The King of Fighters All Star

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The King of Fighters All Star
KOFAllstars.jpg
Promotional cover of The King of Fighters All Star
Developer(s) Netmarble Neo
Publisher(s) Netmarble
Platform(s) Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows
ReleaseMobile
  • JP: July 26, 2018
  • KR: May 9, 2019
  • WW: October 22, 2019
Microsoft Windows
  • WW: February 10, 2022
Genre(s) Beat 'em up, action role-playing
Mode(s) Single-player

The King of Fighters All Star (KOFAS) is a beat 'em up action role-playing game developed by Netmarble Neo and published by Netmarble. It was first released in Japan on July 26, 2018, for the iOS and Android. [1] The game is a retelling of SNK's The King of Fighters games with the player being able to create their own team as they battle across multiple annual tournaments. It was released in English regions on October 22, 2019. [2] A Microsoft Windows version is also available, starting from its beta version on February 10, 2022.

Contents

Gameplay

Gameplay featuring Kyo Kusanagi as playable character and Benimaru Nikaido as Striker. The bottom right options indicate what special moves he can perform. Kofallstarsgameplay.png
Gameplay featuring Kyo Kusanagi as playable character and Benimaru Nikaido as Striker. The bottom right options indicate what special moves he can perform.

The game is a beat 'em up with elements of an action role-playing game, similar to River City Ransom and its spiritual successors River City Ransom: Underground and River City Girls . The player controls one character as he engages multiple enemies until reaching the boss of the stage. [3] The character possesses normal techniques and special moves as well as Desperation Moves. The last two cannot be used consecutively as the player is given time to prepare for the next usage of the move. When first playing, the game offers the player a choice of the characters Kyo Kusanagi, Terry Bogard and Ryo Sakazaki. However, upon passing the first stage, the player can select randomly new characters developed by SNK. All characters carry a number of stars depending on how strong they can become and from what title they originate. For example, the first Kyo is his incarnation from The King of Fighters '94 but can be replaced by other incarnations of Kyo who possess more stars. Every time a stage is cleared, the player obtains different types of objects for multiple purposes such as increasing experience and raising stats, as well as rubies to summon more characters or restore their health.

The game often offers alternative versions of the characters that can only be obtained through events such as Halloween versions of Yashiro Nanakase or Kula Diamond. [4]

Each of the characters and one of their variants have different memory border classes aside Bronze, Silver and Gold, which are Purple, EX (Extreme)/Red and UE (Ultimate)/White Borders. Purple border has three different classes, which are FES, Boss Syndrome and Special Signature. The differences between regular KOF-related characters and crossover collaboration characters from Bronze to Purple FES is that the latter can alternatively uses Dimensional Exchange invitation letter memories to awaken to the next level, instead of character-based memories. As for Purple-based Boss Syndrome and Special Signature fighters, and both EX/Red and UE/White fighters, they can alternative use generic memories based on their represented borders, while EX/Red and UE/White fighters can only use generic memories based on their characters’ represented elements. However, unlike Boss Syndrome and Special Signature memories, replacing other element generic EX/Red memories requires amount of rainbow shards and Purple FES fighters’ memories needed. Currently, only one of the Purple border can be charged up into a same level as later border fighters with three of their character-based memories.

Development and promotion

The game was first announced in Chokaigi 2017 where the developers stated they would bring the franchise composed of fighting games to role-playing games. [5] The first teaser was released in May 2018. [6] Global version manager Ying Chen states that the developers aimed for players to make their own types of teams per preference. In regards to the timing between the original Eastern and Western versions, Chen said that the developers wanted Westerns to receive the same treatment. [7] SNK wanted to create a mobile game offering fun of control. They focused on letting our players to enjoy multiple combination and powerful sense of hitting through simple moves. The cards were added in order to provide a sort of strategic feeling. It was developed be appealed by a wide range of players. In order to make the game stand within other mobile phone games, the team added multiplayer options, something rare in the market. SNK stated that Netmarble already had a large experience within mobile phone games worldwidely and wanted them to continue with this tradition. [8]

