King of Fighters Retrospective - Part 3: Ash Crimson & Maximum Impact

[@funkerman7]

SNK truly are masters at digging their own grave and then deciding to make a banger cause they felt like it

[@jahimalnar7978]

good god this holds up too much

[@lienneville969]

@@jahimalnar7978 Are you talking about the upcoming NFT KOF game right?

[@freshmadgod]

@@lienneville969 THE FUCKING WHAT

[@devilsdocry]

@@freshmadgod MY SAME REACTION.

[@MyHeadHz]

@@lienneville969 the HUH?!

[@sunflash2]

Between Thorgi, Maximilian, Mat McMuscles and the launch of KoF 15 I have fallen down the KoF rabbit hole hard. To the point I purchased and consolized an MVS and bought a MVS ROM cart as well as KoF '95 and 2001.

[@No-mn9do]

i'd really like to know why did you specifically pick 95 and 01, not complaining but just curious.

[@sunflash2]

@@No-mn9do eBay availability partially. I also wasn't sure at the time which was the last one on MVS Hardware. 95 I wanted because of the Saturn port and how it was handled.

[@neonthunder3261]

Both 95 and 2001 have done very interesting/fun mechanics. 2001 shakes up a fair bit, while still feeling KOF and 95’s sheer SPEED is what keeps me coming

[@LoaRicardo]

Oh... so now it's time to watch SNKronize in the UltraChen chanel =D

[@nnnneeeeuuuu]

It’s been nice to see new fans coming in. I always loved KOF even though the franchise was a roller coaster of good and bad. The designs always spoke to me a lot more than the ones from Street Fighter

[@noyce.]

This could be a Netflix series on its own. Thorgi the GOAT

[@DURIEL1]

DON'T give them idea's.

[@deadpilled2942]

He's Maximillian Dude. There is no Thorgi

[@dantekirenryu980]

@@DURIEL1eah, let’s not. Especially now. I rather for someone else to make a series off of KoF than have Netflix outright butchering or putting the entire series on day one to watch ruining it.

[@DURIEL1]

@@dantekirenryu980 Indeed, TrashFlix is really good at butchering things people love, looking at you woke Resident Evil and Cowboy Beflop.

[@jaimeruiz7837]

@@DURIEL1and the Witcher….

[@sehtuk3953]

The "15th anniversary game being overly ambitious while having a strict deadline to meet the anniversary date and scrambling to make a product with whatever work they could scrounge up by the deadline, meaning there are characters with mechanics obviously missing" bit with KOF XII genuinely gave me Sonic 06 flashbacks.

[@RedThunderSP]

It's funny because the parallels are uncanny.

[@fightingmedialounge519]

There are actually several surprising parallels between those two franchises.

[@sehtuk3953]

​@@fightingmedialounge519​Yeah. I always felt like in general, SNK and SEGA share a similar energy. Heck, in Sonic Heroes, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles are named Team Hero just like the characters in KOF (Japanese version only though).

[@fightingmedialounge519]

@@sehtuk3953 I was more so talking about sonic and kof specifically( I even made a post on reddit about how the second sonic movie oddly is a more accurate adaptation of the first few kof games than the actual Hollywood movie). Your point about companies is still fairly sound.

[@juanca2567]

@@sehtuk3953 I agree. Sonic Adventure 1 = Orochi saga. Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes = NESTS saga, Shadow the hedgehog = 2002 um, Sonic 2006 and Sonic Unleashed = Tales of Ash saga, Sonic Lost World = XIV, and Sonic Frontiers = XV.

[@xanthonjp]

KOF was huge in Asia back in the late 90s and early 2000s. We pretty much left street fighter behind and KOF was the biggest fighting game until SF4 came along. Anything between SF2 and SF4 pretty much fell flat. SF cabinets were always empty while the queue for KOF were long. It was so big, and I'm not kidding here, that my mum was a fan of Iori and used a mug with his face on it. Imagine my shock when I found out that KOF wasn't popular in the states.

[@papaG6423]

Idk why but the Iori Mug detail just makes me smile

[@prrithwirajbarman8389]

🥺

[@carissaap7003]

I wonder why kof is popular in other countries but not usa. Maybe because of preferences or marketing?

[@JesusMunoz-zi7hw]

​@@carissaap7003 no team USA

[@elperrodelautumo7511]

@@JesusMunoz-zi7hw there was the American sports team and even then, this team of fighters are a joke equivalent to a punching bag.

[@Chowder_T]

Not gonna lie, when you got to "strike one" and went into the shift to pachinko machines I was like 'NOOOOOO!' I was always a casual liker of KoF but your Lord of the Rings length retrospective made me even more emotionally invested in it and the rest of SNK's stuff.

[@Neogears1312]

Actually in 11, Shingo was the one who got them together! Chizuru still told him to do it but Kyo and Iori were adamant about doing it solo this game and refused to team up. Meaning props to shingo; He legitimately rolled a nat 20 on that speech check and convinced kyo and more importantly IORI to work together without any mirror clan sway to get them to help out reluctantly out of necessity. Shingo is the only person to get Iori to not only team up with anyone without beating up Kyo being the bribe, but explicitly got Iori to join a team where you CAN'T fight Kyo was the main stipulation and that's pretty amazing. It makes me wish he'd come back even harder as a character. For SNK's Sakura (weird to think about considering yuri exists i know) they were *really* letting this guy be relevant and he was impacting the plot despite not being that serious of a character and 11 was the last time we've ever seen the kid in a roster. I really hope he comes back in 15's dlc, I've mained him for years just because of the 4/8 birthday team in 98 because that's my birthday and it just feels bad to have him missing still.

