The King of Fighters 2003

[Custle]

So, I got this today. What I tried it, it felt surprisingly smooth, considering it was made for NeoGeo (or is it just me, or do the NeoGeo KOF's feel bit stiff?).

Roster was satisfying. I like the variety in the cast, not how many characters are there. It was nice to see some changes in Fatal Fury team (no Andy? Hell yeah!) and Athena hanging with others (her outfit is horrible in this game). Only complain I have with this, is that where the hell is Ramon?

Gameplay felt like prototype of NGBC. There are some similarities, but it felt still different. Controls felt responsive (I could do    x2 motion more easily than in XI).

For now, 2003 feels hell of a lot better than 2002 or 98. That is just me of course. What do others think about this game?

[sibarraz]

Maybe the game looked stiff, but the controls where a pain in the ass, they are most stiff than the first kof's I lots of times has to fight to pull some motions.

Even though is relative

[Dark Geese]

Maybe the game looked stiff, but the controls where a pain in the ass, they are most stiff than the first kof's I lots of times has to fight to pull some motions.

Even though is relative

Ps2 version is stiffer than Arcade version.  It is similar to a degree to the whole KOF 2002 arcade fiasco, which is an entirely different debate by itself.

All console PS2 versions of 2002 sans the one that comes with 2002 UM (and the Dreamcast) ports are horrible ports, and this is what people first saw of the game, so they believe this is how the game was played, when arcade 2002 the controls are very smooth, as you can see in the version in 2002 UM.

[Custle]

Played more 2003 and I have to say that I can't decide which one is better, XI or 2003.

2003 feels a bit faster and I haven't experienced any slowdown (like sometimes in XI). 2003 looks bit better game also IMO, but XI feels bit more polsihed game.

[sibarraz]

I recall a post in SRK explaining all the errors that 2003 had, and that was a BIG list, I can't recall where it is now, but hell, just for jhun bug that even I can apply, the game is bad, at that point you can tell that SNKP didn't gave a crap for the game, and overall felt very rushed

[Delta]

There was a Jhun bug in 2003? First time i heard about it. The main complain i kept hearing back in the day was DuoLon brokeness and everybody hating Ash and Falcoon for creating the new characters (BTW Falcoon was just and only the illustrator for the game).

I liked the fact that Ash was pwning the Sacred Treasures team, but you all know how that ended in XIII.

[Zabel]

How could you not hear about it or see it? God first thing when I saw the game was the glitch where he starts floating.

[Delta]

Well, the floating glitch happened to me once in a fight, i was Chang and my oponnent was Iori, can't remember what happened but my Chang ended in mid-air, and i lost by time-up. That was the only time it happened anything weird to me.

After that i rarely played against people anymore, mostly again the CPU, everybody were busy playing KOF 2002.

Now that i searched youtube, apparently the game has a lot of floating glitches =\.

[marchefelix]

The controls are bad.

But then again, I play it with a keyboard. :P

[sibarraz]

The controls are bad.

But then again, I play it with a keyboard. :P

In a keyboard you can't pull the ranbu motion, in the other hand, with an stick is better, but no so much

[Rex Dart]

I like the roster and concept of 2003, but it's kind of a mess in competitive play. I did have fun with it though. XI improved on it in just about every way (except for XI's lack of Billy and Yamazaki).

My big problem with the game is that it "feels" off. I'm not sure how to describe it, but the hits don't feel solid. I don't know if it's because of the graphics, or sound, or something else, but punching someone in 2003 doesn't feel very satisfying. For a fighter, that's a big problem for me.

My other minor critique is that the LDM system doesn't feel very developed. Some characters (Kyo and Iori) get LDMs that seemed reminiscent of their 2002 HSDMs. They look very impressive and cool. Other characters (Leona and Clark) just get SDMs. It feels incomplete. (Of course, this is also true for XI, but less common.)

[Custle]

Kinda agree with some of your points. Sounds are not that solid. Every time I hit some, it sounds like I would drop piece of meat on the floor. Also some characters voices are bit bad. For example, Billy and Yamazaki got new voices, but they are far worse than their 98 voices.

[jinxhand]

Yeah Billy's voice was horrible... On the plus side, he got an overhead, but his bnb combos were alot harder to do, and there wasn't any real follow up for them I felt...

I did like how the stages were massive... XI did seem more refined though, and adding a 5th button made it better for that system in particular... I wish more classic characters were added like Heavy D! instead of just creating new ones, although I'm not hating... They added classic characters from other games in XI (Gai Tendo, Hayato)...

2003 was a fairly good game though, despite the many hiccups...

[Custle]

Does anyone wanna play 2003 on Supercade sometime? It is pretty much only NeoGeo KOF that I can really enjoy for some strange reason....

[sibarraz]

I could play it for lolz if you want

I really love tizoc in this game, feels much better than garou