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The first KOF XI beta test took place today and here are some reports from it:

I- The Characters:

New comers:

• Elizabeth and Oswald are new faces in the game.

The Teams:

• Ash - Oswald - Shen Woo

• K' - Kula - Maxima

• Terry - Kim - Duck

• B. Jenet - Gato - Griffon

• Kyo - Iori - Shingo

• Vanessa - Mary - Ramon

• Ralf - Clark - Whip

• Ryo - Yuri - King

• Malin - Kasumi - Eiji

• Elisabeth - Duolong - Benimaru

• Athena - Kensou - Momoko

Unplayable characters:

Some characters are available in the game but are grayed out in the selection screen, i.e., unselect able. Following are such characters:

• Whip

• Duck King

• Ramon

• Eiji

• Duolon

• Benimaru

• Kensou

• Maximum

• Iori

• Momoko

Bosses:

• Adel is the mid boss.

• The final boss's name is unknown at the moment. She has a pigtail and she does tricks like axl from GGX. Her animations and sprites are very well done

II- The Game:

• The game system is like that of KOF 2003

• There are a few alternative character colors. Kyo is seen with pink hair :)

• The game engine is like that of NBC and unlike that of KOF 98, 2000 or 2002.

• The life bars and loading screens are nicely done.

• There are over 40 game characters

• Sprites are similar to that of NBC

• There is a seperate button for C+D attack

• New cancel systems

• Ryo's style has changed

• K' is slower than KOF 03 and faster than NBC

• A few characters have changes in animation

• The battle time is 100 seconds. Time runs a little faster than the normal time.

• Some really good transperencies are seen in the game, much better than Neowave

• Animations are smoother, sprites are cleaner

• Loading time before a match is 8 to 10 seconds

• The Leader system is present

• Athena is wearing a Sailor's uniform

• Elizabeth is holding something like a horsewhip

• B. Jenet is similar to that in MOTW

• Sho Hayate (Kizuna Encounter) is not seen in the game

• There is a new judgment system for time-outs. The usual timer on the top of the screen keeps tilting towards (what the game judges as) the player that's fighting more skillfully during the match. If the match ends with a time over, the person that the timer is tilted towards will win. It's not decision by remaining life any more.
• Skill Meter System. its on top of the usual power meter, there's an additional new bar called the "skill meter". It's used to pull off a number of systems. The skill meter builds up on its own as time passes by. you can stock up to 2 skill meters. The match starts out with the skill meter full.
• Choi is absent again!
• Oswald is an old man wearing shades, a suit, red shirt and a yellow tie
• Athena can do teleports in air
• Kula has a new ice ball, can be made in air too
• K' has a new kick
• Kim has a new throw
• When a throw move is broken, a new animation occurs
• The victory screen shows the winner in the foreground and his other two team mates in the backgorund
• The illustrations (counter, gaurd crash etc) appear like KOF 94 - Rebout
• Oswald is nicely animated. He fights by using playing cards as most of his moves are with cards. He appears to be a very strong characters. Lots of people are using him at beta tests. His super sees him dash forward and push the opponent to the far wall like a move of Rugal. Then, he steps back, three cards appear in each hand, the screen goes dark and he does a hail of slashes with the cards. Once finished he does a nice little finishing taunt animation.

III- Stages:

New stages are better than any previous KOF including Neowave and NBC

• Aqueduct: takes place on tiled roof tops in a European town. A large aqueduct can be seen in the background. Not much animation, but looked good.

• Beach: Some kind of military site on the coast. On the left side you can see some soldiers and jeeps, while over to the right is the beach. Looked nice.

• Temple: Similar to the temple stage from NGBC. The fight takes place on tatami with elaborately decorated panels in the background. A bunch of animated characters wipe the temple floor over on the right hand side.

• Alley: a good old fashioned back street alley with some shops. Not really different from KOF99. Not much going on.

• Ruins: Some kind of ancient temple ruin.

• Ice Festival: A 3D Ice castle. Action takes place on ice surrounded by ice sculptures with an alpine mountain range in the background.

IV- Controls and Moves:

• A - Weak Punch

• C - Strong Punch

• B - Weak Kick

• D - Strong Kick

• E - Thrust (C+D) attack

• Start - Taunt

• Evasion - A+B

• A+C / B+D - Partner Change

• A+C / B+D during an attack does Quick Shift (Changes to partner, requires 1 Skill stock)
• A+C / B+D while getting attacked - Saving Shift (Changes to partner, requires 2 Skill stocks)
• Guard Cancel Evacuation - A+B during guard (requires 1 skill stock)
• Guard Cancel Thrust - E during guard (requires 1 Power stock)
• Leader Super - Requires 2 Power Stock
• Super Cancel (cancel special attack into super attack) - Requires 1 Skill + 1 Power Stock
• Dream Cancel (cancel from super attack into leader attack) - Requires 1 Skill + 2 Power Stock

V- Move list

VI- Misc Images

sources: KOF Cyberfanatics, Neo-Arcadia

SNKP has published the new release dates for the forthcoming PS2 titles:

The King of Fighters Neowave
Old release date: 23/06/05

New date: July

NeoGeo Online Collection - Last Blade 1 & 2
Old release date 30/06/05

New date: July

NeoGeo Online Collection - Garou: Mark of the Wolves
Old release date 30/06/05

New date: June

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The Official Samurai Spirits website has been updated with some character profiles and stuff in the downloads section. Click on the thumbnails to see the profiles.

The downloads section is updated with posters and wall papers. Click here to enter.

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