I'm on board with you as far as the general improvement in graphics. The differences between Athena in 14 and 15 are huge, and really show how much better everything looks. On top of that the stages are much better, and the overall color scheme is more vibrant which is nice considering how dull 14's colors often were.
In this regard we feel the same way, Athena in 'KOF XIV' looked like a exemplary of reptilian engaged in cosplaying a typical Japanese schoolgirl, while in 'KOF XV' she's simply a cute girl you might meet on the weekend.
Yes, the backdrops of 'KOF XIV' were really turned off: they gave a sad sense of winter period (where darkness is master and the intensity of sunlight is much weaker compared to subsequent seasons).
Anyway, it must be said that at least the latter was a stylistic choice on the part of the programmers, because in 2017 the members of SNK staff interviewed by 4Gamer, they stated that were inspired by the color palette used at the time by 'The King of Fighters' 94', which had a very dark coloring because of the graphic designer called as
Mitsuo Kodama.
They didn't go with cell-shaded graphics because Oda and Kuroki's visual image of the KOF series is that of KOF94. (Note: The original KOF94 had an almost metallic gloss to its graphics because Irem's Mitsuo Kodama (R-Type, Last Resort) worked on it after moving to SNK. He's now the president of K2.) Neo_G agrees that Neo Geo games back then had a look that tried to imitate reality through pixels. According to Oda, the KOF series always had tall un-SD'ed characters up until 13, which was more anime-style. But because KOF13's been played for 6 years, there were people saying that the next KOF would be better if it looked anime.
Original Source:
4Gamer goes No Holds Barred with KOFXIV Devs.
Sometimes it's good not to always chase the past: especially if they do not have the skills necessary to replicate the same level achieved with previous works and fortunately in this new chapter they opened their eyes, because they have finally started to use the technique of cel shading (combined with the resources provided by the Unreal Engine 4), in addition, in this chapter Eisuke Ogura has been promoted from illustrator to
Creative Director and results have already begun to see, in fact, as you have already said too, now every background of 'XV' has finally started to take on color.
Original source of this image.
Fundamentally, people complaining about the graphics of KOF on a technical level is just funny to me. Since the mid-90s KOF has always been "behind the times" on a technical level. Still looked great though (for the most part, up until 01 and 02 looking ugly as sin). Point being, KOF has never been on the bleeding edge of graphics, and it likely never will be.
Here I beg to disagree, initially 'KOF' had a graphics in step with the times, but simply was not the 3D which in that historical period was becoming the new standard, however, I have never seen the three dimensions as a direct evolution of the 2D, because the way to communicate of these graphics is totally different, so I have always considered them as two parallel tracks, in fact, at that time, even the PlayStation and the Sega Saturn, which have represented part of the apex of the home market, they never managed to churn out a NEOGEO conversion that could be defined as perfect or even superior to the original, because basically these platforms had little Ram available and therefore were always forced to cut animations and details of the games previously published on MVS/AES (not to mention the additional loading times [derived from the low speed of optical drives of that period]).
The King of Fighters '97: Neo Geo vs CD vs PS1 vs Saturn vs NGP Comparison.
The King of Fighters '96: Neo Geo vs CD vs PS1 vs Saturn vs Game Boy Comparison.
The King of Fighters '95: Neo Geo vs CD vs PS1 vs Saturn vs Game Boy Comparison.
For me the graphics of 'The King of Fighters' began to stink of old starting from 'KOF '99', because by then that style had already said everything it had to say and under normal economic conditions, this series would have needed a drastic change: similar to that seen in 'Capcom vs. SNK'.
But we all know the financial problems that the SNK faced during that time, so for ten years it were basically an indie company releasing low-resolution games exclusively for their supporters, until in 2009/2010, out of pride they decided to gamble everything and they released the best pseudo 2D game of that generation.
However, that project it cost too much and if 'KOF XIII' hadn't sold enough, today SNK wouldn't even exist anymore, so they were forced to convert to 3D: in which they had practically no competence, but that in these years they are building through their experience in the field (trying to sit again on the table of bigger companies).
Their graduation from maturity is still a long way off, but the new 'Samurai Spirits' after all it came out well.
