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) was 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. The game ended service on October 30, 2024. [3]

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. [4] 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. [5]

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. [6] The first teaser was released in May 2018. [7] 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. [8] 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. [9]

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. [10] The development team worked to make everything seem unique, that the basic attacks seem like signature moves. [11] 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. [12]

All Star has added several guest characters in collaboration with other franchises, including SNK's Samurai Shodown series; [13] Hideaki Sorachi's Shueisha manga series Gin Tama ; [14] Bandai Namco's Tekken and Soulcalibur series; [15] [16] 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. [17] 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. [18] [19] 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. [20]

Reception

All Star got a 16 out of 20 by Jeux Video. [21] Multiplayer scored it a 7.3 out of 10. [22] 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. [4]

All Star also made it to Apple's Best of 2019. [23]

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 initially developed for SNK's Neo Geo MVS arcade hardware and received yearly installments up until its tenth entry, The King of Fighters 2003 — thereafter, SNK moved away from annual The King of Fighters releases and games adopted a Roman numbered format, while simultaneously retiring the use of Neo Geo. The first major installment after this change was The King of Fighters XI (2005) on the Atomiswave arcade board. The series' most recent arcade hardware is the Taito Type X2, first used with the release of The King of Fighters XII (2009) and continues with the latest entry in the series, The King of Fighters XV (2022). Ports of the arcade games have been released for several video game consoles.

<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 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.

Yumi Kakazu is a Japanese voice actress from Kamifukuoka, Saitama.

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

The King of Fighters '98, subtitled Dream Match Never Ends in Japan or The Slugfest elsewhere, is a 1998 2D arcade fighting game released by SNK for the Neo Geo system MVS, AES, CD. It is the fifth game in The King of Fighters series and was advertised by SNK as a "special edition" of the series, as it features most of the characters who appeared in the previous games from KOF '94 to '97. The game provides no storyline in contrast to the previous games and instead is labelled as a "dream match" like its subtitle where the player selects a team composed of three characters to participate in a King of Fighters tournament until reaching the boss Rugal Bernstein even though the character dies in The King of Fighters '95. Two fighting styles can be selected to fight and several characters have alternate personas to select with their classic moves from previous games.

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

The King of Fighters '99: Millennium Battle, also called KOF '99, 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 following The King of Fighters '98, 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 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.

<i>The King of Fighters 96</i> 1996 video game

The King of Fighters '96(KOF '96) is a fighting game released by SNK for the Neo Geo arcade and home consoles in 1996. It is the third game in The King of Fighters series, following The King of Fighters '95. Like its predecessor, the game was ported to the Neo-Geo CD, as well as the PlayStation and Sega Saturn. Unlike the previous game, the PlayStation and Saturn versions were released only in Japan, with a language setting allowing the player to set the game to English. The game would later be ported to other consoles such as the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Wii Virtual Console, and PlayStation 4 as part of the King of Fighters Collection: The OrochiSaga, as the story follows a story arc that begins in The King of Fighters '95 and ends with The King of Fighters '97.

<i>The King of Fighters 2002</i> 2002 Video game

The King of Fighters 2002: Challenge to Ultimate Battle(KOF 2002, or KOF '02) is a 2D arcade fighting video game originally released for the Neo Geo in October 2002, published by Playmore, the spiritual successor to the original SNK. It is the ninth title in The King of Fighters series and the second one to be produced by Eolith. Similarly to The King of Fighters '98, it brings together characters from various SNK franchises and has a diverse roster of fighters.

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.

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

The King of Fighters XIII(KOF XIII) is a 2010 fighting game in The King of Fighters series, developed by SNK Playmore, coming a year after The King of Fighters XII (2009). Released on Japanese arcades, it was ported to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 globally in 2011, and an updated version for arcades followed in 2012 subtitled Climax. The game is set after the events of The King of Fighters XI (2005) and is also the conclusion of Ash Crimson's story arc, which started in The King of Fighters 2003. It follows another King of Fighters tournament secretly hosted by Those From the Distance Land, the organization behind the events from the two prior games that are trying to break the seal of the demon Orochi and take its power.

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 The King of Fighters (KOF) franchise, with this installment being published by Atlus USA in North America and Deep Silver in Europe. After the 13th installment from 2010 that used 2D raster imagery, this game is rendered entirely in 3D similar to the spin-off Maximum Impact, although gameplay is restricted to a 2D plane. The game was released worldwide for the PlayStation 4 in August 2016 and ported to 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.

<i>The King of Fighters XV</i> 2022 video game

The King of Fighters XV(KOF XV), is a 2022 fighting video game part of the The King of Fighters series, developed by SNK and published by Koch Media for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S. It uses the same fighting system from The King of Fighters XIV (2016) involving teams composed of three members who oppose other teams but with more accessible changes such as more useful Climax moves or parries.

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. ↑ "The King of Fighters Allstar Smartphone Game Ends Service on October 30". Anime News Network. June 28, 2024. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
  4. 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.
  5. ↑ "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.
  6. ↑ "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.
  7. ↑ "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.
  8. ↑ "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.
  9. ↑ "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.
  10. ↑ "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.
  11. ↑ "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.
  12. ↑ 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.
  13. ↑ "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.
  14. ↑ "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.
  15. ↑ "『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.
  16. ↑ "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.
  17. ↑ "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.
  18. ↑ Nakamura, Yuichi [@NvKknpbmkIbDg6m] (May 21, 2019). "『KOF ALLSTAR』" (Tweet) (in Japanese). Retrieved October 7, 2019– via Twitter.
  19. ↑ Nakamura, Yuichi [@NvKknpbmkIbDg6m] (May 21, 2019). "『KOF ALLSTAR』" (Tweet) (in Japanese). Retrieved October 7, 2019– via Twitter.
  20. ↑ "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.
  21. ↑ "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.
  22. ↑ "The King of Fighters: All Star, la recensione". Multiplayer. Archived from the original on November 10, 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  23. ↑ "Best of 2019". Apple. Archived from the original on December 6, 2019. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
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