The King of Fighters All Star

The King of Fighters All Star is a beat 'em up role-playing game developed by Netmarble Games and published by SNK. It was first released in Japan on July 26, 2018 for the iOS and Android.[1] The game is a retelling of SNK's The King of Fighters games with the player being able to create their own team as they battle across multiple annual tournaments. It was released in English regions on October 22, 2019.[2]

The King of Fighters All Star
Promotional cover of The King of Fighters All Star
Developer(s)Netmarble Games
Publisher(s)SNK
EngineUnity 
Platform(s)Android, iOS
Release
  • JP: July 26, 2018
  • KR: May 9, 2019
  • WW: October 22, 2019
Genre(s)Beat 'em up, role-playing game
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay
Gameplay featuring Kyo Kusanagi as playable character and Benimaru Nikaido as Striker. The bottom right options indicate what special moves he can perform.

The game is a beat 'em up with elements of a role-playing game. The player controls one character as he engages multiple enemies until reaching the boss of the stage.[3] The character possesses normal techniques and special moves as well as Desperation Moves. The last two cannot be used consecutively as the player is given time to prepare for the next usage of the move. When first playing, the game offers the player a choice of the characters Kyo Kusanagi, Terry Bogard and Ryo Sakazaki. However, upon passing the first stage, the player can select randomly new characters developed by SNK. All characters carry a number of stars depending on how strong they can become and from what title they originate. For example, the first Kyo is his incarnation from The King of Fighters '94 but can be replaced by other incarnations of Kyo who possess more stars. Every time a stage is cleared, the player obtains different types of objects for multiple purposes such as increasing experience and raising stats, as well as rubies to summon more characters or restore their health.

The game often offers alternative versions of the characters that can only be obtained through events such as Halloween versions of Yashiro Nanakase or Kula Diamond.[4]

Plot

Main Event

The player meets a young woman named Noah who is concerned of his amnesia. Knowing that the player can fight with great skills, Noah invites him to participate into the tournaments "The King of Fighters" in hopes of regaining his identity when crossing paths with rivals. There are also three other characters overseeing Noah's role but their identities remain in secret: Ryugo, Kaya and Ein. The player is able to alter time across the future due to visions he has, by winning each tournament and defeating foes such as Rugal Bernstein and Goenitz. However, after Kyo Kusanagi, Iori Yagami and Chizuru Kagura defeat and seal the demon Orochi, Noah goes missing. In the next tournament, the player meets Kaya who is related to Noah. Kaya guides the player through the 98 fighting competition. Following his fights, the player meets Noah once again who has become distant towards him and claims she is only using him. The player then becomes possessed by Orochi but manages to reach the finals. Noah releases Omega Rugal in the finale where Kaya finds out about what Noah's true mission is and why she became associated with Ryugo. Although the player defeats Omega Rugal, he is unable to follow Noah due to his wounds as she leaves the area.

Sometime later, the NESTS saga begins, as the player and Kaya met Leah, who informs them that the letter she was about to send was stolen. They accepted her request to find the letter, and on their way there, they encounter Whip, a mercenary from the Ikari Team. After the fight, Whip gives them the letter, in which it says that the player is invited to participate in a new King of Fighters tournament, where each team will participate with four members, one of which will support a team. Then, they met K' and Maxima, who are the player's teammates, while Kaya will be a support character. Soon after, they participate in the tournament until they reach to the finals, where the player's team are heading to the underground basement to go face to face with Krizalid, a clone of K'. The player and his team defeat Krizalid, but a mysterious voice was heard, and Krizalid was crushed by a rubble. After a sudden fight against Kyo Kusanagi (who was missing sometime after the Orochi saga), the player and Kaya escaped from a collapsing basement, while K' and Maxima suddenly disappeared and found their own way out. One year later, the player and Kaya fought more enemies and found their invitation, but unfortunately, it was all crumpled and they may not be able to participate in another tournament. However, they met Benimaru Nikaido, Kyo's former teammate, and Shingo Yabuki, a fighter who idolizes Kyo, along with their new partners, Agent Seth and Lin of the Hizoku clan, who met each other in some other place. But, after a sudden fight against Lin, Seth was injured by Lin earlier and cannot fight for a while, so with no other option, the player and Kaya join Benimaru's team to participate. Team Benimaru fought their opponents and defeated them team by team, even Iori Yagami who was searching for Kyo. Suddenly, after the fight against Team K', they were ambushed by a mysterious girl with ice powers named Kula Diamond who froze the entire area. After a sudden fight, Kula gets away and Team Benimaru reached to the finals to confront the host of the tournament, Zero, the one who is responsible for infiltrating Heidern's base with a clone of himself under his fake name "Ling". Although they defeated Zero, he reveals that his plan all along is to kill everyone with his Zero Cannon satellite. However, his plan has been foiled and NESTS aimed the cannon at Zero, obliterating him in a process. Meanwhile, K' remembers who his sister was, and it was revealed that his sister is Whip, right after Zero tells her the truth before he dies. Elsewhere, the player and Kaya are somewhere at the destroyed area, despite what Ein told Kaya not to trust the player.

