I'm keeping a very keen eye on King of Fighter XII. The website has some great screenshots, check it when you get a chance. I've not been a die-hard fan of the series since KOF 95. I think that the SNK games play a tad stiffer than the Capcom fighters and whose character designs aren't as timeless as those from Capcom. I will concede that in the past few years I have admired the way SNK has handled most of their 2D properties. They've made some poor decisions in that time, trying KOF, Samurai Spirits and Metal Slug in 3D for example. But they have more than made up for it by maintaining a viable 2D wing when every other company has moved away from the format, naming monetary reasons as why.

The high-rez sprites of KOF XII are costly and laborious to produce, the end result is nothing short of pure digital awesomeness. With SF II HD Remix as the answer from Capcom USA I can't help but think that it exemplifies the approach that both companies are taking with their respective titles.

Capcom has been out of the fighting loop for a while. Capcom USA in particular is tapping heavily into nostalgia for the series by including the classic sounds and music along with some remixes. They are rebalancing the characters and redrawing the sprites but everything else is pretty much the way you remember it. Above all they are very much marketing this game, and SF IV, to those that grew up on SF II. The music they've used in the campaigns are a testament to the era.

The Karate Kid song is great, if you remember the film, as was Epic by Faith No More. I kind of liked the parody song and level of "You're the Best" in Capoeira Fighter 3 more. I think is was well done homage while at the same time updating a classic karate fighter for the series, but I digress...

Where does Capcom USA go from here? Have they marketed themselves into a corner by appealing almost exclusively to the core crowd, to those 30-somethings that get the importance of the series? Or is this campaign only meant to get SF rolling again in the US market and future versions will be designed and marketed in a more contemporary fashion?

SNK has acknowledged that their series is getting older as well, placing a discreet KOF 15th Anniversary icon on their site and in their marketing. They have also released an updated version of KOF 98 recently as well as included several versions of the KOF games on their anthology disks. They haven't marketed the game by appealing solely to nostalgia but have let it market itself with continuous sequels.

Lesson learned, Capcom should have never stopped developing Street Fighter games. Now they are forced to outsource the SF II Remix sprites to Udon, who in turn also had to outsource some of the work themselves. Not to mention that DIMPS is also helping Capcom with SF IV. SNK has not had to outsource any of their KOF XII work in that timeframe.

In recent years games like Guilty Gear and Blaze Blue have elevated the status of the 2D fighter. They have made it more contemporary and hip, yet neither have penetrated the market as deep as KOF or SF. The return of SF II and creation of SF IV is a good thing marked with a lot of nostalgia and fan service. However the next version of KOF has piqued my interest slightly more... Never thought I'd ever say that. Hell must have frozen over.

What do you think?