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Opinion: SNK was/is really ahead in characterization.

Tohma Kuki

Yoshitora Tokugawa

Shiro Tokisada Amakusa

Shizumaru Hisame

Thats all.

Other than Tohma Kuki, not bad choices at all. Especially like Yohshitora and Shizumaru.

And if you were curious about Last Blade designs:

The_Last_Blade.jpg
 
Even back in the day i knew SNK was special amongst the sea of me-too Street Fighter clones. The box art here sold me on the company (rarely frequented arcades).

FatalFurycover.jpg


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Ryu wishes he was this cool.
 
You have valid points, but there are bigger issues with tekken characters you have yet to touch.

Also the bolded is blasphemous

Wow just fully absorbed what you said, I disagree with most of it.

I'll continue if you'd like.

Let's look at the concept of Jin Kazama. He's a tragic hero. He loses his mother, his father despises him, his once trusted grandfather now despises him, etc. By the time Tekken 4 resurges, he comes off as a calm and refined individual who doesn't have any dealings whatsoever with the Zaibatsu/Devil Gene shit or whatever. He completely gives up his Kazama-style Karate at the respect of his mother (Jun being the central symbol of Peace throughout the entirety of the Tekken series.) Gameplan in Tekken 4 is to ultimately wipe away the DG (himself iuncluded.), That's all good and all. It's around the time Jinpachi resurfaces for no fucking reason whatsover (Tekken has a tendency to bring back characters and force them into the Canon for the sake of being part of the canon. Wang Jinrei is an example of this in Tekken 5 and Tekken 6.) and then his personality turns to "i'll face myself and put an end to this" to "Oh, I hae /more/ power? Let's screw EVERYONE on Earth, including the people who care for me over for my own selfish actions THEN pull off an act of selflessness so that way all of my shit decisions would be for the greater good!" He goes from being a complete polar opposite of Heihachi and Kazuya, to the point of Tekken 6 arriving and and making Kazuya of all people look like the only true, honest hero out of all of the shit that occurs in the Tekkenverse canon.

Another example? Steve Fox. As with being one of the newer characters, he had an extremely interesting story that was being built up with every installment of Tekken. Tekken 4 we find out he's Nina's kid. Tekken 5 he's still on his search as to who's responsible for seperating him from his birth parents/where the hell were his past memories? (He's the only one in the TK cast I consider an honest amnesiac.)

6? He's fucking comic relief that does /nothing/ because /OH THIS IS JIN'S STORY AND LARS' STORY NOW LOL YOLO/. Only until Tekken Tag 2--a completely different game that doesn't follow the TK canon--do we get anymore info regarding Steve. But it doesn't matter because it's not canon. At all. they did the same shit for Kunimitsu in tekken tag 1 AND Tekken Tag 2.

That would imply karin or lili are anything more than rich girl rival characters. I think lili is better designed.

Lili has an entire Manga to back up her deisgn and characterization, unlike Lili. She's extremely three dimensional, which is very rare for Street Fighter characters. Throughout the entirety of Ganbaru Karin evolves from seeing Sakura as some petty rival to that of someone she can learn from and use as a backbone to improve her own skills, yet at the same time retaining her pompous and dosh personality that she's known for.

Lili doesn't learn anything from her time with Asuka. She's a dick. Doesn't help that Lili doesn't get any more characterization other than being a dick in Tekken 6 because, again, /no one in Tekken 6/ got any plot whatsoever.

Did you know that as of Tekken 6, Paul Phoenix and Marshall Law are dead? Watch when those two return for Tekken 7 because Harada just doesn't give a fuck anymore.

It's also sad that the only really unfocused on character, Yoshimitsu, is instantly reduced to Comic Relief when he's proven to be stronger than Heihachi and Bryan Fury--"the man who deflects bullets with his head" and overpowered android-- because...well there IS no explanation.
 
I'll continue if you'd like.