Epic Quest

After the events from the Orochi saga, Noah reveals her true villainous self and plans to open the Phantom Gate. She then proceeds to possess Blue Mary with a power of envy, revives Rugal with a power of greed, and possesses Chizuru with a power of wrath. However, the player with Kaya herself managed to defeat them and they met Noah again. In a last ditch effort, she creates a cyborg version of Goenitz and adds even more power to him. Eventually, the player destroys Mecha Goenitz, but Noah escaped and met Ryugo again where she introduces him to her new partner named "Shine".

Meanwhile, the player and Kaya encounter Saisyu Kusanagi, who is being controlled by an unknown berserk power. Soon after, the player fights a revived Yashiro Nanakase, now with a new power of the Orochi. But then, after the player defeats him once again, Yashiro informs them that Orochi will soon be released from the seal once again. Later, they fight a revived Chris, and just like last time, Orochi itself has been resurrected with far greater powers. However, using the powers of the three sacred treasures, the player defeats Orochi once more, thus sealing him away. The player and Kaya celebrate their victory as they walk away on sunset.

Crossover with Tekken

A martial artist named Jin Kazama and his antagonistic relatives, Kazuya Mishima and Heihachi Mishima, are invited to Rugal's tournament. Jin takes advantage of the tournament in order to kill both of his relatives and end the war between the generations. Across the tournament, Jin is pursued by the competitors from the King of Fighters tournament who believe that Jin's Devil Gene that causes him to mutate is related to Orochi. As Jin goes through the tournament, he is successful in defeating Heihachi and Kazuya. However, before he is able to kill Kazuya, Rugal interrupts him and fights him. After the final battle, Jin finds himself back in his own original dimension where he receives a letter from his uncle Lars Alexandersson in regards to the chaotic war and that he needs to finish it.

Playing the crossover with Iori Yagami results in the character being sought by other people from Tekken who believe he possesses Jin and Kazuya's Devil Gene rather than the Orochi curse known as Riot of the Blood that causes him to go berserker. Seeking to find his rival Kyo, Iori goes through the tournament facing members from Mishima family as well as people related to them. As he is about to kill Jin, Iori finds himself back in his own dimension where Kyo challenges to a fight.

Crossover with Samurai Shodown

A samurai named Haohmaru finds himself in a modern world where he challenges both Choi Bounge and Chang Koehan, while mistaking them for his opponents from his own world, Genan Shiranui and Earthquake. Following their defeat, Haohmaru defeats their mentor Kim Kaphwan who, noticing the potential Haohmaru has and the issues of his own fighting style, requests his enemy to take care of Choi and Chang. Haohmaru accepts and enters into the King of Fighters tournaments to find strong rival, which he later encounters Ukyo Tachibana after the Psycho Soldier team, Charlotte Christine de Colde after the Women Fighters team, and Rimururu after the K' team. While Choi and Chang are relieved that Kim is no longer testing them, they are still scared by Haohmaru and tried to eliminate him. During the tournament, Haohmaru sees Kyo and Iori in a one-on-one fight and learns from his teammates that they are rivals. This reminds the samurai of his own rival, Genjuro Kibagami, whom he fights soon after. Finally, Haohmaru confronts Shiro Tokisada Amakusa, the one responsible for the world crisis. After defeating Amakusa, Haohmaru finds himself back in the modern world and challenged Choi once again.

