• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

King of Fighters was always better than Mortal Kombat as a 2d Fighter

Labolas

Member
In fact, it's on-par with Street Fighter and even beating SF in terms of story and characters. But back on topic, it always seems like KOF's legacy doesn't get enough respect here in the states and MK has most of the time been put on a pedestal especially currently. The fact that KOF has so many games that are not straight out shit should automatically solidify its legacy, but there are other things that usually separate the good fighting games and the great ones.

The characters:
terry-hattoss-win.gif

Almost every character in KOF's rosters oozes with personality. Hell, you can tell every character's personality off of their short introduction before the fight starts off. You really couldn't distinguish the ninjas in the MK games until the later games. MK's cast, a lot of the time, lacked personality and character and were practically know by their colors and that's it. You could tell Terry Bogard was the carefree and fun-loving character or Kyo was the serious/hot-headed character and main lead of the series or Mai was the series's resident sexy lady or Leona was the serious badass female character. Hell, you don't even need their introduction to you what kind of character you're selecting, just looking at the character select screen would just tell you. Point is you could tell that SNK cared enough to give every character something that them distinguish from one another.

The Presentation:
big-girls.gif

When you start up the game and see the game's intro, you can get really hyped over it and makes you wanted to play it. The character select is something to go off as well. And it's not to say that MK hasn't a few good intros to their games, I always thought that Armageddon's intro was pretty cool and MK9's menu select screen was the series' highlight but that was it for me. KOF's intros were good but their characters' intros were definitely legendary and something that even Capcom mimicked with their games. The Kyo/Iori flame intro, Andy/Mai intro, Leona/Heidern intro, and many more I'm forgetting sold me on their games and characters.

The Music:
shermie-doinit.gif

Boy, I don't think there's much of an argument to be had here. Arashi no Saxophone alone blows away anything that MK has. From Esaka to Tacos Dance, there's something that's banging from one of their games. There's even orchestral music like Krauser's theme. Wait does MK even have music?


Fighting Styles/Animation:
kimkap-int2.gif

You can tell the effort SNK in their animations, their idle animations alone sell the characters' fighting style. Selling the character's fighting style and playstyle always come down to their animations. Look no further than Kim Kaphwan. You can tell he's Taekwondo fighter just based on his gi and his idle stance. He's about flashy speedy kicks. Hell, there's a difference in the muay tai fighters', Joe and King, playstyle and animations. Joe has a more shoto playstyle and King is more reserved in her playstyle. The animation in SNK's sprite work has always been fluid, bombastic, and impactful. MK, on the other hand, not so much. MK's animations are stiff and look awful. The character's fighting styles are no better. I think the only fighting style/martial art that is implemented somewhat decent: ninjutsu and even then the characters that are ninjas don't look cool and memorable.

So yeah, I will say I never really cared too much about the MK games. But their best games to me were UMK3, MK9, and MKX. King of Fighters has always been big in other countries but not here. But I think SNK has proven why they're the king of 2D fighters.
 
Last edited:

Shin

Banned
That's because SNK is king of 2D fighters, Midway/Acclaim and whatever else they were called ain't got shit on them.
But the transition from 2D to 3D did not go well for SNK - decades later they still too broke ass to make a proper looking 3D fighter.
KoFXIII NeoMax / Cancel or whatever it's called again is godlike...
Ryo_sprite.gif
YfgIgi.gif
 

Belmonte

Member
I was surprised when I learned that USA don't care much about KOF. WTF dudes. I'm a Street Fighter guy since a kid but SNK is the true Capcom rival when talking about fighting games.

Terry is such a cool character.

Mortal Kombat is dear to me though. Love the lore and setting.
 

Spukc

always chasing the next thrill
Mk3 was crazy about long difficult combos, gore
And hidden shit & fatalities.

Kof is just another type of fighter
 

Enjay

Banned
King of Fighters would've had a much better legacy today if it would've actually have evolved at all graphically between 1994-2001.
 
That's because SNK is king of 2D fighters, Midway/Acclaim and whatever else they were called ain't got shit on them.
But the transition from 2D to 3D did not go well for SNK - decades later they still too broke ass to make a proper looking 3D fighter.
KoFXIII NeoMax / Cancel or whatever it's called again is godlike...
Ryo_sprite.gif
YfgIgi.gif
I wish they didn't move to 3d, i loved kof 12 and 13.
 
I don't feel Mortal Kombat has ever been regarded as great mechanically. I've always felt its been about the lore and superficial aspects of the game. The last 3 games were honestly the first ones to try to be a somewhat balanced competitive fighting game.
 

01011001

Banned
ABCXYZ was always better than Mortal Kombat as a 2d Fighter

you could literally insert 99% of 2d fighters here and I would agree with you.

as someone who grew up playing Mortal Kombat religiously and loving the whole universe and lore behind it... I still have to be real and say, not a single Mortal Kombat game to this date is even close to being as good as any decent Japanese fighting game.
 

