the first words that came to my mind when i first heard K.O.F. '99 was going to have
the "strikers" feature was "capcom"
since games such as X-men vs Street fighter and the like already implemented such feature i was fearing that K.O.F. could have turn "capcomised"
when '99 finally came, i found the striker feature not as bad as at first tought, but like a nice addition you may say, since gameplay itself demanded some change to difference itself from the other games in the series.
altough obviously underdeveloped the striker feature changed the fighting tactics in the game more than expected so new tactics were inplemented,new combos came out and it wasn't long before players discovered what strikers were the best and became very common during matches ,characters such as shingo,leona,robert etc. became as common as oxygen.
the strikers brought out more "cheap" tactics to the table as well,many over-used combos ,movements etc. but that is normal when new features or gameplay are implemented in fighting games, we all know there is always a crack in there that many players will discover and use more frequently than they should.but then again there has always be cheap tactics ,movements,combos so it is something you get used to quite fast and even learn from it to improve your own gameplay.fortunately SNK(unlike capcom) made the strikers limited since it required the use of a "striker bombs".
unfortunately the strikers didn't came without a cost, the team's rooster was drastically cut, movements dissapeared characters were weakened and or changed and animations were lost to bring space for the newly strikers.
was it worth it ?
a year passed and K.O.F. 2000 came with an obviously improved strikers feature, that made the game earn the nickname of "The King OF Strikers" rather than K.O.F. for the immense amout of strikers the game brought with.
as with the case of '99 the strikers didn't came free it was obviously that it took a great portion of the games memory that could had been used in other parts of the game such as animation,characters etc.
but unlike '99 they came with "another striker" and "maniac striker" these strikers being alternative versions of of the same characters,characters of previous K.O.F's like Rulal , Goenitz , Geese Howard which were supposed to be dead already, and characters that are unrelated to K.O.F. altough this was already implemented for the first time in the port for the Dreamcast K.O.F. '99 evolution with Fio from metal slug starring as a striker, but since this was a port and it was looked more like and "extra" and wasn't the main Arcade game it wasn't taked that seriously.
the strikers in '00 brought a lot with them, since the strikers systems was improved and stirkers bombs could be exanged for power bars,obviously "cheapness" came again , and this time in full force, characters like seth , joe ,leona etc. are over-used infinite combos are now so very common unlike previous K.O.F. were it was more difficult to pull them off.
like i said before sadly you just get used to the cheapness and fight against it anyway you can but what really bothers me "in my own opinion" is that the game kind of lost that K.O.F. feeling the other versions have.
just imagine playing with the fatal fury team and all of a sudden Geese Howard jumps on the screen to help you. a character that Terry Bogard clearly hates yet it is his another striker.
characters that are dead like Geese Goenitz Orochi jumping in and out in the screen.
if K.O.F. had a crap story like most capcom fighters like Marvel vs Capcom i wouldn't care about this, but SNK is famous for their fighting games storylines and K.O.F. '97 is known to have one of the storylines ever on a fighting games and i have to agree that it has indeed a great storyline. i don't mind playing with them strikers against another player and you can just choose not to use them and use the original team, but the reality is that not many people will do that and almost all of the players prefer to use these alternative strikers, but just seeing Orochi jumping in and out when he is "already dead in the storyline" affects the feel of the game it's true that K.O.F. '98 brought rugal ,vice, and mature back but you have to remember this was an "special edition" a dream match slugfest that doesn't count on the story line '00 however does count as an episode and i feel the strikers just plain ruin it.
i would like to hear people opinions and what they think about that the striker features
does it ruins the storyline ? the gameplay?
or is an improvement in both ?
the "strikers" feature was "capcom"
since games such as X-men vs Street fighter and the like already implemented such feature i was fearing that K.O.F. could have turn "capcomised"
when '99 finally came, i found the striker feature not as bad as at first tought, but like a nice addition you may say, since gameplay itself demanded some change to difference itself from the other games in the series.
altough obviously underdeveloped the striker feature changed the fighting tactics in the game more than expected so new tactics were inplemented,new combos came out and it wasn't long before players discovered what strikers were the best and became very common during matches ,characters such as shingo,leona,robert etc. became as common as oxygen.
the strikers brought out more "cheap" tactics to the table as well,many over-used combos ,movements etc. but that is normal when new features or gameplay are implemented in fighting games, we all know there is always a crack in there that many players will discover and use more frequently than they should.but then again there has always be cheap tactics ,movements,combos so it is something you get used to quite fast and even learn from it to improve your own gameplay.fortunately SNK(unlike capcom) made the strikers limited since it required the use of a "striker bombs".
unfortunately the strikers didn't came without a cost, the team's rooster was drastically cut, movements dissapeared characters were weakened and or changed and animations were lost to bring space for the newly strikers.
was it worth it ?
a year passed and K.O.F. 2000 came with an obviously improved strikers feature, that made the game earn the nickname of "The King OF Strikers" rather than K.O.F. for the immense amout of strikers the game brought with.
as with the case of '99 the strikers didn't came free it was obviously that it took a great portion of the games memory that could had been used in other parts of the game such as animation,characters etc.
but unlike '99 they came with "another striker" and "maniac striker" these strikers being alternative versions of of the same characters,characters of previous K.O.F's like Rulal , Goenitz , Geese Howard which were supposed to be dead already, and characters that are unrelated to K.O.F. altough this was already implemented for the first time in the port for the Dreamcast K.O.F. '99 evolution with Fio from metal slug starring as a striker, but since this was a port and it was looked more like and "extra" and wasn't the main Arcade game it wasn't taked that seriously.
the strikers in '00 brought a lot with them, since the strikers systems was improved and stirkers bombs could be exanged for power bars,obviously "cheapness" came again , and this time in full force, characters like seth , joe ,leona etc. are over-used infinite combos are now so very common unlike previous K.O.F. were it was more difficult to pull them off.
like i said before sadly you just get used to the cheapness and fight against it anyway you can but what really bothers me "in my own opinion" is that the game kind of lost that K.O.F. feeling the other versions have.
just imagine playing with the fatal fury team and all of a sudden Geese Howard jumps on the screen to help you. a character that Terry Bogard clearly hates yet it is his another striker.
characters that are dead like Geese Goenitz Orochi jumping in and out in the screen.
if K.O.F. had a crap story like most capcom fighters like Marvel vs Capcom i wouldn't care about this, but SNK is famous for their fighting games storylines and K.O.F. '97 is known to have one of the storylines ever on a fighting games and i have to agree that it has indeed a great storyline. i don't mind playing with them strikers against another player and you can just choose not to use them and use the original team, but the reality is that not many people will do that and almost all of the players prefer to use these alternative strikers, but just seeing Orochi jumping in and out when he is "already dead in the storyline" affects the feel of the game it's true that K.O.F. '98 brought rugal ,vice, and mature back but you have to remember this was an "special edition" a dream match slugfest that doesn't count on the story line '00 however does count as an episode and i feel the strikers just plain ruin it.
i would like to hear people opinions and what they think about that the striker features
does it ruins the storyline ? the gameplay?
or is an improvement in both ?
