As has become tradition, Insert Credit ranks the best games of all time. Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Tim Rogers, and Brandon Sheffield. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.
This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by [Butter Dorks](https://kbones.itch.io/dorks) and [patrons like you](https://www.patreon.com/insertcredit). Thank you.
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Pausing my listen and my game of KOF XIII to say, so hyped to hear talk of XIII. There is no doubt that it‘s the best looking KOF but also the best feeling (to me) next to 2002um and XV. The drive system is such a treat. It makes playing in training mode feel like an open world game. You should have seen the look on my face when I discovered you could combo burn knuckle into crack shoot into rising uppercut!! The HD combos look impossible until you break them down into their parts (I still can’t pull off anything over 4 or 5 hits in a match yet) but the game rewards multiple playstyles. You want to zone? go for it. You just want to play neutral? Sure! Can‘t do any wild HD combos yet? take it easy, you can do one or two drive cancels if you want. Powerful EX dp? If you’ve got the meter, we've got the flashy effects!
I will warn you that this is the kind of game that you need to find a friend who wants to play every day to make the most of. You can have a pretty fun time with the offline modes too though! The story mode is great, the ending made me cry! As a big XV enjoyer I was originally disappointed by the size of the roster and the lack of certain moves, but playing it every day over the last month or so it's now close to my favourite fighting game of all time. It recently received a low key ps4 and switch release which gave the game rollback netcode (with the caveat that the backgrounds become static during online play) which made online play a lot more accessible (I get a very good connection from UK to the West Coast). Sadly the PC version still has delay based netcode (but it's pretty good if you're playing with someone in the same continent).
I rambled a lot here but KOF XIII rules. Elisabeth's theme actually sounds like her combo structure. 1:05 sounds like 236P into light dp into heavy dp to me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcBHAAyiGos
Edit: I will say there are some pretty definitive top tiers in this game but with enough knowledge of the system mechanics you can make any character shine.
This episode made me want to put a spin on this idea: pick a platform on Metacritic, scroll through the list of reviewed games from lowest-to-highest and identify the worst-rated game for that platform that you'd genuinely go to bat for:
>!
Dreamcast: >!Heavy Metal Geomatrix (58)!<
>!
N64: >!Fighters Destiny 2 (54)!<
Gamecube: >!Shadow the Hedgehog (51)!<
Wii: >!Escape from Bug Island (37)!<
Wii U: >!Devil's Third (43)!<
Switch: >!Balan Wonderworld (36)!< (rated higher on other platforms, where it at least runs okay)
>!
GBA: >!Klonoa: Empire of Dreams (52)!<
DS: >!X-Men Origins: Wolverine (55)!<
3DS: >!Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley (46)!<
>!
Xbox: >!Backyard Wrestling 2: There Goes the Neighborhood (43)!<
Heck yeah to Spartan Total Warrior, my favorite action game that was one of the two videogames ever stolen from me by a “friend”. The crunchiness/oomph of the combat, the weapon powers (gorgon shield, flaming spear, big hammer), the overacting/line delivery, makes it so good you'll put up with the escort missions.
@“nolimitsquesting”#p146541 oh yeah, I forgot to mention how nicely the tutorial leads you into learning the systems, compared to a lot of other fighting games. I‘ve noticed the defined top tiers but luckily I’m happy to scrub around and that doesn't bother me.
@"gsk"#p146544 that's a fun idea! if I had a little more time I'd do it as an exercise for myself
It would be nice if in these top 21 lists where each panelist gets to pick 7 games. One of the panelists has to give one pick to Jaffe midway through the list.
Nier being the first nomination felt kinda like that.
I attempted to buy City Crisis last year on eBay for $5 AUD. Seller promptly cancelled the purchase - and I‘m assuming that they couldn’t be bothered going to the post office for $5aud.
Disappointed Butter Dorks didn’t make this list, but “of all time” is a pretty high bar. I’ll just wait for the “Best Soundtrack in Videogames” episode to hear Butter Dorks get the recognition it deserves!
