The King of Fighters XIV’s version 2.0 patch is now live; SNK shares the balance change details

Alongside the new stages, music tracks, and DLC characters, The King of Fighters XIV’s version 2.0 patch (available to download now!) brings with it a host of updates to the game and its balance.

The version 2.0 update features some changes to training and story modes, as well as a number of bug fixes all around. The bulk of the changes, however, are to the game’s characters, altering the overall balance. A big part of the balance update involves giving the characters individual health values–characters now have different health levels, instead of everyone having 1000 health like before. On the flipside, each character’s run speed after a Quick MAX activation is now the same. Each character also sees a number of significant changes to their move properties, in an effort to compress the game’s tier list; while the game isn’t badly balanced (and nowhere near as problematic as the previous KOF game), some characters have become conspicuous either by their prevalence at–or absence from–tournaments.

The whole change list itself is pretty extensive, clocking in a 25 pages long. Those interested in checking it out can do so here!

Source: SNK

 

Rising Up: Essential Street Fighter V matchup knowledge — Birdie

I think the biggest two factors separating the beginners from intermediate players are having a plan going into a match, and understanding your opponents’ options. Further, I see a lot of players, beginners and experienced players alike, moving incorrectly and losing potential punishes on certain characters. So I’ve decided to try a series of videos where I talk about the essential strengths and weaknesses of each character, and how to play against them. I believe that Street Fighter–and fighting games in general–are dramatically more fun and interesting when both players are playing at a high level, so I want to ensure every player is only losing to their opponent and not to the matchup. My first video is on Birdie, as I think he’s quite commonly played, yet fairly poorly understood.

In this video I talk about Birdie’s anti-air options, anti-fireball options, reversal options, and unsafe attacks. The information I demonstrate here is very important but somewhat rudimentary. I encourage anyone who watches to contribute some of their own anti-Birdie matchup knowledge in the video’s comments section. I have no set order planned to make these videos, and I’ll happily pick my next character based on demand, so I also encourage you to tell me which characters or which special moves give you the most trouble. I’ll prioritize what characters I’ll cover next based on the feedback I get.

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