurrections; it's time for Darkstalkers to get a facelift.

D-Lish

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

KeroseneClimax — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 19:59:17 MST

@DaiMacculate: Last I checked, there was still no backwards compatibility for SvC on the 360. I own SvC Chaos three ways: Japanese PS2 version, English X-box version, and lastly as a Rom for Mame. Reasons why vary, but at least I don't have to worry about not being able to play it again like many X-Box owners out there. It's a damn shame for people who want SNK's take on the Vs. games.

Also, I too try very hard to give SNK the benefit of the doubt when they expend their efforts at giving the masses games like Samurai Showdown Sen, when they can easily be creating a follow-up to their last pre-Playmore masterpiece known as Mark of the Wolves. Love that game. Still got it for Dreamcast.

KeroseneClimax

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

dv8godd — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 19:42:21 MST

@sadkermit: I think Ash's point was probably that the comment was fairly insipid and echoed yet another boring meme.

Seriously... is that what we're reduced to as a species? Echoing memes? Jesus... ban away, Ashcraft.

But yeah, Kermit, congratulations on joining the wrong team in the war against bland, pointless commentary. Call Ashcraft a Nazi for trying to request meaningful conversation with subtlety rather than a hammer? Have fun with your new "we talk in memes" friends.

(Come on, man... you're better than this too. Just tell me it was the booze... I can forgive the booze... it speaks for me as well)

dv8godd

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

Kounji — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 19:31:15 MST

Now if they can get some really nice music tracks to go along with the fights as well I would then say that the franchise will make a leap.

Kounji

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

Xenigma — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 19:20:41 MST

Wow. That's all hand drawn? If they're putting that much care into the graphics, the game behind them ought to be awesome. Might just have to preorder it...

Xenigma

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

Witzbold — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 19:17:50 MST

@Grave: What Ive heard is BlazBlue apparently takes place in the same universe as GG which is why it looks so similar.

Witzbold

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

DaiMacculate — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 19:15:19 MST

@KeroseneClimax: Yeah, I'd still own SvC if it had worked on the 360 BC (that may now be corrected, I dunno), I liked it ok. Its no Garou:MoTW mind you. I struggle mightily not to condemn this game for not being MoTW2, since in my own mind any time spent not making that game on SNK's part is wasted time ;)

DaiMacculate

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

GameCasa — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 18:24:04 MST

@DigitalHero: You need to look closer brother!

GameCasa

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

GameCasa — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 18:22:08 MST

Yes, yes, yes.... That's what SF 4 should've been. That's ok though, I still love Capcom.

GameCasa

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

KeroseneClimax — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 18:18:42 MST

@Grave: Don't get me wrong, I too love many of the SvC Chaos sprites (Kim Kaphwan, Mars People and Red Arremer in particular), but they still seemed dated for a 2003 2D fighter. And why do you consider SvC unplayable? I've played better SNK fighters - and fighters in general - but I felt SvC was a decent effort on SNK's part. Just played it a few days ago as a matter of fact.

KeroseneClimax

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

interficium — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 18:04:18 MST

insertcredit is angry at ashcraft. haha.

interficium

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

Grave — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 18:03:28 MST

@KeroseneClimax: I actually love the majority of the SvC Chaos sprites for the Capcom side. Very cool to see them in that style... but unfortunately, that involves playing the game as well. That part is more than I'm willing to deal with.

Grave

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

okenny :) ...building bridges (to hide under) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 18:00:21 MST

@daschupa: I don't think Disney hated their characters or cannon when they moved everything to digital, even a large part of their cell animations are enhanced with digital effects and processes. They simply decided to abandon their prejudices and became better, and more efficient in doing so and realized quality that was unattainable before. Sure this is "cute" but let's not dilute ourselves with the rose colored vision of yester-year. This is just a nice approach and all but it's the last yelp of a dinosaur sinking into the tar pit. Don't let my stupidy stop you from being stoked... I said I think it's "cute." Hell, I'll even send them crayons and construction paper. It'll be non-toxic in case the artist get hungry.
...
I'm just being mean now. I don't hate 2D honestly but I still think games like SF4 are doing many things right to evolve and when I hear about games like this or Oden Sphere for example, it feels like the style is defining the game play and that just doesn't feel right.

okenny :) ...building bridges (to hide under)

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

KeroseneClimax — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 17:59:45 MST

@Billkwando: Hey, you'll get no disagreement there. Capcom was notorious for re-using sprites for various games, but Morrigan in Capcom vs. SNK was a new low. At least in SVC Chaos, every character looked like they were rendered seven years ago, and not just a select few like in CVS or MVC.

