You may not have liked XIII but no one will argue that the game didn't hit the scene like a ton of bricks and everyone had their hands in pool trying to get good at it. That energy, however, could not be captured and harnessed by community nor did SNK had the ability to do so.
Don't think we didn't try though! There's a ton of stuff that happened for console XIII during it's first year. MLG definitely being the biggest fork in the game's road. A torrent of emotions and uncertainty surrounded 2012 and you saw that all spill out during EVO Grand Finals
I personally was a lot younger and had only one thing on my mind which was to see KOFXIII at EVO 2012, it happened, history was made, it was a blast. Everything changed after that starting with BALA going back home. People, the audience were so invested in that dude.
And not just cause of EVO 2012, he spent the entire year building a brand, he may or may not had been aware of it but there was a BALA brand in the works just by him going to every tournament and winning. By the time EVO came around everyone knew who he was.
Then MadKOF shows up and just cuts the heads off EVERYBODY, people are sobbing, flags are being thrown in the air, people can't breathe and I'm sitting in my seat thinking this might just need to happen again. We didn't get that chance.
No rematch, no closure, no conclusion, not FT-40 for $20,000. 2013 is looking like it might fall apart, all the opportunities we had are gone and the community shoulders the game entirely up until EVO 2013 where we have lower numbers entry-wise. Then the impossible happened.
Just when everyone's wondering where KOF is going, Reyanld Freakin Tascuan just MURDERS it. To the point where people had never seen anything like it and done in such a way that you were just hype to see what he'd try on Woo next. That's when they realized XIII was a bonkers game
Not only did he forever scar Woo, but he also finished the job against MadKOF that he started back in 2012. So there's no doubt he was legit the best in the world at that point.
It always amazes me that a game like XIII had 2 shots to make an impression ad it nailed it-
It always amazes me that a game like XIII had 2 shots to make an impression ad it nailed it-
both times....and both times, circumstances. Reynald can't make it to EVO 2014, interest was already waning but people wanted to see him fight, people wanted to see him and BALA fight, these were names people spoke of in regular FGC conversation.
And these guys not being able to make it out hurt interest, not just in players but in viewership cause you better believe these casual dudes were looking for another BALA v MadKOF or another Reynald v Woo or some combination of sorts. It just never panned out.
Keep in mind, this ENTIRE time KOFXIII is still running on the backs of those who playing the game and wanted to compete with the best. There were no massive prize pots, no dev support, just us showing up every year to play, and after 4 years, you gotta know when you're exhausted
All things considered there was a year gap between when KOFXIII's run ended and when KOF14's run technically began. The only issue, KOF14 did nothing to capture the essence of what made everyone go in on XIII.
The scene had also changed, people were older, some of us stopped playing games altogether, Reynald got married. CadeID was no more, there was no Arcade ver so Japan was fairly quiet and a lot of carry over we got from other games didn't happen cause the game was not attractive.
So you mash all that together, along with the fact that the community may have to shoulder THAT game for a year, from scratch, yeah I dunno man it's a hard sell. We did it, with fewer numbers, it was fun, the game is fun, but it was a hard road of uncertainty.
SNK thankfully showed they were learning from us and themselves, that they were willing to try things, to evolve, to support us, to update the game, to give KOF14 the kind of post release attention a major product deserves, but you can't blame people for being exhausted.
And that's me spilling my guts on why KOF isn't big in America.
