The King of Fighters XII

With the release of The King Of Fighters XII in 2009, the legendary 3-on-3 fighting game series that united rival brawlers from SNK PLAYMORE’s classic arcade franchises celebrates its 15th anniversary in style. This epic martial arts showdown has received a complete graphical overhaul for the first time. Character sprites have been phased out in favor of all-new, high-resolution fighters fluidly animating across painstakingly detailed, 100% hand-drawn backgrounds. The King of Fighters XII is an arcade-only fighting game. It lacks a storyline, like a few other releases in the franchise, instead focusing on the tried and true 3-on-3, five-round team fighting gameplay mechanic. Far from being a disadvantage, the lack of a storyline enhances the fighting mechanic by removing official teams linked to the prevailing story, which in previous releases limited the characters that could be added to a team. Furthermore, the game includes new combat elements such as the “Critical Counter” system, which allows players to land effective counter punches following an opponent’s attack, and “Clash Timing,” a break effect during a bout that separates combatants when they land blows on each other at the same time.