[@MagillanicaLouM]

He's getting his own manga at least

[@MuhammadAli-xw4yc]

Hey until shingo comes back in kof 15. Simply buy kof 2002 ultimate and kof 98 ultimate match for shingo. Fun fact shingo was one of the most broken OP characters in the game at the highest level of competitive tournaments.

[@MuhammadAli-xw4yc]

I love Sakura but she is a rip off of yuri. Yuri is a just adorable, And when I use her I always feel like the under dog and have everything to prove to win, And I love trolling finishing my opponents with her command grab slap move, which capcom ripped off with poison. Who actually does the slaps better with more impact and better animations

[@electropelotudo1774]

Correction Sakura is capcom's yuri

[@brandonsellers1076]

For all of those pointing out that Yuri was first, Thank you. I came here to say the same thing. Everything else the original poster posted, cool story bro. (I mean it, even down to the birthday. That's pretty cool!)

[@xtoadsannom6704]

Also, since this is Elisabeth's debut, I would just like to point out that the "Weird that it happened twice" meme can now be applied to SNK changing a name by switching out a 'z' for an 's' in order to better reflect a character's nationality. First was Marco Rodrigues instead of Rodriguez because he hails from a lusophone rather than hispanophone country and then there was Elisabeth instead of Elizabeth because she is french, not english.

[@ungeekfurioso4802]

As the standard "Fan that holds Ash as their evil cinnamon roll". The main criticism i always see with the story of the Ash saga is that "Ash feels too secondary" (said by ppl who dont like him not me lol). And you said the exact opposite, but instead of writing a weird fanfic, you said something sensible thorgi, thanks. Loved the video!

[@captainmega6310]

Same bro

[@PopoTCG]

Maximum Impact's drop in sales may also be due to MI2 being exclusive to the PS2 while MI1 was on both PS2 and Xbox

[@DARS_04]

But PS2 sold better than Xbox, although Xbox got second place that generation.

[@dragonbornexpress5650]

@@DARS_04. Doesn't matter; That's still gonna piss people off. It also was a bad move considering SNK needed to break into the Western market at that time; Dropping the American made console when they still couldn't get a good foothold in North America was a huge mistake on top of the other mistakes that they made such as putting the cart before the horse with 5 MI sequels announced before the second game even released. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure dropping the American made console for a sequel to a decently selling 3D fighting game when you're trying to get a foothold in North America goes in line with one of the stupidest decisions in the history of the business world.

[@jonatassilva2605]

Nope, the PS2 install base was bigger theb both NCG and Xbox combined. It was enough for all other games on it.

[@PopoTCG]

@@jonatassilva2605 and? Does not change a thing

[@ComicCrossing]

@@jonatassilva2605 that doesnt matter at all. Say you were going to sell 50k on PS2 and 20K on Xbox. Making it exclusive to Ps2 may have changed the minds of a few people who had both systems so maybe youd have sold 52K or something, but then youd still be missing out on the 18k sales of the people who only wouldve bought it on Xbox. For someone trying to grow their brand it was a huge mistake. Its not like its a situation where they were popular enough to get exclusivity deals and have people activley buy systems for their games. They just lost out on sales.

[@dragons_hook]

Magaki essentially turned a fighting game into a bullet hell. Lol. XI was my personal favorite. I'm still waiting for Duck to come back again. Here's hoping!

[@AtJoee230]

_looks at Touhou Hisoutensoku_ yeah pretty much

[@someguy3186]

The Neo Geo hardware wasn't only ancient by the time this game came out - it was already long in the tooth and four years old with the first KOF game. It's incredible how much longevity they squeezed out of that system.

[@pedroportela6476]

Maybe I've just consumed so much Blazblue and Kingdom Hearts by over the years that I've become numb to overly convoluted stuff, but Ash's story was pretty easy to understand for me.

[@MIrfanPerdana]

Same here, minus the BlazBlue.

[@sethwick8348]

Yeah, compared to Guilty Gear and Blazblue, KoF is like Teletubbies.

[@EduardoTorelly]

@@MIrfanPerdana same as you

[@jamelbunny5732]

@@sethwick8348 true

[@tracyndiyob162]

guilty gear/blazblue i pretty much only follow for the characters moments as my brain said "just no" to the convoluted plot, there are way more stuffed game stories than those mentioned. and i can follow kingdom hearts(honestly even the time travel which was i can see the plans with it,just had problems with how it happened and think it should've been an appearance of chrono trigger like xehanort stealing the epoch.) but man it's a mess with the handhelds stretching it out when they should've been cutscenes/not taking advantage of the crossover element that it gets underwhelming with characters(especially kairi/playable cast,not having more ff characters/villains,other parts of disney like the animated tv series and not letting worlds meet.). i can understand the ash saga but is my least favorite saga as like thorgi said ash took prevalence over most of the characters that his friends didn't matter(duo long showed how forgotten the assasins/ron were and the most that happens with shen is being chased by oswald.),ash should've been the rival to give mystery as elisabeth is the "hero" of it,outshined the villains(that don't have their own team.) that they're the most forgettable antagonist to me outside mugaki/shion/botan and was when the fatal fury cast got flanderized(with terry's team just being there/mai being hypocritically outfit mocked when there are way more shameless kof fighters with some not ones to talk.). with the three sacred treasures they felt a bit forgotten in favor of hyping ash(that feels like a dumb moment of "why didn't you just tell everyone" rather than fully a noble hero.) and looking back kyo feels there with how he vanishes in the story/the others not having a scene of them confronting ash's actions,could've been upfront with parts of ash's family(honestly forget half the time oorochi was involved with them as it feels more like a reason for vice/mature being playable.) & personally wish it ended with all the teams taking on the villains(like the 14 manga) rather than it only being ash/elizabeth at the end with how it had vanessa/'k's team investigating with heidern and adelheid(hope we see him in 15/especially see his and rose bernstein's reaction to rugal even if briefly alive.).

