The King of Fighters 2006

"Hail the king, or be crushed by him"

Walking down this part of Southtown is never safe, but it's even worse at night. Random gangs burst out of no where, forcing you to use your hardened battle skills to beat them back. But this night, it's not a gaggle of thugs who challenge you. It's…a little girl wearing yellow and black? Taken aback at first, you quickly see your mistake as she assaults you with swift punches, kicks, and slashes of her twin swords. The two of you are on even ground when suddenly she back flips up a fire escape and throws a letter at you. The little kunoichi disappears as you open the letter.

Welcome to The King of Fighters tournament.
Well, you're in for quite a ride.

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Story
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The main characters of KoF 2k6 are the Meira brothers, Alba and Soriee. The story picks up directly after the previous game's, when Alba was made the leader of Southtown by defeating the previous leader, Duke. Both brothers start having dreams about a woman they've never seen before, and the King of Fighters Tournament is announced…ok, don't try to follow the story. It's not really important, and what was supposed to be a cliffhanger just became a really perturbing, nagging feeling at the back of your mind if you beat Story mode with either of the Meira brothers. But, fighters aren't exactly famous for their deep, engaging stories (or lack thereof), so this doesn't hurt the overall score too much.

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Graphics
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KoF 2k6 shows the KoF world in 3D well. All your favorites, such as Kyo Kusanagi, Terry Bogard, and Mai Shiranui, are back in all their polygonal glory, with pretty detailed models and animations. One of the new characters, Nagase (the kunoichi mentioned in my intro), has a lot of colors going on at once, but never looks too bright. The specials and Desperation moves also have cool-looking effects. The fighter's movements are fluid and realistic in most cases. To be honest, I enjoy watching this game as much as I do playing.

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Fighting System
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The classic King of Fighters system is intact, with some additions. You have four main attack buttons (Light Punch, Heavy Punch, Light Kick, Heavy Kick), high/low blocks, grabs, and a super meter that changes number of levels as the fight goes on. At the beginning of a match, your bar can go up to 3 stocks, but if you lose the first round, your max increases to 5.

Special moves are usually performed with a directional command followed by a button press, and Desperation moves are more complicated versions of their special counterparts. Desperation moves have a level from 1-3 which corresponds to the number of super stocks they take up to perform. Seeing as this game is a 3D fighter, you can press R1 to move into the background and dodge linear attacks, or Down+R1 to move into the foreground. Also new is “Sabaki”, which is pressing L2 just before an enemy's attack hits you. Your character grabs the enemy's limb and pushes them to the side, allowing you to counter-attack. There are more intensive maneuvers, like rolling to safety and blow-back attacks that make this a game deep enough for those hard core fighting fans.

The system is simple enough to understand, and yet can be utilized in so many different ways. Definitely a good fighter in my book.

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Sound
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The background music in this game isn't exactly memorable (most of the time), and the sound effects are average. The voices, however, are usually good, and when they're not it's funny. (A big example, as always, is Terry) The sound isn't bad enough for you to shut it off, but it's nothing to write home about.

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Control
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The controls are accurate, rarely missing your button inputs. Some Desperation moves may not be registered, but more often than not I find it's the player's fault for those.

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Characters
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KoF 2k6 has a huge roster of characters to choose from, but as was the case with Mortal Kombat, many of the characters end up with similar movesets. Nagase fights like Hanzo Hattori; Rock has a combination of Terry and Geese's moves; Chae Lim is similar to her master, Kim, etc. However, the similarity isn't ever enough to make to characters seem like copies; they still have variety to have their own style of play.

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Unlockables
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You can unlock a bunch (14 to be unlocked) of characters through story mode, and the first time you beat story mode with each character, you'll unlock their profile and an extra color for one of their two outfits. You'll have to go through story mode quite a bit to unlock all the characters, colors, profiles, and stages…which brings me to my next point.

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SNK Boss?
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You bet. Jivatma isn't as difficult as Duke was in the last game, but his long-ranged and powerful attacks will still give you a run for your money. Not to mention a certain Desperation move of his that does massive damage. Still, like any AI boss, he can be defeated by learning his pattern and attacking relentlessly.

And most importantly for a SNK game…

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Does Terry ask if you're ok?
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You bet.

Overall, The King of Fighters 2006 is a solid fighting game. With a ton of characters, the ability to fight one on one or three on three, smooth and flashy animations, no real balance issues as far as I can see, the Sabaki system adding a new element to the game play, and it's ability to be played well be beginners or experts, it's a shame it doesn't get as much publicity as other fighters.

8/10
Yes, Mai is still wearing that same outfit.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/24/07

Game Release: The King of Fighters 2006 (US, 09/19/06)