In remembrance, and celebration of the upcoming XII, that will usher in a new sprite style for KOF titles, we will take a look back at the timeless sprites of old, from the King of Fighter's series.

Instead of strictly image posting, I thought it was be interesting to do a bit of discussion on the progression of the sprite style, aswell. The artist over at SNK (and SNKP) have really done some beautiful work over the past 10 + years. Even in the earliest KOF title, the graphical ability of the Neo Geo hardware shined, and brightly I might add. Each title saw a gradual improvement on not only the sprites, but the animation, and backgrounds, and overall presentation.

There's very few KOF games with nothing going on in the background. True to life, if there's an organized tournament, you better reckon there will be a crowd of onlookers watching the 6 or so people duking it at at your local Wharf, or bar, or street corner.







Almost every stage was full of life. If it wasn't people, it was something else. Heavy rain in the park, for example. Lights, and gadgets. Monitors, or birds, or monkeys wandering in the forest.

Another thing SNK has done with alot of the characters in the KOF series, is give them entirely different clothing (i.e., an entire different/new set of sprites), something very seldom seen in 2D fighting games of the time (and even still, now). One grand example is the character Athena Asamiya, whose got her sprites drawn in almost every KOF sequel, receiving a new outfit and a slightly different standing animation each time.