XII has the series' smallest roster at 22 characters and XIII expands that to 32, while KOF XIV crushes both with 50 characters. Moving to 3D has allowed SNK to craft this huge roster much quicker and cheaper than trying to do so in high-definition 2D, like SNK Playmore did in King of Fighters XII and XIII. (There were actually two games in the 3D-spinoff series, Maximum Impact.) This means the entire roster was created from scratch for this title. King of Fighters XIV is an entirely 3D entry, a first for the series' mainline titles. player affairs, Free Matches, which play out in online lobbies of up to 12 players, or Online Training, letting you practice with another player online.Īll of this is rather impressive considering that unlike some older King of Fighters, SNK did not have older assets to draw on for this game. Online requires you to use pre-selected teams or single characters and is split between Ranked Matches, which are simply player vs.
Unlike the original release of Street Fighter V, KOF XIV checks off all major modes that fighting game players expect: a rather barebones Story Mode, Versus for local play against another player or the CPU, a Training Mode, a Tutorial, a Mission mode (split between Trial, Time Attack, and Survival), and a full Gallery for unlockable cinematics, artwork, and voice files.īeing a modern title, King of Fighters XIV also has a robust online mode.
This entry in the series features a whopping 50 characters right out of the gate: 16 teams of three and two boss characters. King of Fighters XIV straddles that line between being a very conservative game, while still providing enough new stuff that you can't accuse SNK of not doing anything. King of Fighters XIV is the first shot at SNK becoming the SNK of old again. By October 2015, King of Fighters XIV was announced and earlier this year, SNK Playmore became just SNK. This changed in March 2015, when the Chinese company Ledo Millenium picked up a controlling interest in SNK Playmore, with a desire to extend SNK characters into games, comics, and movies. Years ago, the company called SNK Playmore was more concerned with using its extensive list of gaming IP to make pachislot and mobile titles. It's impressive that this game even exists.