Doom85

Member
Being better than MK isn't really that much of an accomplishment in my book. I never was big on the gameplay of the older ones, and the newer ones have far better gameplay but I've never been a fan of most of the character designs. I much prefer the Injustice games from the company as DC finally having a proper fighting game was long overdue.

Street Fighter is god-tier for me since 2. Awesome characters and gameplay. KOF is great but it's never personally hit that high that SF does for me. But that's just me.

Also, since you have 21 as your avatar, I'll say Dragonball FighterZ is my favorite fighting game of this gen that I've played even if I realize it's got some issues to some players. I fell off it during Season 1, but with the Season 3 announcement I got back in hard and am having a blast (maining Vegito, Kefla, and Hit). Can't wait to see what UI Goku brings to the table and who will be the rest of the S3 line-up.
 

deriks

4-Time GIF/Meme God
It's a weird comparison

Mortal Kombat uses a different type of play. You need to touch the joystick twice and press a button to do something. There's a button for blocking and another to run. No specials, but Fatalities. Realistic art. Way more people cares about the lore than every other fighting game...

KoF is a great game, but I always felt him more like a cool cousin of what Street Fighter is. More characters, way more different special attacks, "desperation attacks", lore that is very much an anime

Even Killer Instinct that used fatalities and has a similtar art style is a whole other beast.

At the end, Street Fighter is the main rival of everyone haha
 

kunonabi

Member
Someone's never played fight fever
More like someone who hasnt played like 90% of 2d fighters. MK may not be the most technically sound 2d fighter out there but there are so many rubbish SF/MK clones that were far worse.
 

Rat Rage

Member
It's not an opinion, it's a FACT.

Imagine Mortal Kombat (back in the day) without its over the top violence. What would have been left? A mechanically shit fighting game with clunky animations and super weird hit detection.
 
Last edited:

Nymphae

Banned
I've never heard anyone argue otherwise. I have never played an MK game that felt good mechanically to me, every game they make has the same stiff awkward feeling to it.
 
ABCXYZ was always better than Mortal Kombat as a 2d Fighter

you could literally insert 99% of 2d fighters here and I would agree with you.

as someone who grew up playing Mortal Kombat religiously and loving the whole universe and lore behind it... I still have to be real and say, not a single Mortal Kombat game to this date is even close to being as good as any decent Japanese fighting game.
Shaq fu
Rise of the robots
Dangerous Street

🤣😋🤣😋

I love both in 2d and in 3d. UMKtrilogy and XL are my favorite (loved the 1st one on mega cd).
 

Xenon

Member
Nah, KOF is the off-brand Cola of Fighters. MK2 offered a completely different experience. I'm know SNK got better later on but by then most people stop caring about Fighters so it's pretty much irrelevant.
 
Last edited:

MayauMiao

Member
When it comes to fighting games, I always felt something was off with the feel of the fights in MK. It feels like the gravity was off, jumps are a bit wonky, and the laggy feel of controlling the character, unlike KOF which felt very solid and responsive. I don't know if MK improves it with its latest release (didn't buy it) but something tells me it will be just the same.
 

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
Well, duh. Was this ever even a question? The KOF series is great, and even the worst KOF game was a "better feeling" fighter to play than most Mortal Kombat games.
 

GuyPanics

Neo Member
I’ve never played one sadly. They seem pretty fun. But I’m terrible with precise button combos. To give you an idea, I’ve been playing Street Fighter off and on since 2013 and I’m still bronze lmao. But I have fun so that’s all that matters.
 

MrA

Member
More like someone who hasn't played like 90% of 2d fighters. MK may not be the most technically sound 2d fighter out there but there are so many rubbish SF/MK clones that were far worse.
I just picked one that is comically bad and traditional sprites
 
Last edited:

Labolas

Member
It's a weird comparison

Mortal Kombat uses a different type of play. You need to touch the joystick twice and press a button to do something. There's a button for blocking and another to run. No specials, but Fatalities. Realistic art. Way more people cares about the lore than every other fighting game...

KoF is a great game, but I always felt him more like a cool cousin of what Street Fighter is. More characters, way more different special attacks, "desperation attacks", lore that is very much an anime

Even Killer Instinct that used fatalities and has a similtar art style is a whole other beast.

At the end, Street Fighter is the main rival of everyone haha

KOF was really never looked at as an equal to SF here in the states was my point. In fact, I heard that its an SF clone and that MK was better, This is coming from kasuals and fans from personal experience. It feels like its legacy isn't as respected here as other countries.

I know that they function differently. Hell, you could say KOF is a whole another thing by itself. Btw, wtf is the point of stance switch in the MK games?
 

Scotty W

Banned
King of Fighters would've had a much better legacy today if it would've actually have evolved at all graphically between 1994-2001.

