Rendy's Battle Report 04: IT'S A NEW RUMBLE! YES IT IS!

The King of all updates is here!

The first time a Developer's Note about a future collaboration in The King of Fighters ALL STAR surfaced, nobody would guess what the next one will be. People have been pointing on Gintama, an anime series whose collaboration in the game was established in the Japanese version, as the next collaboration. However, this is a "special collaboration that no one would have expected" as the game's Chief Producer said, ruling out what could've been an established collaboration coming to Global. The next couple of days, the collaboration teaser gave hints of wrestling, and eventually the deal was made: it is, without a doubt the one and only, the WWE, the World Wrestling Entertainment, bringing six of wrestling's well-known superstars to the game where fighters who "shot fires, lightnings, and all kinds of things" (if you actually paid attention to Kofi Kingston's dialogue) battle.

Along with the three-week collaboration full of moments and challenges comes a new gameplay system as well, with Unified System, New Infinite Repeat Summon, and others, as well as new gameplay mechanics.

THE RUMBLE BEGINS!

Probably my Top 3 best moments in the collaboration's storyline. There's more, but...

The coveted WWE collaboration event, lasting for three weeks since May 13 (PST time), dropped after the World Drop update which allowed players to gain FES selectors, both for fighters and their ultimates. The update consists of Rush Event a la Tekken 7 collaboration where players complete stages to collect a number of great prizes, the Money in the Cat mini-dungeon (a play on WWE's Money In The Bank event), the WWE Rush Dungeon, the Survival Rumble dungeon (styled after WWE's Royal Rumble), and six superstars with a total of 8 characters available: The Rock, John Cena, The Undertaker, Kofi Kingston, Becky Lynch, and Seth Rollins join the fray and were obtainable through their summon banner with their ultimate cards plus other battle cards also available. "The People's Champion" version of The Rock was available as Super Mission reward while "Doctor of Thuganomics" version of John Cena was obtainable in his roulette.

The Rush Event was a five-part battle that spans for 7 chapters each. The Superstar Stage centered on a team of WWE superstars of Becky, Seth, and Kofi, all competing in the titular King of Fighters tournament, and eventually fight their way up to the finals where Geese Howard (a.k.a. what Becky thought as a "delicacy") awaits. The Rock, John Cena, and The Undertaker all had their own chapters each; The Rock lives with Rock Howard in his first Global server debut (albeit unplayable for the time being) and living the meme, and beats the hell out of Orochi; John Cena gets a sidekick in Shingo Yabuki, has wholesome moments with Terry Bogard, roasts Iori Yagami, and faces Igniz at the end (with a hilarious ending), and The Undertaker goes from teaching Choi Bounge and Chang Koehan the lesson they won't forget to having a one-on-one affair with Omega Rugal. Lastly, there was the EX Stage where it's a series of challenging fights with more rewards. WWE coins were obtainable in all stages with WWE fighters and collaboration battle cards as bonuses that boost coin income, as well as Soul Dusts, Fighter Souls for The People's Champion The Rock and Kofi Kingston, and Rubies upon completing the chapters. Additionally, Kofi Kingston, his Ultimate Card (Trouble in Paradise EX), and his Fighter Memory were attainable in the shop, as well as the free Rock's Fighter Memory and a number of fighter growth stuffs.

Aside from the Rush Event comprising of some of the most hilarious storylines in the KOF ALL STAR history, Money In The Cat Dungeon was available through the entirety of the collaboration, being the more challenging version of the Gold Dungeon. The Survival Rumble Mini Dungeon was the game's own spin on WWE's Royal Rumble event in which each fighter will be summoned in a specified time (and fight each other to an extent) and the player's mission is to be the last man standing with up to 5 plus capsules of ATK, DEF, and HP each can be obtained every day. Others like the WWE Mission and WWE Dice promise cool prizes on the way as well. WWE Time Attacks (both Novice and Master) were also present, giving player the chance to play as any of the superstars and set the fastest time possible, and this Time Attack was actually a more straightforward (and easier) version of the conventional Time Attack. However, there were times the WWE superstars appear in the conventional Novice TA, given that even the mobile game's original characters (including collab ones) can be used in that mode as well since the False Halloween update.

