Artbook - K.O.F - King of Fighters Fighting Evolution 10th

KOF epitomized SNK. Characters from previous SNK games who had personalities and storylines were expanded upon, redesigned and banded together with more new characters to form teams. Each successive game gave players more of what they wanted and constant gameplay balancing issues aside, the fans still wanted more.

At the time of KOF95, I remember SNK had listed how many Valentine s Day chocolates were mailed to their characters as a measure of popularity. I even remember my first discovery of webpages filled with "yaoi" Kyo & Iori fanfiction on the internet, I remember wondering what kind of psychos were out there playing these games. No fighting game previous to KOF had ever given birth to such rabid fandom. If a fan had a wish for their favorite character from another SNK fighting game to appear in KOF, it was granted and then some.

The only English forum for talking about this game was the King of Fighters Mailing list (at the time run manually by Mike Ho). We had a thread around 1996 discussing what we wanted in the next KOF installments, since SNK was holding a poll about who to include in the next game. On a whim I decided to post what I wanted.

"I want another female character who can use grappling techniques."

If anyone knows me, they know how much I love grappling characters but can t stand their stereotypes. These stereotypes would include: big, brute, stupid, and tomboyish if female. One could only imagine my shock when my wish was granted. Shermie was a grappling female character with a name just barely similar to mine and she wore my favorite color, pink. She then broke through most of the grappling characters stereotypes and even some fighting game character stereotypes. She had no specific martial arts fighting style to be pigeon-holed into, and she was confidently feminine enough to have uncanny sex appeal for a 2-dimensional character.

Times changed when the 90s ended. KOF slowly went off its own beaten path and I became a stranger to the series. The lively backgrounds filled with spectators who made you feel like you were in Jean Claude Van Damme s Bloodsport were dumped in favor of less busy backgrounds which were lush, yet devoid of anything making you want to fight. As though the games were a capsule of the 90s, change came in slower than usual increments after KOF96. Fashion statements like ripped jeans and converse, big hair, storylines and character ages all lay frozen in time.

Although new stories were written, old characters stayed mostly in stasis in favor of new, trendier characters and increasingly simplified gameplay. The feeling of choosing teams with characters who matched each other in the same way a boyband would match outfits at a concert was gone. I don t even know why the team concept is still there, other than for the ending stories. The cast of characters looked nothing more than a yearly game of character roulette.

So here I am, ten years later and only slightly more aware of how I define myself and what I like in games. Opening this book was just another nostalgia trip, but for me it was a much needed one. My only access to most of the art shown here had been through various game merchandise, the games themselves or numerous mooks and Gamest magazines covered in dust. Although most of the KOF artists are easily discernable through their art, some of the lines between the artists have become blurred to me with time.

A lot of the art was inspiring for its time. Fighting game art has always been a huge thing but not much of that art was as forward and striking as KOF s. A lot of fighting game art focuses on repetitive outfits or the poses to define a character but because of the differing personalities and features each KOF character had, the artists went over the top. They had characters sporting real street and runway fashions, or portraits with expressions other than a plain old smile. Furthermore, much of the art had actual movement going on, which made it seem the quality of editorial photographs that were drawing you in, making you want to know more. Characters were constantly drawn in situations that made you question their relationship to others, or wonder about how far the detail to their costumes really went.

The special artwork spans from 1994 to 2003 while including Neowave, Maximum Impact, R series and artwork not in the games. Strangely enough, there are no rough sketches or other unfinished works in this book, although there is an explanation of the evolving character designs. I suppose this is so because there are far too many artworks and characters to feature in just one book. All the characters in their successive game artworks are in its own chapter and the book also has their profiles stored. The special and mook illustrations also span into various Garou Densetsu and Art of Fighting works, along with joint artworks for promotions.

I have to point out that the character profiles have the ages removed. This is something that the game developers themselves figured shouldn t matter anymore, since the characters aging with each successive game would make them far too old! The profiles also include the games when a character was introduced and/or appearing in the series. For completion, the book also has profiles of lesser characters, such as why-are-you-here Yuki. Only one character gets special treatment showing the changes lined up on one page. As anyone would have already guessed, it s Athena. She s the only character who had a drastic enough design change with each successive game, except for KOF:MI.

The artists most featured in this book are Shinkiro, Hiroaki, Eiji Shiroi, Falcoon and Tonko. Full interviews with the profiles of Hiroaki, Eiji Shiroi and Falcoon can also be found at the end of the book but Shinkiro s interview is absent. For an artbook that is mostly made up of his work, anyone would find this to be highly unusual. I could only guess at the reasons for this. SNK had gone bankrupt around KOF2000 and most of the talent working on the games moved to other companies. Shinkiro went to Capcom, which was previously in direct competition with SNK s games. Trying to cash in on the thriving KOF fandom, companies Eolith and later Playmore revived the KOF series with new talent. Suffice to say, the magic is gone but the series lived on.

As much as Shinkiro s art defines SNK, his character art often looks too similar to each other and this book punctuated on that. Nevertheless, he is amazing with details and I still love some of his artworks. One of my favorite works of his is the KOF95 Kyo cover art, where a heavily detailed, gloved hand covered his face and his shining hair was perfection. The other was a Garou Densetsu: Real Bout boss artwork, where Geese was seated in a chair like the don of a mafia.

I hate to pick favorites but I have to say I like Hiroaki s work best. He came into the spotlight with KOF99 and gave the series a much needed freshening up. Hiroaki knows how to make male characters look raw and rough, like actual fighters and not like the long legged pretty boys by Nona. The clean lines give a lot of definition while the hair on his characters have realistic looking texture.

As with the Street Fighter Eternal Challenge artbook, this was also published by Futobasha and much in the same manner. The 10th Anniversary of KOF meant an announcement for a remake game, KOF94: Re-Bout for Xbox. Although high expectations were made for the retouched graphics, the game and graphics themselves don t seem up to par with its original. The game will be released fall 2005 and the only reason it would be recommended is for the online play.

Book Data
Title: The King Of Fighters Fighting Evolution 10th
Publisher: SNK Playmore/Futobasha
ISBN: 4575164313
Language: Japanese
Pages: 256
Price: ¥2940