Does anyone else dislike the KOF series?

What originally made me yearn for a Neo Geo was reading about KOF 97 (I think it was 97) in my friend's Tips & Tricks magazine. From what I read it seemed incredible. Once I finally played a KOF game a few years later, I was very disappointed.

KOF has a lot of characters, which is a great feature. One of my favorite qualities in a fighting game is having a lot of characters, but the characters in the KOF games all kind've blend together to me. None of them are very interesting to me and they just seem bland and ordinary. KOF's gameplay is also pretty dull. It just seems to lack the speed and intensity of other fighting games. a vast majority of the characters seem to play pretty much the same way. I know it seems this way because I havent really gotten into the games enough to tell the differences, but in most games, the differences between characters' play mechanics are more apparent from the start.

Another big gripe I have is the animation. SNK has demonstrated incredible animation in many of their other games, but the KOF games seem pretty choppy. The movement doesn't tend to be very fluid. I prefer SNKs more unusual and fighters like Waku Waku 7, the Samurai Shodown series, and Last Blade 2. They have a lot more "character" and theyre just a lot more fun to me.

I know its probably a sin to speak against the allmighty KOF games here, but does anyone feel the same way?

the characters in the KOF games all kind've blend together to me

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That this isn't true is one of the main reasons I like KOF.

Kamikaze Colin:
What originally made me yearn for a Neo Geo was reading about KOF 97 (I think it was 97) in my friend's Tips & Tricks magazine. From what I read it seemed incredible. Once I finally played a KOF game a few years later, I was very disappointed.

KOF has a lot of characters, which is a great feature. One of my favorite qualities in a fighting game is having a lot of characters, but the characters in the KOF games all kind've blend together to me. None of them are very interesting to me and they just seem bland and ordinary. KOF's gameplay is also pretty dull. It just seems to lack the speed and intensity of other fighting games. a vast majority of the characters seem to play pretty much the same way. I know it seems this way because I havent really gotten into the games enough to tell the differences, but in most games, the differences between characters' play mechanics are more apparent from the start.

Another big gripe I have is the animation. SNK has demonstrated incredible animation in many of their other games, but the KOF games seem pretty choppy. The movement doesn't tend to be very fluid. I prefer SNKs more unusual and fighters like Waku Waku 7, the Samurai Shodown series, and Last Blade 2. They have a lot more "character" and theyre just a lot more fun to me.

I know its probably a sin to speak against the allmighty KOF games here, but does anyone feel the same way?

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eek! eek! oh_no oh_no shame

Its not a sin to speak out against kof (its youre opinion) but none of the things youve mentioned have I found as a problem with the games. I havent even heard anyone mention these problems.

How long did you play kof, 15 minutes?

Spend a little more time with it, get into the gameplay, and trust me it will blossom.

<small>[ June 21, 2003, 11:44 PM: Message edited by: ThePunisher ]</small>

KOF is a series that you have to devote a ton of time to if you havn't been playing it since the start in '94 to actuaaly appreciate all that it has to offer.

I have neither the desire nor the patience to invest the amount of time neccesary to actuaaly enjoy the series, therefore it is much easier for me to dismiss the series in is entirety due to my laziness and general dislike for technical fighters based solely on the time required to actuaaly get good at it.

The last thing that I want is a game in my collection that is nothing but work and not much fun until much later. If I had endless amounts of time on my hands or if the neo didn't have several other fantastic fighting series to choose from I'd consider getting KOF '98 again.

YOU DARE SPEAK POORLY OF THE ALLMIGHTY KOF? PREPARE TO MEET YOUR DOOM!! blow_top very_ang

OKOK, seriously, I really think you haven't played KOF enough to appreciate it. Though the animation is no AOF3 or MOTW, it is still not terrible. As for the speed? I really think that it can get really intense at times, at least in 98 and 99, I have had many rather down-to-the-wire matches, the kind where you just start getting that mindset where you're all "gotta win, GOTTA WIN!", or at least I get in that mindset, be it against another person, or the computer.

BTW if this seems poorly written and thrown together sloppily, it's 12:30 and I'm tired.

I felt like you did at first. I was a Capcom lover from day one and thought KOF and other SNK fighters were nothing but cheap Street Fighter clones. But once I spent some time on them I grew to love them, and quickly. Now I have a hard time adjusting to Capcom fighters like CvsS2 on Xbox live because it moves so much slower than KOF on my MVS. I really don't get into the technical side of things, I do it for fun and I'm not worried about how to land a 30 hit combo. Trust me, if you give in time to at least learn the basics, you'll be able to find at least 3 characters that will grow on you.

Although I like Kof, I find the rolling feature over generalizes gameplay, along with making the grapplers even cheaper. I love the Fatal Fury series best. But there are alot of good characters in kof, and 98 is the best one. Brian Battler, a diamond in the rough.

