King of Fighters XII Is 100% Hand-Drawn

[Rob Williams]

From our front-page news:

Among all of the 2D fighters still remaining, of which there are few, King of Fighters is one series that remains in the hearts of classic gamers everywhere. The series first debuted in the early ninety's as a direct arcade port for the Neo Geo and was likely the first game to offer a true arcade fighting experience at home. Well, at least for the gamers who could afford that console.

But even after all these years of Mortal Kombats, Tekkens, Virtua Fighters, Street Fighters and others, The King of Fighters series remains strong, and SNK-Playmore wants to show gamers why their game is still a true classic. The upcoming XII version of the game, which will be available for the arcade, Xbox 360 and PS3, will be completely hand-drawn. Everything from the characters, backgrounds, special effects and even the title were created with human fingers.

Being a fan of the series aside, this is one game I plan up for the sheer fact that we now know what kind of effort went into it. Not only should it prove a great fighting title, but it could result as a piece of art as well. Now if only direct images would be released...


That means that an actual human hands lovingly drew and colored in everything in the game. Every single frame, every character and every background. Everything - down to the game's in-game title. SNK gave us the full rundown, so here's how it worked: The original character drawings were modeled into 3D. Those 3D models were then rendered back into 2D. That way the 2D characters could have a greater depth of motion.

Source: Kotaku

[NicePants42]

I think I've played '94 thru '98 or so. A LOT. This sounds awesome, thanks for the heads-up.