[@FreeCFAS]

Maximum Impact characters *deserve* to be incorporated into KOFXV's canon. All of them have backstories that could be simply adapted or re-told in the main timeline, to be honest.

[@blaze6477]

Exactly just like any other snk inclusion to the series. I don't know why snk doesn't acknowledge the series it must be for rights reasons I don't know.

[@lienneville969]

I agree! I would like to see a Team Maximum Impact, composed by Alba, Lien and Luise, in KOF XV SNK has re-told the backstories of many classic SNK characters to fit into KOF timeline, the most recent example is with the Garou MOW characters. They could do the same for the MI characters. Just keep Xiao Lon's original backstory, it was perfect!

[@jestaalchaosborne]

@@lienneville969 same, either that or duke, negase, and soiree

[@shyecity916]

​@@blaze6477 It's a possible chance that might happen in XV.

[@jacklindsey8400]

@@blaze6477 Never underestimate a developers ability to hold a grudge... they still s*** on the American team and I'd love for them to come back

[@PLATINUM_Rook]

So Falcoon is like the Tetsuya Nomura of SNK. Character designer that everyone blames everything on and has a lot of misconceptions about him.

[@Evilriku13]

thing is if you check his modern portfolio he ACTUALLY improved on that, and KoFMI2 was his first time for him making a game and he had alot to keep an eye over for that which was hard for him, heck I appluad that despite all this and being just a programming debugger he did create something special, not the most polished or competitive viable but like Thorgi said: "Fun stupid". And I always appreciate KoFMI2 for that, plus the huge amount of fan service plus single player content which I still havent beaten (hard missions and the 200 battles survival mode are so tough and exhausting) in all these years.

[@izigurusumardi8934]

Imagine if Falcoon and Nomura team up for a game.

[@lienneville969]

@@Evilriku13 Yep. Falcoon has improved a lot since then. Personally speaking, I love many of the alternate costume from the MI games. Mai and Lien's alt costumes being my absolute favorites Short hair Mai is best Mai ❤🖤🔥 Should return. Others like Chae Lim, Ninon, Mignon, Ralf, Blue Mary, K', Iori, Jenet, Billy and Xiao Lon have great alt. costumes imo

[@locke103]

@@izigurusumardi8934 i feel like there's a reverse chrono trigger joke in there

[@tenki_]

nah, Nomura is a terrible designer and gane director

[@epsyblue7714]

A white haired, red clad hero who is seen as the badguy, with a blue clad rival who comes from nobility and eventually erases himself from existence. We talking about Ash Crimson or Ragna the Bloodedge? . . . Wait. Did the Crimson saga come out before Blazblue?

[@anthonygerardotorresgonzal6269]

Yes that was in 2003, the first Blazblue game came out in 2008

[@epsyblue7714]

@@anthonygerardotorresgonzal6269 Thanks

[@anthonygerardotorresgonzal6269]

@@epsyblue7714 Your Welcome!

[@theotherky]

I never knew Falcoon had such a round face. That being said I wouldn't mind seeing some of the Maximum Impact characters showing up in canon KOF games, be they playable or just cameos.

[@MuhammadAli-xw4yc]

Maximum impact series had some of the best original characters, the game was a mess technically speaking compared to the frantic mainline kof games, and terribly bad with collision detection and smoothness in comparison to street fighter 2, street fighter alpha series and stf third strike and later street fighter games. Despite all that Maximum impact Regulation A the best maximum impact game only released in japan. Kof nerds like me made for dang sure to cop the import copy years ago. Maximum impact series is hugely underrated and dismissed by the majority of FGC sadly. Me and my homie played the hell outta this game for hours 2 months ago. And we enjoyed it. It is broken and fun as fuck mess. But surprisingly flows together nicely. Long live King of fighters and FGC for centuries to come.

[@orangeslash1667]

@@MuhammadAli-xw4yc I feel like if Maximum Impact 2 didn't exist, SNK would have put all of their energy and time in making King of Fighters 12 a better game. Thus the game would have sold better. Cause by the time KOF 13 came out it was too late.

[@dragonbornexpress5650]

I think the best route if SNK were to bring some of the Maximum Impact characters into the mainline King of Fighters series would merely be either stage cameos or team ending cameos. I don't think putting them in as playable characters would have much of a positive impact beyond a small fraction of the playerbase.

