Reception
The characters from The King of Fighters series were said to be a varied cast by Eurogamer magazine, since the cast includes characters from other SNK games. IGN agreed, commenting that every character has their own unique moves and praising their visuals, even though the magazine mentioned that the characters have old two-dimensional designs. IGN criticized that learning the characters' special moves was difficult. In reviews for the first game, IGN praised the main character Kyo Kusanagi as one of the most enjoyable characters to play, remarking on his dynamism and movesets. GameSpot also praised the characters designs, saying they "shine through, resulting in a cast of characters that's diverse and not plentiful". In other reviews, they complained about the lack of improvements in the character's movesets in some games, and also mentioned that some techniques were simply removed. They noted that, while new characters introduced in some games are interesting, they do not have the same impact as other ones.
1UP.com labelled the characters from the series as one of SNK's best creations, claiming that their appearances and quotations are all "cool"—although they commented some of the storylines are "nonsense". The boss characters were criticized by multiple reviewers for being too difficult to defeat, with Krizalid from The King of Fighters '99 being singled out as too powerful.
The character designs in Maximum Impact were praised by IGN, which noted that the conversion to three-dimensional modeling had "extremely vibrant" characters with "a decent amount of detail." However, they disliked the lack of blood, especially during violent attacks, saying the super moves and combos were "just not as spectactular here" as they were in previous installments. IGN sharply criticized the "terribly bad voice acting", calling it "truly piss-poor American dub work." Gamezone added that some characters still remain their unique fighting style, but complained about the lack of individualized endings, and commented that some of the attacks have less style in 3D. GameSpot also added that the English voices weren't distinctive, but commented that their new outfits were "pretty wild". The characters, however, were "just not done with the same pixel-perfect flair" as the 2D versions, they said, noting that "you'll recognize because of their clothes and special moves, not because of their faces."
Action figures, puzzles, keychains, and pins have been produced based on the characters in the King of Fighters series. Many characters are also featured on posters, wallpapers, and trading cards.
Read more about this topic: List Of The King Of Fighters Characters
Famous quotes containing the word reception:
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—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)
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—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)