Mugen Screenpack Kof 2003 Arcade Series Has Never

Graphics are very important in a title, especially in this generation, and games like Gran Turismo 5 Prologue and Killzone 2 gained initial attention because of the way they looked.

Mugen Screenpack Kof 2003 Arcade Series Has Never

Although The King of Fighters series has never had a reputation for being visually-intensive, the twelfth entry in the series is looking to change all that with something rarely seen in modern day graphics: 100 hand-drawn visuals.

Although it looks like some of the animation and character modeling is done using a computer, the pixel art you see onscreen is done by hand, which is an impressive feat indeed.

For those experienced with The King of Fighters series, the same type of 2D brawling will again be the basis of this new iteration, with an emphasis on classic 3-on-3 team-based combat.

However, there are a few notable differences to this tried-and-true formula.

One major difference is the Tactical Shift System from The King of Fighters 2003 has been removed and replaced with a critical counter system.

This counter mode will permit the character to land a number of attacks with increased speed that can be chained together for a short period of time after the mode has been enacted.

Once the critical counter mode is getting ready to end, there will be an onscreen signal, which will give your character the opportunity to unleash a combo-finishing special attack.

In addition to these special attacks, there will also be new power moves for each character that have been re-imagined especially for The King of Fighters XII.

Although there will only be 20 playable characters in this entry in the series (there were more than 40 in The King of Fighters 11), all of the characters that are included are series favorites.

Fighters like Ash Crimson, Kyo Kusanagi, Terry Bogard, and Benimaru Nikaido will all be back for The King of Fighters XII, and each will be presented the way you remember them from previous The King of Fighters games.

The only notable exception is the inclusion of Raiden from SNKs Fatal Fury series, who is making his debut in The King of Fighters XII.

Fans who are expecting a resolution to the Ash story arc presented in other The King of Fighters games will have to wait for a direct follow-up to that particular entry to be announced.

Instead, it looks like The King of Fighters will go the way of most other combat-focused games and drop the plot in favor of rigorous combat and unaffected team creation.

The part of this title I am sure most people are looking forward to is its hand-drawn visuals, but the new elements of the combat system will draw in new and old fans as well.

But, it seems this title is definitely trying to become one of the most graphically impressive of the year, and it will certainly be interesting to see how it all turns out when The King of Fighters XII is released this summer.