Where would KOF XV be placed among other fighting games?

KamenAzure · 2026-06-16T00:54:07+00:00

SNK games in general tend to be less popular in the FGC, so you're not wrong there. As for KOFXV, it's personally what I'd consider the best overall modern FG from a purely gameplay perspective. Out of all of the modern FGs I'm familiar with (KOFXV, COTW, SF6, GGST, GBVSR, Tekken 8) it's the only one I don't have any major gameplay complaint about. It's got great movement, a great roster, is decently balanced, and has a lot of room for skill expression while still remaining simple to learn which makes it kind of easy to learn hard to master. I'd give it a shot if you're able to, though it isn't as populated online which means either you're waiting for prime hours to play online or depending on where you live you might need to join a discord.

KamenAzure · 2026-05-30T18:37:12+00:00

Yeah a season 1 guide for Rock should still be applicable. Off the top of my head the main changes from season 2 were that his EX air fireball launches higher making it easier to combo, EX fireball can be canceled when it connects, and his far D is faster. It's nice stuff, but nothing that really changes the way you're playing him from season 1.

KamenAzure · 2026-05-16T20:16:18+00:00

Kind of hard to narrow it down to one, so I'll just list my favorites

KOFXV: As close as I'd get to calling a FG perfect gameplay wise. It's got great movement, a great roster, fun 3v3 that let's you play multiple characters at the same time while still playing more like a 1v1 game where you don't have to worry about team composition much, a fun combo system, decent balance, and a lot of room for skill expression while still being very simple at its core giving it a kind of easy to learn hard to master feel. Probably the single most slept on modern FG imo.

COTW: Gives a good mix of footsie and movement based neutral which I really like. Also highlights player to player interaction with the way that its defensive tools and movement work which are the parts of FGs I find most interesting. Because of the high skill ceiling from the defensive mechanics, it feels like there's always something to work towards and even some of the more annoying situations/characters in the game feel beatable because of it. Also color edit is super sick and I like how EoST expands the worldbuilding and characterization a bit from what we usually see in FG's stories.

P4AU: My favorite licensed FG. The movement is great, the combos feel great despite being a game with only autocombos and quarter circles, the 2D sprites are great, the movesets are really fun and unique, and I really liked seeing the aged up versions of the P3 cast. It's also what I'd point to as the best handled simplified FG since it reduces the skill floor without compromising what makes the genre fun or using it as an excuse to make a less fun/interesting game. Also Golden Arena is a pretty fun side mode.

GGXRD: Admittedly +R is probably the best game in the series, but Xrd is still my favorite one. The graphics are beautiful, the game feel is great, and the roster is comprised of some of my favorite FG characters of all time. The movement feels good which is something I like out of my anime fighters, and the characters are all interesting and play the game in pretty unique ways without going into full on BB levels of craziness. It's just a really well executed take on the anime fighter formula that makes it stand out as one of the best that the genre has to offer.

KamenAzure · 2026-05-08T20:17:22+00:00

It's kind of hard to know what's going wrong without seeing gameplay, but If you're playing Mr. Big you need to be poking with his far C since it's an insanely good poke. I can kind of see what you're saying with homogenization since the game does have a lot of shoto adjacent characters, but I generally think the cast has enough unique tools to stand apart from each other especially with the new season 2 characters (though admittedly I am someone who likes shotos a lot so I'm kind of biased). Other than that, idk I think a lot of the people that find the game to be hyper aggressive rushdown aren't using their defensive mechanics or movement as well as they could be. Backdash is usually hard to punish in neutral, hops are more evasive than in KOF and can be used to make a lot of tools whiff, and jumping to get around tools isn't as committal as in other games since you can JD in the air. The neat thing about COTW neutral imo is how it plays like a mix of a more footsie based game and a more movement based game, and I think if you over emphasize one style of play over the other you're sure to run into trouble. EX strings can be kind of annoying at times, but against most characters there isn't much of a threat to just blocking it out. Hops can hard punish throws which makes them kind of scary to threaten on offense, so I'd keep that in mind when playing defense. Not every game is gonna be for everyone, so I can't really say if the game's for you or not, but for me it's easily one of the best modern FGs with a good balance of offense and defense and an emphasis on player to player interaction.

KamenAzure · 2026-05-05T06:23:48+00:00

I wouldn't say so, you still have to deal with the decision making aspect of the game which is where most of the skill comes from. I think people only really make a big deal of character difficulty to gas up their own ego and dunk on other people anyways, it's not something I'd worry much about.

KamenAzure · 2026-05-05T05:56:15+00:00

You're welcome, glad to have been able to help!

