What happens when a reporter who knows nothing about The King of Fighters XII dares to take a meeting about it?
Here at Kotaku we try to expand our horizons. And sometimes our horizons are expanded for us, like when I drew the assignment to meet with Ignition Entertainment at E3 last week. I was ready to play their pretty side-scrolling Muramasa: The Demon Blade and, what do you know, I previewed it.
https://lastchance.cc/muramasa-the-demon-blade-preview-so-so-pretty-5278216%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
I let Shane play. I asked questions.
Tell me, I requested, what someone who doesnât know anything about The King of Fighters XII should know.
From my notes: Fighting game (obviously). All hand-drawn. The artwork for each character, rendered in 720p, took 18 âman-monthsâ to complete. Lighting was faked by drawing different sprites for the characters depending on where they stand in the playfield. Three-on-three fights, as is tradition. Not much of a story in this one, and a pared down roster. All dream matches.
Oh, Shane said, something else: did I see this character he was playing as? Ash Crimson? Thatâs the main character. He asked me to guess Ashâs gender.
Female?
No. Male. The King of Fighters series, I was told, has been progressive with introducing characters with alternate lifestyles, like cross-dressing. âIt seems that most fans are warming up to him,â Bettenhausen said of Ash, âEven though he looks like a girl and wears his hair in a bob.â
So progressive are the developers of The King of Fighters â and so impossible is it to erase the inquisitiveness from a journalist even after they cease being paid to be a journalist â that Bettenhausen told me that he asked the new gameâs developers at SNK Playmore to clarify the sexual orientation of those characters for whom such a thing may have been ambiguous.
The evil (naughty?) secretary Mature? Bisexual.
This guy Shane was fighting in the game named Benimaru, who Bettenhausen pointed out wears a halter top, fingerless gloves and flicks at his tall head of hair when he wins he fight? âApparently heâs a hit with the ladies,â Bettenhausen told me. âHe has tons of girlfriends.â
Interesting. I didnât dare play the game. Time was short and I needed to get to more Muramasa. But now I know a little more about The King of Fighters. Enough to make me curious, for reasons I didnât expect.
The King of Fighters XII is out in July for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