Crossover with WWE

Three WWE Superstars, Kofi Kingston, Seth Rollins, and Becky Lynch, are invited to a tournament by an unknown figure. Though Kofi knows about the King of Fighters history, Seth and Becky were unsure about participating the tournament, but Geese insists that they should compete. The Superstars then encountered the competitors throughout the tournament, such as the Women Fighters team, the American Sports team, Kim's team, the Art of Fighting team, and the '97 Special Team led by Geese's henchman Billy Kane. After the Superstars defeat the Fatal Fury team, they finally go face to face with Geese Howard. Then, they defeated Geese and won the tournament, as both Kofi and Becky celebrated their victory. However, Seth suddenly disappeared and took out Billy, announcing that he defeated Geese, thus taking over as the new crime lord of South Town.

One of the WWE Legends and "The People's Champion", The Rock, was invited by an unknown figure in the King of Fighters tournament, where his first opponents are Terry Bogard and his pupil, Rock Howard, son of Geese Howard. After defeating them, The Rock encountered the Ikari Team, followed by the Three Sacred Treasures Team and the Orochi team, where Yashiro informed him that the Orochi will soon be resurrected. However, The Rock does not care for any of that stuff as he proceeds to defeat the Orochi team. In the final match, The Rock went face to face with Orochi using Chris as his vessel. However, after he was defeated, Orochi became annoyed with The Rock's ego and decided that he will return to nothingness. The Rock then celebrated his victory by having a feast with Terry and Rock Howard.

The next WWE Legend is John Cena, where he was invited by an unknown figure to the tournament. His first match is against Kyo Kusanagi and Shingo Yabuki. After winning, Cena took Shingo as his new pupil for the tournament and encountered his opposing teams such as the Fatal Fury team, the Agent Team with Seth Rollins (whom Shingo thought it was Agent Seth from The King of Fighters 2000), and the Yagami Team. Cena then reached to the final match against the CEO of NESTS and the self-proclaimed "God", Igniz. After John defeated him, Igniz was about to activate a bomb to blow up his base. However, Shingo managed to get Heidern and all units to deactivate the bomb, foiling Igniz's last ditch effort. Igniz became disappointed, but suddenly, Cena suggested that Igniz should be a pharmacist to make some medicine. After that, Cena went with Kim Kaphwan to the "army" that he mentioned. In the epilogue, Chang and Choi found a shiny golden urn, unaware of whom does that object belong to.

The last of the WWE Legends is the "Dead Man Walking" himself, The Undertaker, where he was invited by an unknown figure to the tournament. His first match is against Chang Koehan and Choi Bounge, who were trying to steal that golden urn. After winning, The Undertaker fought the other teams, such as the American Sports Team, the K' Team, and the Yagami Team, as his opposing teams felt their presence from him when they heard a bell toll sound and saw a mist out of nowhere. He then reached to the final match to go up against Omega Rugal, the real host of the tournament. The Undertaker defeats him, but in a last ditch effort, Rugal activated the self-destruct sequence to blow up his base, and then he disappeared. The Undertaker vows to take Rugal's soul one day the next time they meet each other. One month later, the King of Fighters tournament has been announced, and the American Sports Team are the first team to fight. But suddenly, they felt the presence that is very familiar to them.

