Video Game / The King of Fighters XI

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

The King of Fighters XI is the eleventh game in The King of Fighters series, and the second chapter in the Tales of Ash. It was released for arcades on the Atomiswave system on October 25, 2005 in Japan, with an international release happening in 2006.

Previously on KOF 2003, Those from the Past, the true mastermind behind the last KOF, succeeded to secure the seal of the Orochi under Mukai's hand, while Ash Crimson and his gang took this chance to steal Yata Mirror from Chizuru, effectively rendering her powerless. Now two hostile factions on the loose, the remaining members of Three Sacred Treasures, Kyo and Iori, have no choice but to team up with each other (with the third filled by Shingo) to join the new KOF, going after both targets to find out what they're up to.

KOF XI takes the tag battle mechanics from 2003 and cranks up their intensity. The Shift move is now separate from the Power Gauge and depletes its own resources, Skill Gauge, which can be charged two stocks at maximum and fills up gradually during a match. The Shift Attack is replaced by Quick Shift, which is much more lenient about creating a combo. Shifting while performing an attack will perform a Quick Shift, allowing you to continue your combo with a different character. Meanwhile, the defense can spend two Skill Gauge stocks and perform a Saving Shift when they're on the receiving end of a combo, allowing you to escape deadly combos. KOF XI also expands on Super Cancel system of 2002 by introducing Dream Cancel, which lets you chain a Super Move into Leader Desperation Move instantly.

The game would eventually be released for PlayStation 2 on June 22, 2006.

Teams

• Team Ash: Ash Crimson and Shen Woo return, now joined by the smooth-talking assassin Oswald.
• Team Rival: Elisabeth Blanctorche, a French noblewoman and Ash's adoptive sister, now joins Duo Lon and Benimaru Nikaido to stop whatever misdeeds Ash is planning.
• Team Fatal Fury: With both his usual teammates pre-occupied, Terry Bogard forms a fresh team for this tournament with Duck King and Kim Kaphwan.
• Team Art of Fighting: Siblings Ryo and Yuri Sakazaki return, this time joined by the bouncer King rather than Robert Garcia.
• Team Garou: Tizoc returns to the ring, joined by fellow Garou newcomers B. Jenet and Gato.
• Team Psycho Soldier: Athena Asamiya and Sie Kensou return to the tournament, joined by the young newcomer Momoko.
• Team Ikari: With Leona Heidern out of action following an Orochi flare-up, Ralf Jones and Clark Still call on Whip to help them continue their mission in her stead.
• Team Secret Agent: Ramon and Vanessa once again find themselves on a mission together, joined by Blue Mary.
• Team K': K' and Maxima recruit the young Kula Diamond into their team, as they continue assisting the Ikari Warriors in their mission.
• Team Anti-Kyokugen: Malin teams up with Eiji Kisaragi and Kasumi Todoh to seek revenge on the Sakazaki family.
• Team Kyo & Iori: Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami team up to prevent the resurrection of Orochi, with Shingo Yabuki filling in for the injured Chizuru Kagura.

• Bosses
  • Mid-Boss 1: Depending on how well you do, you could end up fighting Adelheid Bernstein (returning from KOF 2003), Gai Tendo and Silber from Buriki One (making their 2D fighting game debut), or Sho Hayate and Jyazu from Savage Reign.
  • Mid-Boss 2: Shion - A member of Those from the Past who meets the winning team at the finals area (having likewise destroyed it) and Magaki's subordinate, waiting to test their worth. On that note...
  • Final Boss: Magaki - The sponsor of this year's tournament, likewise who takes his turn to test the worth and skills of winning team for their plan to awaken Orochi.

• Bonus characters: Mai Shiranui, Robert Garcia, Hotaru Futaba, Tung Fu Rue, Mr. Big, Geese Howard, NESTS-style Kyo

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This video game shows examples of:

• Actionized Sequel: The match speed in KOF XI is much faster than 2003 ever was, and perhaps the fastest in the main series. This is because switching characters now costs its own separate meter, giving the players more freedom to spend Power Gauges and unleash massive combo chain, more so if you utilize Quick Shift and keep your combo streak between switching fighters. XI's accessibility to create long combos means Stun is a lot more likely to happen, and therefore, with just one mistake, a fighter can be lost in the blink of an eye.
• Adaptation Expansion: The PlayStation 2 version introduces new stages, new modes, and several new characters^note Mai Shiranui, Robert Garcia, Hotaru Futaba, Tung Fu Rue, Mr. Big, Geese Howard, and an alternate moveset for Kyo ported over from NeoGeo Battle Coliseum.
• Arcade-Perfect Port: The PlayStation 2 version accomplishes this by offering an option to turn off the Arrange Mode, which balances the characters in this port, and play the game exactly as it was in the arcade version.
• Arrange Mode: The Playstation 2 version has three:
  • In Endless Mode, you fight in 1-on-1 matches until your character runs out of health. It starts with normally selectable characters, then you go on to fight the mid-bosses, followed by Shion and Magaki. After that, it loops.
  • In Challenge Mode, there are 40 challenges you can complete, each with their own requirements. Shion, Magaki, and the console-exclusive characters can be unlocked by completing specific challenges.
  • Arrange Mode can be toggled from the options menu, and introduces a number of balance changes (for example, Kula loses her dreaded Freeze Execution juggles).
• Art Evolution: The arcade version runs on higher resolution as a result of jumping from the Neo Geo (320x224) to the Atomiswave (480p, 640x480), which makes for more detailed and dynamic stage backgrounds. The character graphics are still based on and often recycled from the Neo Geo games, but their animations also got an upgrade thanks to the new arcade board, like more vibrant effects of jumping Speed Echoes.
• Balance Buff:
  • The Shift Attack is changed so that you have a lot more freedom to switch members during a combo. It also uses its own resources, Skill Gauge, instead of sharing the Power Gauge with characters' Super Moves.
  • KOF XI brings back the Blow Back attack, and Guard Cancel Blow Back does minimal damage like 2002, instead of not doing any damage in the other NESTS Chronicles games.
  • KOF XI is the first game to give the counter type of Super Moves (e.g. Kasumi's Shingan Kazura Otoshi) a huge buff: they're no longer preceded by lighting effects like a regular Super, only showing after the move is made successful. It makes the counter moves more effective than before as you can perform them without giving the opponent a hint. This buff was also retroactively applied to remakes like '98 UM and 2002 UM.
• The Battle Didn't Count: Magaki tries to pull this after he's defeated. He stands back up and prepares a portal for his escape. However, before he can actually go through, he gets impaled by Shion's spear and bleeds out.
• Big Bad: Magaki, a member of Those From The Past who seeks the power of Orochi.
• Big Good: Elisabeth Blanctorche serves the role in this chapter, as she aids the heroes stop both Ash and Those from the Past.
• The Cameo:
  • In Fatal Fury Team's ending, all of their former teammates who didn't participate in this year's KOF makes an appearance (Andy, Joe, Chang, Choi, and Mai; the last one came back as a playable in the PS2 version).
  • Psycho Soldier Team's ending features its former teammate and associates (Chin, Bao, Kaoru Watabe, and Baitang the panda) as they commemorate them as Sky Face, although the way they talk sounds like they're dead. Also, Ron (and Lin) from KOF 2000 makes an appearance at the end, apparently still taking interest in Kensou's "Dragon Spirit".
  • Some endings take place in Pao Pao Cafe (from Fatal Fury) so naturally its owners, Richard Meyer and Bob Wilson, both show up.
  • Jhun makes a background cameo appearance in Athena's concert stage added in the PS2 version.
• Combo Breaker: By spending two Skill Gauge stocks, you can perform Saving Shift to change characters instantly and potentially break free from the offense. While its use is similar to Blow Back Guard Cancel, the difference is that Quick Shift can be performed even if you're being attacked, effectively playing this trope.
• Cycle of Hurting:
  • During MAX Puncher, Vanessa can juggle the opponent infinitely by using Forbidden Eagle in the corner. For the sake of fairness, most tournaments limit the Vanessa player to 4-5 reps.
  • Shion can keep the opponent in hitstun indefinitely by repeatedly using their jumping strong kick in a specific pattern. Luckily, the AI never takes advantage of this.
• Defeat Means Playable: In the Playstation 2 version, most of the Secret Characters are unlocked by defeating them in battle:
  • All of the mid-bosses are unlocked by defeating them for the first time in Arcade Mode or Endless Mode.
  • Shion and Magaki can be unlocked by defeating them in Challenge Mode.
  • The challenges needed to unlock Tung Fu Rue, EX Kyo, and Mr. Big require you to defeat them.
• Gameplay Grading: Unlike previous KOF games, when the timer runs out, the winner is not decided by who has more health. Instead, both players are judged with their general performance, displayed as an indicator in real-time between health meters. After Time Over happens, the color of this indicator determines the winner (red means the player 1, blue means the player 2). If its color is yellow, meaning both players are even, whoever has the surviving Leader wins. If this still doesn't decide a winner somehow (meaning both don't have a surviving Leader, or they both have one), the match is called off without a winner and it declares Game Over to both players.
• Lag Cancel:
