I have King of Fighters-itis

[Bloodreign]

It's a serious case, no cure, doctor said I needed more King of Fighters in my diet, so I went crazy on them. It all started with KoF 94 on the SNK Arcade Classics on PSP, it wasn't satisfying, so next I bought KoF Neowave. That game scratched a big itch, got the PS2 version locally a few years back after turning down a higher priced Nests Saga (more on that further on). The game felt oh so right, but folks called it the unnecessary game in the franchise. So I got KoF XIII, didn't do the trick, KoF 99 PS1, hit the spot, left me wanting more, and KoF XI all on the same day, XI felt fine, still need to unlock some characters. Game's super speedy, and combos are a tad hard to pull off for me.  But then came KoF 98UM, JP version given to me by Arasoi 6 months+ before he got the US version  (which censored the blood, ouch), great great title, very satisfying. But then the urge began again, doctor told me to get MOAR KoF, so I did. Got KoF Orochi Saga on Wii because it's far cheaper and less buggy than the PS2 version, has KoF 94-98 (Japanese Orochi Saga Hen has only 95-97, 94 and 98 got separate re-releases). Recently picked up KoF 02, KoF 03, and finally KoF Nests (far cheaper than I would've paid if I bought it locally, cheapest price I ever saw online from US sellers, $32 on Amazon). These should do the trick, but my itch will return for the PS1 and Saturn games, and the couple GBA games, and the 1-2 GB games in the series. My possible best cure is KoF 02 Unlimited Match Tougeki version, which boasts 66 characters when everyone is unlocked. It is also blazingly fast as XI is unbelievably, but $150 would cause my savings to start ailing.

I was a Mortal Kombat guy for a long time, also liked Street Fighter. I started getting into Darkstalkers for awhile, even bought almost every port of the game but DS 3 on PS1 (want the Japanese version, which is uncensored, I have the US version on PSN along with the US 1st one). The PS1 version I got was the Japanese first game, music didn't work, but the game did, not a mark on the disc either. Now I still love SF Alpha 3 Upper due to the sheer size of it's roster (my most favorite Street Fighter title ever, even more than Third Strike). But lately I decided to play more fighting games seriously (Darkstalkers started that trend along with Alpha), and said what the hell, lets give the KoF titles more love. For years the only SNK fighting series I took seriously was Samurai Shodown, thankfully an anthology came along and satisfied that need. Liked Fatal Fury games, but the first few felt so damned stiff, by FF 3 things started to get better. By Real Bout things got far more interesting, so when I saw they had anthologies for both original and RB series, I snagged them. I also picked up long ago the Art of Fighting Anthology, but to be honest the best game is the third in that set, but lacks Yuri, one of my favorites to use.

When it comes to fighters, I have now put away MK, and to some extent play less Capcom stuff like Darkstalkers (the PS2 collection is real nice, so nice I bought it earlier this year, to hell with the downloadable PS3 versions, not all games represented, plus PS2 version has some nice tweaks to it like all characters from the series in Vampire Savior via code), and SF Alpha. Right now for the last month I have been on a KoF kick that I can't shake, more so than any fighting game, but less than any platformer series, like Bubble Bobble, that kick lasted 6+ months of non-stop playing the entire series. Something about these SNK fighters have drawn me in, more so than when they were in arcades. Stuff like AoF was on massive screens, but never did see AoF 3 here for long, Fatal Fury I played the Genesis versions first, boy did that get butchered. Stuff like Last Blade 1 and 2 I never saw, but wish I did as it nearly rivals Sam Sho. Sam Sho 1 and 2 were in a bowling alley around here, when I'd go there, I'd burn some coins in those machines, promptly getting my ass handed to me, but it was all good.

Moral of the story, SNK has taken a long time, though I loved the Metal Slug series, I finally opened up to their best fighting series, KoF. Though I liked some of their other series, like Fatal Fury, which I felt was the precursor to KoF. I can't go back to the likes of MK anymore as I have explored other fighters far too deeply, something I never did back in the day of arcades (not a KoF ever came in my area, Metal Slug did though) and something I never did during my earlier days of emulation. Thanks to emulation though I got to try the games first, and saw if they were worth buying, they were. 94 and 95 are awfully stiff and the toughest of the series, and I absolutely suck at them, but I still enjoy 95. 94 not so much due to no team edit.