KeroseneClimax

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

interficium — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 17:43:18 MST

I'm failing to see how this is an "exclusive."

Anyone who has been following this game knows it's all sprites, which is also what SNK has been saying for over a year.

It has been confirmed since AOU, which, last I checked was about three weeks ago. People seriously thought that was cel-shaded? Come on now guys.

interficium

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

gique — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 17:42:46 MST

Dear developers of SSF2HD...

the word i'm looking for is..

er...

oh yeah.

PWNED.

gique

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

Bando — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 17:30:33 MST

"The game is one hundred percent hand drawn."

THANK YOU! OHHH ho ho THAAAANK YOU! THAT'S HOW YA DO IT NIGGA!

@zymeck:

So they don't have their dudes toiling away creating sprites using something like MS Paint, editing pixel by pixel, and with todays tech, it's just really pointless to do so, they used hand drawn stuff for Odin Sphere and GrimGrimoire, so why not? This new KOF is lookin goooood! Hell, characters seem to animate better then most dedicated animated productions I'v seen from over there in Asia, most noticeably and popularly, Japan (who outsource most of their stuff these days to Korean animators anyway, go figure).

I'm sorry Japan/Korea, you do some cool stuff, but you guys just CAN'T get down the animation thing (fluid and dynamic character movement, facial expressions, you get it.), I mean, Walt did stuff back in the 40's that you STILL can't even come CLOSE to topping, I mean, THE FORTIES! Hell, Death Note can't even compare with animation from the 20's. Come on now, maybe do it to spite John K, maybe that will get him back in the saddle, or coax Disney out of his cryogenic slumber, or have zombie Virgil Ross rise from the grave.

I'm sorry, I can't help it! I JUST COULDN'T HELP IT! Oh shit, oh shit. Here comes da flames.

@yomachaser:

Yea, it's looking like XI, but prettier, but we've only seen just this trailer so far, there is still more mechanics they could take and throw in from other fighters though :p, so OH WELL!

@skullivan:

I know, this is an old, old issue, but everyone was expecting a hand drawn and exquisitely animated masterpiece, that would take advantage of todays more powerful computer hardware for the next installment of something as notorious, something so highly regarded and revered in the gaming community. Especially after that fancy pants trailer with cell shaded 3d characters and the ink lines/brush strokes that flow and change around the characters dynamically according to character movement. I mean, they went all out, balls to the walls on the III series, especially 3rd strike, so it was only natural to assume the next true sequel would be more of the same. It looks like we'll be treated to the usual serving of the series's extremely refined and tight ground combat, with a side of expertly chosen mechanics and abilities they have since developed over time, to incorporate into their next installment, with the usual inclusion of something new or altered, which is what they are doing. I'm persoanlly STILL not that down with how things flow in IV though.

The biggest issue and criticism that it was getting absolutely SLAMMED for, is, of course, how everyone was expecting crisp, high resolution 2d character art, and animation rivaling that of productions spawned from some of the wests greatest talents in the animation biz.

But they didn't, the 3d models are... some of their animation is impressive though, but it just seems like they got a tad lazy when it came time to TCB.

Bando

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

Flowen — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 17:06:20 MST

Woo! Vs. Fighters are on the rise again! Take that sports and FPS (and minigame for us with wiis)

Flowen

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

PsycheDiver — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 16:56:06 MST

Sometimes hand-drawn isn't a good thing, but in this case it's a VERY good thing.

PsycheDiver

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

Bluegun — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 16:46:03 MST

Boring Ass Trailer. I'll check it out hough. It Still Won't be Better than SF.

