The King of Fighters XIII – New Trailer, Evo-build Impressions & Content Bonanza

This is the European trailer which shows some new content for the game. There are at least 9 new stages not found on the arcade version, 20 color pallets for every character, and it’s been confirmed that SNK Playmore will be bringing back the character color edit in this game. New characters also announced and more to come in the future as well.

SNK Playmore and Atlus representatives will be attending Evo, and they’ve brought with them an Evo-build for the console version of the game.

Changes were quite drastic, from character re-balance and aesthetic gameplay changes, the game will be bringing something fresh to the fans.

Here are some of the new things in the game, as well as impressions from those who’ve been playing around with the Evo-build:

Gameplay changes/impressions thus far:

• The game has been rebalanced. K’ was buffed, Elizabeth and Raiden were nerfed.
• Raiden’s drop kicks take longer to charge and mid-screen drop kicks cannot be followed up.
• Saiki is playable and is not a charge character.
• Terry can do d.B,d.B,d.A,d.C to start combo.
• Takuma still has his stun combo.
• Takuma bug has been removed.
• Shen does not guard crush off of a fully charged qcf+P.
• Joe’s Neomax can be charged.

Joe Higashi get’s a buffed up, chargeable Neo Max .

Even more impressions and media after the jump!

-Neomax in HD costs 2 stocks but 3 stocks outside of HD.
-Liz’s midscreen, 1 stock no drive 511 damage combo now deals 391
-Shen’s gotten a slight damage decrease, I couldn’t quite figure out where but Kunio’s 799 (1 stock HD combo) now does 777
-Duo Lon’s Ex f.AC now has more hit stun (or better recovery for DL) so that he can do s.C or s.D (before it was a near 1 frame that allowed only for d.A, and if you’re close enough you can link that to s.C).
-Duo Lon’s NM has finally been normalized and now does 448 instead of his silly 400 he used to do.  (Most characters are 450-500 in the arcade version).
-Maxima’s air vapor cannon now holds him in place for both version and then after he’s done he either goes forward or drops down (I forget), but not backwards.
-Maxima’s damage has been decreased slightly.
-Goro’s dp+K, [DC] hcf P seems to only work in the corner now (WHY?).   His NM has been buffed to 571, yup!
-Kyo’s hcb+K is no longer safe, is also does not build much drive or meter if it connects.  It seems only useful for combos from now on.
-Kyo has his air Ex Orochinagi
-All characters that we tested all had aerial Ex DMs like Mai.
-Kyo can do d.B, d.A, df.D [1hit], qcf+K midscreen now.
-Overall, hit hitboxes have been adjusted and it’s harder to cross characters up now.  It was noticable as we couldn’t get K”s j.B or j.D to crossup.
-Chin is now top tier.
-K”s hop no longer goes over a standing opponent.
-K”s second shell (qcf+P.f+B) now juggles opponent higher and when preceded by an Ex qcf+P, allows the second shell to hit twice, and hence combo into his qcf x2+P DM like in the RS trailer.
-Shen’s fully charged qcf+P now only removes 50% of the guard gauge.
-Mai has been buffed overall.   Her air.d+B has faster recovery making it kinda safe, her air.qcb+P is also safer.
-Mai’s air DM now falls “natually” as she travels across the screen a la ’95 Mai’s hidden air DM.
-Mai’s air Ex DM also MaxCancels into NM.
-Mai’s Ex Ryuenbu has startup invincibility.
-Mai’s A Ryuenbu has a larger vertical hitbox acting like an anti air (assumingly it’s like her beta version).
-Terry has a d.A, d.C link which helps his hit confirmation a lot.  Gave us an instant Fatal Fury “feel” to it.
-Takuma’s stun combo juggles are much harder to perform and the timing is real tight.
-Joe’s NM comes out FAST.  Can pretty much punish air attacks on reaction.
-Joe’s NM when MC’d, will wait for the opponent to drop from the Screw Upper, automatically releasing it for you.  It’s a damaging MC.
-Joe’s Ex DM travels across the screen now.
-Joe’s D Tiger Knee now has startup invincibility somewhat similar to XII but not as extreme.  B version is faster but has no invincibility.
-Liz’s Ex DM now does no pushback on blocked opponents
-Liz’s Ex counter only allows followups with specials, not normals.
-Liz still can do the reset DM midscreen still (personally tested).
-Beni’s Ex Raijinken now holds the opponent in position allowing you to follow up.  I believe CMD.Duc did (corner), Ex Raijinken (qcf+AC), A Raijinken, dp+K.  Overall CDM.Duc says he’s been buffed.
-Ash’s Ex qcb+P now juggles even grounded opponents.
-Ryo’s dp+A seems faster, his parries are faster, and his Ex hcb+K seems faster.
-Andy’s d.D is slower now and no longer as abusable, it still can hit anti-air but seems to trade more now.
-Andy’s Zaneiken is safe on block now, but he’s also pushed back really far himself.
-Andy’s Ex hcf+K, d.D is harder to connect now mid screen.
-Raiden’s dropkicks have finally has its charge time increased.   Despite initials reports, 1.1 did not change his charge time from 1.0.  Personally, I must have charged ove 20+ seconds and I could not get level 3 to come out.  If you land the DK midscreen, the opponent will fly away really far not allowing a follow up.  His double DK shenanigans still work in the corner.
-King and Hwa Jai’s slide both cancel now by themselves.
-King’s NM has been fixed, it now goes further and when MC’d does full damage.
-Mature’s qcb+K has better recovery
-Ralf’s Vulcan Punch now knocks the opponent away after two hits.
-Clark, sadly, seems unchanged.
-Leona’s HD combos have been nerfed slightly.
-Kula’s corner juggles seem harder to connect.
-I was kidding about Chin, he seems unchanged.
-Saiki is very strong from what I saw from No.17 and Oscar messing around with him.  He feels very mid-boss in terms of damage but I may change my mind later, naturally, Oscar has decided to pick him up and drop Liz =)

Flame-weilding Iori will be a playable character, but seems to be a pre-order bonus. DLC character most likely since I could read “Download Code” from the katakana in the image.

Kayo-Police taking the game for a spin.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaqeMEL4QJo&feature=player_embedded

You can see Saiki’s changes and more in this combo. Yep, 101% life all gone.

Here’s the box art for the game.

All impressions information was compiled from Dream Cancel.