[@dragonbornexpress5650]

@@orangeslash1667. You say that, but let's be honest with ourselves: Maximum Impact 2 was inevitably going to exist after the first raked up 100,000 copies in North America. The rest of SNK's games weren't even getting close to that number, so when Maximum Impact 2's global sales ended up being about 80% less of Maximum Impact 1's North American sales, they obviously entered full blown panic mode because their hot new IP was on the path to disaster. (Probably shouldn't have labeled it's North American version as KOF 2006, then, dumbasses!)

[@orangeslash1667]

@@dragonbornexpress5650 True it's just that 12 felt that it was SNK's one shot to make KOF's look cool for Americans and they blew it due to terrible online and a Small roster compared to say Blazeblue. KOF 12 was very rushed and it needed more time. So I'm asking is it because of the 3d KOF games that SNK couldn't afford to send any money to delay 12, since they send a lot time on the New sprites????

[@allyrose9494]

Personally I really like Ash, though that may be because I’m biased towards smug characters and characters who seem like assholes but are actually pretty good people, though I do agree him being the rival and Elizabeth being the hero probably would’ve worked better. That aside, great video, and I can’t wait to see you talk about the newer KoF games, especially Tag Team Frenzy as that was…. A drug trip

[@MattBlackstone]

Can we all just appreciate the fact that Thorgi has actually tried to run through every single Arcade mode for this game? I just can't let that go, it's been awesome to hear about your playthrough, all the ups and downs alongside the retrospective. This has been an amazing watch, awesome work as always, Thorgi! 🤘🔥

[@RaitoADV]

Fun fact about KOF XII's english dub: It was dubbed in Japan, featuring mostly english-speaking voice actors that lived there, and the cast was so small that a lot of actors had to perform as multiple characters. Also, Robert and Joe are voiced by the Street Fighter Alpha 3 announcer (Greg Irwin), and Duo Lon, Kensou and Chin are voiced by the Tekken 7 announcer (Josh Keller) lol

[@burbanotito227]

Not to be a smart ass but... Alba means morning in spanish and Soirée means evening in french. That and Elizabeth being french... SNK had a lot in mind with this. I loved this game even if it's bad

[@joseurbina3835]

Dang, this Video is like an Extended Cut Movie straight out from "The Lord of the Rings" Trilogy, but it was all definitely Worth it!

[@dragons_hook]

Jivatma totally sounds like mk9 Shang Tsung! Especially in the "Defeat me in your fallen state" line.

[@striderreborn1467]

The "Ash" Saga was possibly the most stylistic and memorable end of an era, as we not only see progression in the plot but a major transition between graphics as it moves completely away from the Neo Geo's hardware after 2003 to updated consoles. KOF 12 may have been a dud, but the merchandise it had was one of the few things It had going for it. (To this day, I still use the KOF 12 black mousepad I got from eBay many years ago). I also loved Shen Woo's look and Kyo's new black leather jacket design which inspired me to get one myself. ^_^

[@theinvertedone1667]

Thank you, Thorgi, for making me a KoF fan! These retrospectives have made me appreciate the franchise immensely.

[@CharlemagneSupernova]

With all these unrelated assassins and hitmen introduced in this saga I could SNK forming a team of them and have their story be that they're hired by the remnants of NEST to take out K' and Krohnen

[@captainmega6310]

Could be interesting as the next saga with krohnen as the protagonist

[@Wiziliz]

@@captainmega6310 Would personally have to hope that doesn't happen, Krohnen's that character's worst design

[@roryalexanderm]

YEASS been waiting on this! your KOF retrospective and the KOF book bitmap recently released i have been on a huge KOF kick

[@squishyblock406]

Same here. To be honest, I don’t really like kof but I love watching these videos.

[@michielkroder4031]

SAME!

[@Joettison]

yo thanks for mentioning that bitmap book, that thing looks sweet!

[@jirohidarii2664]

This has been a fun series to watch. The Ash Saga has some odd story decisions and I agree that if Betty was the Hero instead of the Rival it would have made for a much better experience. Thank you again for doing this look back into King of Fighters. KoF had been part of my fighting game experience starting with PS1 KoF 99, then Capcom vs SNK 2, and came back to it when a friend convinced me to get KoF XIV and I checked out KoF All-Star which is an oddly fun Side Scrolling Beat-em Up. I'm looking forward to seeing the final part that will bring us to the Present day KoF with XIV, XV (which is amazing), and All-Star and the other spin offs.

[@carlosrueda9204]

Thorgi needs a guest spot on triple KO. Dude, the quality and beefiness of this video.... do you have a patreon?

[@endojajaja]

You called it dude! Lol

[@carlosrueda9204]

@endojajaja hell ya! I was so happy to hear him. I hope hes on future episodes

[@RevengerPhoenix]

47:28 In fact, the first character I unlocked when I bought the game was Mai. Because I’m a Mai main, and because I love watching her two huge…fans. Mostly because of the fans, but I use Mai. So yeah….take that, Thorgi.

[@bruhford3954]

Me:**laughs in maining Tizoc, king and benimaru**

[@RevengerPhoenix]

I fail to see how your comment has any relevance to anything I said. Seems like you just tossed your main team for the sake of it, when the point of my entire comment was unlocking Mai.

[@bruhford3954]

@@RevengerPhoenix well true but I would just unlock mai and other characters just so I can experiment with them after I try all the playable from the start characters in the game, although king, Tizoc and beni are my main, I am sorry to say shit without the context

[@thewes77]

The fact that there are most probably THOUSANDS OF HOURS worth of work into EVERY SINGLE VIDEO, not even just the retrospectives, but the build the rosters and general videos too. The fact that this channel only just passed 40k is criminal.