Crossover with Gin Tama

An odd-jobs freelancer Gintoki Sakata is hanging out in the Yorozuyan shop with Shinpachi Shimura and Kagura, while they break the fourth wall by noticing that they are in a crossover with The King of Fighters All Star. When suddenly, they've been transported to the world of The King of Fighters, where they meet the player and Noah, and Shinpachi only appeared as a floating pair of glasses. Noah explained to them that what they're holding is an invitation letter to participate in the King of Fighters tournament, and the only way for them to get home is to win. Since Shinpachi can't fight due to being glasses, Gintoki and Kagura team up with the player so they can all participate as a team of three fighters. Meanwhile, somewhere in a city, two of the Shinsengumi Police Force, Toushirou Hijikata and Sougo Okita, have also ended up in the King of Fighters world with the invitation letters, and they believe that the Yorozuyan Gin-chan crew is the one behind all of this, so they split up to find them. Elsewhere, the player, Noah, and the Yorozuyan Gin-chan crew were transported to Kabuki District, but it's not the same Kabuki District the crew knows. Then, Gintoki and the others encountered Kyo Kusanagi and defeated him. Thinking that it's over, Gintoki, Kagura, and Shinpachi bid the player and Noah goodbye. But unfortunately, they ended up in a loophole with them. Noah explained further that they must win the entire tournament in order to go home, not just one match. As they move on, they encountered an unknown person in a white penguin sheet wearing the costume of Terry Bogard. It was then revealed that the one they encountered was Elizabeth, although Shinpachi pointed out that it's a fake Elizabeth, and Noah wonders what does the real Elizabeth looks like. Then, they fought another fake Elizabeth, and this time he was wearing the costume of Mr. Big. After that, they encountered Hijikata, whom Gintoki recognize his obsession with mayonnaise. Hijikata thinks Gintoki and his friends are the culprits who are causing trouble, so the crew was left with no choice but to defeat him, while being transported to another location. After they beat Hijikata, Gintoki explained to Noah about Elizabeth. Elizabeth is a pet that belongs to Kotaro Katsura and he only communicates with other people with his picket signs because he can't talk. As Gintoki and Kagura were yelling their made-up special moves (and insulting Shinpachi), they fought another Terizabeth. Afterwards, Gintoki complained that they were fighting many men and not a single woman, but Noah tells them that there are women participating in the tournament. As they were transported back to the false Kabuki District, they encountered Mai Shiranui, whom Gintoki and Shinpachi are both attracted to her, until Kagura kicks Gintoki when she became annoyed with jealousy. After they win another match, they saw the real Elizabeth filming them with a camera for some reason. They tried to catch him, but he quickly got away as Gintoki and Kagura end up on the trash cans. Later, Shinpachi gets insulted about being a pair of glasses and doing nothing at all, and after being called "useless", he cries and runs away (or in this case "floats away"), although he quickly got back soon after they defeat yet another Terizabeth. Gintoki and the others then encountered Isao Kondou, commander of the Shinsengumi Police Force and the "gorilla" whom they explained that to the player and Noah earlier. They called him a "gorilla" because he was being a pervert who is in love with Tae Shimura, Shinpachi's sister. Nevertheless, Kondou is a formidable swordfighter who never backs down from a fight. Gintoki and his team began to fight Kondou and defeated him, while ending up on yet another location. As they didn't notice Elizabeth filming them again, Gintoki decides that he should stop searching for Elizabeth and that he would rather stay in the KOF world than going back to the real Kabuki District. However, Kagura and Noah point out that they don't sell the Jump magazines in the KOF world, because those magazines don't exist. This irritates Gintoki as he changes his mind and continues the search for Elizabeth while fighting and defeating another Mr. Zabeth. The player has a plan to lure Elizabeth out, and that plan is to fight the Shinsengumi as he films that fight, so they can capture him. Gintoki and the others follow through the player's plan as they encounter the remaining member of the Shinsengumi, Okita. The crew explained to the player and Noah that Okita is a foulmouth and a sadist who tortures anyone with a whip and he frequently uses a bazooka. This scares Noah as she hid behind Gintoki. Nonetheless, Okita is the best swordfighter and he shows them no mercy. The fight began and, while being transported yet again to yet another location as Gintoki expected, they defeated Okita. The plan to lure Elizabeth out worked as they trapped him to a dead end. He explained to them that he was filming the fights to produce a sequel to an action film, which the crew find that hard to believe. But before they take the camera from him, a swordsman with an eyepatch suddenly stops them. The crew knows who he is, his name is Shinsuke Takasugi, one of the Kiheitai, and he's the most dangerous swordsman they have ever encountered. Takasugi explained to Gintoki that the real reason why they ended up in the KOF world is because of the cursed camera Elizabeth was holding. As they were all transported to a final area, the final battle between Gintoki and Takasugi has begun. It was a tough battle, but with the help of Kagura and the player, Gintoki defeated Takasugi. As they celebrated their victory, the Shinsengumi arrived to find out what's going on, but Shinpachi breaks the fight between the Yorozuya Gin-chan and the Shinsengumi by explaining to them that the real culprit is Elizabeth and the cursed camera. However, Elizabeth claimed that he's not really Elizabeth, he's the director of an action film, and thanks to them, he can make a sequel. But, Shinpachi gets angry at him when he finally figures out that he is a pair of glasses because Elizabeth made his real body disappear. The Yorozuya Gin-chan and the Shinsengumi then beat up Elizabeth and break the camera, thus breaking the curse. As their bodies become transparent, Gintoki, Kagura, and Shinpachi are finally going back home where they belong. With the last fist bump between the player and Gintoki, the cast of Gin Tama vanished. In the epilogue, Shinpachi and Kagura woke Gintoki up, but when Gintoki explained to them that they were at the KOF world with the player, they didn't believe him and said that he was just being drunk last night. Gintoki soon believes that this entire collaboration event was all a dream, or so he thought, because right under him, he was holding the KOF invitation letter. But before the story ends, Shinpachi complained and asked why he was never put on screen, which Gintoki and Kagura claimed that the creators of this game don't have enough money to reveal him, so they cut him out. Shinpachi ends on a note that he will never work with Netmarble ever again.