I agree, however if the would have kept up with the trends, in retrospect, they would not look so pretty today.
 

nkarafo

Member
Graphically, sure. But let's not forget you are comparing Neo-Geo games with practically no succesful inferior ports with which versions of MK? The arcade versions were a whole different deal compared to the popular 16bit console versions we grew up with.

KOF games also don't stand out among themselves very much, they are all the same. If i drop in the middle of a play session i can't tell which version of KOF i'm playing, is it 95? 98? 2001?

MK2 was a huge improvement over MK1 in everything and MK3 was also a pretty big jump with it's increased speed and combos. KOF sequels feel more like DLCs.

Though i'm not a fan of MK1, i prefer MK2/MK3 over any "Neo-Geo fighter". But only the Arcade versions with their superior graphics and sound. Digitized graphics and animations don't scale down very well.

Also Dan Forden's compositions for MK2 and MK3 were amazing so i don't know what you are talking about when you say "Does MK even have music?"







 
Last edited:

NecrosaroIII

Ultimate DQ Fan
Mortal Kombat was always shit. The only reason people liked it was because of the blood and fatalities. Mechanically the franchise was never as good as King of Fighters, Samurai Showdown, Street Fighter.

Killer Instinct sucked too.
 

Drell

Member
Every time there's this kind of debate, MK fans are like: "yeah there was gore it was awesome" and that's the only argument they use. I never played MK that much, I only had a friend who had UMK3 on SNES and from what I remember, character felt heavy with huge inupt lag and hit impacts felt non existant. And yet my only comparaison was the slowass SF2 basic World Warrior 50hz version where they look like they are on the moon when they jump.
Graphics didn't impress me either because I already had DKC2 on the same console at that time.
 
KOF games also don't stand out among themselves very much, they are all the same. If i drop in the middle of a play session i can't tell which version of KOF i'm playing, is it 95? 98? 2001?
Lol, the life/energy bars alone are enough to tell which KoF it is.

The comparison is a bit unfair since MK has always been doing its own thing and the devs must be commended for staying in their lane.

But yeah, nothing is on the level of KoF. Here in Morocco it’s the most iconic video game all genres included. Even people who are not into games knowat least one character.

Here’s a nice video showcasing the various games of the series ranked according to this Youtuber’s preferences:
 

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
...No shit, SNK fighting games are top tier and most of MK is basically trash, though there are some okay entries. That said the animation was kind of a weak point in my opinion. The art and key frames were definitely great but the animation frames were too few generally. Still, it basically had a team of 3 for every fighter elsewhere. Of course Garou: Mark of the Wolves proved it was just a matter of having enough storage for all the frames rather than an inability to do fluid animation. Well, plenty other SNK games had great animation too, but that was the pinnacle & easily topped SFIII.
snk-jaehoon.gif
jae-k3.gif
jae-special6.gif
kimjaohoon-risingkick.gif
 
Last edited:

Helios

Member
Every time there's this kind of debate, MK fans are like: "yeah there was gore it was awesome" and that's the only argument they use.
Because nobody claims that MK is some mechanically complex fighting game. Everyone knows what MK's appeal is. It's only people that play other FG that have to flaunt their superiority for choosing "the right" fighting game. Especially SNK fans. SNK fans HAVE to tell you that they're into SNK games. They're the vegans of the FGC
 
Last edited:
Because nobody claims that MK is some mechanically complex fighting game. Everyone knows what MK's appeal is. It's only people that play other FG that have to flaunt their superiority for choosing "the right" fighting game. Especially SNK fans. SNK fans HAVE to tell you that they're into SNK games. They're the vegans of the FGC
Ironic since snk games have more meat than most games. Aksys is the vegan of the fgc with their stripped down bbctb and gg strive.
 
MK was always considered the worst fighting game (combo/balance wise). Up to MK9, thats when they took it more seriously. But MK was always more popular due to the M rating content. Tho i was never a pro fighter so i didn't care the game wasn't balanced at all. MK was and still is the most fun fighter to play with friends. Have no clue whats happening in eSports.
 

Birdo

Banned
Mortal Kombat has never been a good fighting franchise.

The only reason it had so much hype in the 90's was the gore marketing. The game was a pile of crap compared to Street Fighter 2.
 

Neff

Member
Well fucking duh

Imagine Mortal Kombat (back in the day) without its over the top violence. What would have been left? A mechanically shit fighting game with clunky animations and super weird hit detection.

The visuals at the time were pretty novel and striking, it was as much of a selling point as the violence. I'm old enough to remember the first MK1 cabs arriving in arcades, and they drew crowds purely because of the visuals. There had been other games flirting with digitised graphics before then, but MK1's crew put in work and took it to the next level. The game popularised digitised graphics overnight, the industry was swimming in them soon after.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom