US KOF 2002/2003 for PS2 is out

I picked this up today while looking for something else in an EB, and totally did not expect to see it on the shelf. Is today supposed to be the release date???

I'll post up tomorrow on impressions... I'm hoping that the ported gameplay is decent and meshes well with 2003 AST. We'll see.

neojedi said:

I picked this up today while looking for something else in an EB, and totally did not expect to see it on the shelf. Is today supposed to be the release date???

I'll post up tomorrow on impressions... I'm hoping that the ported gameplay is decent and meshes well with 2003 AST. We'll see.

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i grabbed it at lunch today. Everyone uses the term "3D backgrounds"...but are they? I consider the DC ports with dream match and evolution to be 3D backgrounds...and the ones on the PS2 port of '01 to be "hi-res backgrounds"...so which is it on this port of '03???

It officially came out on Tuesday, but I don't think most places got it till today. Going to pick a copy up tonight after work...

I have found that pre-orders get them today and everyone else gets them tomorrow or the weekend. Gamestop gave me an employees pre-order copy. The EB in my area had none in stock. (I'm in the California Bay Area by the way)

ITS UNCENSORED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111

Titties shakin guns blazin this game IS uncensored Thank god

pixeljunkie said:

i grabbed it at lunch today. Everyone uses the term "3D backgrounds"...but are they? I consider the DC ports with dream match and evolution to be 3D backgrounds...and the ones on the PS2 port of '01 to be "hi-res backgrounds"...so which is it on this port of '03???

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The backgrounds are fully 3D...hence why people are saying "3D backgrounds." With 2002, you get 3D versions of the 2D backgrounds from the game. In 2003, you get brand new backgrounds (usually 2-3 different versions, sometimes very different from each other) based in the same locations as the original 2D backgrounds.

And you can choose the 2D backgrounds as well, if you're a "purist" weirdo.

KOF 2003 got so many enhancements it almost seems like a different game. You can even play in 3-on-3 team style like in 2002 instead of the tag style.

I have this game in my possession right now.
Good times ahead this weekend. Just need some Faygo!

Sigh... I hate living in Canada (well, most of the time...). Apparently we have to wait until tomorrow to get this. Oh well... guess I wouldn't have had time to play it tonight anyway... afterall, I do have to watch The OC with my girlfriend (sigh x 5).

lol @ a guy watching The OC. Nice.

I made a thread about KOF 02/03 last night in the KOF forum; 03 mfwns me. Absolutely amazing.

And yes, the Arranged backgrounds are in 3D. The Arranged backgrounds in 02 kinda suck, tho.

Quick impressions on '03... it reminds me a lot of Re-Bout. The backgrounds are very well done and are revamped to the point where some are hard to recognize even after playing '03 on the Neo. In addition, a lot of the backgrounds scroll. Unlike Re-Bout, all of the scrolling I've seen so far is horizontal, so at times this game seems to be the Terry Bogard experience.

The soundtrack is arranged, of course, and for more info you can look in this forum for the thread on when the AST was released in November. I enjoy the AST, personally, and most others did as well.

Confirmed that the boobs in '03 do bounce. Gee, the game has been out for a day already and President Bush hasn't called for the bombing of Japan... do you think that maybe bouncing titties isn't the catastrophic event that SNK has traditionally made it out to be?

Gameplay is the question mark. Most everything that I tried seem to work, but I wasn't able to dig in here. One troubling thing that I saw was that the sprite for Kusanagi got stuck for about 5 seconds and went into a seizure before freeing himself. Hopefully that won't be an often occurrence. For all I know, it could be a rare occurrence on the Neo, but I've never seen it happen before there.

More info: The intro is touched up, but it is the original intro from the Neo. From the start, the options to use the original backgrounds and the original music are available in the options menu. The sprites themselves look like they came straight from the Neo. Personally, I don't have any problem with the sprite quality clashing with the backgrounds, but some might. As much of a technical marvel as Re-Bout is (to use new sprites while preserving the old gameplay), I feel much safer with the original sprites as the integrity of the gameplay is too dependent on hit detection.

To conclude, SNK seems to have found the right formula for a good port, and KOF '03 will be one of the best ones they ever did if the gameplay holds up. Here's the Re-Bout formula to a good port (minus the re-done intro, which is really optional, and the re-done sprites, which is really risky):

- re-do all of the backgrounds, and use scrolling to push the envelope
- use an arranged soundtrack
- keep the gameplay as close to the original as possible
- provide menu options to allow purists to choose the original BGs and BGMs
- no censorship

I picked this up yesterday. I haven't gotten into it all the much just yet. But at least its uncensored. There does seem to be more blood in 02 than 03. Since this is the first time I've played either, I'm still getting used to the fighting system. It seems easier to do combos in 02 then 03 so far. The animations are really smooth, my only gripe is that some of the super moves are a little tricky on the d-pad. I'll definately be playing the hell out of this over the weekend.