The translation from the fighting game system to a side-scrolling game was felt be well executed by the developers. The game was created with the Unity engine with SNK wishing to create appealing graphics in the process. While the game offers the player the idea of buying different features, the company wanted to still give them freedom in regards to what they could do. [9] The development team worked to make everything seem unique, that the basic attacks seem like signature moves. [10] Writer Akihiko Ureshino stated SNK will not use characters from the EX spin-off games from the Game Boy Advance and instead Maximum Impact characters from the PlayStation 2 as the former were noted to be less popular than the latter. [11]

All Star has added several guest characters in collaboration with other franchises, including SNK's Samurai Shodown series; [12] Hideaki Sorachi's Shueisha manga series Gin Tama ; [13] Bandai Namco's Tekken and Soulcalibur series; [14] [15] Netmarble's Seven Knights game; Nakaba Suzuki's Kodansha manga series The Seven Deadly Sins ; Koei Tecmo's Dead or Alive series; Arc System Works's Guilty Gear series; Capcom's Street Fighter series; Sega's Virtua Fighter series; and several WWE professional wrestlers. [16] To promote the addition of Samurai Shodown characters, Kyo was portrayed by Yuichi Nakamura for a commercial alongside Hiroshi Fujioka as Haohmaru. Nakamura reflects enjoying this work due to admiring his superiors, most notably Fujioka. [17] [18] Shin Hwa Cho from Netmarble expressed excitement in regards to the WWE collaboration as it would appeal to newcomers to the series. Brian Flinn from WWE shared similar feelings as it would popularize the wrestlers throughout the game. [19]

Reception

All Star got a 16 out of 20 by Jeux Video. [20] Multiplayer scored it a 7.3 out of 10. [21] Kotaku praised the presentation and gameplay but noted that the usage of microtransactions might leave players with mixed thoughts in regards to the need of collecting as many fighters they want. [3]

All Star also made it to Apple's Best of 2019. [22]

Related Research Articles

The King of Fighters (KOF) is a series of fighting games by SNK that began with the release of The King of Fighters '94 in 1994. The series was developed originally for SNK's Neo Geo MVS arcade hardware. This served as the main platform for the series until 2004 when SNK retired it in favor of the Atomiswave arcade board. Two King of Fighters games were produced for the Atomiswave platform (The King of Fighters Neowave and The King of Fighters XI) before SNK decided to discontinue using it for the series. The series' most recent arcade hardware is the Taito Type X2, first used with the release of The King of Fighters XII. Ports of the arcade games and the original The King of Fighters games have been released for several video game consoles. The latest entry in the series, The King of Fighters XV, was released in February 2022.

SNK vs. Capcom, or alternately Capcom vs. SNK, is a series of crossover video games by either Capcom or SNK featuring characters that appear in games created by either company. Most of these are fighting games, and take on a similar format to Capcom's own Marvel vs. Capcom series, in which the players create teams of fighters and have them fight each other. Games in this series either contain SNK vs. Capcom or Capcom vs. SNK in their titles, with the first company named denoting the company behind the game's development.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terry Bogard</span> Fictional character

Terry Bogard is a fictional character created by SNK as the protagonist of their Fatal Fury series. Introduced in Fatal Fury: King of Fighters in 1991, he is an American fighter who enters the worldwide "The King of Fighters" tournaments to combat his father's murderer, Geese Howard. Following Geese's defeat, Terry becomes the guardian of Geese's son Rock Howard. He is also a regular character in the crossover video game series The King of Fighters, where he continues participating in tournaments. He has also been a guest character in other games, including the Capcom vs. SNK series, Arika’s Fighting EX Layer and Nintendo's crossover fighting game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. In addition to video games, Terry has appeared in anime films based on Fatal Fury, and manga serialized in Comic Bom Bom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geese Howard</span> Fictional character