[@mickeymickey9914]

There's not that many hours in the year. Maybe 1 thousand hours top. Great channel though.

[@thewes77]

@Mickey Mickey 10 hours a day for 200 days is 2000 hours. Even then, it was obviously hyperbole to emphasize how passionately he works on these. We probably would only have 1 video a year if that was the case, but you do you and take stuff at face value.

[@TRDQ]

Easily the best retrospective channel when it comes to fighting games. The KoF series has got me through Christmas. You deserve a much bigger audience!

[@LordryuRevived]

NGL, I didn't expect the Maximum Impact games to be tackled simultaneously with the Ash Saga itself (I would've imagined a whole episode revolving around the spinoff/non-canon stuff was in arrangement), but I suppose it makes sense because it's kind of knotted up with its mainline games of around the time in the crazy era that was SNK Playmore.

[@lonekirin905]

I like every single KOF protagonist. Including the one that's coming after this.

[@DouglasStewart99]

The one after Ash basically became my 2nd favorite KOF protagonist TBH.

[@DouglasStewart99]

@@pantyosashu8137 I enjoy stuff like *Jojo* friend. Shun'Ei *REALLY* doesn't look that wild IMO. I feel like I've seen Araki do worse...

[@lonekirin905]

@@pantyosashu8137 Yes. Honestly, I like his design except for the pants, having one leg rolled up bothers me. Also I'm a big fan of Jojo. Gameplay wise, he took a neat spin to the all-rounder archtype. For example his dp isn't jumping and spinning instead it's a fire fist upwards while on the ground.

[@lienneville969]

I am probably the only one who likes Alba Meira. He is underrated. I prefer him than Kyo, Ash and Shun

[@xavierdennis2161]

Finally someone not shaitting on SHun EI

[@chavesa5]

Holding that Army of Darkness clip until over 2 hours in took some real restraint. Major respect.

[@joelimitsuandyoshi]

Especially since Army of Darkness is such a quotable movie

[@DevNode27]

oh no, I'M one of the fans that holds onto Ash Crimson dearly and cherishes him as my special evil cinnamon roll

[@misunderstoodmadman6230]

The pachinko part was physically painful....

[@dragonbornexpress5650]

I think I actually winced when he started talking about pachinko. I'm not entirely sure how that would have been possible, but maybe it's because of the documentary style presentation of this series that the whole thing with Aruze was still fresh in my mind.

[@Jim_the_Tomato]

You put sooooooo much work into these! As someone who had no experience with KoF before XIII, these have been a great history lesson. Ty for making them!

[@djoshawott2850]

The ending has to be the biggest case of becoming the thing you swore to destroy.

[@fbmb1337]

This is 100% gonna be lost in the sea of comments but I just gotta say: Yes, Tame a Bad Boy is an absolute bop and my favorite song from XIII too. 10/10 video already, but that just gets a completely reasonabke and unbiased 11/10 from me.

[@maskedsonja5722]

Thank you for your absolute passion of this monsterous SNK retrospective-absolutely incredible!

[@gfkgrgrkm]

2:30:17 didn't know you could cheese him with Maxima, only found one way to cheese him. I use Vice and just spam her Splash grab move😁 great video, love all the lore and knowledge in this video👍👍

[@pinkstinger]

Your retrospectives are so well researched and executed, you're truly an inspiration, mister! And it makes me so happy to see somebody talk about the Maximum Impact saga (my favorite KoF's) in more of a neutral and technical way, and recognizing the good, the bad and the ugly of it. Hope part 4 is as good as this one, and interested on your take on KoF Kyo, the EX series, and Neowave

[@Evilriku13]

and the time SNK was making a SNK vs Capcom game that didnt felt great and didnt look more appealing then KoF2003, XI or even the Maximum Impact series.

[@darylcastillo1439]

2:30:12 Other characters that has an unblockable grab - Yuri and Mr. Karate. I've perfected Saiki with those two.

[@pimsbury5155]

"To Tame A Badboy" is flat out one of the best themes ever made good sir.

[@dnmstarsi]

It's so good, it got to be in Smash over others.

[@pimsbury5155]

@@dnmstarsi this is fact!

[@addambelmont3050]

It's amazing how an obscure game series, like king of fighters, would still obtain so many entries.

[@KramerBebop]

Awesome retrospective! Regarding KOF XII, one of the things I have read is that the game was also forced to come out early by the executives to try to compete with Street Fighter IV , which has a similar release window. They were at the time apparently , still obsessed with a Capcom rivalry.

[@Sintoolkicks]

Man, when I heard that Mignon voice clip... that dug up some repressed memories.

[@LupineShadowOmega]

To be fair to the Ash of the story, if Those From the Past are responsible for his family's home being burned down and he and Elisabeth are the only ones left. His plan while not exactly "good" does make way more sense. He's desperate. He and his sister are the only survivors, she's worried about him as she should be, but she also can't be sure of his allegiance because their home was burned, and he's green fire boy. Now, while the two of them are not exactly on the same page they have exactly one shot at winning this whole thing and that is him with the double cross and sowing dissent in their ranks. Basically, he knew that there was no way he could be trusted and so leaned into that to get them the win.

