Street Fighter V may have captured a lot of attention with their stage presence at this year’s PlayStation Experience keynote address, but that doesn’t mean they are the only high profile fighting game in town.

King of the Fighters XIV, the latest in the legendary SNK series, is set to appear exclusively on the PlayStation 4 in 2016.

Long-time series producer Yasuyuki Oda was interviewed recently by the Japanese gaming magazine, Famitsu, and thanks to the English translation provided by the folks at Mad Man’s Cafe, we now have some fantastic insight into the motivations behind the game’s development.

One of the most exciting tidbits for puritanical fans that came out of the interview was the revelation that King of the Fighters XIV is being developed by many of the long-time veterans of SNK. A staffer, who had kept in touch with many of the ex-team members helped facilitate the reunion once the  King of the Fighters XIV project received the green light.

Speaking of the green light, the actual motivation for beginning development of King of the Fighters XIV came when SNK’s then CEO in 2013, announced his desire to “regain their position as number 1 in fighting games.” Oda said that he advised his boss on what he expected the development costs to be and that he was undeterred.

King of the Fighters XIV controversial 3D style was never debated within the SNK ranks. The staff felt that it was a natural progression and had a desire to develop for a high end environment. He also said that he understood that there is still a culture of fans that still love the old-style 2D pixel art, however it’s his personal opinion that pixels appear to cleanly and perfectly on today’s HD monitors and that he doesn’t feel that they go well with pixel art. The shift to 3D has also allowed them to create character designs “that would have infuriated the designers if they were told to do it in pixel art.”

Sometimes, a man has to literally deal with the ol’ ball and chain.

Oda confirmed that there will be a massive roster of 50 playable characters in King of the Fighters XIV, all of whom are playable at the outset of the game. “It’s not going to be a game where you can only use a few characters at launch and the roster will gradually increase.” Oda said. He also mentioned that there are currently no plans for DLC.

King of the Fighters XIV is being developed with an eye towards the increasing popularity of e-sports and streaming. Oda spoke about how they are trying to make sure that the balance between the fighters is correct, as well as how the game feel when being played on the DualShock 4’s control pad. One new mode that he talked about in regard to making things interesting for those of us who stream is something called “party mode”, which he described as a team-based 3 on 3 fight, where each player picks one fighter, thus allowing 6 people to participate in the match.

Oda had plenty more to say throughout the course of the interview, so make sure you check out the entire translation which you can find here.

Are you ready to reclaim your fighting throne when King of the Fighters XIV uppercuts its way onto the PlayStation 4 next year? Yell your words of fury in the comments section below.

Written by The Watchman

The Watchman is a journeyman gamer who has seen and played a good chunk of gaming history.
He’s also an actor, a reporter, a pro wrestling connoisseur, and some say he’s a cat whisperer.
If you have any questions or just want to drop me a line, hit me up at thewatchman@nerdbacon.com
Or follow me on Twitter @DavetheWatchman
You can also game with me!
Look me up on Xbox Live @ DJKhadoken
Or on PlayStation Network @ Eaglevision_dl