KOF 2000 Impressions

Well, I received my KOF 2k about 15 min. before I had to leave for work yesterday. I played for quite a while after I got out of work and here is what I think so far...

Lin looks cool as shit, but I can't shake the Mortal Kombat flashbacks when I play as him. He looks like a MK character and his move where he spits stuff is very MK.

The characters look a little bigger than in '99, maybe its just me.

I played through it once and the story is not too bad but the text moves too fast and I think I missed some of it. Need to play more.

I am having a blast with the gameplay, it is actually making me use characters that I never used in any other KOF. Very fast with some big moves, not MVC big, but pretty powerful.

The backgrounds are good, but I think I like the '99 backgrounds better. The characters look top notch and take second place only to the mighty Mark of the Wolves.

I need more play time to form a better review. I would love to get a translation of the manual so I could get more out of it. Maybe if somebody gets the NGF version they will scan it and post it, or just write a text version. Overall I am very pleased with the game. Hopefully it won't be the last KOF or the last Neo cart for that matter!

After having played through it a couple of times, I'd have to say the most impressive thing to me so far is the animation on the end-boss, Zero. He looks as good if not better than some of the MOTW characters. I also like the somewhat tweaked colors and smoother look some of the returning '99 characters have, they seem a little slicker to me.

Hmmm... haven't played it yet... waiting until Xmas day. Zero?!?!? Whats he like... no don't tell me... I'll wait to see myself. MOTW is not my fave fighting game at all. So I think KOF 2000 will easily surpass MOTW graphically. World Heroes 2 (not Jet or Perfect) seemed to have the toughest boss of all SNK fighters... he was fucking hard as hell. He looked like the Liquid Terminator guy... he could morph into different bosses and fighters... I hope Zero isn't a ripoff of him because morphing into fighters you've already beaten is stupid in my opinion. But I gotta wait and see...

Is Mai bouncy??

Is Mai bouncy??

Is Mai bouncy in KOF 2000? I gotta wait until Xmas day to find out... so ruin it for me please!! Is Mai her perfect little self or is the bounciness cut out? I gotta know...

The bounce is left out of her standing animation. It's still there in her win pose animation. I really haven't paid enough attention to her attacks to tell if the bounce was left out of those.

Some of the characters are nicely animated. Just like last year, Whip is well animated. Kula is also animated well, as is Benimaru's new standing animation.

Overall though, Garou: MotW and Last Blade 2 still have better animation.

Mai's bounce is still in. You need a japanese or modded neo to see it though. Same with the blood.

I can totally concur with the smoother look. It seems to have a more playful look with the characters expressions. This is especially true with the character selection screen. The art on the faces are a positive throwback to the days of FFRB2 and KoF '97. Definitely very cool. I also like the selection screen music. I wish I had my stereo hooked up to my Neo!

I'd have to disagree on the backgrounds, so far, though. There needed to be more of them in '99. The rain stage was pretty strong and memorable, with the sewers, while atmospheric and appropriate, seemed very weak. I think the big stand out in 2K is the street scene.

Played a bit, and in my opinion, I have to say that it's not the best KOF, but like all KOF series, I liked it. Admitedly, I have to play some more, but here is my initial impression.

Graphic is top notch. And yeah, animation is great, but not as "fluid" as MOTW.

Sound is a mixed bag. I prefer KOF 96 and 98 music more.

Combos are alot easier, even w/ out the aid of a striker. W/ strikers, I can already do infintes (about 1/2 of time) w/ some chr.

Already Looking forward to KOF 2001 in form of MVS.



[This message has been edited by Master Terry Bogard (edited December 23, 2000).]