EVERYBODY DO THE SMACKDOWN!

The Superstars can be considered as the most interesting set in the collaboration, because this is the first time we have witnessed FES-grade collab units in the game. Yes, The Rock, John Cena, and The Undertaker are the only purple-bordered fighters ever in terms of collaboration fighters. John Cena has a Hyper Armor triggered by his second active skill (Clothesline) which seems to be as fast as only 1 frame plus an ability to disable opponent's Grab skills, The Rock has two moves which trigger bleed damage and even his second skill (The Samoan Drop) can deal additional damage to ALL enemies in a battle upon success, and The Undertaker's first skill (Shadow Trap) can petrify an opponent, plus an ability to disable opponent's roll and Strike skills. Both last two fighters have super armor, and all three fighters' cores have PvP-exclusive additions which are extremely useful in multiplayer battles, plus the ability to break Super and Hyper Armor enemies using any active skill (25 sec cooldown each activation) and a 30%+ attack boost.

As far as my Summons are concerned, I didn't get anyone in the fighter summon until much later: Seth Rollins became my first WWE fighter I obtained, later The Rock and The Undertaker at one multi summon which could be considered as my best pull ever yet. Unfortunately, even after a number of later summons, the only superstars I couldn't able to get were Becky Lynch and John Cena. However, that changed after receiving my "payday" last Monday (my time) in which John Cena actually came when I least expected, just like those unexpected John Cena memes, and as the maintenance went I actually ended up getting everyone except The Man.

On the Battle Card front, I also didn't get any WWE battle card until much later: The Undertaker's and Becky Lynch's ultimate cards were drawn in one pull and became my first ones, later the Option Cards entitled "Never Give Up" in one summon, and two "If You Smell What The Rock is Cookin'" cards in separate summons, and a number of duplicates of The Undertaker's, John Cena's, and Kofi Kingston's ultis. I managed to hit the selector after making 15 multis, of which I didn't able to get "People's Elbow EX", "The Stomp EX" (Seth Rollins' ulti), and any of the "Rest in Peace" set types in process, and decided to go with The Rock's ulti. I felt bad that I got Becky's ultimate but not her, and Seth himself but not his ulti.

On a different note, I actually got more ALL STAR fighters than usual in this banner: Spring Chizuru, Christmas Yuri, Christmas Chang, and Swimsuit Angel to name a few, since ALL STAR characters are also featured in this banner as well. Duplicates for my existing ALL STAR fighters were also acquired, especially my main picks Halloween Blue Mary and Wonderland Athena (to name a few), my main pick for the ALL STAR fighter selector I acquired through AS Super Mission before the collaboration began alongside Pretty Yashiro. The second choice has been a tie between her and Wonderland Vanessa since both fighters are top-tier fighters in their own right, and both are the ones I have been going for in vain at one point.

As for the roulette, I actually got Doctor of Thuganomics before I could craft him with the souls I've collected, ended up crafting his ultimate card instead. Funnily enough, I actually got his card from the roulette days after I actually crafted it. Later I crafted his Fighter Memory as a means of the future Awakening system to be discussed later, and just when I least expected I actually got him again as a fighter, granting me 60 more Fighter Souls and one more Fighter Memory of his. I never recalled rolling for Paul twice during the Tekken collaboration roulette, so this has to be my best run.

At the end of the day, my summons in this collaboration is way better than during Samurai Shodown collaboration given that I actually have more ultimate cards and all the key option cards, despite missing just one for each card and fighter, and I don't think I'd be interested in gunning for the "Rest in Peace" set. The best part is that I actually started watching random WWE clips thanks to this collaboration, reuniting with something I haven't visited since I was emotionally invested on John Cena and Rey Mysterio in my Elementary School years.