Geese Howard is a fictional boss character and the main villain in SNK's Fatal Fury fighting game series. Debuting in Fatal Fury: King of Fighters, Geese is the local crime boss of the fictional city of South Town. Geese created and hosts a fighting tournament named "The King of Fighters", in which he faces the brothers Terry and Andy Bogard who want to take revenge for their father's death. After several tournaments in the Fatal Fury series, Geese is killed by Terry in Real Bout Fatal Fury. However, he appears in following games without storyline as a "ghost" named Nightmare Geese. Geese has also appeared in other SNK's games such as The King of Fighters games, in which he seeks to get the power from the creature Orochi and often sends teams representing him. His young self makes an appearance in the second Art of Fighting game as the final boss character. He also appears as downloadable content in Bandai Namco's fighting game Tekken 7.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iori Yagami</span> Fictional character

Iori Yagami is a character from SNK's The King of Fighters video game series. The character first appeared in The King of Fighters '95 as the leader of the Rivals Team, as the initial enemy and later rival of Kyo Kusanagi. Iori is the heir of the Yagami clan, who use pyrokinetic powers and sealed the Orochi devil along with the Kusanagi and Yata clans. Iori suffers from a curse – "The Riot of the Blood" – under which he becomes faster, stronger and wilder, exhibiting a deadly tendency to indiscriminately attack everyone in close proximity. In this state, Iori is commonly called "Wild Iori" or "Orochi Iori". Aside from the main series, Iori appears in several other media series, including spin-offs, crossover video games and comic adaptations of the series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kyo Kusanagi</span> Fictional character

Kyo Kusanagi is a fictional character in SNK's The King of Fighters series of fighting games. The character was first introduced in the 1994 video game The King of Fighters '94 as the leader of the Japan team from the series' title tournament. Kyo, heir to the Kusanagi clan, is first introduced as a cocky, delinquent high-school student who has pyrokinetic powers. His clan is one of three who banished the legendary snake demon entity Yamata no Orochi. During the series' story, Kyo meets rivals and enemies who seek to take his flame abilities. Aside from the main series, Kyo appears in several crossovers and spinoffs with other games. He is also the central title character of the manga The King of Fighters: Kyo and video game adaptation with the same name which center around his daily life.

Mami Kingetsu is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Akashi, Hyōgo. She is currently affiliated with Aoni Production. She is best known for her role as Shiori Fujisaki in the Tokimeki Memorial series. Other notable roles include Izumi Himuro in Princess Nine, Nagisa Shiozaki in If I See You In My Dreams, Miss Merry Christmas & Stussy in One Piece, Rei Kazama in eX-Driver, Maki Kawasaki in Burn Up Excess, Li Xiangfei in Fatal Fury / The King of Fighters; and Da Ji in Warriors Orochi.

<i>The King of Fighters 97</i> 1997 video game

The King of Fighters '97(KOF '97) is a fighting game produced by SNK for the Neo Geo arcade and home console in 1997. It is the fourth game in The King of Fighters series. It was ported to the Neo Geo CD, as well as the PlayStation and the Sega Saturn in Japan only.

<i>The King of Fighters 98</i> 1998 video game

The King of Fighters '98: The Slugfest, known in Japan as The King of Fighters '98: Dream Match Never Ends , is a fighting game released by SNK for the Neo Geo arcade and home consoles in 1998. It is the fifth game in The King of Fighters series. It was advertised by SNK as a "special edition" of the series, as it featured most of the characters who appeared in the previous games.

<i>The King of Fighters 99</i> 1999 fighting video game

The King of Fighters '99: Millennium Battle is a 1999 fighting game developed and published by SNK for the Neo Geo MVS arcade and home consoles in 1999. It is the sixth installment in The King of Fighters series, introducing a new story arc known as the "NESTS Chronicles" which is centered around a young man named K', who is formerly associated with a mysterious yet threatening organization known only as NESTS. The game introduces several changes to the established KOF format, most notably an assisting character labeled "Striker". The game was ported to the Neo Geo CD and the PlayStation. Dreamcast and Microsoft Windows versions were also released under the title The King of Fighters' 99: Evolution whose stages were remodeled in 3D.

