KOF XIII 7th General Thread: Evo 2012 countdown edition

[Delta]

No love for Ogura? AKA the guy who did the art in XII and XIII, among other things.
Hiroaki was my only favorite, but with the last art stuff Ogura did, i got 2 people on my 1st place.

[Running Wild]

I like Ogura, but like Nona, his Athena is too anime. Doesn't mesh with the way he drew everybody else.

[Tyrant292]

Well, for me not just athena it's kula, yuri and mai also; they weren't that anime'ish before. I liked their looks in previous entries much more than now.

[nightmoves]

I like Ogura, but like Nona, his Athena is too anime. Doesn't mesh with the way he drew everybody else.

He actually drew this really nice looking Athena right here for XII, but unfortunately it was rejected.

[LazieFreddy]

Wow, this Athena looks A LOT better than the one they ended up using.   

[Running Wild]

yuri and mai also; they weren't that anime'ish before. I liked their looks in previous entries much more than now.

I think Yuri, Mai and Kula look way less "anime" then Athena, in the official artwork/portraits at least. Athena was just moe'ed up the ass. Their sprites on the other hand, Yuri and Kula got hit hard, but not nearly as bad as Athena stilll.

Starting with KOF2003 though, the in-game sprites for Yuri began to turn more anime-like, I think her sprites from 96-97 looked way better, especially her stance.

[LouisCipher]

They probably went that direction to appease the Kawai/Loli crowd.

[venusandeve]

They probably went that direction to appease the Kawai/Loli crowd.

considering how big a % of their fans that is, I think you´re just swimming against the tide here (anime fan here).
Another perspective is: the whole game is drawn anyway and you can´t have several art styles running around at the same time in the same game. Being forced to choose, they chose for something which was mainstream, easy to do consistently and that fit the whole. It also happens to be a heck more modern looking than the stuff from the 90s.

[yamazaky96]

I hate how terry calves are huge
and his fighting stance
Yuri's face look like a ninja turtle
and maxima looks awful

I think the best spirit is Ex Iori

[Running Wild]

SNK has way too many different artists with their own styles working on KOF these days. Back in the olden days of 94 and up til 2000, they had Shinkiro and that's what the sprites were based upon back then.

I think SNK needs to keep Hiroaki on board and base KOF more closely upon his work.

That Fatal Fury pachislot game looks really slick, even though the battle mode uses 3D models, they look really good. Not suggesting SNK makes a 2D.5 game, but using the same technique they used taking 3D models and turning them into 2D sprites like they have been doing for years, it would look really nice I think with that particular style.

[Tyrant292]

I think Yuri, Mai and Kula look way less "anime" then Athena, in the official artwork/portraits at least. Athena was just moe'ed up the ass. Their sprites on the other hand, Yuri and Kula got hit hard, but not nearly as bad as Athena stilll.

Starting with KOF2003 though, the in-game sprites for Yuri began to turn more anime-like, I think her sprites from 96-97 looked way better, especially her stance.

True.

They probably went that direction to appease the Kawai/Loli crowd.

True.

I hate how terry calves are huge
and his fighting stance
Yuri's face look like a ninja turtle
and maxima looks awful

I think the best spirit is Ex Iori

Also true but I think the best drawn sprites are unfortunately (for me atleast) are Ash and Saiki.

considering how big a % of their fans that is, I think you´re just swimming against the tide here (anime fan here).
Another perspective is: the whole game is drawn anyway and you can´t have several art styles running around at the same time in the same game. Being forced to choose, they chose for something which was mainstream, easy to do consistently and that fit the whole. It also happens to be a heck more modern looking than the stuff from the 90s.

probably true for the last part; I am an old school anime fan. I dont watch modern anime only old ones and sienen anime. Probably most of the people on this forum watch anime (I am just guessing) but for me I dont want everything in my life revolves on or looks anime'ish. In my opinion KoF should have stuck with it's earlier style like in 98 I think that was the best.

[LouisCipher]

I don't have issue with the sprites, I think they all look really good except for King's face and her arms looking like twigs. Athena's overall design. And yeah, they could've done better with Yuri's face. But overall they're damn good. I like that they went with a realistic look with Joe and made him look like an actual Muay Thai fighter. I think Ralf and Clark were supposed to be over the top to appease the West and possibly as an homage to Schwarzenegger in Commando. 

[venusandeve]

Well, I guess we all agree that we don't want KoF turning into a loli-fighter. On the other hand, if we're a bit realistic, the whole shift to HD(ish) graphics was bound to bring huge changes along. All of the older games had hand drawn sprites. Nowadays, they roto-scan 3d models. That, in itself, means you have a stiffer frame to work on. It also means you get more consistent and professional results. If they went back to drawing stuff completely by hand now, you'd be shocked by the lack of depth that the sprites would have.

On the topic of how muscular/kawaii some sprites turned out to be, I think it's just a broader spectrum than before. Women go from Elisabeth serious to Yuri genki-girl; the guys go from Andy understated to Clark over-the-top. I don't think it had anything to do with appeasing anyone, it's just cooler to have variety. I'm not thrilled about all of them(still don't like Maxima), but I think it's far above standard and likely to improve. It IS their first complete game on this engine and they barely made it. If anyone cares to show me a better 2d game, I'm willing to take a look, but I think that'll just be KoF XIV. Oh, and it's been 2.5 D since they did UMs with 3d backgrounds.

To those who insist on waxing lyrical about how everything was better back then: "C'mon, get serious."

[Xxenace]

back in my day we didn't have players guides and ign telling us how to do stuff we did everything ourselves gamers today are so shameful

[nightmoves]

Well actually, SNK has put 3D backgrounds in a lot of updated releases/console ports of KoF, like 98 and 99 Evolution on the Dreamcast, 94 Rebout, and XI on the PS2.