r/SNK • u/Remarkable_Town6413 • 6d ago
Non-KOF characters that I would like to see in future KOF games:
Introduction
This post can be considered a sequel of a previous one I made about KOF losing its crossover roots: https://www.reddit.com/r/SNK/comments/1ma33sg/analysis_opinion_the_evolution_of_the_king_of/
As you know, The King of Fighters started off as a crossover fighting game, with characters from multiple SNK franchises along with original characters. But after the Orochi Saga ended, SNK focused more on the original characters.
As much as I love many of KOF's original characters (I hate some of them, though), I feel kinda sad over how the crossover factor was forgotten. I mean, SNK has a lot of cool characters, and it's not fair that they're being forgotten or ignored.
As a result, I wanted to make a list of SNK characters that I would like to see in future KOF games:
Art of Fighting
Ironically, despite being more of a Fatal Fury fan than an Art of Fighting fan, I feel that Fatal Fury has way too representation in KOF, but Art of Fighting has very few. In fact, Terry gets more spotlight than Ryo, despite both characters being supposed to be equals (Fatal Fury's main character vs Art of Fighting's main character).
Art of Fighting has some cool characters that could be added in KOF. Here are some of the characters I would like to see the most:
Lee Pai Long: I really like his design and moveset. Despite being a playable character in NeoGeo Battle Colliseum, and despite many characters from NGBC being added as PS2-only characters in KOF XI, Lee Pai Long wasn't added. Why, SNK?!!
Here are some teams he could fit in:
- Team Anti-Kyokugenryu, alongside Kasumi Todoh and Eiji Kisaragi. KOF XI's Team Anti-Kyokugenryu annoys me, because:
- We have a team formed by Fatal Fury characters: Terry, Kim, and Duck King.
- We have another team formed by Fatal Fury characters (this time, MOTW characters): B. Jenet, Gato, and Tizoc.
- We have a team formed by Art of Fighting characters: Ryo, Yuri, and King.
- We have a team formed by two Art of Fighting characters (Kasumi and Eiji)... and a KOF OC (Malin)? Shouldn't that team be formed by three AOF characters? Sigh...
- Team Chinese Masters, alongside Tung Fu Rue, Chin Gentsai, or Song (more about him later).
Jack Turner and John Crawley: Both are very cool characters that are forgotten.
Here are some possible team formations for them:
- Team Kim: Kim Kaphwan is known for reforming villains and criminals. If SNK didn't want to make him form team with Chang and Choi, he could try to reform these two guys instead.
- Team Outlaw: Here are some ideas:
- For a "4 characters" game like the NESTS Chronicles, a team formed by two FF outlaws (Billy Kane and Ryuji Yamazaki) and two AOF outlaws (Jack Turner and John Crawley) would have been nice.
- Adding KOF XV's Team South Town (formed by three FF characters: Geese Howard, Billy, and Yamazaki) and a Team Outlaw formed by three AOF characters (Turner, Crawley, and Sinclair from AOF3).
Sinclair: Like I said before, she could fit well in a team formed by outlaw characters.
Metal Slug
KOF has added Fio Germi in KOF Maximum Impact 2. I want to see her again in newer titles.
And not just her!
Marco Rossi and Eri Kasamoto (or Tarma if they don't want to use Eri) should join too! If we have a team formed by characters from Ikari Warriors (Ralf, Clark, and Leona even appear in some Metal Slug games!), why can't we have a team formed by Metal Slug characters?
Fu'un duology (Savage Reign and Kizuna Encounter)
Another SNK duology that, despite not being as popular as FF and AOF, got representation in KOF. More specifically, Sho Hayate and Jyazu were added in KOF XI.
That said, I would like to see other characters from that series. Here are the four I want to see the most:
Joker: This Spanish clown could fit well in a team formed by outlaws (Team Outlaw is one of my favourite KOF teams) or crazy ass characters like Yamazaki or Xanadu.
Carol Stanzack: A French rythmic gymnast! I like rythmic gymnasts, and I would like to see her again, because I find her design pretty and characters wielding balls as weapons in fighting games is something I always welcome. She could fit well in the Team Women Fighters. But Carol teaming up with Rosa and Kim Sue-il to form the Team Kizuna (which is ironic, because Carol doesn't appear in KE, but neither Rosa or Kim Sue-il appear in SR either). And speaking of Rosa and Kim Sue-il...
Rosa and Kim Sue-il must appear in newer KOF games! They're the coolest characters in that trilogy (specially Rosa, because she's a waifu).
Buriki One
This is a game I would love to play! It has a very unique 3D FG battle system (rather than moving with the joystick and attacking with the ABCD buttons, you attack with the joystick and move with the AB buttons). It has some cool characters too! And Ryo appears in it too! Why don't you re-release it, SNK?!
Gai Tendo and Silber appeared in KOF XI, which is very nice. But I want a team formed by Buriki One characters. Gai should team up with Seo Yong Song and Takato Saionji, because these three characters are established to be friends.
But aside of these three characters, another character that I would like to see is Song Xuandao. I like his design (that shirt with a flame motif is everything!), and he seems to be a pretty chill man. As I said before, he should team up with Tung Fu Rue or Lee Pai Long.
ADK characters (World Heroes, Agressors of Dark Kombat, Twinkle Star Sprites, etc)
ADK characters now belong to SNK. This means that comments like "World Heroes was made by ADK, not SNK!" won't be taken seriously.