Bluegun

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

Padder — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 16:44:46 MST

I don't have much respect for that approach. It's basically tracing over movie frames, like rotoscopy.
There was no REAL 2D hand drawn approach towards the art and animation if everything has to be traced over 3D models and animation. Lot of work? yes. Skill? Way less than a real hand drawn animation. It's just another way for 3D animation to replace traditional animators, just like cell shading.

Padder

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

Tuxy79 — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 16:16:29 MST

I'm not into fighter, but this looks impressive. Better than SF4.

Tuxy79

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

Strangelove — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:53:21 MST

Looks great, but I'm not a big fan of KoF. Somebody needs to do a new, high-res, hand-drawn Symphony of the Night 2.

Strangelove

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

Striderhayasa - Phillyyakk on PSN and Live. — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:38:46 MST

@Spartan1308: I think not
---------------------------------

that's what SFIV should have been, instead of the EX Alpha 2 Plus Hyper Ultra Turbo New Gen Edition that's a sequel but not really. It's KoF XII for me.

Striderhayasa - Phillyyakk on PSN and Live.

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

WFROSE_Ex_Alpha — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:27:57 MST

@RonJeremy4Pres:

"It's too bad M$ is so anal about their wireless technology, cuz I think I'm going to want a wireless arcade stick (or a replica the original Neo Geo AES stick)if this game ever makes it's way onto XBL."

Why? You like input dropping or something?

WFROSE_Ex_Alpha

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

WFROSE_Ex_Alpha — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:25:35 MST

@DaiMacculate:

SNK/Playmore never abused me! I... I just fell down the stairs, that's all! Excuse me I... I... I have a roast in the oven...

WFROSE_Ex_Alpha

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

PirateMan — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:21:32 MST

I'm wondering if Mai interesting bits in this new KOFXII

PirateMan

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

Spartan1308™ — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:21:21 MST

SFIV still looks better.

Spartan1308™

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

Grave — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:19:33 MST

@Sir_Crocidile: Y'know, Blazblue looks pretty much like... more GG with slightly more generic designs! Honestly, I think Accent Core is a good way to close the GGXX chapter. What more could they add or tweak without a complete overhaul? Leaving the series alone for a while, at least in terms of fighting game installments? Probably not a bad idea.

Grave

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

KMCC — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:59:15 MST

People should buy this game just to support hand drawn 2D games. I'd love to see more of it.

KMCC

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

Sir_Crocidile — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:58:51 MST

Well, since Arc System Works saw fit to kill guilty gear (overture. . .) I think I'll head back to king of fighters to get my 2d fighting fix.

Sir_Crocidile

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

RemyDuvalle — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:40:06 MST

@ara: You can't really compare the 2 styles... SF2HDremix has to retain the same shape/hit zones as the original game, whilst KOF12 is an original game.

RemyDuvalle

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

neojam — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:15:14 MST

@Mr.DuckSauce: Ehm, he meant Pixar (google it) not pixels, that's why he said that to see something hand drawn would be nice. Soooou, who's the idiot now..? '>_>

neojam

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

ChrisLionheart — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:05:53 MST

I love you SNK, you are so much more dedicated than Capcom a.k.a. Morrigan sprite.

ChrisLionheart

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

ara — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 13:59:36 MST

@DigitalHero: You can see the difference between old and new sprites in 00:27 -> 00:29. Shading is much improved, as is resolution.

ara

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

Billkwando — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 13:47:42 MST

It's nice to see SNK pick up again on their proud tradition of groundbreaking innovation that they began with the invention of the Neo Geo.

@PogiJones:

I was thinking the same, especially since the original guy didn't get it. I see now that he was a grammar nazi so no great loss.... but it does seem to be getting more, um, extreme around here.

@yjaved1: 98 on GGPO is teh shiz!

@KeroseneClimax: It's fine say that SNK needed an overhaul, but nowhere nearly as bad as Capcom with their rehash Morrigan that looks like somebody drew her outline with a permanent marker in the Versus games.

@RonJeremy4Pres:

Yes, a Neo Geo stick for 360 is a must.

@HowardC:

Yes, those are the exact same 3D sprites they've always been, since the 16-bit generation.

