In all fairness KOF was good graphically until 2000 and then it died a thousand deaths and again with every new iteration, culminating in the horid junk that where XII and XIII.
I'm somewhat torn. On the one hand I cannot justify 3D stepping in where 2D once stood, as the difference aesthetically is undoubtedly akin to animation versus live action. The former continues to champion a tradition thousands of years old whilst the latter reenacts theatrically but ultimately artificially what the other sustained. The former imitates life as a means of drawing out its beauty and magic, whilst the latter mimicks whatever it is there to replace, the thinking behind it always being that virtual reality is the prime destination for anything recreated on the screen. I think the two approaches are fundamentally different. The former conveys the artist's brush and the latter the ever more accurate rendition of the formula, cold clean efficient.
On the other hand 2D for its own sake can hardly be justified. If it is to be done, invested in, then nothing short of brilliance should be expected. And mediocrity has been a close friend to SNK for 15 years and more. So that quote where a stance is taken with respect to keeping KOF 2D is in my opinion nothing more than demagoguery.
2D was once the only realistic choice in terms of creating visuals for videogames. It has since become optional. Whilst I sustain that it represents a significantly different approach to videogaming, it has to be respected. Prove 2D is still viable by making it meaningful.
I am though, so tired of hearing the reiteration of that argument that 2D is costly and dead. We are not robots, we can and should expect art from games makers as we have done in the past for decades. I for one still want to engage with what I have always seen as pieces of art. Somewhere along the way we started to say to ourselves that making games look/feel evermore like films crossbred with simulations was where we needed to go.
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