#848 King of Fighters XIII (PC/Steam) Bosses (1/3): Dark Ash playthrough.

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AdmiralMcFish - Bosses and Hidden Characters

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Published on February 28, 2018 7:28:35 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa-JKHShOBc

Game:

The King of Fighters XIII (2010)

Category:

Let's Play

Duration: 27:14

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A playthrough of the final boss Dark Ash in the PC/Steam port of SNK’s The King of Fighters XIII.

The least intimidating final boss in existence, Dark Ash makes up for his design shortcomings with an insanely good (broken, even) moveset, which is among the most overpowered we’ve seen yet.
KOF XIII was, for a good six years there, the finale of the KOF series. And what a great note to go out on as well, with one of the single most beautiful, polished, fantastic games in existence capping off an iconic series. Originally, it was going to be the game to cap off this archive, but times change and surprises can happen, as we’ve seen not only with KOF XIV but also SoulCalibur VI now being a reality.
KOF XIII is pretty insane in terms of how good it is. It looks great, the soundtrack is fantastic, the mechanics are brilliant (such as cancelling from special moves into other special moves, not to mention from DMs into SDMs) including one of the most fun, intuitive fighting game systems I’ve ever seen.

Everything seems extremely polished, but there is a reason why. SNK tested the waters first with the Taito Type X arcade board first by releasing the rather underwhelming and experimental KOF XII. KOF XII was the Neowave of its era; an experimental game to try out various mechanics before making a true proper sequel. It seems a bit weird they even bothered to give it an official roman numeral, especially as now the Ash Saga rather confusingly consists of KOF 2003, XI, and XIII, but I’m glad they bothered to test the waters rather than allowing KOFXIII to be a wholly experimental title.

Amongst also fantastic things, KOFXIII also has a great 33-person roster (with two hidden characters being unlockable), 3 great DLC characters and even two unplayable final bosses. The final bosses being unplayable in this day and age is still a bit odd (particularly as they were unlockable in KOF XI, and later in KOF XIV), but hacking and playing as them will soon let you realise why they’re unusable. They are broken. Like, not ordinary broken. Not Krizalid or Omega Rugal, not even Igniz in terms of just how broken they are. They are in a league of their own. What’s more, the sub-boss is technically more broken than the final boss, if only to make things that bit more insane.

After True Saiki, the sub-boss, is defeated, Ash Crimson steals his power, attempting to suppress and destroy it once and for all. However, it turns out to be too powerful, and instead he is turned into the nefarious Dark Ash for the final boss fight of the entire saga. And as final boss fights go, it’s not bad truth be told. Not as satisfying as ‘97’s Orochi fight, but definitely up there, considering this was the major character of the series since KOF 2003. Admittedly, his outfit does just look like Ash just going through his emo years, but it still works pretty well. Given that this is basically Shin Ass Crimson, his moveset is a modified variant of his regular one. And how. His attacks do more damage, and in particular they come out faster. His double-projectile attack does require a charge motion, but you barely have to charge it at all, and if you can get the timing right they you can just pepper your opponent with endless waves of projectiles. His other moves mainly seem to have increased hit-boxes and increased damage (not to mention being modified to appear with dark energy), but where Ash really starts to become broken is his (charge b, f +K) attack, where he charges into the opponent and sends them flying into the air.

Here’s the thing. Remember how I said his projectiles barely take any time to charge? And you could do them basically endlessly if you get the timing correct? Well, that launching move of his leaves the opponent susceptible to follow-up attacks. Including his projectiles. And because his projectiles come out so quickly…it means he can juggle the opponents for an additional 10 to 20 hits before they reach the ground. Yeeeeah. It’s a kind of “skilled broken”, where it requires a bit of practice but as soon as you get it down you’ll make absolute mincemeat out of your opponent. He also has a couple of super moves, including his own screen-filling attack, because of course he does.

Dark Ash is formidable as all hell therefore, and makes for a pretty great boss fight. He’s a lot of fun to play as, and while I understand why SNK didn’t make him playable for online use I do find it a bit sad he wasn’t legitimately playable in any form. But, well, that’s what hacking is for I suppose.

Next time, it’s the rather more underwhelming sub-boss of this game.

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