Let's look at the concept of Jin Kazama. He's a tragic hero. He loses his mother, his father despises him, his once trusted grandfather now despises him, etc. By the time Tekken 4 resurges, he comes off as a calm and refined individual who doesn't have any dealings whatsoever with the Zaibatsu/Devil Gene shit or whatever. He completely gives up his Kazama-style Karate at the respect of his mother (Jun being the central symbol of Peace throughout the entirety of the Tekken series.) Gameplan in Tekken 4 is to ultimately wipe away the DG (himself iuncluded.), That's all good and all. It's around the time Jinpachi resurfaces for no fucking reason whatsover (Tekken has a tendency to bring back characters and force them into the Canon for the sake of being part of the canon. Wang Jinrei is an example of this in Tekken 5 and Tekken 6.) and then his personality turns to "i'll face myself and put an end to this" to "Oh, I hae /more/ power? Let's screw EVERYONE on Earth, including the people who care for me over for my own selfish actions THEN pull off an act of selflessness so that way all of my shit decisions would be for the greater good!" He goes from being a complete polar opposite of Heihachi and Kazuya, to the point of Tekken 6 arriving and and making Kazuya of all people look like the only true, honest hero out of all of the shit that occurs in the Tekkenverse canon.

I kind of agree, however The thing is . Kazuya never really did anything that bad, he just kind of seemed bad. Thats why I didnt really see anything wrong with Kazuya being a good guy, because he never really achieved bad guy status really.

Also I agree about jin, however I would argue he was kind of a selfish jerk in the first place.
Another example? Steve Fox. As with being one of the newer characters, he had an extremely interesting story that was being built up with every installment of Tekken. Tekken 4 we find out he's Nina's kid. Tekken 5 he's still on his search as to who's responsible for seperating him from his birth parents/where the hell were his past memories? (He's the only one in the TK cast I consider an honest amnesiac.)


6? He's fucking comic relief that does /nothing/ because /OH THIS IS JIN'S STORY AND LARS' STORY NOW LOL YOLO/. Only until Tekken Tag 2--a completely different game that doesn't follow the TK canon--do we get anymore info regarding Steve. But it doesn't matter because it's not canon. At all. they did the same shit for Kunimitsu in tekken tag 1 AND Tekken Tag 2.

I agree.
 
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Lili has an entire Manga to back up her deisgn and characterization, unlike Lili. She's extremely three dimensional, which is very rare for Street Fighter characters. Throughout the entirety of Ganbaru Karin evolves from seeing Sakura as some petty rival to that of someone she can learn from and use as a backbone to improve her own skills, yet at the same time retaining her pompous and dosh personality that she's known for.

That manga didn't really do much.


\
Lili doesn't learn anything from her time with Asuka. She's a dick. Doesn't help that Lili doesn't get any more characterization other than being a dick in Tekken 6 because, again, /no one in Tekken 6/ got any plot whatsoever.

Yeah she does, unlike karin. She just isnt shit at fighting, she learns how to be less of an ass hole. Which to be quite hote honest, seems like the more valuable skill.

\
Did you know that as of Tekken 6, Paul Phoenix and Marshall Law is dead? Watch when those two return for Tekken 7 because Harada just doesn't give a fuck anymore.

How?
 
Xiang Fei was the better choice between the two!!!

the dumpling princess has at least appeared in a kof series. theres too much gold SNK is sitting on

freeman, rick, rock, alfred, marco, the kim twins. all badass characters that need a shot

and theres this bad ass mofo

yes please to lee

but they would put tung fu rue and that bastard cheng in first
 
I... don't even know how that's possible, lol. Ryu has had almost no evolution, within fights (victory animations, ability mastery, general style) in his entire time of creation. He pretty much stopped at Shinku Hadouken. He never learns or develops seriously new techniques, as most martial arts masters are suppose to do. Though he's on an enternal quest to become stronger, he shows almost no signs of it.

