The King of Fighters XI

''11 teams have been assembled... Only one will survive!''

-Arcade Tagline

The King of Fighters XI is the eleventh installment of The King of Fighters series and the second chapter of the "Tales of Ash" story arc, started in The King of Fighters 2003. This game is also the first of the series to not use the year of release in his name.

Story
Mukai, a member of a mysterious group, stole the Orochi seal in the last tournament and broke it, causing confusion and destruction to happen from within sight. Taking advantage of the situation at hand, Ash stole the Yata Mirror from Chizuru and drained her powers in the process. In the advent of a new KOF tournament, new faces are handed invitations, while old faces, such as Eiji Kisaragi, return to the ring. Among the new KOF participants are Oswald, Duck King (a South Town veteran fighter himself), Momoko, and Elisabeth. All these fighters will find themselves in a tournament full of mysteries and secrets started by motives that they’d ignored. Behind this healthy competitive tournament hides a hidden force called "People from the Past" with a mysterious goal.

Development
In December 2004, Falcoon, the series' main illustrator, said the next game SNK Playmore were developing would be different from the recent spin-off The King of Fighters: Maximum Impact, which was originally intended to be released as "The King of Fighters 2004". Development of the game began when SNK completed production on the crossover game Neo Geo Battle Coliseum in 2005. SNK cancelled production of The King of Fighters 2004 in the fall of 2004, after it was announced the company had signed an agreement with Sammy Corporation to use their arcade system instead of the Neo Geo cabinets that had been used for the franchise previously. The King of Fighters XI's arcade version used Sammy Corporation's Atomiswave system. SNK commented that by using this new system, The King of Fighters XI would stand out from its predecessors due to improvements in both gameplay mechanics and graphic quality, specifically the animation frames created for Iori Yagami. However, it lacked the AW-net, a program that allows for online play. SNK had previously tested this system for both Neo Geo Battle Coliseum and The King of Fighters Neowave.

Hiroaki Hashimoto was the main designer for all of the game's characters, while Nona illustrated the endings. When the arcade version was released in the US, cabinets in Tilt Studio locations used converted Final Furlong cabinets, instead of the standard Atomiswave cabinets. As a result of this, there were two screens, one for each player. The addition of mid-bosses from Buriki One and Kizuna Encounter were meant to surprise gamers; since their original moves did not "fit" in The King of Fighters XI, developers had to change some of them. In 1999, SNK released a Fatal Fury installment named Garou: Mark of the Wolves whose narrative lacked closure. As a result, the company decided to utilize those characters in The King of Fighters XI with a bigger role. The movements of the boss character Magaki – the leader of the group of antagonists "Those from the Past" – were intentionally designed to "disgust and disturb fans". The staff had mixed opinions about newcomer Momoko due to her relatively young age. She was designed to fit the Psycho Soldier Team. Meanwhile, Elisabeth was created as a "leading lady" character to give Ash Crimson a rival. Developers sought to make the levels as realistic as possible, with particular focus paid to the Esaka stage. The company planned to add more stages, but these were removed due to time constraints.

The game's Japanese port for the PlayStation 2 was released on June 22, 2006. Multiple changes were made for the port to make the controls more responsive, based on feedback from the arcade. On September 8, 2006, Ignition Entertainment announced they had licensed The King of Fighters XI for a European release. SNK Playmore USA announced the game on November 13, 2007. With respect to the progressive scan, SNK explained that the North American version of the game was based on the PAL region. As a result, the American and PAL versions do not support progressive scan, but the Japanese version does. The port was mostly done by Ignition and then reused in other regions, although SNK remained silent about this. Similar to previous entries, the port offers a rearranged version of the audio. SNK Playmore re-released the game in Japan on June 28, 2007, under the label of "SNK Best Collection". The company once again released the game for the PlayStation Network on December 17, 2014, in Japan. In 2020, a homebrew conversion was released for the Dreamcast.

On March 24, 2006, Scitron and SNK released The King of Fighters XI Sound Collection (ザ・キング・オブ・ファイターズXI サウンドコレクション), a soundtrack from the game. It consists of two CDs, each containing different versions of the same 37 tracks. While some tracks are identical to the ones from the game, others have been rearranged. Disc one has the tracks from the arcade version, while disc two has the tracks from the PS2 version. The music was composed by SHA-V and arranged by Koji Takata, Masuo Okumura and Masanori Kuki.

Game Mechanics
Aside from the already known gameplay maneuvers that add much depth to the gameplay, Runs, Rolls, Short Jumps, Guard Cancel CDs and Rolls, Empty Cancels, and the returning Quick Emergency Roll, the four largest innovations KOF XI brings to the franchise are the Quick Shift, the Saving Shift, the Skill Gauge and the Dream Cancel.

