King Of Fighters XII Japan site updates from teaser to full detail (updated with a translation)

Today must be a day for fighters as here is some news on another highly anticipated arcade fighter, KOFXII. While I hadn’t been keeping tabs on the teaser site, what is there now is nicely detailed with new sections describing the game and characters. Even if you can’t understand the Japanese text in certain areas,  it’s a good place for screenshots and upcoming movies of the game in action to salivate over.

While I don’t expect to see this get much US distribution, it will likely be a a title that will be imported by many locations; I certainly am considering it. For those of you out there looking into opening up your own arcade, if you have a notable Latino population in your area then you should consider getting any KOF game really as the game is huge south of the US border. I’ve seen that with earnings on my KOF98, which has done far better than I ever expected. KOFXII could very well get the attention of other fighter fans between it’s amazing 2D look and it’s battle system.

UPDATE: Aaron Auzis has kindly taken the time to translate some information from the updated KOF site and has provided that translation to us at AH. Many thanks Aaron! If you’d like to get see what new information has been revealed on the game, including details on the new mechanics that KOFXII will bring to the table, hit the post break below where it says “Read the rest of this post”.

[KOFXII Official Site] [Discuss on the Forum]

Aaron: Early today, Shaggy reported on the full promotional site for King of
Fighters XII in Japan and unfortunately for people who don’t live in
or near Japan, you probably don’t understand what’s so new about the
game. I had a break from school today and it just so happens I’m
currently studying Japanese, so I took a look at the page and with a
little help from my Japanese instructor, here is what I was able to
kick out about the game:

Obviously, looking at the site, you don’t need a degree in Japanese to
pick out the characters’ names written in English, but for those who
can’t bother clicking the link to the official site, here is the
roster as of Dec. 1, 2008:
Ash Crimson
Duo Lon
Shen Woo
Kyo Kusanagi
Benimaru Nikaido
Goro Daimon
Iori Yagami
Athena Asamiya
Sie Kensou
Chin Gentsai
Terry Bogard
Andy Bogard
Joe Higashi
Kim
Raiden
Ryo Sakazaki
Robert Garcia
Ralf Jones
Clark Still
Leona Heidern

Looking at the overall control scheme, King of Fighters XII is shaping
up to maintain its standard four-button scheme that should be
second-nature to SNK purists. Buttons A-D are mapped with light and
strong punches and kicks, players can dash or backstep with a double
flick of the stick, A+B initiates the emergency roll, A+C throws the
opponent, players can fall defensively from attacks and “blow away”
attacks can be performed with the combination of C+D.

The meat of what King of Fighters XII is bringing to the table,
though, is described in the official site’s “New System” categories,
introducing three new mechanics into the game – the critical counter,
“killing matches,” and guard attacks.

Critical Counter
If players land a close strong punch as a counter, the player enters
into a critical counter. At this point, the camera zooms in on the
players and the offensive player will have a small time window to link
further attacks. A dark green hit effect will signal when the time
window has expired and to add flair to the rush chains, the player can
even finish out the critical counter with a special technique. The
moment the critical counter triggers, players can also execute a
“super victory” technique, which will cause a different animation
effect from ordinary moves and the camera zoom provides characters’
supers with a little more flair.

“Killing Matches”
I might be slightly off on the translation, but a “killing match” is a
spin on character-to-character attack clashes. If two characters
simultaneous engage with a strong attack, the characters will collide
with a red spark effect. From here, the players have a few options,
which seemingly creates a rock-paper-scissors scenario. By doing
nothing, the character will automatically backstep away from the
opponent and, hopefully to safety. However, players can also cancel
the backstep with an input to launch an attack, throw out a jumping
attack or use a projectile. From the clash, you can see how the
rock-paper-scissors split-second mentality comes into play. You can
whip a projectile at a backstepping opponent, jump attack over an
opponent’s projectile, throw out an anti-air against a jumping
opponent, etc. This new system should create a few tense multiplayer
scenarios.

Guard Attack
On the defensive side of the court, players are also able to use the
“blow away” attacks out of a defensive position, much like in Evoga’s
Rage of the Dragons for the Neo-Geo. In fact, it’s even the exact
same command to do so – while pressing back to block, hit C+D. The
blue block spark will ripple and your character will dish out an
immediate knock-down attack that puts the opponent a full screen away.
If the input is successful, the guard attack pushes through without
the opponent being able to defend it. It only does a slight amount of
damage, bt guard attacking is a great way to get out of the corner or
save your skin for a second if you’re riding defeat.

The event tab has recently added a “KOF XII premiere event” via
Famitsu, however, I cannot get the page to successfully load at the
moment. Otherwise, you don’t have to know Japanese to enjoy the movie
and screenshots on the page – you’ll have to do something to occupy
your time until the game’s Japanese release of April 2009.”