Actually, I don't mind the idea of spacing the KOFs further apart, at all.
I wont miss the KOF a year thing at all if that means they use the extra time to
make more modifications to their game. Heck, for a while, I was beginning to think they were coming out with KOFs too fast. I never had the time to really explore all of a KOF before the next one was already out. So what do I do? I stop midway and try playing the next game, only to have to come back (years later) to try to finish what I started.
A KOF game, at this point, should probably go a good 2-3 years and just be well-made, not rushed. I know they want to gain revenue each year, but perhaps splitting to do different games, each year, is not a bad idea.
I'm already interested in seeing how they'll link the story between 2003 and 2005, and explain the conditions why the time between the tournaments are spreading.
Still, with the new cast of characters coming in, and the ideas they obviously have in pushing the series forward; they should make an inventive overhaul.
Fatal Fury has been pretty good with that, but then again, you don't have a Fatal Fury every year, either. I'm probably in the group of diehard KOF fans who (at one point) lived, breathed KOF. If there's something done to improve the series, I'm all for it. Even if it means I'll have to *gasp* play a certain year of KOF for more than one year, before seeing the next. (Like that would be any issue for me. Like I can conquer a KOF be bored, and have nothing left to do, in one year........or even 3-5 years). Don't we STILL play Street Fighter 3rd Strike? Mark of the Wolves? Fatal Fury Real Bout 2? (Place favorite KOF years here)?