Harumi Ikoma is a Japanese voice actress that is best known for performing narration and character voices in popular fighting games for SNK. She is the standard voice for the characters Blue Mary, King, Charlotte, and Nakoruru who appear in the popular franchises of video games The King of Fighters, Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting and Samurai Shodown. She is sometimes called by SNK to perform character image songs at SNK's special events. She is affiliated with J Productions.

Shiho Kikuchi is a Japanese voice actress from Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.

Monster Maezuka is a Japanese voice actor currently associated with the Clutch voice actor agency. Maezuka is noted for his roles as Ralf Jones, Benimaru Nikaido, and Choi Bounge in The King of Fighters fighting game series. He has also voiced the latter two in Capcom vs. SNK, and the first in The King of Fighters: Another Day anime; in addition to that, he has had voiceover experience playing Sling and the narrator in the original Japanese version of Beast Wars Neo. Maezuka is also noted for having done the voices of Kyoshiro Senryo and Nicotine Caffeine in the Samurai Shodown series, as well as Ken Masters in SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos.

Kong Kuwata is a Japanese voice actor, television and theatrical actor, radio announcer and gospel singer. He is an active member of the theatrical group, Lilly Boat Army 2 and the Cube Group talent agency. He is best known for his roles as Geese Howard from the Fatal Fury series and Genjuro Kibagami from the Samurai Shodown series.

Characters of the <i>Fatal Fury</i> series Fictional character

The following is a list of video game characters featured in the Fatal Fury fighting game series developed by SNK. The series consists of the original Fatal Fury, Fatal Fury 2, Fatal Fury Special, Fatal Fury 3, Real Bout Fatal Fury, Real Bout Fatal Fury Special, Real Bout Fatal Fury 2, Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition, and Garou: Mark of the Wolves.

<i>The King of Fighters XIII</i> 2010 video game

The King of Fighters XIII (Japanese: ザ・キング・オブ・ファイターズ XIII)(KOF XIII) is a fighting game in The King of Fighters series, developed and published by SNK Playmore originally in 2010. King of Fighters XIII was released for Japanese arcades on July 14, 2010, while ports for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 were released during late 2011 in Japanese and English regions, with Atlus USA and Rising Star Games being in charge of releasing them in the United States and Europe respectively. Versions for iOS and Android followed in 2011 and 2012. A PC version was released on Steam on September 13, 2013.

Sōnosuke Nagashiro is a Japanese voice actor who is affiliated with the Osaka TV Talent Bureau (TTB) and a graduate of the Amusement Media Academy. He trained to be a chef until he was spotted by SNK for his voice.

<i>The King of Fighters XIV</i> 2016 video game

The King of Fighters XIV(KOF XIV) is a 2016 Japanese fighting game. Part of SNK's franchise The King of Fighters (KOF) series, with this installment being published by Atlus USA in North America and Deep Silver in Europe. After the 13th installment that used 2D raster imagery, this game is rendered entirely in 3D similar to the spin-off Maximum Impact. The game was released worldwide for the PlayStation 4 in August 2016 and ported to the Windows and Japanese arcade cabinets in June 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">K'</span> Video game character from The King of Fighters fighting game series

K Dash is a character from The King of Fighters fighting game series developed by SNK. He debuted as the leader of the Hero Team in The King of Fighters '99, released in 1999. He often stars as the reluctant hero. K′ is a young man who lost all his memories when the NESTS syndicate captured him and injected the DNA of Kyo Kusanagi to replicate his pyrokinetic abilities. While rebelling against organization, K' forms multiple bonds with other NESTS agents. Aside from the main series, K' also appears in several other media series, such as spin-offs and crossover video games, as well as printed adaptations of the series.

Seiko Yoshida is a Japanese voice actress affiliated with Mausu Promotion.