THE NEW SUMMON SYSTEM

This pick-up banner of mine is titled "Total NESTS Propaganda and Ash Crimson."

KOF ALL STAR also underwent an extreme makeover themselves, changing a number of stuffs here and there to improve experience. These changes include the Unified Summon, New Infinite Repeat Summon, the Soul Dust mechanics, and the Awakening System.

The Summon System gets a makeover in a form of Unified Summon. What this does is that the new summon unifies existing banners (both the normal banner and Noah's Summon banner) for fighters and battle cards. Players have the ability to choose up to five units in the banner to have their rates increased, giving more chance to get any of their desired units. However, these choices are limited; for the fighters, players are limited to one fighter from each element, while for the cards the limit is two six-star battle cards of any kind. In addition, there are no selectors at the end of the summon loyalty point as they're replaced by five-star plus guaranteed tickets with a chance of getting a FES unit. Noah's Summon was left intact for ten days after the maintenance to allow people whose loyalty points were midway through selector get the chance to finish it.

Although I only needed one multi summon to take the "FES-guaranteed ticket" from the summon, I decided not to since I was focused on WWE banners. It was a hard choice since I wanted Orochi Iori from the banner, though I did scored Orochi Iori by other means (read: summon tickets) and ended up having Krizalid and Omega Rugal as my World Drop FES Selector choices. As for their cards, I already had them from daily summons even before this collaboration lands so that kills my urge to resort on the card selectors. I've been targeting all three of them after countless of times fighting them in PvEs, and getting more purple-bordered fighters is always a good idea.

The guy everyone talks about is finally here! (and Isolde's here too!)

Interestingly, some eye-popping additions can be found in the new system's lineup: remember XIV Alice and Pretty Big whose only way of obtaining them is to pay dollars? Well, they're included in the new summon now, as well as the new challenger Pretty Clone Zero. One might holler at how people would pay for them while they can get them for free now, but one thing they might fail to see was the package they offered: the XIV Alice package bundled her with her ultimate card, while Pretty Big's consists of a series of step-up packages where not only they can just attain Pretty Big and her card but also level her up to Level 90, stuff all the capsules to her, and put on all the best battle card combinations for her, perhaps something that's worth the pretty big (pun intended) price. As for Pretty Clone Zero, she's an all-new character joining the fray, and as you'd expect from someone in the Pretty series of characters, she's Clone Zero on steroids.

However, the main spotlight centers on one particular NESTS saga fighter who resides in the game's top tier: the 2002 Nameless, the Zhe Prime himself. As far as the Japanese server's experience on Nameless can tell, he is a top-tier fighter with a versatility in every mode including online matches. A purple defense-type fighter, Nameless can disable roll and Strike skills at the same time, be immune to damage for three seconds, and buff his ATK with 45% of his DEF stats, plus he can gain Power fast and his burn damage not only deals damage but decreases Power as well. Not to mention, he has two ultimates: "Kaiten Katatokkan Ougi Rasen" is a 5PG ulti that emphasizes damage within his drill hands while "Saishuu Katame Shutou Higi Rinkou EX" is a 3PG ulti handy for Time Attacks and Team Relays. The perfect 9999th Kyo Kusanagi clone and character introduced in KOF 2002: Ultimate Match (replacing K9999 due to copyright issues post KOF 2001 and KOF 2002) enters the KOF ALL STAR arena with an attitude to win and a rebellion against NESTS after all the suffering he got through during his experiment.

Unfortunately the system isn't without flaws: there's absolutely no selector after reaching a particular summon amounts, just like Noah's Summon. It is all pure RNG throughout, with 5-star plus summon tickets being awarded twice per round (of which it takes 100 summons) in contrast to the FES-guaranteed ticket the previous banner had, both for the fighter and the card summons. In addition, this has been a media where even the new additional fighters are added instead of having their own banners. It gets worse that there have been cases where people saved their rubies and, to an extent, spent money to buy rubies all the way to get their chosen fighter but ended up having not even their choice due to the RNG. The displeasure on the system is expressed by a number of players, especially KOFAS Ashley, KOF Luca, DraiXen (all prominent KOF AS players), and others, through a petition to return the old-style banners with 300-summon selector as a loyalty reward.