@buttpwner:

God I hate X-Arcade. Stop being cheap and use Happ and Cherry parts! I gave mine away...

@sadkermit: Extreme meets extreme. *gets out popcorn* Let's add "No ban gloating UNLESS you hold the hammer"

"Pics or it didn't happen" is old, maybe not as trite as "First" but certainly it's worn out. However, it seems like the shorter the post, the more ambiguous it sounds, the more likely it will garner a negative interpretation and get you Bashed with the hammer.

I've always tiptoed to a certain extent cos I like it here, but I don't wanna see it turn into one of those forums where you're afraid to say anything because they're ban-happy.

Billkwando

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

theALLseeingEYE — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 13:46:08 MST

Wow, cannot wait. I surely thought there was at least cell shading going on in the background.

2D fighter dream game confirmed. I have a feeling this is going to pay off very well for them. People already seem impressed, can't wait to finally get my hands on this thing.

theALLseeingEYE

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

Gam3r — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 13:33:57 MST

Damn this looks better than Street Fighter 4.

Gam3r

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

Grave — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 13:31:52 MST

Unanimous? I'm pretty sure that was only you, Ashcraft. Just like how everyone thought SF4 was being developed by Dimps, right?

Grave

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

JohnnyD57333 — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 13:27:28 MST

Lets just hope the gameplay matches the artistic talent. Knowing SNK, it probably will.

JohnnyD57333

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

arstal — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 12:41:58 MST

@RonJeremy4Pres:

The solution though it's a workaround is to buy the DOA or VF sticks, then replace the joystick and buttons at your own cost. Expensive but common among the serious FG players.

arstal

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

brandonf — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 12:28:23 MST

Too many fancy, welcome to 1996.

brandonf

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

sadkermit - soon to be banned for standing up to the ummm nazi. — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 12:24:17 MST

@Brian Ashcraft: What's your deal dude? Just because YOU don't care for people to use UMM doesn't give you the Nazi right to come in behind everyone that posts that and be...a dick.

Also, have you ever considered that maybe, just maybe you are adding some sort of tone to the response that the poster was not intending. I mean - it's like you and your little line like: Not anymore!

I could take that any number of ways, as could any other number of persons.

Get off your saddle, you hardly give anything useful to the world of journalism and you post topics on a fucking blog. A fucking blog. I can get a mambo site up in minutes and do the same fucking thing.

So maybe you can...ummmm....relax maybe? or ban me, I don't give a flying fuck. lol

sadkermit - soon to be banned for standing up to the ummm nazi.

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

Shin_Ein — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 12:23:52 MST

@zymeck:

When something is hand drawn you can get a lot more detail and fluidity into it. Compared to rendering something out or using a texture it's a lot more labor & time intensive but the end result looks better for some things. For a series that has roots in 2D sprites, being hand drawn is a blessing.

Shin_Ein

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

FrigidAir44 — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 12:04:42 MST

I like what I see to a degree. I haven't played KOF since the 97-99 era. Those were the best years of the series. After that... the gameplay became unbalanced with assists and then certain characters became too godly.

The graphics certainly impressed me... but I hope the gameplay got an overhaul as well.

FrigidAir44

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

jynxycat — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 12:02:41 MST

Waste of time -_-

No one buys fighting games anymore, aside from the few hardcore fans, even then, you have to be a different breed of hardcore fan to enjoy KoF.

A niche market of a niche market. Oi.

jynxycat

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

iao_ — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:50:59 MST

too bad microsoft wont allow xarcade to develop an adapter for the xbox. im going to end up selling mine for a ps3 as soon as these come out just so i can use my fav arcade stick.

iao_

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

Overklocked — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:40:57 MST

Nice to see Falcoon's artwork in motion. I don't like how he draws all the big hands and feet, but I won't be able to pay attention to that when everything is moving.

Overklocked

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

ashjaw — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:35:27 MST

Looks like what Udon did with SSF2THD. They practically redrew the sprites but left the animation the same. The game looks practically exact from all the KOFs, except the sprites were redrawn and retouched.

ashjaw

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

Wolfers — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:35:25 MST

With how often I play fighting games, I really have no excuse as to why I've never played this franchise. Maybe I'll pick up XI for PS2 to see how it is. A used copy probably costs but a pittance.

