This review is covering the King of Fighters XIII GM Limited Edition available from Pix N Love. This LE features a reversible cover with the full game and all DLC on the cart.
The story in King of Fighters XIII Global Match (KOF XIII GM) takes place immediately after King of Fighters XI and is a continuation of the third story arc after King of Fighters 2003.
It tells the story of a group of fighters that are coming together against the host of the King of Fighters’ latest tournament, who is only known as “R”. This is also the final chapter in the Ash Saga story arc. Without revealing too much, the story is very well told, fun and interesting to follow,
KOF XIII GM is a fighting game just like the games that came before it in the series. Though this GM version is the definitive version of KOF XIII. The game features thirty characters to choose from with 6 being unlockable for a total of 36 characters in total you can play as. Some of these characters were separate DLCs that you can purchase, but they’re all here in this limited-edition physical release.
There are a lot of different game modes the game has to offer and they are Story, Versus, Practice, Online, Replay, Gallery, Mission, Customize, Tutorial, and Arcade.
Story mode is a single-player mode that tells the story as mentioned above. It has you select a scene, the scene plays out, then you select a team of fighters select the order, and then you start the set of fights to see who wins. Based on who wins determines a bit as to how the story plays out, then rinse and repeat until the story ends.
Versus is a one-on-one fighting match against either another player locally or against the CPU. Practice allows you to pick a fighter and practice basic moves and combos and is a great way to learn the fighting styles of the various characters in the roster. Online is similar to Versus but allows you to connect to players online to either fight against them or spectate a fight in the event you would rather watch a match instead of take part in one. Replay allows you to watch replays of recorded matches. Gallery allows you to view photos, watch movies, and listen to in-game music in the event you have unlocked these through playing the game, with some of it available without any progression.
Mission is a mode that has you completing mission objectives that usually involve pulling off a specific move or set of moves during a match. Customize lets you change aspects of your player profile and change the character colors for characters to give them a unique set of colors. Tutorial has you learning basic controls, moves, and combos and helps you to learn the mechanics before jumping right into a match. Arcade is story mode without the story and just has you picking a fighter and going up against a set number of opponents and eventually going up against the end-game boss.
For a 2D fighting game, KOF XIII GM is one of the most beautiful 2D fighting games I’ve played in years. Animations are fluid, colors are bright and vivid, and everything blends together into one excellent experience. There are options to adjust frame limits and other options to tailor it to the desired graphical experience. This gives you a lot of creative freedom to adjust display and graphical settings that best suit you. With the game being a 2D fighting game on the Switch, it’s not a game that has the latest graphics but is still very impressive. The reason it’s impressive is how fast everything moves, and is really something you have to experience to get a true grasp of the speed this game plays at.
You would think that with the speed in which everything moves, and the online connectivity on top of this, you would think there would be a performance dip but there isn’t. Playing the game either docked or in handheld mode, you’re going to get a rock solid, blazing fast performance no matter how you choose to play the game.
KOF XIII GM doesn’t disappoint in the sound department either. The soundtrack in the game really captures the arcade feel. Featuring upbeat and catchy techno-style music, it will have you really getting into the fight. Sounds your characters make during fights and the sound of your blows connecting with your opponent really make it feel like the characters are giving it their all with the hard-hitting connections.
With this being my first real experience with the KOF series outside of a few games played in the arcades, this is a great 2D fighting game. It really captures the arcade feel of the series. It’s fast, fluid, and a ton of fun to play. My only issue with the game is that the story cut-scenes are static for the most part with the exception being a slight movement in the scene. I would have liked to see full-motion anime-style cut scenes instead of what is presented here. Though on the flip side of that, I don’t know that everything this game has on the cart would have been possible should it have featured full motion video in the cut-scenes.
Disclaimer: A review copy was provided
You can purchase the game here