[@chaosapple1962]

I was waiting for this video to drop, I wasn't expecting it today though. Such a nice surprise, thanks Thorgi.

[@avatarhzh5035]

SNK might as well call itself "Clusterfuck" at this point.

[@topbananafrosty8739]

I'm a little surprised Neo wave didn't get a mention when you talked the Atomiswave arcade board, didn't really expect you to go into detail but surprised it didn't get "They then pumped out a spinoff to make sure the Board would work"

[@delefaleyimu5573]

Yeah, I was curious about that one. Does anyone have any history on it? Its a weird entry in the series.

[@MIrfanPerdana]

1:24:42 This is my favorite joke in this entire video 😂 Heck, maybe in this entire Retrospective series!

[@axeoseilez3207]

That Marvin the martian reference had me rolling

[@OCsigma]

37:35 I loved the Marvin the Martian reference 😂

[@Ian-es3ec]

I love this dude's vids no cap, I even have kof 15 and I'm ngl I am loving kof 15 so much rn

[@klammyvagikarp7578]

Just to clear something up, Kyo didn't drop out because he was saving the world. Kyo dropped out because he was too lazy to ever do anything at school.

[@dragonbornexpress5650]

I doubt the whole situation with NESTS and Those From The Past helped, though.

[@cemberkay3046]

Dude, you are achieving human perfection with these videos.

[@blaze6477]

My favourite saga of kof games. I love kof 96, 97, 99 and '00 but Ash saga is my favourite. I really liked your retrospective videos on the Orochi and Nests sagas so this video is looking great!

[@lienneville969]

I miss the tag system tbh. At least SNK Heroines brought back the Tag System and it was actually good. The Items in that game were like the Strykers.

[@Skluffy101]

I love this series so much. Never played the games but your attention to detail and storytelling has me hooked. Can’t wait for the next episode!

[@KevinSkye1]

I remembered when SNK dropped that 2000/2001 double pack, I remember vividly running through the mall to go get my pre-order. Around that type I was hyped and looking at the sprites on fightersgeneration and fell in love with the 2k1 cast, Angel specifically. Good times

[@JaimeAGB-pt4xl]

I really love this KOF retrospective series as it goes into a lot of detail, not only for the games itself, but also on the company (SNK) level, as well as the lore (kof series still has one of the best lores among fighting games). I COMPLETELY AGREE on making Elizabeth the Hero and Ash the Rival to make the story WAY Better. Thank you for your effort and great content, I'm eagerly waiting the last part of the series and how to tackle the company side of things. PS: Funny how at 01:55:50 you mentioned how the "Guilty Gear series will be fun to do" based on the later games difficulty versus past titles in the series. However, you also mentioned that doing simple stuff like in 02:10:00 does a lot of damage on its own, and you wen through the multiple options in KOF XIII from 02:11:30 to 02:14:00, stating how THERE ARE OPTIONS AND DEPTH for people that put in the time and want to learn, while beginners can still do stuff that feels good and works ... Guess what, compared to past titles in the series, GG Strive REMOVED OPTIONS AND DEPTH to both, the game mechanics (turning it from an air dasher to a grounded footsie game, wiith less defensive options, and making Roman Cancels more versatile at the cost of removing meter to use said options too), and the character capabilities (removing moves due to the nature of mechanics). GG Strive is a great game on its own and in the current landscape, 9/10 I would say, but compared to past GG titles, the game is 5/10... removing options NEVER benefits a game, specially fighting games for a sense of "accessibility".

[@itsDewott]

Super happy with your KOF XI coverage. It's not my favorite game in the series but I think it's the coolest individual game for pretty much all of the reasons you said. And I also agree, I think Magaki might be the single worst boss I've ever faced in a video game. Great video.

[@MaveriKat]

As always... thank you for your hard work and the time spent researching to bring us these retrospective videos.

[@Mateus_Carvalho]

I still remember getting Maximum Impact Regulation A. It was at a news stand in the western section of Rio de Janeiro, I was on my break between English classes, had saved up enough money to get a pirate copy of FIFA 11 (I believe) but the guy had a 2 for 1 deal where you'd have to pick a second game as well. The guy who burned the discs said he had found this Japanese version of KoF and that it was kinda fun, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Don't think I was ever good at it but it made for some fun afternoons back home when playing with neighbors and dad.

[@kingdomcomesuperman3669]

Can't wait for the Tales of Ash Saga, was the Saga that I got into KoF at the time with KoF XIII still being one of my favourites along with XI for its tag and suprising odd but good roster. There's also '03 which imo had the strongest story start for any KoF Saga with the return of Chizuru and team Sacred Treasures, seeing her true potential along with Maki, the mystery of Ash, Adelheid, Takuma's mystery assaultant and more.

[@lienneville969]

I dislike the Ash but the 2003 was a good start point for the story, with many references to the Orochi Saga (because of fanservice) but I liked how Ikari Team were the champions and K' Team was doing stuff. Unfortunately as the saga progresses the writing gets worse, like forgetting the Hizoku plot (again) and the whole Takuma fiasco.

[@kingdomcomesuperman3669]

@@lienneville969 Yeah that's why I only emphasised the story in '03 since a lot of the intrigue from that games plot was gone in XI with Takuma, K's team never being plot relevant again, Hizoku again like Dragon Spirit being dropped, Adelheid taking a backseat etc.

[@kingdomcomesuperman3669]

@@lienneville969 At least in terms of gameplay & rosters SNK killed it with this saga.