The Skill Stocks significantly complicate the gameplay of KOF. The Power Stocks that existed previously are still present, and are filled in the usual fashion. Nevertheless, there are now Skill Stocks as well, which gradually build up over time. Each team begins a match holding the maximum of two Skill Stocks. Offensive maneuvers, such as Desperation Moves, Guard Cancels, and Tag Attacks, continue to use Power Stocks. However, more defensive or tactical maneuvers, such as Guard Evasion, Saving Shift, and Quick Shift, use Skill Stocks. KOF XI utilizes the Tactical Shift System from KOF 2003, but makes very important changes. The Quick Shift allows the player to change into another character in the middle of any combo, prolonging it, or in the middle of any attack, no matter if it was blocked or not, canceling the frames of animation of the attack, if it's needed. The Saving Shift allows the player to take out a character when he is being hit as soon as he is hit, or in any moment, at the cost of both skill bars. This effectively cuts many combos that otherwise would do a lot of damage, eliminates the possibility of infinities by repeating chains of attacks on the ground (excluding aerial juggles) and brings an element of balance to the game. While it is possible to escape from any combination of attacks on the ground, it is not possible to use Saving Shift to get out from a Desperation or Leader Desperation move.

The last new feature of KOF XI is the Dream Cancel. Like the Super Cancel that first appeared in KOF '99, Dream Cancel allows players to use stocks to interrupt a move in the midst of its execution with a more powerful move, allowing devastating combos; however, the Dream Cancel is more deadly than ever, allowing a DM to be canceled into an LDM, at the expensive price of two Power Stocks and one Skill Stock.

Should the timer run down in a match, the winner is no longer decided based upon who has the most life remaining. Instead, the judgment bar, a new bar of circular shape composed of two colors, each one representing one player (red or blue, which are the colors displayed in the portraits of the characters of each side) acts as a quantifier of the skill of each player. Whichever player has the judgment bar towards his side will be the victor if none of the teams win defeating all three characters from the opposite team; rarely, if the bar is exactly in the center, the match will end in a draw and both sides will lose. The bar is affected by each attack that the players get in, combos affect progressively more, and when a character of the opposing team is defeated, the bar suffers a big change against that player. This makes taking care of keeping one's characters alive pretty important, giving strategy to the tags system.

Characters
The new characters added to the roster (between originals and of other franchises) are:

Furthermore, some characters from less famous SNK franchises appear as mid-bosses, but they have no impact on the plot as a whole:


 * Note 1: This game has the greatest diversity of teams of the series' history, such as new teams and those already known undergoing changes. Therefore, the provision is as follows:


 * Oswald replaces Duo Lon in the "Hero Team", who felt betrayed by Ash, after discovering the young man's real intentions;


 * As a consequence, the Hizoku clan ninja joins with Elisabeth and Benimaru Nikaido, whose intention is aims to stop Ash. Both entered to the team at the French noblewoman's invitiation;


 * Convinced by his rebel disciples, Chang Koehan and Choi Bounge, Kim Kaphwan joins with Terry Bogard and Duck King on the Fatal Fury Team. Joe Higashi leaves the tournament to defend his Muay Thai champion title, and Terry's brother, Andy Bogard, continues with Hokutomaru's training;


 * King replaces Robert Garcia in the Art of Fighting Team, who had to resolve a simultaneous disaster in his father's company to a simultaneous, that needed to be solved with the Italian man's presence. She returns to the team after 5 years;


 * Whip leaves the team of her brother K', and returns to the Ikari Warriors Team after 5 years, replacing Leona Heidern, who is recovering from a crisis caused by the weakening of the Orochi seal;


 * Sie Kensou returns to the tournament after 4 years, along with his beloved Athena and Momoko, reforming the Psycho Soldier Team;


 * Convinced by Jenet, Gato and Tizoc leave their teams in the past tournament (Outlaw Team and Fatal Fury Team, respectively) to form the Mark of the Wolves Team (or MOTW Team, in Japanese);


 * With the intention of continuing to investigate the Those from the Past, Blue Mary joins with the freelancer agents Vanessa and Ramón. She replaces Seth in the Agents Team;


 * Angry at Yuri Sakazaki calling her fighting style cowardly, Malin recruits the other two biggest rivals of the Sakazaki family, Eiji Kisaragi and Kasumi Todoh, and creates the Anti-Kyokugenryu Team (A.K.A. Art of Fighting Team). As a result, she leaves the High School Girls Team (who is undone), and the enemies of the style returns (Eiji after 10 years and Kasumi after 5 years);


 * Kula Diamond returns to the tournament after 4 years, her first after the destruction of NESTS, and joins with her former enemy, K', and his partner Maxima, replacing Whip;


 * At the request of a weakened Chizuru Kagura and in order to prevent Ash Crimson's plans from materializing, the clan rivals Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami set aside differences and form the team that bears their surnames, along with Kyo's biggest fan, Shingo Yabuki.


 * Note 2: Some classic teams, like the Japan Team, Women Fighters Team and Korea Justice Team, don't appear in this game.


