King of Fighters XIII definitely surpassed my expectations here. The instant it had a real story mode and not just throwing cutscenes into arcade mode, I knew it was quite literally built different. This was a game that was putting the story first and I was all here for it. There are even branching paths so you can see different versions of the story and more added context as you play through the game. I ended up getting 60% of the cinematics on my first run.

The story concludes the big saga of the villains trying to revive Orochi and using their cosmic powers to get in everyone’s way. Ash gets a big role in here as he stole Iori’s powers last time and is working on getting Kyo’s now. If the old lead isn’t careful then he is going to be taken down. It’s a really good premise to get you pumped up and I greatly enjoyed the intro. We got to see all of the old leads like K and Kyo and then it ends with the lead being attacked. This game just has the most focus on story by a longshot and it was an excellent idea. I always feel like this is the perfect way to really get you focused up for what is about to happen.

The story definitely doesn’t disappoint. We get a lot of fun illustrations the whole time as the plot moves forward and a ton of dialogue. I didn’t even see all of the paths as I mentioned before so they added a ton of content here. It almost felt like a visual novel at times here. I should also mention that there is another King of Fighters tournament going on here of course. That’s always got to be a factor here of course. Why would there not be a tournament?

It should come as no surprise that the gameplay is great as always. The graphics look really sharp here once again and the movement speed is really good. I felt like the bosses were also designed better so you got to actually play against them. It wasn’t a matter of abusing loopholes or cheesing the opponent out. Instead you were actually fighting them mano a mano the whole time and that was a much better idea. So I was really glad to see that, it’s definitely the way to go.

You feel more of a sense of triumph when you win as opposed to just exhaustion and wondering if the boss is still more skilled than you are. Here, the boss is still rather difficult but it’s nothing crazy. The boss is way aggressive and like a real player will leave openings for you to attack with. I will say that the second to last boss had such long animation cycles though. When he grabbed you, you could basically close your eyes and rest a bit because then he keeps on punching you in the stomach and taking forever to get on with it. He’s a very dramatic fighter to be sure. I feel like it would probably be funny to see anyone using those combos in a competitive tournament assuming that the character has these moves when you play as him.

In terms of the paths in the game, usually you will have a choice for example to see what’s happening at the tournament or what Ash is doing meanwhile. Typically I went with the Ash plot since I figured it would be more intense but you’ll probably want to try them all. When I googled how to get the true ending, there seemed to be quite a few requirements to even get the chance so good luck. Definitely not a pushover by any means but that adds to the ever expansive replay value of the game.

You have the endless vs fights, getting all story mode paths, and of course getting the Platinum trophy in the game. By the time you’re done with that I’m sure you will have spent a ton of time on the game. Additionally, here are a lot of characters to play around with so you’ll want to test them all out and see which character you are best with. I’m actually starting to like the grappler characters in this game. It feels so satisfying when you land a command grab out of nowhere and it deals a ton of damage. A super throw is what won me the final match after all. I was about to lose otherwise.

Overall, King of Fighters XIII is a great game. I dare say that it is easily the best of the early games although calling it an early game is probably misleading. I think XV is probably still the best overall but I’d need to think about it. Either way the latest 3 games are the top 3 overall which is cool because it shows that the series is in its peak right now. They need to bring us some more games but bring back this expansive kind of story mode. It really does help the series go to the next level and doesn’t feel like it should be a giant ask. If there’s any King of Fighters game that you should get, this may even be my first recommendation because of the story.

Overall 8/10