How can anyone in KoF feel more soul-less than that? They show changes due to story in game, influenced by fan rumors and speculation, and hint at events that happened in their origin games, are are being built up for future stories that have been cooking for over a decade. Even in dream matches, they often draw from alternative histories, or keep odd continuities from parallel universe encounters. SNK's characters have "soul" in every fiber of their creation.

I don't know if that's right. Ryu is p much how I suppose an already strong person would behave if they wanted to become stronger; by slowly adding new moves and correcting mistakes in old moves.

Meanwhile, characters in KoF can change their entire fighting styles from entry to entry. Some years they all collectively decide that fireballs are dumb, the next year fireballs are all the rage again! KoF characters don't behave like someone who is strong. They are just throwing every technique at the wall to see what sticks, and surprise, not a lot sticks.
 
I always dug SNK's designs for their characters. Simple, but iconic enough to be recognized.
 
the dumpling princess has at least appeared in a kof series. theres too much gold SNK is sitting on

That's what I mean.

During the NESTS arc they wanted to bring in a RB2 rep, which of course comes down to Rick and Xiangfei as the new characters in that game. They decided to bring Xiangfei over and created Vanessa with alot of Rick Strowd's moveset instead.

(worked out for the best imo as Vanessa is EASILY the most stylish boxing character in any 2D fighting game)
 
Comparing Silky's details of Tekken 5 and 6 to how KOF XIII, or the series in-general turned out, I feel almost in-debt to SNKP, as much as like the lore of both series honestly.

Also

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Haven't seen Ken, Ky, or any other rival of a main hero in a fighter stand over the other victoriously in a standalone art, so this was extremely surprising to see in the 90s.
need to find a larger size for this


That's what I mean.

During the NESTS arc they wanted to bring in a RB2 rep, which of course comes down to Rick and Xiangfei as the new characters in that game. They decided to bring Xiangfei over and created Vanessa with alot of Rick Strowd's moveset instead.

(worked out for the best imo as Vanessa is EASILY the most stylish boxing character in any 2D fighting game)


A future KOF needs to have Rick and Vanessa in the same game.

Rick: "You stole my style!"
Vanessa: "Thanks for it btw. I'm a big fan."
Rick: "Be a good fan and give it back, before I take it the way I want."
Vanessa: "That's no way to treat a lady, especially one who'll beat you at your own game."

Hell, let the next storyline KOF have Team Pugilism
411666_13071057800ePU.jpg
3319582
heavy-d-king-fighters-94-picture.jpg

subversively also Team Minority
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCGOsj73yW8

Considering that's the only ending compared to Law and Pauls' that can even be taken seriously remotely, tha'ts the direction TK7 is going. (Mind you Paul and Law are pretty human.)

but thats kinda tekken ridiculous though isnt it? like the mishima clan being strapped to a rocket ridiculous? i mean the detonate button right outside the shack? i think its meant to be played up for laughs
 
King of Fighter characters never clicked with me. They didn't got enought flavour, me thinks.

Samurai Showdown, in the other hand, it is the very pinnacle of videogame characterization. The expressions, the animations, the backgrounds, the synergy between these elements, the way SNK was able to convey personalities, psychology and entire personal stories just by animating the characters and making them interact with each other rather than by cutscenes and text was truthly ahead of its time.

This... I like KoF's characters, but I do think they're lacking something (like they don't jump out at you). SamSho has that trait.

Also Tekken 1-5 characters were awesome, nearly all of them

5DR onwards... meh.
 
I... don't even know how that's possible, lol. Ryu has had almost no evolution, within fights (victory animations, ability mastery, general style) in his entire time of creation. He pretty much stopped at Shinku Hadouken. He never learns or develops seriously new techniques, as most martial arts masters are suppose to do. Though he's on an enternal quest to become stronger, he shows almost no signs of it.

He has had plenty of changes. His standing hard punch, crouching mk, standing mk have changed between SF games to differentiate his strikes from Ken. He gained a mp overhead and hp gut punch toward the end of SF2, the super kick in 3rd, and air tatsu in [I can't remember ]. A super dragon punch in alpha. It isn't as dramatic as Kyo forgoing his fireballs for the wicked chew or Jin dropping Mishima style, but Ryu has had plenty of subtle changes.
 