[@lienneville969]

@@kingdomcomesuperman3669 Yeah. The Ash Saga has many plot holes like for example, after stealing Iori's sacred treasure Ash told Kyo that he was going for his sacred treasure...but in KOF 13, Ash no longer wants to steal Kyo's flames for some reason... That's why, in terms of story the Ash saga is my least favorite. Also, I didn't like the excesive fanservice of the Orochi Saga.

[@lienneville969]

@@kingdomcomesuperman3669 I agree with you about the gameplay (love the tag system) and the rosters (except the one in KOF 13, I hate that roster) Unfortunately, KOF went back to the classic 3vs3 in KOF 13 :( At least, SNK Heroines bought back the tag system and is actually fun!

[@marplatense31]

You know what I just realized? Orochi needs the fighters's energy to be resurrected..... OROCHI IS MAJIN BUU!!!! Wow...

[@Evilriku13]

tbf that "story trope" isn't that new if you think about japanese mythology.

[@Tirgo69]

Somewhat worth noting that most of the characters added to the home version of KOF XI like Tung Fue Rue and Robert Garcia were there because they had already had new sprites created for Neo Geo Battle Coliseum

[@lienneville969]

*"This Thorgi's the King of Fighters Retrospective is sponsored by Mephistopheles"* Of the alternate costumes, I really like Mai's alternate costume. It is my favorite costume for Mai! And I would love to see short hair Mai as DLC in KOF XV or as a Mod Lien, Chae Lim, Ralf, K' (did you know that his alt. costume is a reference to Bruce Lee?), Leona, Ninon, Mignon, Ryo, Terry, Blue Mary (yes, I do like that costume for her) and Lilly have awesome alt. costumes Also I don't see the problem with Clark having dark skin, in KOF 14 Angel's DLC Diabla costume, she has dark skin and people love that costume for her.

[@ewanlang5996]

'"this is bluemary in college and she appeared in MTV's Springbreak Special" makes me miss the early 2000s

[@SunaStarr]

Holly shit pt 3. I come back every once and awhile to check. Since I started watching these when I just got into kof

[@Gotchalegend01]

Fun fact: the announcer for KOF maximum impact 2 and regulation voices the belt kamen rider decade uses and various other toku productions

[@orlanzo2621]

Absolutely LOVE these KOF retrospectives man. You have absolutely knocked it out of the park with every single one man. This is top notch stuff here. I could listen to you talk about KOF all day, it’s my favorite fighting game series of all time, I love seeing someone do it justice with retrospectives like these. Keep up the great work!

[@astridparungao4971]

In hindisght, the Tales of Ash and Playmore era might be the fittingly dark age for SNK as a whole. Though I still love the Tales of Ash saga regardless, I still hope for a proper dream match game on that one and one last shot to use those majestic special sprites and visuals during that time.

[@TheFGraysons]

Amazing content. Quite possibly the best and most comprehensive retrospective video series.

[@brettdallman3885]

Anytime a new hire comes up to me at work now I’m gonna snap my head in their direction and say “I can’t contain my blood rage…” in the most serious voice I can muster

[@ignaciojohnjoy]

NGL, hopefully Thorgi covers KOF: All Stars. Because it is an addicting mobile game for KOF fans and its a game that knows how to abuse its player base

[@peruinnsouvannavong7119]

The fourth part is going to be focusing on thr spin offs which means he'll likely talk about it

[@mikashi1593]

Wait, shouldn't he talks about Shunei story? I mean, XV is still very new but I just wonder 🤔

[@redpyrp]

Fun fact: Benimaru has more KOF championships than any other character, therefore he's the rightful holder of the "King of Fighters" title.

[@orlanzo2621]

Nah, he's the "Robert Horry" of KOF, lol.

[@thebloodedge284]

I always loved the maximum impact series with it's fun gameplay and cool characters. Don't know why people hate them they seem pretty cool and can work in the main kof lore pretty easily.

[@lienneville969]

I agree with you! I would like to see a Team Maximum Impact in KOF XV Composed by Alba, Lien and Luise. The MI characters deserve a second chance

[@jamessicard1705]

@@lienneville969 i think Soiree would fit in better than Niel

[@lienneville969]

@@jamessicard1705 Lien is the female antiheroine of the MI series and the poster/fanservice gal. So makes sense to put Lien to represent the MI series. Alba is the main protagonist and Luise is the face of MI2. So a team composed by them would make sense. If the Team GAROU MOW could work so well in KOF XV Why not the same for a Team Maximum Impact?

[@jamessicard1705]

@@lienneville969 Its just that it feels weird only having one of the twins

[@MarioUcomics]

I remember Maximum Impact also had a mini comic book series in the states

[@lienneville969]

Yes. You are talking about the official manhua (chinese comic) which was officially translate to eng.

[@lostmediadetective2590]

The king of fighters ‘98 intro song is very catchy

[@Eggroll3s]

I've sat here for SO long checking everyday since part 2. I fell in love with this series and the way you tell the story of these games. One of my favorites series on KZbin!

[@alexsanderivan6511]

KOF XIII has some of the best sprite work I've seen in my entire life

[@imwhatthekidscallcringy3858]

You cannot tell me that that was the real intro to the KOF Maximum Impact game. That might be the funniest thing ive ever seen from a fighting game.