In the sequel, Gintoki is snoring in the Yorozuyan shop, as he dreamed about himself as his "White Yaksha" form, fighting against an army of robots. When suddenly, Gintoki woke up as he was being crushed by two people who fell from the sky and made a huge hole in a ceiling: The player and Kaya. Gintoki then read the KOF invitation letter, which says that they are invited to participate in the KOF tournament as a team of 3 fighters, and the winning team will have a pork cutlets party. Gintoki is uninterested to participate at first, but after Kagura convinced him that she wanted to eat the pork cutlets, he was then forced to participate, forming a team of Gintoki, Kagura, and the player once again. The host of the tournament has a name that starts with a "K", and they wonder who is that host. Then, as the landlord heard the noise and bangs the door, Gintoki and the others make a quick getaway from being scolded. As they arrived at Kabuki District, Kaya gets freaked out when Shinpachi became a pair of glasses once again. Shinpachi then asks the player what happened between him and Noah, in which the player explained that she betrayed him and that Kaya is his partner from now on. Then, Kagura suspects that Kaya is the host whose name starts with a "K", although Shinpachi stops Kagura from blaming someone. Suddenly, Jhun Hoon appeared in front of the crew, along with Kim Kaphwan and Chang Koehan. Kaya claims that Kim is the host whose name starts with a "K", and after Chang steals a pickled seaweed from Kagura, Gintoki and his team start fighting against Team Kim. After winning the fight, Gintoki asks Kim if he is the host, but Kim makes a rebuttal by saying that he is not the host, he was only there to participate with his team. Meanwhile, Choi Bounge was wandering around the street, being separated from his teammates, until the Shinsengumi appeared and captured him. Later that night, Gintoki complained that it is no fun fighting against men and he demands the producers to bring back a certain bombshell kunoichi for fan service. Speaking of which, Mai Shiranui appeared, along with Yuri Sakazaki and King, whom Kaya claims that King is the host whose name starts with a "K". Gintoki and his team fight against Team Women Fighters and ended up winning as Kagura made her finishing blow to rip off the clothes from Yuri and King, for fan service, and even Shinpachi was nose bleeding despite only being glasses. As they went to a rooftop, the player, Kaya, and the Yorozuya Gin-chan encounter a trouble-making robot named "Stein", who was responsible for turning men into women, with Chang as an example of that. After they defeated an army of robots, Stein gets away, but Gintoki remembers that he saw it in his dream when Stein was with Elizabeth and that unknown swordsman. and that Stein may be involved with the host of this tournament. The next day, they encountered someone familiar to the crew, and they tell the player and Kaya that his name is "Zura", although Zura claims that it is not his real name. Suddenly, Gintoki and the rest were ambushed by the Shinsengumi, but fortunately, they managed to fight them off and they managed to escape. Then, they claim that the host of the tournament might be Kondou, whose name also starts with a "K". Later, they once again encountered Kondou, Hijikata, and Okita, and they witnessed that Joe Higashi and Choi are both in chains. Kondou and Hijikata framed Joe and Choi for being part of the Jouishishi, and as Kaya tries to prove them wrong, the both of them became too stubborn to admit they are wrong, which Okita finds it amusing. After Gintoki and Kagura insulted them, the battle between the Yorozuya Gin-chan and the Shinsengumi has begun. The Yorozuya Gin-chan won the fight, and after freeing Joe and Choi, they started taunting the unconscious Shinsengumi, which Kagura now regrets freeing them both. Back to the Kabuki District, while the crew were complaining about the progression of this story, they encountered Kula Diamond, Maxima, and K'. Kagura lured Kula out with a pickled seaweed, which Kula likes her snack. As Kaya claims that K' is the host whose name starts with a "K", the crew fought and defeated Team K'. After that, while Kagura introduces Kula her pet Sadaharu, Maxima informs Gintoki that K' is not the host, as Team K' were only on a mission to find the Amanto's spaceship and go to space to arrive at Rakuyou. Team K' decided to help the crew go to Rakuyou in order to find the host. After arriving at Rakuyou, they encountered Kamui, a member of the Yato tribe and Kagura's brother. Kagura knows his brother well, she does not believe that he is the host whose name starts with a "K", and his smile rubs them the wrong way. After they fight him, Kamui got up like it was nothing, not a scratch on him, knowing that Kamui is the most dangerous man they have ever faced. But then, Gintoki encountered Takasugi again, and Takasugi was about to kidnap Kaya to bring her to Stein in order to re-write the world. Kamui stops Takasugi and claims that Gintoki and the player are his prey, but Takasugi is not looking for a fight, so they teamed up to fight Gintoki and the player. Thankfully, Gintoki and the player barely made it out alive as they defeated Kamui and Takasugi. Unfortunately, the crew were all disappointed that there is no one left whose name starts with a "K" after defeating the final boss. Suddenly, Zura returned, and he corrected them all that his real name is Kotarou Katsura, thus revealing himself as the real host of the tournament whose name starts with a "K". Then, Stein appeared again, being in cahoots with Katsura. After Gintoki breaks the fourth wall by bringing up the previous collaboration, the WWE, Elizabeth appeared right next to Katsura, and Katsura calls him by his new name "Neo Elizabeth". Katsura then tells Gintoki that he and Elizabeth want their revenge for not appearing in this collaboration 2 years ago, as the real final battle begins. In the end, Gintoki and his friends defeated Katsura and Elizabeth, while the player and Kaya have finally apprehended Stein. With their mission accomplished, the player and Kaya are bidding the Yorozuya Gin-chan crew farewell, hoping that they will meet again, even though Jinpachi will never get his body back. However, right behind the crew, there is Katsura's bomb placed behind them that is about to explode. In the epilogue, the entire story reveals that Jinpachi was playing this game on his smartphone, until it explodes and breaks a hole on a ceiling, again, causing the landlord to rush in and scold the crew. In the post credit, the player and Kaya went back to their own world with Stein. However, Stein woke up and faked its apprehension. And then, Stein got away, forcing the player and Kaya to go after it and going back to square one.