I really doubt shit like Hwoarang's ending in Tekken 6 is canon.

No, not that,

Kazuya lets lars go, jin fights the monster, temple collapses later raven finds jin a desert

but thats kinda tekken ridiculous though isnt it? like the mishima clan being strapped to a rocket ridiculous? i mean the detonate button right outside the shack? i think its meant to be played up for laughs

Thats exactly the point.
 
That's what I mean.

During the NESTS arc they wanted to bring in a RB2 rep, which of course comes down to Rick and Xiangfei as the new characters in that game. They decided to bring Xiangfei over and created Vanessa with alot of Rick Strowd's moveset instead.

(worked out for the best imo as Vanessa is EASILY the most stylish boxing character in any 2D fighting game)

i like her design, but waters run deep. rick will always be my dude, but i dont know about the most stylish boxer thing though
 
I love SNK and their characterization. The cast in their universe grow and expand as actual characters with every game. They were never treated like static filler for action, but as actual characters who grew, changed, lived and often died as games came and went. Plus they made certain that the areas you fought had a ton of personality as well to give the fights and moments from these stories more weight and personality as well.

I'm a particular fan of the KoF Warehouse stage.

UuuEC.gif
 
nothing wrong with absurd or ridiculous storylines, especially in fighting games.

you can say that kof tries to take itself more seriously but at the end of the day, two of the best kofs are dreammatch games.
 
He has had plenty of changes. His standing hard punch, crouching mk, standing mk have changed between SF games to differentiate his strikes from Ken. He gained a mp overhead and hp gut punch toward the end of SF2, the super kick in 3rd, and air tatsu in [I can't remember ]. A super dragon punch in alpha. It isn't as dramatic as Kyo forgoing his fireballs for the wicked chew or Jin dropping Mishima style, but Ryu has had plenty of subtle changes.

I always looked at as "Ryu never needed to change." He's the always serious, stern, and "bland" karateka who only seeks to perfect his craft and whatnot. I don't think you'd change a whole lot if your only focus is to become stronger. His core is still intact and effective, so why fix what isn't broken?

Jin needed change because he was just "model swap Kaz." Kyo needed a change because honestly, he was pretty boring at first. I like that Namco and SNK knew that they needed to evolve their characters somehow, and they did.
 
Is modern SNK as good as their output in the 90s?

I remember playing a KoF game from the 2000s and being so disappointed when I beat the game and did not get a special ending.
 
Hell, let the next storyline KOF have Team Pugilism
411666_13071057800ePU.jpg
3319582
heavy-d-king-fighters-94-picture.jpg

subversively also Team Minority

HOLY SHIT THAT TEAM HNNNNNNNGGGG

I've been a diehard fan of Capcom fighters for years, but as far as story and characters go I think SNK has them whipped. Both companies' output on that front has been pretty suspect with their latest fighters though. Shen Woo, Duo Lon and Juri are the only ones I've really latched onto over the past 10 years or some shit.
 
Is modern SNK as good as their output in the 90s?

I remember playing a KoF game from the 2000s and being so disappointed when I beat the game and did not get a special ending.

Modern SNKP isn't what it used to be. But to be fair, SNK isn't the only one with a lower output compared to the 90s in making fighters (Capcom, Arksys, etc.); the cost of gaming design lately has put the breaks on too many possible projects. And in the 90's, SNK had their own dedicated system to release games on and port them later to other systems.

I would say the quality and effort is still there for sure, even if it's just in one current title now. Hopefully more will come.
 
That's actually what I like most about SNK fighters... the art, the character designs, etc.

I'm all about characters like Kyo, Leona, and Shiki for example.

I prefer Capcom fighters for the actual gameplay. That's not to say that Capcom doesn't have its share of awesome characters and such.
 