Wolfers

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

Mr.DuckSauce — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:29:16 MST

@HowardC:yeah, like you "obviously" know their creative process into making XII, like you were "obviously" there.

Mr.DuckSauce

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

Mr.DuckSauce — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:26:45 MST

@MonkeyBiz: its pixels idiot.

Mr.DuckSauce

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

DigitalHero — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:25:07 MST

The characters don't look re-drawn. The sprites are still appear to be the ones back from KOF'95 it seems. I need to look again.

DigitalHero

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

yjaved1 — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:25:01 MST

@samuraisul: No. The art style is very similar, but its not about that. Look at the shading carefully and compare it to Mark of the Wolves. Completely different! I've never seen anything like it before, and its just amazing looking.

yjaved1

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

Ajh — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:24:54 MST

That is beautiful...I want a home version now please? I haven't gotten a king of fighters game since I bought my dreamcast, but this one...this looks well worth it.

Ajh

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

planetidiot — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:24:15 MST

This is what I wish both Capcom and SNK had done for the Vs. games. Those blocky sprites are just plain awful even in 480p. Much props to SNK.

I am still very excited about Street Fighter 4 though. I hope this leads to a 3D capcom vs. snk and a HD hand drawn 2D snk vs. capcom :)

planetidiot

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

ara — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:05:54 MST

@HowardC: At least the SNK Playmore sprites look great, unlike the god awful SFII HD Remix ones. Though the difference is source material is so huge that it's no wonder.

ara

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

Quilt — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:03:39 MST

Wow. That looks fantastic. Street Fighter 4 is taking second billing to that in my books. Aesthetically speaking anyways...

Quilt

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

frankbeans — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:57:14 MST

i can't believe there have been twelve installments of this wonderful franchise. i still remember kicking ass on the first one at arcades.

frankbeans

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

HowardC — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:52:33 MST

I mean no disrespect... but other than the fact that the sprites have obviously been re-traced to look better at a higher resolution, these are the same dang sprites they've had since the beginning!

Looks like a poor-man's sf hd remix to me, which is sad seeing as how snk counts this as a whole game and capcom is considering remix a "bonus" dlc game.

HowardC

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

geekgrrl — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:51:33 MST

looks dynamite. kinda sad to think that this could tank and all be for naught. crap, if it's not on the wii (hahahahaha), i won't be getting it either...crap! i'm tempted to buy a copy regardless :D

geekgrrl

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

Taifuu — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:45:22 MST

Wow, 2008 is shaping up to be at least as grand as last year game-wise. Me and my friends have grown tired of playing tekken 5:dr over and over again on my ps3 and with all the good fighting games on the horizont I seriously doubt we'll be able to stick with just one.

SFIV, SCIV, KoFXII...

Taifuu

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

Kayeliminal Antithesis — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:33:12 MST

2D WILL NEVER DIE!
SNK RESPECTS THE FANS!

Kayeliminal Antithesis

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

Forkball — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:26:46 MST

Uh, it didn't look like cel shading at all. It just looks like hi res hand-drawn sprites, similar to the style of Guilty Gear. Not sure why people started to call this a 2.5D cel shaded fighter when it was pretty obvious from even the poor quality videos that it wasn't one.

Forkball

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

TearsandScreams — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:21:10 MST

Oh wow. Hand drawn will be amazing. It's such a dying technique with animation in general it's sad. So I applaud this move.

TearsandScreams

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

RemyDuvalle — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:20:55 MST

@zymeck: Because handdrawn sprites > 3D sprites... esp when gameplay is 2D anyway.

But really, when I heard it was cell shaded then saw the trailer, I thought to myself "That doesn't really look cell-shaded... the animation isn't smooth enough for that."

but then I ultimately decided that perhaps it WAS cell-shaded, but they animated the characters like they were 2D.