Crossover with Seven Knights

In the dark alley, Shine met Stein and, while aware of Stein's antics, she suggested to make a deal for it. Meanwhile, as the player and Kaya are searching for Stein, they were ambushed by Mighty Most. However, an angel knight appeared out of nowhere and defeated that giant boss. His name is Rudy, one of the Seven Knights, and apparently, he knows the player and Kaya. Rudy handed the player an invitation for them to participate a KOF tournament, while Rudy flies off to search for Chris. After that, the player and Kaya met Shine, who was informed by Rudy about the player's skills. Shine knows about Rudy and the rest of the Seven Knights, they rule the land called "Asgar", although Kaya points out that "Asgar" looks exactly like the same location from the KOF world. Shine escorted them to the next area, "Silent Mine", where the player's next opposing team is Team Korea. Despite being defeated, Chang suddenly got up and spin around with his iron ball very rapidly like a tornado, until he was stopped by another one of the Seven Knights, Eileene. She informs the player about those incidents that are happening to this tournament, such as the part where Terra is in chaos because of Chris. Shine suggested that the only way is for Eileene to cooperate with Rachel, another one of the Seven Knights and ruler of Blazing Desert, though Eileene doesn't trust her. Shine then escorted them to the next area where the player fought Team Art of Fighting and defeated them. Afterwards, they moved on to Blazing Desert, and they witnessed that the fuzzy rabbit's carriages are destroyed. Suddenly, a fuzzy rabbit ambushed them, and that "fuzzy rabbit" was Yuri Sakazaki. She blames them for destroying her carriages and decides to fight them while teaming up with Mai Shiranui and May Lee to form the new Women Fighters Team. The player defeated the ladies, and Yuri realized that it was all a misunderstanding and apologized for that. To make it up to them, Yuri handed them a Kyokugenryu cola, a special drink flavored with Kyokugenryu bulgogi sause, as she hops away. Shine escorted the player and Kaya to the next area, Dark Grave, and the player's next opponents are Team Psycho Soldier, but among them, there is a knight in black armor. Shine knows him, his name is Dellons, a member of the Seven Knights who is radiating his dark energy. After the player defeats Team Psycho Soldier, Kensou suddenly got up and went berserk like Chang. However, Kensou collapsed after eating too many dumplings. Dellons walked away in disappointment as he proceeds to his plan. After that, Shine escorted them to the next area, Frozen Land, where they need a permission from the Ice Queen to get the mirror in order to transport them to the Purgatory. Then they realized that the "Ice Queen" is Kula Diamond, since she's the only fighter with ice powers, and she's busy eating her ice cream. However, Kaya accidentally slips on Kula and forced her to drop her ice cream, angering Kula in a process. Kula then decides to fight the player while teaming up with K' and Maxima. Although Team Kula was defeated, she is not giving up, so in order to calm her down, Kaya handed her a Kyokugenryu bulgogi cola, and Kula likes it. After that, Kula used her mirror to transport them to the Purgatory, despite hating the heat on that area. After arriving at the Purgatory, they heard a clash of weapons. The player, Kaya, and Shine met Rudy again, who was being overwhelmed by Chris and his Power of Darkness. The player saves Rudy and goes to fight Chris who teams up with Shermie and Yashiro Nanakase, all in their Halloween costumes. Even though Chris was defeated, he taunts Rudy that the Seven Knights will fight under the influence of the Power of Destruction hiding within them. Rudy, however, will not give in to that voice and the Seven Knights will triumph over evil. As Chris disappears, Rudy decides to rest up while the player and Kaya went back to Blazing Desert to stop the fight between Eileene and Rachel. However, Rachel was irritated by an interference and decides to fight them anyway. After a fight, the player and Kaya informed Eileene and Rachel about the Fragment of Destruction during a fight between Rudy and Chris. Suddenly, Dellons appeared and Eileene finds out that he is the one who made the other fighters go berserk. Then, they were transported to the final area, where Dellons transformed into a grim reaper to kill the player and Kaya. However, Rudy blocked the attack and he, alongside Rachel and Eileene, fight Dellons in a final battle between knights. Although Dellons was outnumbered and outmatched, Darkness engulfs him and reveals his true Fragment of Destruction. He then disappears into the darkness, and Asgar is back to normal. Three of the Seven Knights thanked the player for his help, and although Eileene and Rachel still don't trust each other, Rudy flies off to talk it out with Chris. Kaya is a little disappointed that neither Eileene nor Rachel made up with each other. The player and Kaya still didn't get to find Stein, and they wondered where Shine went. Back to the dark alley, Shine was going to reveal a location for Stein, but then she tricked that robot and shuts it down. Shine then states that it is only the beginning of a parade of errors.

