Back when The King of Fighters XIII was first released for consoles in 2011, SNK and its baby franchise weren’t exactly in a good position. The company was struggling financially, the fighting game scene was at a pretty annoying low, and The King of Fighters XII, released two years prior, was considered a major disappointment. Be it for the small roster, complicated moveset, or focus on the stupid antagonist Ash Crimson, KoF was at its lowest moment of relevance at that time. That made a lot of people skip on The King of Fighters XIII, despite it being pretty good. Not King of Fighters 2002 or 98 good, but pretty good nonetheless.

Things are much different now in 2023. SNK is in a much more stable position, releasing both brand new King of Fighters outings, as well as re-releasing older fan favorites with the addition of some rollback netcode functionality for their multiplayer modes. The King of Fighters XIII: Global Match is exactly that. It’s a brand new opportunity for PS4 and Nintendo Switch owners (it was already available on Xbox via backwards compatibility, as well as Steam) to take a look at one of the most underrated titles in the series.

For the uninitiated, The King of Fighters XIII (as well as Global Match) were almost like an apology towards the KoF fanbase after the mess that was its predecessor. It removed a lot of unnecessary features from that game, both in terms of gameplay as well as presentation (that dumb zooming feature, ugh), in favor of something more straightforward. The main gimmick was an additional special bar which could be used to power up your special attacks, something the modern Mortal Kombat and Injustice games would eventually adopt.

Regarding the rest of the gameplay, it’s the usual schtick: three-on-three fights, button combinations just a bit more complex than Street Fighter, and lots of fighters to choose from. Well, not as many as other SNK fighters (it’s certainly no King of Fighters XIV and its magnanimous, never-ending roster), but still sizeable. Sadly, Ash Crimson is still present. You can’t win them all.

The presentation is a bit odd because it’s not really rendered like your typical Neo Geo game, as in, the ultimate 16-bit pixel art for a fighting game, like King of Fighters 2002 was. The King of Fighters XIII features some impressive character spritework with some amazing animations, but they clash quite bizarrely with the backgrounds. It’s like they were rendered with different degrees of detail and resolution, almost feeling like the sprites are just plastered on top of a GIF. A good looking GIF, but the point still stands.

As for the rest… well, it’s basically the same game. Again, not a bad thing, just know what to expect. What I really wanted to take a look at was the quality of the online connection and it’s indeed as good as SNK’s work on their re-release of King of Fighters 2002. Will you constantly fight against people much better than you, or folks with access to a fighting stick, making the act of pulling off a desperation attack exponentially easier than on a DualShock/Sense? Absolutely. Make sure to have a stick of your own for an optimal experience, but not having it won’t exactly ruin the game for you. There’s still a lot of fun to be had on other modes if you cannot be bothered with the multiplayer aspect of it, even if it’s its main selling point.

Even though The King of Fighters XIII: Global Match is, by and large, the same game originally released in 2011 for Xbox 360, with just a handful of technical improvements, that’s not exactly a bad thing. Granted, it suffers from having a particularly small roster (for KoF standards, that is), and its story mode is a waste of time, but it’s still a top-notch King of Fighters game that’s well worth your time if you want a brand new fighting game fix with some juicy rollback netcode. It’s not King of Fighters 2002, but it’s no KoF XII either. To have this available on PS4 and Nintendo Switch is still a great deal for some multiplayer action and game preservation.

 

Graphics: 7.5 The character spritework is still very impressive more than a decade later, but they clash quite bizarrely with the background sprites.	Gameplay: 9.0 SNK never disappoints when it comes to the controls and responsiveness of their fighting games. No complaints here, but once again, make sure to have a fighting stick at hand for an optimal experience.
Sound: 7.0 Less voice clips and a good, but not outstanding soundtrack comprise The King of Fighters XIII: Global Match’s sound design. Not that it is THAT important for such a game, but it’s still worth mentioning.	Fun Factor: 8.0 It’s basically the same game previously available on Xbox 360 and Steam, but with an improved multiplayer netcode, which is appreciated. It’s a bit less impressive in terms of content when compared to other games in the series, but it’s still a good time.
Final Verdict: 8.0

The King of Fighters XIII: Global Match is available now on PS4 and Nintendo Switch.

Reviewed on PS4.

A copy of The King of Fighters XIII: Global Match was provided by the publisher.