... I'm just glad I'm not crazy. :P

RemyDuvalle

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

bloog — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:15:53 MST

Wow, that's awesome.
Wish they would do a few (ok, more than a few) in betweens to get a smoother frame rate.

bloog

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

RonJeremy4Pres — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:14:13 MST

It's too bad M$ is so anal about their wireless technology, cuz I think I'm going to want a wireless arcade stick (or a replica the original Neo Geo AES stick)if this game ever makes it's way onto XBL. Here's to hoping for lots of SNK and lots less Playmore.

RonJeremy4Pres

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

PlasmaMachine — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:13:14 MST

Should be sweet.. Hopefully they'll used high res Special effects as well.. I know the video was a WIP, but some of the fire and stuff looked corny.

PlasmaMachine

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

sander_dutch — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:06:17 MST

Dare I say that this impresses me a little bit more than SFIV?
As soon as they fix Ryu's face in SFIV, I'll stop freaking out and like that game as well. His baby-blue eye popping non-stop should be easy to fix

There is nothing wrong with KoF XII's animations though. Looks freakin' sweet!
Or just imagine having to redraw all the frames for a character...Good luck with that ;)

sander_dutch

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

zymeck — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:03:25 MST

hand drawn, eh?

whats the point of that then?

zymeck

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

Lider — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:01:48 MST

Dunno where people thought that KOF XII was Cell Shaded, maybe they had some eye problems or something and couldn't really notice the sprites...

Anyway, this game is a must get. Can't wait to play it. I hope it plays great like 98' or XI! :)

Lider

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

samuraisul — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:57:53 MST

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't this art-style done before, in "Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves"? There was something about Ryo's hair flowing in the trailer that made me think of that.. "Mark of the Wolves" had a very different (I'm no artist, so I won't venture to say what, exactly) art-style from the KOF series..

Help..anybody?

samuraisul

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

samuraisul — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:51:39 MST

@thaKingRocka: HAHA! Yeah, me too actually..!

samuraisul

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

DaiMacculate — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:50:00 MST

@Zombie Attack!!: Well, they were drawings, then renders from those drawings, then redrawn on top of the renders, so yeah "completely" might be a misnomer but its such a small distinction ;)

DaiMacculate

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

Zombie Attack!! — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:41:55 MST

Wouldn't say "completely" hand drawn, since the characters were rendered first.

HOWEVER this is still pretty interesting. I had heard that the game was "2.5D" and didn't really know what people were referring to when they said that.

Glad to see that it's still completely 2D.

Zombie Attack!!

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

gusiskirby — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:41:03 MST

Why don't they use the year anymore? 2007, 2008, etc.

gusiskirby

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

yomachaser — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:37:50 MST

I only have one problem with this game, I've been doing every move in that trailer for years.

It's fantastic that they rebuilt the visuals, but when are they going to add something new to the movesets?

yomachaser

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

smitty1123 — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:36:31 MST

@okenny :): Get off my lawn.

smitty1123

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

fuchikoma — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:36:20 MST

VICTOLY!
Could it be SNK gets it? I thought they had died and decided to live off remakes of old titles... This looks really cool though. Just what I wanted from KoF!

fuchikoma

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

MC Double Def DP — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:35:07 MST

Well, I guess I'm holding off on buying KoFXI now. :-D

MC Double Def DP

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

Sabastian_Chadwick_McGirt — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:27:50 MST

This has got to be the most hardcore thing i've ever heard. I'm definitely grabbing this when it drops.

Sabastian_Chadwick_McGirt

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

Benjo — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:20:37 MST

Wow, I really want to check this out.

Benjo

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

Providence — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:20:01 MST

It's honestly about time SNKP did the KOF series justice. Anyone that's been following KOF since SNK died should know what I'm talking about = /

Providence

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

Dmunkee — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:12:56 MST

This looks so good. Looking forward to this, and it's eventual console release :D

Dmunkee

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

neojam — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:11:32 MST

@skullivan: Yep same here, I think SFIV is nothing but just an another/new Street Fighter EX game.

Street Fighter 4 = Street Fighter EX4

neojam

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

Nisori — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:05:37 MST

The sprites where obviously hand drawn when the first preview popped up on the interwebs. That is why quality of the animation made me wet myself in bliss.