Development and promotion

The game was first announced in Chokaigi 2017 where the developers stated they would bring the franchise composed of fighting games to role-playing games.[5] The first teaser was released in May 2018.[6] Global version manager Ying Chen states that the developers aimed for players to make their own types of teams per preference. In regards to the timing between the original Eastern and Western versions, Chen said that the developers wanted Westerns to receive the same treatment.[7] SNK wanted to create a mobile game offering fun of control. They focused on letting our players to enjoy multiple combination and powerful sense of hitting through simple moves. The cards were added in order to provide a sort of strategic feeling. It was developed be appealed by a wide range of players. In order to make the game stand within other mobile phone games, the team added multiplayer options, something rare in the market. SNK stated that Netmarble already had a large experience within mobile phone games worldwidely and wanted them to continue with this tradition.[8]

The translation from the fighting game system to a side-scrolling game was felt be well executed by the developers. The game was created with the Unity engine with SNK wishing to create appealing graphics in the process. While the game offers the player the idea of buying different features, the company wanted to still give them freedom in regards to what they could do.[9] The development team worked to make everything seem unique, that the basic attacks seem like signature moves.[10] Writer Akihiko Ureshino stated SNK will not use characters from the EX spin-off games from the Game Boy Advance and instead Maximum Impact characters from the PlayStation 2 as the former were noted to be less popular than the latter.[11]

All Star has made crossovers with other series. One is Samurai Shodown, another franchise by SNK involving Haohmaru, Genjuro Kibagami, Ukyo Tachibana, Charlotte Christine de Cold, Rimururu and Shiro Tokisada Amakusa.[12] In promoting the cellphone game, Kyo was portrayed by Yuichi Nakamura for a commercial alongside Hiroshi Fujioka as Haohmaru. Nakamura reflects enjoying this work due to admiring his superiors, most notably Fujioka.[13][14] The next one is Hideaki Sorachi's manga series Gin Tama in October 2018. For this promotion, the characters of Gintoki Sakata, Kagura, Shinsuke Takasugi, Isao Kondo, Sougo Okita, Toshiro Hijikata appeared as guest characters. The Gin Tama collaboration made its return on July 2020, making its debut on the Global version, with four more characters from Gin Tama being added: Gintoki Sakata in his "White Yaksha" form, Kamui, Kotarou Katsura, and Elizabeth.[15] In July 2019, Jin Kazama, Heihachi Mishima and Kazuya Mishima from Bandai Namco's Tekken series were revealed to be playable characters in the game.[16] More characters from Tekken were revealed and made their debut in November 2019 including Armor King II, Paul Phoenix and Ling Xiaoyu.[17]