Fatal Fury is one of the coolest names for a fighting series ever!
 
Modern SNKP isn't what it used to be. But to be fair, SNK isn't the only one with a lower output compared to the 90s in making fighters (Capcom, Arksys, etc.); the cost of gaming design lately has put the breaks on too many possible projects. And in the 90's, SNK had their own dedicated system to release games on and port them later to other systems.

I would say the quality and effort is still there for sure, even if it's just in one current title now. Hopefully more will come.

I do think that going 3D in some shape or form, as their next projects hint at, is the only way they'll be able to get their output up to snuff again. Making sprite-based games, especially the way that SNKP tends to do it, just isn't feasible anymore.

As long as the games are a) fun, b) play similar to their best entrants (or better), c) have as much "character" as before and d) gives Arc's GGXrd a run for their money in how well they can "fool" us? I won't complain at all. I just want to play more quality SNK releases. Especially Samurai Spirits/Shodown. It's been way too long since we've had another quality entrant in that series, and the sooner they make up that SEN travesty, the better.
 
* C..Viper currently on her marvel inspired shit*

child please.

Aside from looking like a rejected Falcoon design crossing Vanessa and Alba Meira, I can't stand her brain dead personality consisting solely of a inferiority complex with a motherly backstory slapped on. She's the complete antithesis of good character design and depth that SNK characters have.

Answering your question earlier with Street Fighter and expanding my point above, it's not just the design, but all the little details shown off in their attacks, winposes. If you're not interested in them initially, you'll be more interested when you see them in action (whether watching someone else or fighting against the character yourself), this is exactly why I started migrating to the SNK characters in CVS2.

As for Guilty Gear, it just rubs me the wrong way. The art (in X2/XX) look ugly to me animation is stiff, and everything feels just TOO wacky.
 
SNK for life.
OP is right, the characters, their interesting back stories and stylish design are why people keep coming back. They always seemed more modern and less cartoony than the SF characters.
 
Wow. Never played a SNK game regrettably(and strangely considering my favorite genre is fighting games) but that design is perfect, i really can't express how close this is to my preference in character design, really cool stuff.

And on top of that, she has a great fighting style. Elegant and smooth classic boxing.
 
Good stuff.
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I also loved the interaction some characters had with certain types of characters before the fight started. Capcom vs SNK 2 has tons of them.

Iori-kyo-cool-2k1-intro.gif
 
We've officially reached the point in every S.N.K. thread where it's awesome enough and with enough constructive posts to make me sad.



These didn't help.

The real joke on Capcom is that Yuri keeps experimenting with these moves, but usually tends to abandon them by the following game - she may not follow her father's lessons much, practically only using Kyokugenryuu's HaohShoKoKen, but she clearly doesn't think the SF moves are worth sticking with.

Ah, you beat me to it! She's the open-minded one of the family, and she still thinks they suck.
 
Aww

would have been my wallpaper of forever

I love that stage. Makes me feel nostalgic about a place I've never been to
 
I always looked at as "Ryu never needed to change." He's the always serious, stern, and "bland" karateka who only seeks to perfect his craft and whatnot. I don't think you'd change a whole lot if your only focus is to become stronger. His core is still intact and effective, so why fix what isn't broken?

Jin needed change because he was just "model swap Kaz." Kyo needed a change because honestly, he was pretty boring at first. I like that Namco and SNK knew that they needed to evolve their characters somehow, and they did.
Jin was about as similar to kazuya as heihachi... Which is to say not very similar. They had dragon punches, spin kick, and punch combos in common, but Jin had jun's moves, the crouching power punch, the forward forward power punch, the lightning repelling move, as well as reversals.
 
Ctrl+F "Clooney" 75 posts =P

SNK has so many great characters, but like Capcom, I wish they'd put decent story modes in their fighting games like MK9. I didn't care about that stuff before but it really does add so much. Most of what I know about SNK characters is from fightersgeneration.com.
 
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