[@tnuhenaj3752]

this is probably the best kof/snk retrospective out there. I've seen a bunch of series going over the history of the franchise because there are few enough that you can keep up with them all even if you're seeing the same stuff being covered over and over. But even if i didn't i would be glad to have watched this since none of the others really went in depth into the history of the company and the challenges they faced which was honestly completely fascinating and inspirational at parts. its good that you're going to cover the side games in the next part since the actual saga is by far the shortest so you need that extra to pad out the runtime and im definitely curious to hear more about those. I can't remember if you addressed this in the orochi saga part but maki is just a superior version of chizuru in gameplay. Her clones all act as projectiles and can't be hurt whereas chizuru's can, tying in with the lore that maki was the superior shrine maiden. Similarly adelheid is an inferior rugal. Rugal's special moves are adelheid's super moves. Dark ash can be cheese by daimon's ground pound too just spam that. As well as vice's splash. That boss might not be the hardest kof boss but it is one of the most annoying. Also his dark aura damages you just by being in contact with it.

[@SeelkadoomandJokic00]

Awe man. I hope the KoF EX games will get mentioned. Loved those games.

[@hungrymask1995]

"You will always hate the characters you don't use" I hated Ahs as a character and in Gameplay, I gave him a chance in KOF XV and now he is my favorite character, I like everything about him. Also I miss Ash's old pose he looks more aggressive

[@kinoleogeo7998]

This company is the video game equivalent of WCW. So many swerves, deaths, rebirth, more death, more rebirth. This video series has been so compelling, with an in-depth history lesson and a specific time capsule that I totally overlooked being a fan of Capcom Vs SNK 2. Edit after finishing each part of the series…(As implied by Thorgi’s script) Every Story Arc is a Reflection of SNK. The Oorochi Saga: A Lineage of Fighting overcomes A World Warrior Threat The NESTS Saga: A Battle of Identity from a collective that wants to mass produce copies out of the success of the original. “Those From The Past” Saga: The Hero was the Villain all along and rather than taking time to put the attention on what made things good, decided to wipe it all from the world’s memory but, the scars remain.

[@fanofsimonpegg]

I'm slightly curious how you'll be handling Part 4 considering there's only 14, 15, and the latter's DLC lineup in terms of the main series. Maybe spend a segment on the more fruitful mobile adventures like All-Star? Mostly just curious how you'll segue into the current state of SNK, where majority ownership of the company is owned by an entire *country* far outside of Japan to cover up its misdoings. *God* that is still crazy.

[@franciscoarzapalozapata4610]

He is gonna talk about the new owner or invester of SNK

[@mickeymickey9914]

The saudi prince is just a fanboy

[@jdog2525]

I really love these youre doing an excellent job

[@dnightwalker]

Ok, Im gonna take points off for not using the Principal Skinner bouncing basketball reference for KOF 12 arcade mode.

[@absoul112]

I want a timeline where KOF13 is actually KOF12 and that timeline's 13 was the proper dream match.

[@lienneville969]

Maybe in that timeline, the MI series wasn't cancelled and we could have Regulation A 2 and MI3 I would have loved to see all the characters who were present in KOF 2003, XI, and XIII, in XIII sprite works although that would cost them a LOT of money.

[@TMNTfever]

Once again another awesome episode! As a fan who owned every KoF game, it's great to go down memory lane. A lot of them blend together in my mind, so it's great to see them broken up and explained in detail. Even though I live in North America, I was always the weird one in my group who kept bringing KoF to play sessions. I hope we get to see some of the Maximum Impact -only characters in new games, or Shion (my favorite sub-boss). Oh, and for the record, I am a big fan of Ash. I was so happy to see him in XIII and also XV!

[@TechnicSky]

56:11 The perfect way to end the fight.

[@Ticketman99]

1:26:37 - 1:26:42 I really don't mean to be "that guy", but Ryo as Mr. Karate makes perfect sense. In fact, this Mr. Karate's another version is Ryo from Fatal Fury Wild Ambition, at the age he would be in Fatal Fury 1(he's 14 years older than Terry).

[@jonssogaming8255]

I find it really funny that the MI devs had no idea how to make Iori’s hair look good. It seems like they just gave up trying after MI2 haha.

[@Evilriku13]

I actually like KoFMI's Iori hairstyle, because I think if his hairstyle went into a mid 2000s 3D model it would look like the way it does in that game by that engine. Sure modern KOF15 Iori did it "better" but I'm not trying to compare it to a higher budget 2.5D fighting game that was made around 16 years later.

[@jonssogaming8255]

@@Evilriku13 to be fair, Iori’s hairstyle is already pretty ridiculous as it is so it’s kind of difficult to make it look amazing.

[@prrithwirajbarman8389]

@@jonssogaming8255 i kinda like it because this is exactly how his hair was drawn in "kof another day" anime and "KOF13" game. He looks cool in that design. And iori had the best English voice actor.

[@9Maciej]

How the hell storylines in KOF somehow became unitentional allegories of stuff that happened in SNK?

[@gatinhadepresiva]

Man, your videos are so good I feel like i'm talking with a friend who really wants to geek out about stuff

[@javsheredia6234]

"Remember Ron??" must be my favorite RON-ning gag in this series.

[@DolFunDolhpinVtuber]

Thank you for making this incredible series about one of my favorite series. I really like you idea of having Elizabeth as the hero team and Ash as the rival.