« KOFXII & SFIV ARE MORE SIMILAR THAN YOU MAY THINK »

Not really from a gameplay perspective, but from a graphical standpoint.  I read online quite a bit these days questions like "Why didn't CAPCOM go full 2D with Street Fighter IV like SNK-Playmore did with King of Fighter XII?". Both games use 3D models, believe it or not, for their visuals.

Fact of the matter is King of Fighters XII uses a technique called "rotoscoping" which essentially means they created 3D models and drew over the models to create a genuine 2D look. Street Fighter IV uses standard 3D models on 2D plane with a stylized look. So yes, King of Fighters XII is hand drawn, but 3D models play a big part in its look and feel. 

The advantage Street Fighter IV has over King of Fighter XII in the visuals department is they are able to position the camera for scenes like Ultra moves, character intros and win poses. Since KOFXII's characters are on a strict 2D plane, they cannot rotate the camera in this fashion to create scenes like this. On the other hand, many people prefer a traditional 2D look that KOFXII has to offer. 

Overall both games will benefit from using 3D models to some degree. I feel it will be easier to add characters and make adjustments to gameplay since 3D models (I assume) are much easier to work with than 2D sprites. For example, the arcade version of Street Fighter IV just came out in late July, and since then they have added almost 2x as many characters to the console version which drops in February. One has to wonder if this would have been possible in such a short time if they were using traditional 2D sprites.

Comments

[fiveten]

I believe rotoscoping is what they did with PS2 3rd Strike port.

[haunts]

Ehh.. I dunno about that..! They already had all the sprites from the arcade so they probably just imported those. No need to redraw each frame.. I could be wrong though..

I did read online that SNK has been using rotoscoping since KOF 96 but who knows if that is true.