KOF XII @ Portland, Oregon

[bemanicho1]

The game's not BAD, it was just........ underwhelming. There's just something that feels "off" about it to me. I WANT to like it but it just wasn't totally clicking...

That's how I feel about most 2-d SNK Playmore fighting games unfortunately.

 

[bokmeow]

I got 15 videos of it:

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=A265641716859660

Proof of how ghetto the cabinet is right now:

http://bbh.marpirc.net/tiltxii3.jpg


as for my impressions... gonna cut-paste part of what I said on SRK and edit some stuff

Well... this game certainly takes some getting used to. I was having a hard time trying to implement the b+CD counter at first (as well as watch out for when the opponent does it), and then other times I'd keep thinking I was playing any other KOF and I could throw with one button. Even worse, I'd remember that throwing is two buttons and then when I'd go into throw I'd push A+B instead of A+C and end up rolling... yeah. Entering an SF4 tournament and trying to stay in that mindset the same day you're trying to learn a new game probably isn't the best of ideas. (although I have no complaints with how the SF4 tournament turned out...)

I think I'm also disappointed in that I couldn't seem to do very well with the characters I wanted to play. A lot of times I could visualize what I'd want to be doing, but then I'd just... be completely unable to do it. I'm going to go the pussy way out and blame the sticks. I was having a hell of a time hyper-hopping on those, and I lost count of the number of times I missed buffering into Galactica Phantom off Ralf's crouching C - CD chain. Maybe the timing is tighter on CD into super, I dunno... 98 was pretty weird about detecting double quarter circle motions too now that I think about it...

I'm certainly not writing the game off yet, I will definitely be spending more time with it and hopefully get a better chance to find some characters that click with me. I really really want to like this game, but with a character roster that's limited by KOF standards, and the characters themselves often feeling limited in general (due to missing moves or having them replaced with other weird ones... what the fuck am I supposed to with Ralf qcf+P?), I'm worried that the game won't stay fresh for very long.

Or maybe I'm just bitter that I was losing so much, but there was lots of stuff I wanted to try and I would never get the chance because I was getting rushed down or making bad decisions in certain situations. I couldn't really get into the mindset of the game since there's all this new stuff that doesn't feel natural for KOF, and then there's all these changes in the characters that make them feel even weirder than what I'm used to.

Sure does look purdy, though.

Thanks for the impressions and the videos BBH. Salivating city
It looked to me like the other player wasn't really trying anything fancy, so I have to assume that the stick problem you were experiencing wasn't isolated. Graphics look fooking sweet... starting to get used to seeing Leona with the tanktop and the ammo belt now too

 

[DJ Long Cat]

I hope this gets a wide release like KOF XI did.

I MUST PLAY IT.

 

[BigTinz]

Of course they put it in a shitty showcase cab.

OF COURSE!

 

[Lets Gekiga In]

Of course they put it in a shitty showcase cab.

OF COURSE!

For money saving measures? Of course my local arcade actually gets all the good cabs, but they lease them rather than own them.

 

[Spike Spiegel]

Of course they put it in a shitty showcase cab.

OF COURSE!

What I found odd (and hopeful for me to maybe own one someday) is that the monitor is clearly 4x3 running a 16x9 game. Hmm.

 

[Moon Jump]

I guess ArcadeHeroes was wrong, they said the set up was going to be like Street Fighter IV with the way Vs mode is set up. Hopefully that will encourage any operators to get the game.

The one arcade by me that has a SFIV has it set up in an old showcase too. But he took the old screen out and put in an flat screen HD set. While it didn't really fit the cab, it looked better then it does on my standard S-Video set.

Thanks much for taking videos of it, can't wait to give it a shot if it gets a wider release.

 

[black_7]

Long story short, one of the players didn't understand English that well and each time i told him to wait he would try and put his money in the machine. Finally had to cover the coin slots with my hands. haha

Heh. When you put your hand over the slot, he didn't pop an attitude?

 

[kazuo]

I guess ArcadeHeroes was wrong, they said the set up was going to be like Street Fighter IV with the way Vs mode is set up. Hopefully that will encourage any operators to get the game.

The home release in July is discouraging ops from getting the game (I was going to buy one until SNK confirmed the home release in July).

Not even worth it at $3600.

And yeah, you only need one pcb set/cab for VS.

Still dunno why the screen is all fubar. IIRC TX2 has a setting to output matted 4:3...

 

[Neo Alec]

The home release in July is discouraging ops from getting the game (I was going to buy one until SNK confirmed the home release in July).

Not even worth it at $3600.

And yeah, you only need one pcb set/cab for VS.

Still dunno why the screen is all fubar. IIRC TX2 has a setting to output matted 4:3...

People are still going to be playing it in arcades after the home release. Just like how SF4 still has tournaments and stuff. I think arcades are enough of a novelty now that when people see a game they like on a beautiful monitor in a showcase cab in a public setting, they still want to play it and try out the local competition.

I find it interesting it's running on a 4:3 monitor too. I don't know anything about the new HD arcade boards, so I didn't know that was an option.

 

[hermosaguy]

Hopefully I will be visiting in a few weeks, I would love to check it out!