Personally I don't mind with this new summon system, but with one stipulation: have an individual banner for the new fighter(s) added (and their associated battle cards), and after a period of "waiting time" the new fighter(s) who had their dedicated banner expired be added to the Unified Summon. This way, players can revisit their attempt in getting their favorite fighter back. I know that this has been the idea of many who actually voiced their displeasure with the system, but a solution to minimize phone throwing shall be a good idea.

Terry Bogard faces the fury!

The New Infinite Summon brings back the 1000-Ruby goodness of "summoning until I get what I want" philosophy introduced on the game's day one, with every summon grants exactly no more than one 5-star fighter. The catch is that it now has even some of the game's FES units, including the seriously-buffed Goenitz, NESTS Style Kyo, Ash Crimson, and many others, with a drop rate of 3% for the FES units of which there are 13 available. This means there's a 30% chance you'd get a guaranteed purple-bordered menace you can own. Initially, I would spare this banner in the next update but with enough Rubies at disposal I threw them to the ring and went all out. There are a number of interesting FES units I came through, such as Nakoruru, Orochi Leona, and even Original Zero, while XIV Alice is another name worth a mention despite being a gold border. However, I went with 03 Terry because of numerous reasons: 1) I actually had his Buster Wolf ultimate and his dedicated Option Card from the Noah set summon months ago; 2) I need more Balance type fighters; 3) He is basically one of the essential fighters worth getting.

Finally, the Soul Dust mechanics have been changed to make it more useful. From now on, Soul Dusts can be used to purchase KOF and AS Souls instead of individual fighters' Souls, as well as summon tickets and tokens as well. Purple and Gold souls are now easier to obtain this way, and the summon tickets now hold more value especially with the featured units. Also, there is now one additional currency of Purple Soul Dust, obtainable from salvaging FES Fighter Souls.

WHAT AWAITS IN THE NEW HORIZON

Something you can't open right now...

What about the silver box we get from the daily event missions? The box has its use in a new mechanic the game calls Awakening, a new gameplay mechanic which will be introduced after the WWE collaboration. The silver boxes aren't usable until the next update, but some parts of how the Awakening mechanics are already revealed; it is basically a next-level system to strengthen maxed out fighters further using what can be called as a Fighter Memory. This Fighter Memory is attainable by summoning a duplicate fighter aside from the Fighter Souls.

In a footage from the Korean livestream which showcased how this Awakening system would work, a fighter won't be "awakened" until it activates after a period of time, of which not only the fighter's stats are boosted but skill spams can be done without worry for a short period of time. The full Awakening system sample is also recently showcased on another Korean livestream as well in which details how the awakening process works; Awakening requires particular Fighter Memories of which this will level up a character to a red star in place of the gold star, each will enable further level up possibilities and more plus capsules to be equipped. Imprinting system is also shown where it is available once the fighter is "awakened", of which the fighter can gain access to a number of equippable stones that gain special effects. The more awakening levels also translate a possibility of more stones that can be imprinted to a fighter, taking their strength levels to the next level.

To pair this new gameplay system, a new kind of dungeon will also be opened, namely the Awakening Dungeon, consisting of Reviving Hell and Rite of Passage. Of course these new dungeons will allow players to get awakening and imprint materials, but from the looks of it these dungeons will certainly give the players a run for their money, so do prepare your strongest fighters for these dungeons!

The New Phase has finally begun as the WWE collaboration finally closes its curtains on KOF ALL STAR. Which new challenger will come to the game's stable? And what challenges will the game throw in the next update? Only time will tell.

~[R]