Click to see full size image

Really, it deserves a post on its own.

Why ¥10? Ahhh if you don't know, HEY! don't ask ;p

Hardcore to the end - the kof heads take over a corner of SVB with the tiniest TV late Saturday night

KOF 2k2 UM Warm ups Saturday Afternoon

This is why Daigo deserves respect!

Yesterday, Tim119 was mashing everyone up at BBCS, using Mu12, and she’s not even allowed in the tournament.  When he did use Bang… it was… nasty.

Today we’ll have the second group of BBCS and start the groups for KOF 2k2UM.

I did get a bit of footage of Daigo playing SF, but, sick as he is, it’s the same old beasting.  I saw some other matches which were much more exciting, Mokoto action being the obvious choice for any KOF fan.  Only problem is Balrog, and then Ryu of course.  And well, top tiers just get boring.

Edit. Best pic of tournament!  You can now click on Daigo’s pic to examine his expression of er… love

Kof player BATA is here from Japan! And he’s good. Actually there are a few good players! Hard to film crt tvs because of the flickering

In the groups I judged, Cristina and 1up, Bata and Deacon have gone through.  Bata san is the favourite although there is still Tim 119 and a guy from France, apparently real good. Justin has also been sparring constantly with Bata…

I did enter a pool group, but crashed out, losing all my matches; deservedly so for not practising or warming up.

19:00 so groups are over and … we need a kof set up. Gunsmith and ZeroNiiro to the rescue. Although as you can see, we had probably the smallest tv in the arena! Why ¥10? Ahhh if you don’t know, HEY! don’t ask ;p

Apparently Ono and Justin Wong are here. Seth Killian and Honor were also spotted. SVB is certainly THE European tournament to go to.

Oh, I managed to get one video of Windton (TW) vs Bata (JP).

Click it to see the full size image.  Stay tuned for more!

SNK is an interesting company to research and write about, especially because they’re completely downplayed and have been outside the public scope of knowledge for a long time.  Despite this they used to produce some of the most advanced gaming hardware of the “Golden Era” that is the age of the Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Genesis, and Super Nintendo.  In the mid ninties comparing the arcade and home console version of the Neogeo was like comparing a Nintendo 64 to a Playstation 3.  Ironic turn of fate that SNK later became famous for being a company behind the times.  SNK tried more than once to catch on to the new trends of the gaming world.  They made a CD based system, they made a color handheld system, they even made a 3D system.  None of that really caught on compared to the original Neogeo, that arcade system that my generation will remember as the machine that had 4 games at their local pizza place.

Sometimes I really wonder if SNK’s had it too rough.  It seems like they get shot down no matter what they do.   I can’t think of any other company who’d been shot down as many times as SNK and still got back up.  Sega’s a close contender, and one I used to really love on the same level as I do SNK. 

Thanks to Toxic Avanger!So that’s that.  Whip is most surely out for this round of KOF.  K’ got his almost-robot buddy and his almost-pedo love interest.  It’s interesting that K’ is surrounded by characters that are close to him (not to mention his “sister”) while Kyo and Iori just have… well, each other!  Ok, Kyo’s got Shingo, but that’s not quite… something.

Here’s a Kyo combo which Toxic posted from the blog.  Woah.

Nothing beats seeing an old KOF fan grow up and stay true to his roots, with the skills that have developed along the way.  Pop Squally has started work on a KOF comic, and I hope you will give him the applause he deserves – I know it’s not even finished but these days, getting people to contribute is like squeezing blood from a stone.  Click on READ MORE to see the first three pages of this awesome strip.  Make sure you leave some encouraging comments to get him to do more!

Back in the UK, I’m quite sore.  I was meant to meet up with Professor for the loketest.  Next best thing, we had a chat after he got back from Shinjuku.

A chat with mmcafe.com’s Professor, where we discuss the loketest at Shinjuku, and jiggling.

Click here for the next update

Confirmed:

• “Drive Cancel” Special move cancelling (watch video 1:26)
• Mai (basic same outfit with tweaks)
• King (new costume)
• Yuri
• EX specials
• 10 colours each!
• Hyperdrive Mode (A 2k2 style cancel mode)
• Gauges/Stocks
• Joe’s qcb + K
• Joe’s combo DM
• Counter CD

As you can see in the video, the drive cancel feature is going to be useful for characters who would overwise be open to attack after performing a special move. At 1:26 Raiden lands his shoulder barge on a blocking Clark but cancels it in order to perform another, which is actually a different

It goes without saying that Capcom is the king of oldschool fighting games. I hardly think anyone really has the right to say the company doesn’t deserve to be where it is either. Resident Evil, Mega Man, and Phoenix Wright are all things I love that Capcom has bestowed upon me, but strangely enough I don’t really consider Street Fighter as much of a blessing. From a technical standpoint I regard many of the Street Fighter games as masterpieces, and I do ensure that I can play them competently.

That said, the games just don’t quite jive with me. It’s the characters, I think. It seems impossible for me to find Street Fighter characters that I have a serious interest in using for one reason or another. Because of this there’s another company out there who holds the centerpiece to my fighting game love. As if you didn’t know it was SNK. Shin Nihon Kikaku, otherwise translated as New Japan Project. I love SNK’s games in their entirety. It’s funny to think of how simple the company’s name really is, yet there was a time when the name was fitting. There was a time when SNK was seen as a strong and innovative force in the games industry. Sad to say I wasn’t among the people who was aware of this at the time.

Lans_Tartare and Rushin got in touch with Orochinagi to show their works commemorating Neo Geo’s 20th anniversary:

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It’s an interesting, western, yet European variant of the SD style.  Obviously I’m digging any Shermie art but check out this Vice for some wowsers!  Really, really nice work!  Hope to see more work from this talent.