Nisori

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

skullivan — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:03:30 MST

@Shin-Kaiser:

It's just you. Take a look at a screenshot of KOFXI, the difference is night and day.

This is the way SFIV should've been done IMO. I still think SFIV looks like it's a franchise knock off rather than a proper sequel.

skullivan

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

daschupa — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:02:47 MST

@okenny :): It's not that people are against 3D, it's just that 2D is much more impressive in terms of both quality and love given to each frame.

daschupa

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

Kia — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:02:00 MST

For a minute there I thought the video's start was the new graphics...and was all.."Uhh..."

Whose asinine idea was it to plaster text over the entire screen the whole time, anyway? Cause yeah, I'd totally rather read self-praising crap than actually look at the product.

Still, looks pretty damn good all the same.

Kia

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

Kayin — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:00:45 MST

I came.

KOF has always been my favorite series.

Kayin

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

Yin — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:58:53 MST

I'll say it again, this is a console-seller for me :0

Yin

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

blackadvent — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:58:33 MST

Mind has offically been blown. This might be the first fighting game I've bought since Soul Calibur II.

blackadvent

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

neojam — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:57:04 MST

Too bad SF4 isn't like this :(
Just imagine, with todays technology Capcom could have hired professional anime artists and let them draw super detailed jumbo frames. That would be sooooo awesome!
No idea why they have chosen the lame cell shading, it doesn't even look that good. Imho SFIII:3rd strike looked much better.

Well kudos to SNK for sticking to the roots.

neojam

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

KaliKOtt — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:55:34 MST

Hohohoholy shit

This is like heaven for KOF fans like me. They finally retire the MVS sprites after like what 15 years? and now its hand drawn with painstaking love and care. I can't wait to see how Terry looks

Instant purchase. I wonder if SF2HD or this will look better, but im right now leaning to the SNK side

This is like 90's again, SNK and Capcom going at it bringing their best against each other and I'm loving it. Retire tekken, the REAL fighting games have come back to take their throne

...And now Japanese freaks can draw KOF hentai more accurately

KaliKOtt

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

solarundies — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:52:54 MST

Holy crap! This has become a MUST buy for me. Based on this fact alone.

As an illustration student, I can only imagine how painstaking this has to be.

solarundies

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

Shin-Kaiser — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:52:23 MST

Is it just me or does this KOF look exactly the same as the others? nothing special here.....

Shin-Kaiser

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

okenny :) ...building bridges (to hide under) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:49:04 MST

LOL... some of you commenters sound like old folgies. Sure hand-drawn may seem nice and all and art is beautiful and shit but whatever... give me 3D any day!

okenny :) ...building bridges (to hide under)

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

KeroseneClimax — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:48:33 MST

SNK always had a solid fighting system throughout their games, but their graphics always needed an overhaul. I'm glad that they've finally awakened to modern conventions of rendering characters and may actually produce some of the most beautiful sprites in a 2D fighter that could actually rival top contenders like GGX or SFIII.

Congratulations to SNK for stepping up the game. Now, if only they could put the same effort in producing a Last Blade 3 or Mark of the Wolves 2. It's been eight damn years, guys!

KeroseneClimax

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

GhaleonUnlimited — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:44:01 MST

Why did everyone think this was cell-shaded? It's seems really obviously just great 2-D work. Hasn't anyone seen Guilty Gear?

GG topped 3s in sprite quality like 5 years ago.

GhaleonUnlimited

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

t0yrobo — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:38:49 MST

And that's how it should be! It's about time someone topped SF3 as far as sprites go.

t0yrobo

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

Perdew — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:36:51 MST

Wow. This game completely blows my mind. I'm so impressed that SNK has the resources to actually justify this, and care about it so meticulously. My jaw drops every time I see that trailer.

Perdew

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

Witzbold — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:32:36 MST

@Witzbold: Shit sorry ninjafetus the original post was directed at JayTapp.

Witzbold

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

Intellectualdiot — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:32:08 MST

....

FUCK YES.

