Fighting Games Friday: How Playable Will The King of Fighters XV Be?
SNK finally revealed The King of Fighters XV following a sudden 24-hour delay, after which the company accidentally (and hilariously) leaked images of the title thanks to being attached to the announcement of a different product for the Spanish-speaking audience. This also follows a tremendously longer period between its original confirmation at Evo 2019 and the current day.
In addition to Kyo Kusanagi, Iori Yagami, and Shun’ei, characters confirmed to return from previous King of Fighters titles in the teaser trailer provided a month ago, Benimaru Nikaido, K’, Mai Shiranui, and Leona Heidern will reappear. The game also looks a generation ahead of The King of Fighters XIV, with the character models sporting improved shaders to make them easier on the eyes. The animation style briefly demonstrated implies that the models are based on those from KOFXIV, which, to be fair, were animated well. This title could have around 50 characters like its predecessor, so no one will complain about asset reuse.
I was disappointed at info I didn’t see in the trailer, however. The platforms weren’t mentioned, but they’ll be confirmed after SNK lets fans get their fill of guessing games. There was, tragically, no mention of whether it will have rollback netplay or not, an intensely necessary feature that all — all — fighting games releasing in the modern era need to have.
The netplay will determine whether the game will be playable for most potential purchasers or not. There’s an argument to be made that previous SNK-developed titles were “playable” online, but that’s using the term loosely. Outside the single-player Arcade and Story Modes, KOFXIV and Samurai Shodown came with the worst netplay in fighting games in recent memory. Even following numerous patches, online matches were input-delay-driven lag fests where players fought more with their own characters to execute their maneuvers than with the opponents. Unless a player has good local competition or is a tournament player (both of which can overlap), playing the game beyond single-player modes is more of a hassle than it should be.
There was hope that rollback netplay would be immediately confirmed for KOFXV given how justifiably popular of a topic it’s been among the fighting game community lately. Again, it’s the best way for most players to fight others online, and has been especially important to have during this COVID-19 pandemic, a time when players can’t get together to play games safely.
It would have been important to clarify whether rollback will be included in the trailer, and especially the subsequent discussion between SNK producer Yasuyuki Oda and creative director and artist Eisuke Ogura in the longer video full of announcements. That it wasn’t there is ominous, but it doesn’t spell doom. Arc System Works was pressured to add rollback for Guilty Gear Strive after it was announced, and the same could happen here. But fans don’t have long given SNK’s intention to release this game within the year. Hopefully they do add it, so we can switch focus to other important questions like whether this game will mark the long-awaited return of the USA Sports Team.
What’s really sobering regarding KOFXV’s potential online is that SNK immediately displayed how they damn well know how important this is to their fanbase. The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match was announced for a PlayStation 4 release, which will include every extra from the plethora of previous releases. Even better: It will include rollback netplay, a detail they made sure to emphasize. This doesn’t mean anything for KOFXV, because the rereleases of older games with rollback have been handled by Code Mystics, previously responsible for the likes of Garou: Mark of the Wolves and The Last Blade 2. This port is due for release “soon,” likely before KOFXV.
The first two characters coming to the third season of DLC for Samurai Shodown were also confirmed. Cham Cham, who debuted in Samurai Shodown II and has appeared in subsequent titles, will return. She’s a catgirl who uses her claws and a boomerang to fight, making her appeal quite clear. The previously-announced Last Blade guest character was confirmed to be Hibiki from The Last Blade 2, just as several players predicted — including yours truly. Maybe I should have bet real money on this. There was, of course, no info about whether Samurai Shodown will get rollback netplay in place of the current egregiously terrible online play, and who knows if that will ever happen.
I’ve harped on the importance of online netplay in several posts in a little over the last year, including one after the pandemic started. Having a deadly contagious virus swirling around only further highlights the necessity of this, and that’s assuming these players have the pleasure of local competition at all. SNK’s lack of a comment on it for KOFXV is a bad sign, but it’s no time to give up on this. They could be saving word of it for a special surprise reveal down the line, but either way, the time to apply pressure is now.
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Geoff
News Editor | Geoff is some nerd who writes for a blog and thinks he's knowledgeable. He write a lot about video games, but is capable of writing about other subjects, too. Twitter