Gamespot's review is up. They give it an 8.0

Damn Abster, you beat me to it.
Here's the link:
http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/kingoffighters20022003/review.html

i just got the game thursday. and the fact that in kof 2k2 you can play as blood iori, geese, and goenitz makes this kof my favorite.

orochi_lubu said:

i just got the game thursday. and the fact that in kof 2k2 you can play as blood iori, geese, and goenitz makes this kof my favorite.

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Being able to play Geese with all the "new" cast is the only reason why I am buying this pack.

I'll pick one up soon.

I've been playing KOF 2k3 in soft mode with the new bgs

looks great

For some reason though, I prefer to play 2k2 in arcade mode (original bgs) using type B for the screen settings. The resolution looks more like the Neo Geo's, characters appear bigger, and some of the pixelation is disguised.

correct me if I'm wrong

Just picked this up. '03 is fun, but I didn't play it enough in the arcade to be able to compare the port to the original. Maybe that will let me enjoy the port more.

I only played one game of '02 so far, but it felt a little different to me. It may mostly be getting used to playing it on a different stick, but one thing I did notice was Vanessa's qcf+K, f+C is now useless against Rugal.

orochi_lubu said:

i just got the game thursday. and the fact that in kof 2k2 you can play as blood iori, geese, and goenitz makes this kof my favorite.

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is King in 02???

Did the Japanese PS2 version of 03 have these enhanced backgrounds also? And did they do this in any of the older games (00,01?)
I'm thinking of getting a import PS2 for 94 Rebout and maybe getting the whole series including Max Impact, I'm still going to get the Neo Geo carts at some point in time though.

King, Shingo, Geese, Orochi Iori and Geontiz are there in KOF2002. there can be more, but that's all I know.

Japanese KOF2003 has these new BGs as well.

PS2 KOF2001 had new BGs with 2 versions of each one (that's 3 versions if you include the original BGs, which can be unlocked). the BGs were massively improved in that game and they looked much much better than their Neo versions.

I went to 5 stores today looking for this damn game and nobody had it. I guess I will have to drive an hour to EB to pick it up.

Can the new '03 backgrounds be mixed in with the old ones? Like how in the 2k1 port you could play with the old and the new ones without having to switch between the two.

I wouldnt say the '01 ports new backgrounds were better. They were just redrawn hi res scans of the old ones. And they didnt really have any life to them. The foggy China stage was really cool though.

Mr.Nemoperson said:

I wouldnt say the '01 ports new backgrounds were better. They were just redrawn hi res scans of the old ones. And they didnt really have any life to them. The foggy China stage was really cool though.

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I'd say they were better -- a lot better (but I wouldn't say that about any other KOF port including '02/'03). They are more than hi res rescans of the originals. They are redrawn, with many small differences and additions, not to mention featuring different times of day. And the new Brazil stage is completely different, taking place on a bridge over the racetrack (imo, Brazil had been the weakest background in the original game).

To be honest, I'm not crazy about the new backgrounds in '02/'03, though. The new '02 backgrounds are fine, but something about them seems off. A couple I like a lot, but some others, like Mexico, I prefer the originals. And the new background where you now meet the mid-boss (out of sequence, now), is pretty freaking weak. Rugal's new stage has papers flying around inside, which lost it's coolness when I realized it was going to keep going on for the entire match. But I disliked the original Rugal stage in '02, so I'm fine with the new one.

The new '03 backgrounds seem to think they need to be in constant motion to hold your interest, like waving something shiny in front of a baby. It gets repetitious and obnoxious. Again, a couple I like a lot (Egypt on the boat, and the China rooftop), but some, like riding through town on the back of a truck gets old fast. It's nowhere near as good as the cobblestone street "Town" original, imo.

Overall, a good effort, though. When I got it at EB, the clerk said they only had 2 left. I'd like to think they'd sold 20 of them since Wednesday, but the reality is they probably had only ordered 5 at most. Still, I hope the positive reviews it's gotten generate some interest. The games deserve it, and these seem to be good ports, from the little time I've spent with them so far.

SouthtownKid said:

Overall, a good effort, though. When I got it at EB, the clerk said they only had 2 left. I'd like to think they'd sold 20 of them since Wednesday, but the reality is they probably had only ordered 5 at most. Still, I hope the positive reviews it's gotten generate some interest. The games deserve it, and these seem to be good ports, from the little time I've spent with them so far.

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around these parts they had 3 in each store, that was according to the EB employee (I happen to go to the store that didn't order any at all)

It was better than GameStop's (I went to two locations) 1 copy, and 1 copy only, of which was the opened display copy, which I refused to pay the "new" price for, so EB got my money instead.

Can anybody tell me if there are any new background characters in the new backgrounds(and list the characters if they are new background characters)?