And by “biggest” I mean most prominent or obvious
-- not necessarily in terms of scale. If
that was the case, then we’d all have no choice but to give it to…I don’t know,
Wyzen from Asura’s Wrath. And that hardly seems like a win, so let’s
not count it.
Anyway, King
of Fighters XIV has long since started making the rounds. Say what you will about the graphics or the
way it looks -- and even if you don’t, I probably will at some point -- but
let’s just be thankful that we’ve even gotten a fourteenth entry. I wonder how much this miracle was expedited
by SNK’s purchase by a Chinese company looking to get the most out of the
license; it might be a lot, and it might be a little. Either way, we’re talking about a franchise
that in recent years has paled in comparison to the competition (by which I
mean Street Fighter IV, V, and other
Capcom ilk). It’s not like there isn’t a
dedicated fanbase -- and rightly so -- but SF’s
iron grip puts KoF in a less than
ideal place.
It’s fine, though.
Even if it’s not the most popular, I don’t think anyone’s going to fight
me on its quality over the years. KoF XIV is no exception. Even if its particulars can scare off
newcomers, those who put in the effort are justly rewarded. Of course, that’s a lot of fancy talk and
sidestepping around the real draw: boy, KoF has some dope-ass characters. So let’s take a minute to celebrate what kind
of badasses video games can birth -- en route to the big question, of course.