Intellectualdiot

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

CrimsonSin — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:30:02 MST

Looks good but to be honest last time I played a King of Fighters game I walked away form the game in the middle of an match becuse it was so boring <.< It just felt so slow. Maybe this one will be diffrent.

CrimsonSin

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

WiNG — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:29:57 MST

Wow, video looks awesome.

Minus the WALL OF TEXT covering the art for 80% of the video.

WiNG

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

Emperor — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:25:14 MST

the game looks like korean manhwa art

Emperor

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

yjaved1 — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:25:12 MST

I'm a big King of Fighters fan. The graphics to me were always impressive for what they did, but they have been looking rather dated for the last several years as compared to other fighting games. I have been playing KOF for quite some time and I cannot wait for this version. Lately though I have been playing KOF 98 (dream match 99) especially since you can play other players around the world with GGPO.net. I'm hoping for a total revamp to the series or at least a version in the series that blows me away with XII coming out.

yjaved1

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

Dauragon C. Mikado — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:22:34 MST

Well...... This looks interesting, but I only enjoy 2D fighters if they are Ryu or Captain America related.

I also greatly appreciate the ability to side step.

Dauragon C. Mikado

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

WolfGod — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:20:05 MST

Nice, never been much of a KOF player myself but I was always pretty good with Terry, Mai and Kim so I think I'm going to pick this up. This game does like incredible.

KOF, SFIV, the two games from ARC Systems makers of Guilty Gear, 2D fighter heaven it is this year.

WolfGod

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

Witzbold — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:19:06 MST

@ninjafetus: I think personally its hard to judge from a video alone. So lets wait till we get more hands on impressions more folks after test units hit the arcades.

Witzbold

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

JayTapp — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:14:02 MST

Looks incredible. But the animations are lacking IMO. This is where SF4 shines. Looks a lot more fluid.

JayTapp

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

jayntampa — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:12:24 MST

@Witzbold: Holy crap ... there IS a ban hammer theme song! I was always wondering ...

Anyway, while my first love is Street Fighter -especially the Alpha series, although I started with the very first SF (yeah, the crappy one) in the arcades - I have an ongoing, torrid love affair with SNK fighters. I never know them as well as my first love, but I have to have them. I can't wait for this game! I hope Blue Mary is in it ...

jayntampa

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

ninjafetus — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:10:00 MST

Wow, you can really tell the difference. It looks amazing. I was actually having a conversation the other day about how I wish Capcom had gone the "super nice hand drawn sprites" path for SF4. It looks like SNK has answered my call!

.... although, I never was that big of a fan of the SNK fighting engines. Hopefully it'll be better than the travesty that was SVC: Chaos, but KOF always has been. (not that that's hard to do)

ninjafetus

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

Witzbold — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:08:01 MST

@PogiJones: When the Prinny Express is in the air EVERY day is "Ban Monday".

Witzbold

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

arstal — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:07:32 MST

All this quality means NOTHING if the gameplay doesn't also deliver. With KOF games, you get a 50/50 shot of quality at best. Out of 11 KOF games, I'd say 4 got considered good (95,98,2k2, and XI) Only 98 is considered great by anyone, and even there- it took a revision.

Note: I don't agree with that, as I don't consider 2k2 good, but Latin America disagrees with me.

I want to see how the game plays before judging.

Watch this game have a retarded infinite. (Even XI has a retarded infinite- Vanessa Hellion juggle in the corner)

That said, I really am impressed by the effort/artstyle- a lot better then I usually expect from SNK.

This is shaping up to be a great year for fighters with a lot of flagship titles being put out- odds are at least one will become a standard game, and those don't come around too often. Hopefully they all do and we can retire some of the older games.

arstal

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

hondo — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:02:25 MST

This is what I wanted SF4 to be. This is what I wanted.

Hey Capcom, I'm going to go hang out over at SNK's house for a bit. It's okay... we're just friends. No really... you have nothing to worry about. I'll... uh... see ya later.

*closes door and drives away*

hondo

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

DaiMacculate — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:01:16 MST

@Odin: Heh yeah I took a quick peek at his history as well, I have no complaints as to the current resolution ;)

DaiMacculate