I tend to believe many of our criticisms of SNK titles are due to our minds not being ready,including myself..
Almost every title should be considered somebody's artwork and it's basically your job to get a vibe/understanding where the creators were/are coming from.Once you have an understanding of the concept then it's okay to dismiss it..that's if you don't say to yourself,"OKAY,I GOT IT NOW!! COOL!".
I like the series but I don't care for every installment which means you have to basically try them all before dropping the hammer.
I used to prefer the Fatal Fury series over KOF but now it's the other way around however the series is becoming very stale and I hope that Playmore will shake thigs up with the teams.redraw ALL SPRITES and include alot more new characters from the past and the future.
-BB

After playing a lot of Capcom fighters, KOF may seem a bit slow and choppy, but that wears off after a few rounds. This game can be played incredibly fast if you know what you're doing. The animation isn't all that great - but it doesn't suck either. The gameplay is phenominal though. If you play a real good KOF player it's such a fucking rush. Granted, I'm not that big of a KOF fan compared to others (I enjoy the Fatal Fury series more), but KOF is one badass series. The game is tactical as hell. Characters don't really play alike like in many Capcom fighters. Take time and just master one character (this will take a lot of time, especially coming new into the series and not knowing the full play mechanics). After that, learn another, then another to have your full team. You will begin to see the differences are as clear as night and day.

I understand exactly what Kamikaze Colin
means , I really dont dis like the KOF series ,but I think they are far overated bye most people and compared to games like the Samsho and LB games they really do feel like totall shit , but then again I think most Capcom fighters feel the same way, really stiff.

To me what makes a good fighting game isnt how many super duper combos you can or have to pull off or how many charachters there are in the game , for me it comes down to fluid charachter movement and KOF just doesnt have it, the games feel very stiff and jerky and for me at least, it ruins any desire I had to play it before I started.

you shouldnt have to play a game and get used to it to like it oh_no

I am so quoting you on that man. It reeks of my recent SF III incident.

It all comes down to personal tastes. I'm not gonna bash you for not liking the KoF series. To each his own, right?

I would say this thread i filled with bull in some parts. Not to tick anyone of but it really is.

First of all, the speed. KOF is in no way a slow game, imho it´s one of the fastest fighter out there (94 is somewhat on the slow side thought). You need to learn how to use dash, high jump, short jump, rolls and combos. The most important thing when playing kof is to keep moving as you can see if you watch some tournament vids for example.

The animation isn´t the best out there, absolutely not. But it´s not bad at all.

I played some alpha 3 yesterday to get warm up for SVC chaos and i was pretty surprised about how slow and choppy this game looks. I remembered it as fast and well animated.

I didn´t like the art-style in KOF at first thought. Í prefered the big AOF/SS/RB-sprites with vivid colours but at some point i really got into it and must say that SVC chaos exites me alot just because of the style.

You´ll propably grow to like it but i don´t know for sre. It seems to me like most people (like myself) love this series thought.

I am starting to dislike them 2000 2001 2002 were all pretty boring for me sure maybe a few tweaks were added but not really enough to suffice another kof

Kof 2000 was short on backgrounds and the controls were jerky but atleast had some decent cut sequences and kula.

Kof2001 was said to be great,i grew bored with it after 3 days

kof2002 again nothing new just another rehash, just kof characters with new backdrops and thats about it .no cut scenes no endings. sure ppl say its about gameplay but come on atleast have some decent endings or cut scenes so its worth going back a few times even Rugals stage was shit.
if it was more interactive like usually with mai and andy at start of fight it be more fun to play too.

When you are paying out a lot of money for a cart you dont want the same game over and over.

having said that though i think Kof94 was one hell of a game. nice music great team backdrops,cool gameplay and a cool story and boss

95 even though alot simular to 94 was still fun

96 turned the characters huge and was still worthy

i didnt like 97 as much even though it had 3 cool bosses
but then comes along 98 and it has everything a great boss, great gameplay, cool backdrops, nice interacting amongst the players and had a good challenge level too infact if this game had cut scenes too i think it would have been my fav game,

and as for 99 what it lacked in gameplay and challenge it was i feel the most polished version
with great vs screen,nice story, nice cut scenes,nice animation and some of the backdrops were awesome and it was fun to play.

94 and 98 are truly amazing games.

<small>[ June 22, 2003, 05:57 AM: Message edited by: Lee Gray ]</small>

KOF currently blows.

Same reused graphics and style, same rehashed characters that appear year after year and never change outfits or age, basically the same gameplay tweaked for better or worse, no more cool crossing over with other SNK games or characters, the list goes on.

KOF needs to die or get a complete and major overhaul, it's a stale franchise that's begun to rot.