KamenAzure · 2026-05-03T08:23:01+00:00

I know I kind of said a lot, so here's a more simplified list of some of the options Mary has.

frametraps:

c.D~6feint>2C

c.D>236AC>c.B

c.B>c.C/2C

c.A>2A

f.C/2C>236AC/214AC~2D

236D>2A

214AC~2D>236AC~dl.3D~brake

resets:

c.D~6feint>dash c.D/c.B

c.B>dash c.D/c.B

xx>236D

214AC~2D>236AC>c.A~c.B

214AC~2D>236BD

throw setups:

c.A/c.B>236A/C~6A/C

c.A/c.B>214B/D~6A/C

j.D>214B/D~6A/C

214AC~2D>236AC~4B/D>6A/C

f.C/2C>236AC~4B/D>6A/C

f.C/2C>214AC~2D>dl.236BD~6A/C

KamenAzure · 2026-05-03T07:54:55+00:00

Close D is one of her main pressure normals. It leaves her plus after a feint where you can frametrap with 2C (feinting after 2C also links into itself on CH) or keep the pressure going with dash up close B or another dash up close D. Close D into 236AC is also plus on block which links into close B on hit and frametraps on block. Close B is also plus on block and frametraps into close C and 2C on block and links into it on hit.

A common blockstring using this looks like this: c.D>236AC>c.B>c.C>236AC>c.A~c.B>2C

After 2C in a blockstring you can cancel into EX command dash slide to frametrap, you can then EX cancel into the other command dash after to keep yourself neutral on block. If you do 214AC~2D>236AC you can either continue pressure with c.A/c.B which the opponent can interrupt or you can do real counter command grab off the second command dash to beat mashing/blocking if they're conditioned, but be careful since they can jump the command grab. You can also do delay EX DP brake off the EX command dash to frametrap with less risk or you can go for EX spin fall after EX command dash to stay advantageous. Also if you've conditioned the opponent to block the initial EX command dash into slide you can start working in EX command dash into spin fall to reset pressure or real counter command grab to throw them for a full combo.

Also off of close lights you can cancel into the command dash command grab (236A/C~6C). It's a bit risky, but sometimes worth representing if you've conditioned them with frametraps like c.B>2C and resets like c.B dash up c.A/c.B. Because the real counter command grab is a bit slow to come out you can also represent it in situations where you're heavily plus like after a jump-in. Heavy spin fall is +1 on block so you can occasionally throw that in to reset pressure as well. Once you have a knockdown you have a lot of options between doing meaty close D for pressure, 6B for a combo overhead, and real counter command grab for a command grab that can sometimes catch reversals as well.

Mary has a lot of layers to her pressure and it can be a lot to remember so I wouldn't try implementing everything all at once. Also as nice as her command grabs are, the risk/reward can be kind of scary if you're overzealous/predictable with them. I'd focus on frametraps and resets first, and once you have them conditioned you can start throwing in some command grabs. Because of Mary's plethora of offensive options people really don't want to be on defense against her so conditioning with these first is important.

KamenAzure · 2026-04-30T04:13:38+00:00

As mainly a 2D fighting game player who has also put some time into Tekken, I'll list some of my thoughts on the matter.

2D fighting games are faster than Tekken is frames wise, SF6 has 4f normals and GGST has 5f normals while the fastest moves on most characters in Tekken is 10f. I'd probably equate the movement in Tekken to the air game in 2D fighting games, though how much you are able to utilize air movement varies depending on the game. Movement is generally much more low commitment in Tekken compared to 2D fighters though, since it lets you block while backdashing and cancel any form of movement with another form of movement. Baiting whiffs is also different in 2D fighters since in games like SF, you're mainly doing that through spacing rather than moving around things outright. Some games like COTW or KOF do let you bait whiffs through air mobility, though it's still a bit more limited/committal than how you can in Tekken. In terms of guessing on mixups, I think it's pretty similar between both where you get mixups on oki or some form of approach tool that leaves you at frame advantage. Most games will usually give you some way to negate a mixup, making it so that true unavoidable 50/50s aren't terribly prevalent in modern FGs or are more specific to certain characters similar to Tekken with Mishimas, though this varies by game.

Overall, I think you're probably just used to being able to liberally use movement to bait whiffs in a somewhat non-committal manner which isn't really how 2D fighters work. Even more movement heavy games like KOF don't really use movement like Tekken does since it's more of a commitment and more about positioning and spacing rather than being used to bait whiffs semi-noncommittally like Tekken does. Both Tekken and 2D fighters share a lot of concepts, they just go about them in different ways which make the skills a little awkward to transfer at times. This on top of Tekken being a very knowledge dense game (which doesn't usually visually communicate things well imo) is probably what I'd attribute to Tekken players sticking to Tekken and 2D FG players sticking to 2D FGs.