References

  1. ↑ "The King of Fighters All Star Launches On July 26 With Early Access On July 24". Siliconera. 13 July 2018. Archived from the original on 30 August 2023. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  2. ↑ "King Of Fighters All Star Will Enter The Ring Across The Globe On October 22, 2019". October 2019. Archived from the original on October 2, 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  3. 1 2 Fahey, Mike (October 23, 2019). "The New King Of Fighters Mobile Game Kicks A Fair Amount Of Ass". Kotaku . Archived from the original on 30 August 2023. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
  4. ↑ "The King Of Fighters All Star Celebrates Halloween By Dressing Up Angel, Kula, Mature, Shermie, And Yashiro". 29 October 2019. Archived from the original on 30 August 2023. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  5. ↑ "The King of Fighters All Star llevará la serie al género RPG de acción". Level up. 28 May 2018. Archived from the original on 10 November 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  6. ↑ "The King of Fighters All Star se muestra en su primer teaser". Sport. 29 May 2018. Archived from the original on 26 June 2018. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  7. ↑ "Netmarble On How King of Fighters All Star's Global Version Will Pace Itself With The Korean Version". Siliconera. 16 October 2019. Archived from the original on 10 November 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  8. ↑ "The King of Fighters All-Star Interview – Turning A Fighter Into An RPG". Gaming Bolt. Archived from the original on November 11, 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  9. ↑ "The King of Fighters All-Star Interview – Turning A Fighter Into An RPG". Play4. Archived from the original on November 11, 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  10. ↑ "KoF: All Star "re-imagining a nostalgia filled beat 'em up"". Game Reactor. 11 April 2019. Archived from the original on 11 November 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  11. ↑ Ureshino, Akihiko [@NvKknpbmkIbDg6m] (November 14, 2019). "『EX』系のキャラは出せないよ。てか、そのへんのキャラ拾うくらいなら『MI』のキャラ拾うほうが楽だしお金かからないよ。" (Tweet) (in Japanese). Retrieved October 14, 2019– via Twitter.
  12. ↑ "KOF ALLSTAR×サムライスピリッツ 天草降臨 コラボ特設サイト | THE KING OF FIGHTERS ALLSTAR". kofallstar.netmarble.jp (in Japanese). Archived from the original on January 7, 2020. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  13. ↑ "The King of Fighters All Star Is Getting A Gintama Collaboration On October 11". 2 October 2018. Archived from the original on 10 November 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  14. ↑ "『鉄拳7』と『KOF AS』がコラボ！" (in Japanese). 22 July 2019. Archived from the original on 22 July 2019. Retrieved July 22, 2019.
  15. ↑ "KOF ALLSTAR×鉄拳7 コラボ特設サイト | THE KING OF FIGHTERS ALLSTAR". kofallstar.netmarble.jp (in Japanese). Archived from the original on December 14, 2019. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  16. ↑ "KOF ALLSTAR×WWE COLLABORATION - THE KING OF FIGHTERS". kofallstar.netmarblw.jp (in Japanese). Archived from the original on June 29, 2020. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  17. ↑ Nakamura, Yuichi [@NvKknpbmkIbDg6m] (May 21, 2019). "『KOF ALLSTAR』" (Tweet) (in Japanese). Retrieved October 7, 2019– via Twitter.
  18. ↑ Nakamura, Yuichi [@NvKknpbmkIbDg6m] (May 21, 2019). "『KOF ALLSTAR』" (Tweet) (in Japanese). Retrieved October 7, 2019– via Twitter.
  19. ↑ "Crossover entre The King of Fighters All Star y WWE ya está disponible". Archived from the original on May 20, 2020. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  20. ↑ "Test : The King of Fighters : AllStar : Un casting impressionnant pour un jeu percutant". Jeux Video. 4 November 2019. Archived from the original on 9 November 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  21. ↑ "The King of Fighters: All Star, la recensione". Multiplayer. Archived from the original on November 10, 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  22. ↑ "Best of 2019". Apple. Archived from the original on December 6, 2019. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
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