 * Note 3: All PS2 exclusives reused the assets from their appearances in Neo Geo Battle Coliseum.


 * Note 4: Some parenthetical citations are sometimes Japanese team names, sometimes shortened team names.

NPC Characters

 * Rose Bernstein
 * Botan
 * Shroom & Rimelo

Original Characters

 * Hinako Shijou - in Esaka Stage
 * Leona Heidern - in Esaka Stage
 * Mature - in Esaka Stage
 * Bao - in Esaka Stage
 * Jhun Hoon - in Concert Stage

Metal Slug series

 * Fiolina Germi - in Esaka Stage

Other Games

 * Princess Athena (Athena) - in Concert Stage

SNK Mascot

 * G-Mantle - in Esaka Stage

PlayStation 2 Exclusive Hidden Characters
Note 1: These characters are exlusive to the PlayStation 2 version of this game, and are unlocked by completing specific missions in Challenge Mode.

Note 2: In this game, Robert goes to his original voice actor from the first games of the series (and from the two games of his source series).

Stages
Note: In this game, the stages are randomly chosen by the game's system.

Critical Reception
Since the PlayStation 2 was being replaced by a new console during the release of The King of Fighters XI, Gamasutra listed the game as one for the "hardcore gamer". However, in its release week in Japan, The King of Fighters XI was the only PlayStation 2 title to be featured on Japanese sales charts alongside Konami's World Soccer Winning Eleven 10. The number of copies the game sold in Japan throughout 2005 is unknown, although it sold 47,225 units in 2006.

Critical reception to The King of Fighters XI has been "generally favorable" based on an average score of 75 out of 100 on the Metacritic website. The quality of gameplay and cast of characters was the subject of positive response. GameZone said it offered the "most bang for your buck" on the PS2, considering its late release schedule, calling it a "complex" 2D fighter game. A reviewer for Cheat Code Central said they enjoyed the game mode in which the player controlled three characters fighting against another trio during a single fight, and cited the new mechanics as an improvement over those of its predecessor The King of Fighters 2003. GamesRadar+ enjoyed the considerably higher number of characters and the noticeably fast combat than in previous entries in the series. Ryan Clements of IGN called it "a very old-school 2D fighter" while indicating that the style of the series had not changed much since The King of Fighters '94. He said the game was well organized, despite the large number of playable characters, and enjoyed experimenting with each character's variable fighting techniques. He added that fights would be very difficult for players, until they learned how to use the special moves. Andrew Park of GameSpot opined that the game was well-balanced with its variety of playable characters and complimented its illustrative design. Eurogamer called it an "excellent 2D game", comparable to other works such as one of Capcom's most famous games, Street Fighter III, although they complained about the lack of popular characters from the franchise such as Joe Higashi.

Numerous publications said the graphics were dated due to SNK Playmore's constant use of sprites, although Siliconera enjoyed the art employed in other areas of the game which they said showed a significant increase in graphic quality. Eurogamer said The King of Fighters XI would not stand out amongst other fighting game franchises like Soul Calibur or Tekken, which employ 3D graphics in contrast with this game's 2D graphics. Meristation agreed, saying the franchise was in need of a major overhaul. IGN said the developers should have optimized the graphics, though they felt the menus and cutscenes were well done. uVeJuegos.com was more critical, saying that SNK Playmore should have updated the graphics of the series several years earlier. On the other hand, Game Revolution did not mind the use of 2D graphics based on how the scenarios change across the fights. Despite finding the game's graphics dated, GameZone enjoyed the overall presentation, which the reviewer called "one of best fighting games ever to grace the PS2", noting its low price provided great replay value.

The boss characters attracted some negative responses. GameSpot described the sub-boss Shion as "terribly powerful" and the final boss Magaki as "absurdly overpowered", and criticized the voice acting for the Magaki character, additionally noting that his appearance was unimpressive. GamesRadar+ agreed, describing Magaki as a "Typical KoF final boss from hell". While noting the artificial intelligence had improved from that used in The King of Fighters 2003, uVeJuegos.com said Magaki had unfair moves due to his massive damage input during battles. Game Revolution 's reviewer felt that Magaki was one of the strongest bosses they had ever seen based on the way he moves across the screen. He said that proper use of the game's mechanics would allow the player to defeat him and said that the game was still enjoyable despite this boss.

In a retrospective review, HardcoreGaming regarded The King of Fighters XI as one of the best entries in the franchise, noting the backgrounds' quality, the gameplay and quick load times compared to the original arcade game. In 2012, Complex ranked it as the eighth best SNK fighting game ever made, adding that "Shion has to be the coolest sub-boss ever". In 2009, SNK Playmore released a sequel called The King of Fighters XII. However, as the game did not feature a story, SNK Playmore finished the story arc involving Ash in The King of Fighters XIII released in 2011.