is a 2010 fighting game developed and published by SNK Playmore for arcades. It is the thirteenth installment in the The King of Fighters series. It was ported to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 globally in 2011, and an updated version for arcades followed in 2012 subtitled Climax. The game is set after the events of The King of Fighters XI (2005) and is also the conclusion of Ash Crimson's story arc, which started in The King of Fighters 2003. It follows another King of Fighters tournament secretly hosted by Those From the Distance Land, the organization behind the events from the two prior games that are trying to break the seal of the demon Orochi and take its power.
The game was directed by Kei Yamamoto who wanted to bring elements from prior The King of Fighters titles and fix issues from the prior game. This title significantly modifies the gameplay from its predecessor, removing some modes, and adding ones formerly used in the series. It also expands the character roster, re-grouping the playable characters into three-member teams as in the prior installments. The ports are notable for including more content than the original version such as new characters, stages and game modes.
The game sold over 300,000 copies on its release year. Critical reception has been positive. Versions for iOS and Android had also been released, as well as a Windows port of Climax in 2013, and later a version with multiplayer rollback netcode subtitled Global Match in 2023 for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 and 2025 for Steam. KOF XIII was succeeded by The King of Fighters XIV in 2016.
Gameplay
The game removes some of the gameplay system features used in the prior game: the Guard Attack, the Critical Counter, the Clash System, as well as the dynamic, zooming camera. In their place, three new features have been added. The first of the three is the new EX Mode, which convert each character's super moves into more powerful versions that allows one bar from the player's power gauge for EX Special Moves and two bars from the player's power gauge for EX Super Special Moves. Another new feature is the Hyper Drive mode, which gives the player unlimited use of Drive Cancels for a while once the Hyper Drive Gauge has been maxed, and the last new feature confirmed for the game is the Drive Cancel, which opens up new combo possibilities. The game also marks the return of the multi-bar power gauge that was introduced in The King of Fighters '97.
In addition to standard and EX Desperation Moves, a new class of Desperation Move called Neo Max is included in the game and require that three stocks of gauge be exchanged to perform one, making it similar to Hidden Super Desperation Moves from The King of Fighters 2002 and Leader Super Special Moves from The King of Fighters 2003. These can also be cancelled from standard Desperation Moves, making them similar to the Dream Cancels from The King of Fighters XI.
The console version is based on the 1.1 update of The King of Fighters XIII arcade which fixed several issues from the original version. It also contains a story mode that is influenced by the player's actions with various perspectives being available. The mode is presented in visual novel style alongside fights, something considered to be hard to include in the arcade version by the SNK Playmore staff. Other modes shown are Arcade, Practice and Challenge. The online gameplay is based on the one included in later versions of The King of Fighters XII, which fixed the issues the initial one had.
Plot The game takes place five years after the events of The King of Fighters XI and is the last game of the third story arc that started in The King of Fighters 2003. The fighter Ash Crimson has absorbed the powers from two of the descendants of the clans who sealed the Orochi away 1,800 years ago, Chizuru Kagura and Iori Yagami, while Kyo Kusanagi is to be his last victim. As his former comrade, Elisabeth Blanctorche, prepares to stop him, fighters receive an invitation to another King of Fighters tournament hosted by a person labelled as "R". The tournament is sponsored by a woman Rose who is being controlled by "Those From The Past", the organization behind the two prior tournaments that has been trying to break Orochi's seal with Ash acting as their agent.
When the winning team reaches the game's end, Saiki, the leader of "Those From The Past" puts his work into motion. Saiki intends to use the energy expended by the winning team to enable him to cross time, killing his own subordinate just to face the champions. However, as the fight rages, Botan notes that the gate that links them to the past is starting to close despite the battle. Before Saiki can act, he is ambushed by Ash who kills him and who steals his power. It is revealed then that, while Ash was enlisted by Saiki to obtain the Three Sacred Treasures to power the time gate, Ash had no intention of helping Saiki. Ash is suddenly overtaken by Saiki's persona, facing the champions of the tournaments. Saiki is defeated in the gate but persists on crossing over to the past, believing it means nothing since he can return to the past and then cross the gate again to attempt his plan anew. However, Ash halts his attempt and allows the gate to close, leaving Saiki trapped in the present. With Ash being descendant of Saiki, he denies Saiki's existence in the past and forces his own existence to cease. As Ash vanishes from the living world, the flow of time resumes. In the epilogue of the Story Mode, Chizuru and Iori recovers their powers. The remaining members of Saiki's group leave. As it appears everybody forgets Ash's existence, Elisabeth remains emotionally destroyed as she still remembers their childhood.