  • Some DMs can be "Dream Canceled" into an LDM at the cost of 2 bars of meter and 1 Skill Gauge stock.
  • Using one of the Shift commands during certain attack will allow you to perform a Quick Shift. This switches in a teammate while the opponent is still in hitstun, potentially allowing you to extend your combo.
  • Vanessa's LDM, MAX Puncher, allows her to cancel special moves into each other
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter:
  • Duck King retains his chain combos from Real Bout Fatal Fury, although they aren't mentioned anywhere in-game.
  • Hayate and Jyazu can chain their normals together. The former is limited to chaining his light punch into heavy punch or heavy kick, while the latter can chain all of them together Darkstalkers-style.
  • Unlike other characters with a Stance System, Shion's starting stance depends on when you send him out. If he's first, he starts in Spear stance, otherwise he starts in his unarmed stance. In addition, his backdash has a hitbox while in Spear stance.
  • Gai's LDM only does minimal damage to the opponent on hit. The real catch of his LDM is that it locks out both players from using Shift, initiating Duel to the Death.
  • Magaki is unable to crouch, and he lacks a neutral shift animation — instead, he performs his standing heavy punch before switching out.
• Nerf:
  • In KOF 2003, the Power Gauge was filled with three stocks in the beginning of a match, to encourage using the Shift system. Because the Shift now uses its own Skill Gauge in XI, the Power Gauge starts from zero like before.
  • Guard Cancel Blow Back is back, but it's nerfed from 2002. Its damage does not scale up when it connects as a counter, and you can't KO an opponent with the Guard Cancel version.
• New Work, Recycled Graphics: The new characters in the PS2 version mostly recycle their graphics from NeoGeo Battle Coliseum, only adding some new sprites to fit the KOF system.
• Oddball in the Series:
  • A minor one regarding the control — Blow Back attack is mapped to its own fifth button (the Atomiswave board supports six buttons), instead of pressing Heavy Punch and Heavy Kick together like the other games.
  • XI is also an oddball for its character roster, with almost all of the canon teams having completely fresh lineups and even a few mainstays being either demoted to bonus characters (like Mai and Robert) or cut entirely (like Joe and Leona).
• Offstage Villainy: Ash stealing the Yasakani no Magatama isn't shown onscreen. In the Kyo & Iori Team's ending, he's shown walking towards a Riot of the Blood-crazed Iori, then it cuts to a shot of the sky, then he walks away with no indication that anything happened. Then, in the Rival Team's ending, he shows off his new, violet flames before teleporting away.
• Plotline Crossover: Some endings build on or overlap with the events of other endings.
  • The ending of Kyo & Iori Team and Rivals Team are connected to each other, with possibly Hero Team's ending set between them. At the end of Kyo & Iori's ending, Iori falls prey to the Orochi blood again, incapacitating Kyo and Shingo, after which Ash shows up and does something sinister off-screen. In Rivals Team's ending, Elisabeth and Benimaru find and rush to Kyo and Shingo, who are still bleeding out from the aftermath, while Ash taunts them and shows his new power (implied and later confirmed in XIII to be Iori's) before escaping.
  • The Art of Fighting Team's ending has Anti-Kyokugenryu members suddenly showing up and getting beat up by King along with the Sakazaki family. You get to learn their side of story in their own team ending, where they try (and fail in) ambushing the Kyokugenryu.
• Promoted to Playable: This game promotes Adelheid, one of the final bosses in 2003, to a regular playable character should you meet specific conditions.
• Route Boss: In Arcade Mode, the fourth fight is against one of five mid-bosses. Which one you fight depends on your performance in the first three matches:
  • If you defeat at least one opponent with an LDM, you fight Gai Tendo.
  • If you defeat at least three opponents with an LDM, and don't lose any teammates, you fight Sho Hayate.
  • If you defeat at least six opponents with a DM, and don't lose any teammates, you fight either Silber or Jyazu.
  • If you fail any of the above requirements, you fight Adelheid Bernstein.
• Sequel Number Snarl: KOF XI is the first game to swerve Title by Year, shifting to traditional Numbered Sequels. This is because, after KOF 2003, the main series skipped 2004 and XI was released in 2005.
• Super Special Move: Leader Desperation Move can be upgraded into the Dream Cancel version, which can be easily chained into a combo (at the cost of often significantly reduced damage, however). Some LDMs also have different characteristics in their Dream Cancel version; Ralf's Galactica Phantom becomes blockable unlike its normal version, Kasumi's Shingan Kazura Otoshi tranforms from a counter move into a standard command grab, and so on.
• Suspicious Video-Game Generosity: In the PS2 version, Challenges 5 and 6 are simple 1-on-1 matches where you have infinite Power and Skill gauges. Your opponents in both of these missions are Shion and Magaki, respectively, so you're going to need it.
• Three-Stat System: KOF XI implements comprehensive and complicated stat modifiers to each player character (which has done before in the series in part of damage scaling but never to XI's degree). There're three of them in total: Damage Modifier (in relation to how much damage you receive), Guard Point Modifier (how much your Guard Point decreases from attacks before Guard Crush happens), and Stun Modifier (how much your Stun meter depletes from the opponent's attack). These modifiers multiply directly to whatever damage/attack point your character receive, which mean the lower the modifiers are, the better your character is at soaking them up.

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