"The King is back!"

It's disheartening to be a 2D fighter fan in this day and age, watching the genre decay. Not only are we getting fewer 2D fighters these days, but they tend not to hold the kind of quality we've come to expect from even the more mediocre entries in the genre. I could cite a number of titles to show this- SvC Chaos, Guilty Gear Isuka, Capcom Fighting Evolution, KOF NeoWave... the list goes on. Looking at these games, and the state of the genre as a whole, one would be forgiven for thinking that the genre was really and truly dead, and had nothing left to contribute to the world of gaming.

One would also be forgiven for thinking that about the King of Fighters series in particular. Regardless of when exactly the series began its decline (and opinions vary wildly about that), decline it did, much to the sorrow of its lifelong fans. But then came KOF 2003, which was mildly encouraging in its attempt to return to the basic aesthetics of the series while shaking up the gameplay. Alas, its imbalance and control issues killed interest in the game before it could really build up any steam; still, it showed us that the newly-reformed SNK was at least trying... and hey, they almost recaptured the spirit and feel of the series. "Almost" only counts in horseshoes, though, so SNK needed to do a lot more than that to rekindle interest in KOF.

Well, SNK's given its once-flagship 2D series another shot, and the result is KOF XI (apparently they're not doing the year thing anymore). And what a result it is! Abandoning the crusty old NeoGeo in favor of shiny new Atomiswave hardware, XI looks great, plays great, sounds awesome, and is easily the best 2D fighter in years. Will it return 2D fighting to the mainstream? Probably not, at least not singlehandedly. Does it restore the series to its former glory? Oh gods YES. My fellow KOF fans, this is the game we've all been waiting for, the return of the quality that KOF, and SNK, once stood for. The King is back!

Continuing the storyline from 2003, Ash Crimson, together with Shen and his new accomplice Oswald, continues to pursue his dastardly plans involving Orochi, after having stolen the Yata mirror from Chizuru. Now, however, he faces opposition in the form of the Rival Team (consisting of Benimaru, former ally Duo Lon, and new face Elizabeth); secret agents Vanessa, Ramon and Mary begin tracking him; and- oddly enough- Kyo and Iori have (along with Shingo) joined forces against him as well! Other teams join, old rivalries intensify (there's now an Anti-Kyokugen team, for instance), new ones form, and old faces such as Eiji (!!) and Duck King (!!!!) return to the fray. What is Ash planning, and will he prevail? (I love this. This is the kind of mystery and intrigue worthy of old Orochi-saga KOF.)

Playing KOF XI is a joy. The game takes 2003's 3-person tag system and cleverly improves upon it, resuilting in deeper and more varied fights. The "safe tag" from the last game is gone, but in its place are far better tag options. In addition to the normal tag, there's the "Quick Shift" (with which you can tag out during the middle of a combo, allowing for more creativity in tag combos), and the "Saving Shift" (with which you can tag while being hit, thereby mitigating the old "rush them down so they can't tag out" cheapness). These terrific options cost one and two skill stocks, respectively.

"Skill stocks?" you ask. Ah, this is, by far, the coolest new feature of KOF XI. In addition to your normal super meter, you now also have a "skill meter", which has two stocks and fills up automatically over time. Now, when you do counters and emergency evades and such, instead of drawing power from your super meter, you draw from your skill meter instead. I love this new system, because it does a great job of preventing you from spamming the engine's more powerful features without cutting into your supers. Hooray!

Control is nigh-perfect, which should be a relief for those who had to wrestle with the arcade version of 2003. All moves come out with ease, and both the stick and the five buttons respond well... wait, five buttons? Yep- in addition to the two punches and two kicks, blowbacks (or "CD attacks") are back, this time mapped to a single button. Personally, I find the extra button a little superfluous; they could just as easily have just mapped the blowback to C+D like in previous KOF games. Honestly, though, that's a really small complaint; the controls are great.

The last major addition to XI is the new Judgement system, sure to be controversial among 2D fighting fans. In most 2D fighters, if both players are still standing when time runs out, the player with the most health wins- but not in XI! Instead, the game attempts to judge who has played the round with more skill, as defined by combos, aggressiveness, and success in connecting moves. This essentially means that turtling is not a viable strategy in KOF XI; you're forced to play offensively if you want to win. I'm ambivalent about this system. While I can understand SNK's desire to punish turtling, I think that completely eliminating it is a mistake, and limits play options. On the other hand, it does introduce a kind of "meta-balance": if one player picks a particularly strong team or spams cheap combos, the other player still has a shot at winning if they're truly more skilled. It's a very interesting idea, regardless.

KOF XI looks almost as great as it plays. The high-res backgrounds finally ditch the dingy greys and browns that have dominated KOF backgrounds since '99, and are gorgeous, vibrant, and simply beautiful. The sprites are basically the same as always, but they're much more colorful, and anti-aliased so that you don't notice their low-res nature (as much); and, of course, they're animated wonderfully and filled with personality that just leaps off the screen. The presentation is best described as "2001 done right"- an emphasis on primary colors and simple shapes, put together in so stylish a manner that many flashier games just can't compare. In short, this is easily the best-looking KOF game ever, and not just because of the hardware!

But the Atomiswave's biggest improvement over the NeoGeo isn't the graphics, but the sound. I mean, holy crap. Gone is the old, cheesy synth; instead, the KOF XI machine blasts out real rock, jazz and techno tunes with such power and finesse that you'll hardly believe it's an arcade machine you're playing! Plus. the composition quality of the music is back to KOF '98 standards; SNK expertly weaves their various character and team themes just as skillfully as they used to, creating another classic soundtrack which is both wholly new and wholly familiar. I especially enjoy Kyo's new theme, which evokes the feel of the old Esaka themes while blending in some of Iori's saxophone melodies (they've teamed up in this game, remember). The sound effects and voice acting are unremarkable only because they maintain the high quality of sound effects from previous games, except that they sound clearer and cleaner thanks to the Atomiswave.

So it looks, sounds, and plays the best that the series has in years, and even introduces gameplay elements that (gasp!) advance the 2D fighting genre. What more do you want? What more is there to say? If you're a KOF fan, you must play this game. If you care for 2D fighters at all, I highly, highly recommend checking this game out. Again, it won't singlehandedly return the genre to glory, but it proves to all of us that 2D is alive and (more importantly) well.

2D fighting fans have something to hope for again.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/10/06