Characters
The roster of The King of Fighters XIII features all the characters who appeared in The King of Fighters XII, including the two console-exclusive characters, Elisabeth Branctorche and Mature. Three new characters come in the form of The King of Fighters '94 Women's Team (Yuri Sakazaki, King and Mai Shiranui). Unlike The King of Fighters XII, all of the characters are organized into proper teams this time with the exception of Ash, who is now a single entry character.
On April 22, 2010, Famitsu reported the addition of two new characters to the game: Vice for Iori Yagami's team and Takuma Sakazaki for the Art of Fighting team. The official website was soon updated with the changes as well as adding a storyline for Iori's team, and on the April 23, 2010 location test at Hong Kong, Hwa Jai from Fatal Fury: King of Fighters was confirmed to be in the game as the final member of Kim Kaphwan's team. Saiki, the manipulator behind the events of The King of Fighters XIII, appears as sub-boss in his awakened form, and an optional console exclusive mid-boss in his regular form, while an alternate form of Ash Crimson possessed by Saiki's soul known as Evil Ash appears as the final boss.
Billy Kane from Fatal Fury: King of Fighters as a console version exclusive character. The human form of Saiki was also announced to be playable, while the original flame-powered Iori Yagami to be featured as a downloadable content (DLC) EX form for regular flameless Iori. Following classic Iori's appearance, Atlus announced "NESTS Style Kyo", based mostly on Kyo Kusanagi's appearance and movesets in NESTS Chronicles games as a downloadable EX form for regular Kyo. As a result of a technical error, the patch was delayed to January 1, 2012, for the PlayStation 3. A new DLC including bugfixes (mainly on online mode) and Mr. Karate (Takuma Sakazaki's alter ego) as an EX form for Takuma became available on January 11, 2012.
Elisabeth Team Elisabeth Blanctorche Duo Lon Shen Woo
Japan Team Kyo Kusanagi Benimaru Nikaido Goro Daimon
Fatal Fury Team Terry Bogard Andy Bogard Joe Higashi
Art of Fighting Team Ryo Sakazaki Robert Garcia Takuma Sakazaki
Ikari Warriors Team Leona Heidern Ralf Jones Clark Still
Psycho Soldier Team Athena Asamiya Sie Kensou Chin Gentsai
Women Fighters Team King Mai Shiranui Yuri Sakazaki
Kim Team Kim Kaphwan Raiden Hwa Jai
Yagami Team Iori Yagami Mature Vice
K' Team K' Kula Diamond Maxima
Single Entry Mid-Bosses Ash Crimson Billy Kane Saiki
NPC Bosses Awakened Saiki (Sub-Boss) Evil Ash (Final Boss)
DLC EX Versions NESTS Saga Kyo Classic Iori Serious Mr. Karate
Development SNK Playmore announced The King of Fighters XIII in February 2010. There was a preview of the game that was held on March 25, 2010, in Akihabara. The game design director, Kei Yamamoto, stated that he wanted the game to be played by the fans of the series who would be able to use their experience from prior titles. Additionally, however, he did not want the game to be too similar to its predecessors, though he and his staff's aim for the game is to capture the charm from prior titles such as readdition of gameplay rules from older titles. The gameplay was also modified to have faster battles to be enjoyed by gamers. Yamamoto labelled the theme of the game as . SNK Playmore president Ryo Mizufune commented that they wanted to release a game that would surpass fans' expectations and could become as popular as The King of Fighters '98. They listened to fans' suggestions during development of the game to incorporate them. The producer Masaaki Kukino debuted with The King of Fighters XII which was poorly received due to its lack of storyline and minor characters. As a result, SNK worked in order to make XIII end the story of Ash Crimson. Though the game was received favorably, SNK put the franchise on hiatus for several years. Nevertheless, the producer was satisfied with his work. Most of the characters were designed to look like their original personae like Athena Asamiya from Psycho Soldier or Ralf Jones and Clark Still from Ikari Warriors. Nevertheless, he lamented Geese Howard not making it into the game.
The staff in charge wanted to pay attention to the number of details given to the game's graphics. Regarding the story, they paid attention to its flow, mentioning the final version was not significantly different from the first one. Because the prior game, The King of Fighters XII, suffered from various technical issues, developers also worked in fixing them to improve the gameplay. However, the initial arcade version from the game suffered from four notable bugs which led to special rules forbidding players to use them in at Japan's Tougeki – Super Battle Opera fighting game tournament. An updated version 1.1 was later released for arcades, fixing all the bugs and issues from the original game. Yamamoto claimed they wanted to appeal to newcomers by offering several moves. The netcode received a major overhaul over players' response. Meanwhile, the fighting system relied on both common Desperation Moves and the new HD mode, with the latter created to appeal to new combos possibilities. In regards to the story, it is meant to end Ash Crimson's story arc which caught people's attention for how different was he as a protagonist when compared with previous leads as several gamers wondered about his antagonistic portrayal which remained as a mystery.