In May 2020, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, The Undertaker, John Cena, Seth Rollins, Kofi Kingston, and Becky Lynch from WWE were revealed to be playable characters in the game.[18] Shin Hwa Cho from Netmarble expressed excitement in regards to this collaboration as it would appeal to newcomers to the series. Brian Flinn from WWE shared similar feelings as it would popularize the wrestlers throughout the game.[19]

In November 2020, KOF All Star made a new crossover with Seven Knights, a franchise by Netmarble, where Rudy, Rachel, Eileene, Dellons, and Shane were revealed to be playable characters in the game.

Reception

All Star got a 16 out of 20 by Jeux Video.[20] Multiplayer scored it a 7.3 out of 10.[21] Kotaku praised the presentation and gameplay but noted that the usage of microtransactions might leave players with mixed thoughts in regards to the need of collecting as many fighters they want.[3]

All Star also made it to Apple's Best of 2019.[22]

References
  1. "The King of Fighters All Star Launches On July 26 With Early Access On July 24". Siliconera. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  2. "King Of Fighters All Star Will Enter The Ring Across The Globe On October 22, 2019". Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  3. Fahey, Mike (October 23, 2019). "The New King Of Fighters Mobile Game Kicks A Fair Amount Of Ass". Kotaku. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
  4. "The King Of Fighters All Star Celebrates Halloween By Dressing Up Angel, Kula, Mature, Shermie, And Yashiro". Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  5. "The King of Fighters All Star llevará la serie al género RPG de acción". Level up. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  6. "The King of Fighters All Star se muestra en su primer teaser". Sport. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  7. "Netmarble On How King of Fighters All Star's Global Version Will Pace Itself With The Korean Version". Siliconera. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  8. "The King of Fighters All-Star Interview – Turning A Fighter Into An RPG". Gaming Bolt. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  9. "The King of Fighters All-Star Interview – Turning A Fighter Into An RPG". Play4. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  10. "KoF: All Star "re-imagining a nostalgia filled beat 'em up"". Game Reactor. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  11. Ureshino, Akihiko [@NvKknpbmkIbDg6m] (November 14, 2019). "『EX』系のキャラは出せないよ。てか、そのへんのキャラ拾うくらいなら『MI』のキャラ拾うほうが楽だしお金かからないよ。" (Tweet) (in Japanese). Retrieved October 14, 2019 – via Twitter.
  12. "KOF ALLSTAR×サムライスピリッツ 天草降臨 コラボ特設サイト | THE KING OF FIGHTERS ALLSTAR". kofallstar.netmarble.jp (in Japanese). Archived from the original on January 7, 2020. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  13. Nakamura, Yuichi [@NvKknpbmkIbDg6m] (May 21, 2019). "『KOF ALLSTAR』" (Tweet) (in Japanese). Retrieved October 7, 2019 – via Twitter.
  14. Nakamura, Yuichi [@NvKknpbmkIbDg6m] (May 21, 2019). "『KOF ALLSTAR』" (Tweet) (in Japanese). Retrieved October 7, 2019 – via Twitter.
  15. "The King of Fighters All Star Is Getting A Gintama Collaboration On October 11". Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  16. "『鉄拳7』と『KOF AS』がコラボ！" (in Japanese). Retrieved July 22, 2019.
  17. "KOF ALLSTAR×鉄拳7 コラボ特設サイト | THE KING OF FIGHTERS ALLSTAR". kofallstar.netmarble.jp (in Japanese). Archived from the original on December 14, 2019. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  18. "KOF ALLSTAR×WWE COLLABORATION - THE KING OF FIGHTERS". kofallstar.netmarblw.jp (in Japanese). Archived from the original on June 29, 2020. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  19. "Crossover entre The King of Fighters All Star y WWE ya está disponible". Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  20. "Test : The King of Fighters : AllStar : Un casting impressionnant pour un jeu percutant". Jeux Video. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  21. "The King of Fighters: All Star, la recensione". Multiplayer. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  22. "Best of 2019". Apple. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
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