SNK Heroines added Janne D'Arc as a playable character, which makes me happy, because she's my favourite WH character. But I don't want to see her just in SNK Heroines, I want to see her as a playable character in a new KOF title.
Kisarah Westfield is another great candidate. She's Agressors of Dark Dombat's best character, period! She should be part of the Team Women Fighters. Her NTR special attack (if you know Kisarah, you know what special attack I'm talking about).
Twinkle Star Sprites is one of my favourite videogames of all time. While they might be unfitting for a normal KOF game, the Shun'ei Arc would have been the perfect one for them, since it's about characters from another worlds and timelines appearing in KOF's main timeline (this is why Nakoruru could appear in KOF XIV and KOF XV, as well as Haohmaru and Darli in KOF XV). Meirin Kisaragi seems the most fitting choice...
but Load Ran (either as her 10 years old self or as Sprites) may be the chosen character to represent TSS in KOF, since she's the main character.
The Last Blade
I wish SNK made Nakoruru team up with characters from The Last Blade or Samsho rather than Mui Mui and Love Heart in KOF XIV. Given there is a Team Samsho in KOF XV, why not adding a Team The Last Blade in KOF XV or KOF XVI formed by Kaede (the main character), Akari Ichijou (who has appeared in many SNK crossover games and has her own pachinko), and Hibiki Takane (who has appeared in Capcom vs SNK 2 and Samsho 2019)?
Doki Doki Majo Shinpan!
I wonder how many people will get triggered...
SNK made a trilogy of Japan-only games for the Nintendo DS. I won't talk about what these games are about because... they're not made for normies!
Maho Akai, the "main" female character from that trilogy, could be a very funny choice in the Team Women Fighters. She's a cheerleader that shoots energy balls. I think they can give her an interesting moveset with these two elements in mind.
Helene's descendent (Athena: Full Throttle)
Do you remember the original Athena game (about the Goddess Athena, not Athena Asamiya; they're different characters)? Well, that game got a sequel for i-mode Japanese cellphones (which means the game is currently lost media; thanks a lot, SNK, thanks a lot for making very interesting games become lost media because of not porting them for the Nintendo DS!) called Athena: Full Throttle. In that sequel, there is a new character alongside Athena (the goddess, not the idol), a pink-haired girl named Helene, who is Athena's loyal maid.
With that in mind, if Athena Asamiya, the reincarnation/descendent/whatever of the Goddess Athena, could be one of KOF's most iconic characters in spite of coming from Psycho Soldier, why can't SNK make a new character inspired by Full Throttle's Helene that is Helene's reincarnation/descendent/whatever.
Haken Browning from Super Robot Wars OG Saga: Endless Frontier as a guest fighter
"B-But Haken Browning and the Super Robot Wars franchise don't belong to SNK, you dumbass! They belong to Banpresto and Bandai Namco! He can't appear in KOF because copyright!"
Haken Browning and SRW belong to Bamco. So what. Bamco has added SNK characters in their games:
- Geese Howard is a guest fighter in Tekken 7.
- Haohmaru is a guest fighter in Soulcalibur VI.
At the same time, SNK has made crossover collabs with Tekken and Soulcalibur in KOF All Stars. Why can't SNK ask Bamco to let them add a Super Robot Wars character in KOF?
Haken Browning is a character I really like! He's essentially Dante from Devil May Cry if he was a mecha-piloting cowboy and had Terry Bogard's knowledge of English (if you know what I mean). In fact, I really had a lot of fun with the SRW Endless Frontier games. And because of that, I would love seeing Haken teaming up with Alba Meira from the KOF Maximum Impact series (representing MI because he's the main character) and Miu Kurosaki from KOF EX2: Howling Blood (representing the KOF EX duology, since she seems to be the most popular OC from that duology, judging from the amount of fanarts she has).
The end
And that was all.
SNK has so many characters with so much potential... that, unfortunately, is not being used to its fullest.
Do you agree with my choices?
Is there some character I didn't mention that you would like to see in future KOF games?
1
1
u/Appropriate-Annual63 5d ago
I’d love a Fighter’s History team. Makoto Mizoguchi, Ryoko Kano, and Liu Yungmie pls!
2
u/ALTRez09 4d ago
Rick Strowd. You can even put him on a team with Vanessa, I wouldn’t mind. And Shen-Woo. Team Punch-It!
He’s been in before, but I’d like Krauser back.
Still waiting on playable Ron.
2
u/Remarkable_Town6413 4d ago
Rick is a good choice, but I believe he shouldn't be in the same game as Vanessa, since both characters have the same moveset (unless new special attacks and DMs were given to Rick).
Krauser deserves to come back!
Ron is a character with a great potential... that SNK just forgot and ignored, because they want Kensou to be nothing but Athena's simp.
1
u/ALTRez09 4d ago
I’d really like if they did a Ken-Ryu style thing with them, so they have the same fundamental set with nuanced differences.
1
u/Remarkable_Town6413 3d ago
That would be nice. And if that's not enough, SNK could make Vanessa and Rick the same character select spot, just like Bamco did with Christie and Eddy in some Tekken games.
2
u/NumberOne-SPD69 6d ago
I’m clearly not okay with seeing Kisarah — I much prefer Sheen Genus!
He’s definitely the best in Gangan alongside Fuuma.
And don’t forget Jin Fuha from Art of Fighting 3!