The King of Fighters: XIII or XIV, which is better? Let's compare them!

The King of Fighters is a series of fighting games by SNK that began with The King of Fighters '94 in 1994, as a sorts of crossover for two SNK series of games named Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting. Since them, the series has evolved and now, with the 14th installment, we have 3D graphics for the first time in a KoF game. But, was it beneficial or detrimental?

Let's analyze the last two installments and do a comparison of some important aspects/topics that I find relevant.

With KoF XIV, although we have 3D graphics, it still plays like a 2D fighting game. Only in certain key moments we can actually see the (real) 3D in effect, like in close ups when doing super moves (kinda like Street Fighter IV and V).
This is a new tendency, going from classic 2D for a 3D look, but maintaining the core feeling of the game.
But in the case of KoF, has the general playability been kept intact or even the sensations and feelings that the game is known for?

Well, in my opinion, YES and NO. I'll explain...
On the surface it's a successful conversion. The characters move well, all the classic moves are there, but as soon as you start to play it at a deeper level, you start to notice certain things. For example, if you try to do a special move, and while the character is performing it, you are already preparing a special charge move to do as soon as the first one ends, too many times it will fail because you have to wait a brief moment from one special to another. On KoF XIII, the second special will be performed, no problem, immediately.
KoF is known for it's fast action paced gaming and KoF XIII is better in this particular aspect.

Now, what about graphics... Has the same powerful feeling been kept? I mean, when you look at a character, you can feel a certain charisma, a certain power emanating from him and that that guy is not one to mess with. Certain moves look really powerful and explosive. In my opinion, KoF XIV characters are a little less effective in giving this feeling. They don't feel as charismatic, and because of that the character looses a bit of power (in my eyes, at least).

The character models are too smooth. They look like young kids brawling instead of super powerful young adult warriors battling. Don't get me wrong! I love this game, but there's just something lacking in this aspect (and others also).

The lore from KoF is extensive and each game contributes to expand on that lore. But in KoF XIV, you don't feel that there's a real story. There's just this tournament and suddenly after you defeat the champion, there's this boss that suddenly falls from the sky and now you have a monster to defeat. Yet, throughout the entire game, there are some very nice 3D animated cut scenes and that gives a nice sense of continuity from fight to fight.

Going back to KoF XIII, the story mode is amazing. There's actually a real story and a plot that has a twist towards the end. Along the story, you can actually choose different paths. This adds more playability to the story mode, since you will want to play it again to explore different paths. The cut scenes are pretty basic. Many times, they're just an image, scrolling, with some background music and a long text. Other times, there are actually moving characters, but always a lot of text. Kind of reminds me the classic Japanese graphic novels. The thing is, in a fast paced action game, this totally slows down the pace from fight to fight. It's enough to tell a nice story but it's a little boring.

What about the bosses? In KoF XIV the actual final boss puts up a slight challenge, which is enough, but at least it's not cheap like the two bosses from KoF XIII, in which the last boss is actually easier than the previous one. But having said that, after I found the strategy to beat them (by being cheap also), I found they were more of a challenge and I kind of liked that.

Overall, they are both excellent fighting games and I still play them. They both succeed in keeping the successful heritage from the KoF series of games that we all know and love. I know times change, but for me the KoF series is about the incredible 2D animations and over the top powerful characters. Just like with Street Fighter, I cringe a little when these games go 3D when they play like 2D. Fighting 2D games have a certain essence that is extremely hard to replicate in 3D. Call me an old fashioned retro fanboy or whatever, but these classic fighting games series should be kept 2D.

Anyway, the overall experience with both games is very good and if you buy any of them you'll be satisfied with the overall experience. I played them both in story mode yesterday. I streamed KoF XIV to Twitch and KoF XIII to both Twitch and YouTube.

Here are the Twitch streams in case you want to check them out.

King of Fighters XIII -

King of Fighters XIV -

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