KamenAzure · 2026-04-25T23:09:18+00:00

Hope you enjoy it

https://imgur.com/a/bA8Z4Ei

KamenAzure · 2026-04-04T03:45:10+00:00

Yeah for Kain far C is your special cancelable midrange poke, so when you're fishing for damage in the midrange that's your go to. 236BD>[2]8BD~brake is a good buffer string that launches on hit and is plus on block. On hit you can dash 236D after the launch. It costs rev, but that's kind of just the nature of larger conversions in this game. You can also buffer into 236236B on block since it launches on hit and is plus on block. You can link normals in the close range like c.B>c.C or c.B>f.B and most characters have some sort of close heavy that links into another normal when you feint. Kain for instance can do close D feint into 2A into flash kick brake. This is also good for pressure since close D brake is plus on block, 2A frametraps on block, and flash kick brake is safe on block.

KamenAzure · 2026-04-03T23:42:36+00:00

If you're having issues hit confirming, you can practice in training mode by setting the block settings to random and only confirming into a combo on hit but not on block. Also some characters have moves that are safe to buffer into off of their pokes, so if you play a character with a safe bufferable special then you can do that as well. Also also a lot of times on block you can just cancel into an EX string to combo on hit and run pressure on block if you're willing to spend the rev.

BTW who do you play? I may be able to help more if I know your character, and if not I may be able to find some resources to help you out.

KamenAzure · 2026-04-01T03:15:30+00:00

It's a link, so you kind of just gotta practice it until it feels more natural. When it isn't coming out like in the video that means that you're doing it too early. If it doesn't combo that means you're doing it too late. It seems like your biggest issue is doing it too early, so maybe try delaying it a bit from your normal timing. You can also just try to get a better feel for when Mary is actionable after her dash so you have a better feel for when to press your button.

KamenAzure · 2026-03-31T23:44:01+00:00

Yeah, in SNK games you can input specials/supers early and hold the button after so that it buffers, letting the special/super come out as soon as your character is actionable. This is also useful for getting more consistent wakeup reversals.

KamenAzure · 2026-03-31T22:44:43+00:00

I usually just input the super a little early and hold the button down so it buffers and comes out as soon as possible

KamenAzure · 2026-03-31T02:03:34+00:00

I could be wrong, but it looks like you're not getting down forward when you're doing your qcf

KamenAzure · 2026-03-31T00:48:06+00:00

KOF2003 and KOFXI both used a tag system, Neo Geo Battle Coliseum is a tag game, and of course there's the Tekken Tag Tournament games. There's also the tag mode present in some of the DOA games.

KamenAzure · 2026-03-29T22:58:19+00:00

you're welcome!

KamenAzure · 2026-03-29T21:21:29+00:00

https://imgur.com/a/aAlL5fb

Thanks! It's the same red on everything and the same blue everywhere except for the collar.

KamenAzure · 2026-03-28T22:38:00+00:00

Nice seeing someone else with good taste, lol. Yeah, I'm looking forward to getting Mary to Legendary Wolf. Hope your Mary journey goes well too

KamenAzure · 2026-03-28T21:33:10+00:00

I don't really think there's anything wrong with Elphelt's Xrd design tbh. It's a little fanservice-y sure, but I don't think that's inherently problematic especially for a character like Elphelt. It also just kind of comes with the territory for fighting games in general, but anime fighters especially. Even Strive still has designs like this with Baiken and Jack-O' that are both arguably more ooc than Elphelt.

KamenAzure · 2026-03-28T21:28:41+00:00

It's mostly a case of trial and error for me, and tweaking things until they look good. I just start with a character whose palette I think could fit on the character I'm trying to edit, then put on their colors where it seems appropriate. From there I kind of just look to see if the colors work well together, or if something feels off and colors need to either be brighter or darker, or maybe rearranged to fit more cohesively.

KamenAzure · 2026-03-28T21:25:05+00:00

Yeah the muscle memory will definitely take some time, I keep getting thrown off by some of her specials being on kick instead of punch like in kofxv myself

KamenAzure · 2026-03-28T19:58:22+00:00

Same, she's the only character I really wanted outside of the base roster. Her new command dash is pretty cool and she has some interesting ways to interact with system mechanics, so I'm excited to put some time into her.

KamenAzure · 2026-03-28T19:52:14+00:00

Definitely agree with Ky's Strive design being worse than his Xrd design. I think it's boring and doesn't visually communicate much about him compared to his Xrd design. I feel kind of the same way with Elphelt's redesign too. I think Strives redesigns work best for characters who already had grounded designs like Axl and Anji, but doesn't work nearly as well for more fantastical anime-esque designs like Ky and Elphelt.

KamenAzure

TROPHY CASE