that there’s separte sagas of about three years apiece, and that these make up a long

有單獨的傳奇大約三年每一個， 而這些構成了一個漫長的，

and storied history... but take it from my perspective. I was introduced to this nonsense

和傳奇的歷史... 但從我的角度來看，採取它。我是被介紹給這些無稽之談的

with Maximum Impact 1, and yes, I already hear your collective screams of “UR DOIN

與最大沖擊力1，是的，我已經聽到你的集體尖叫聲 "UR DOIN

IT RONG.” Bear with me. That was my entry point to this backstory, with the Meira brothers

IT RONG。"忍耐一下吧。這就是我這個背景故事的切入點，與梅拉兄弟的故事

and Duke and later Nagase and Luise and the rest. Yes, I missed out on the largest part

和杜克，還有後來的長瀨和露易絲等人。是的，我錯過了最大的部分

of the plot. And that kinda comes to a head with this King of Fighters, released in Japan

的劇情。而這一點，在日本發行的這款《拳皇》中，還挺有看頭的。

in 2006, which isn’t KOF ‘06, it’s XI. Which isn’t 2011, just... XI. Does your

在2006年，這不是KOF'06，這是XI。這不是2011年，只是... ...XI。你的...

head hurt yet?

頭疼了嗎？

To fill you in on the story... y’know what? You can go ahead and play the 10 Kings of

給你補上一個故事......你知道嗎？你可以繼續玩10王的

Fighterses and 10 Fatal Furies and Mark of the Wolves and... what, three Arts of Fighting?

鬥士和十煞和狼之印記還有......什麼，三種格鬥之術？

And Samurai Showdown, and you get the point. There’s some kerfluffle about the Orochi

還有《武士大決戰》，你懂的。關於八歧龍的事，有一些爭論。

Seal, and some stupidly overpowered boss character is using it to their own evil ends. As three

封印，而一些愚蠢的超強boss角色卻利用它來達到自己的邪惡目的。作為三

of the 33 characters available from the start, your job is to investigate said kerfluffle

從一開始的33個字符中，你的工作是調查所說的kerfluffle。

by beating down anyone in your way. Simple, right?

通過打倒任何擋路的人。很簡單，對吧？

And here’s where the madness begins. Guilty Gear XX was complex enough with just the original

而這裡就是瘋狂的開始。Guilty Gear XX已經夠複雜了，只有原版的

and two flavors of X before it. This King of Fighters rides on the back of the more

和之前的兩味X。這款拳王騎在更。

than two dozen games before it, so there’s a whole system of desperation moves, guard

比之前的二十幾場比賽，所以有一整套的拼命招式體系，守衛

cancels, guard evasion, saving shifts, quick shifts, super cancels, dream cancels, enough

取消、守衛迴避、節省班次、快速班次、超級取消、夢想取消、足夠

to make Solomon revolve in his grave. And if you’re new to this particular system,

讓所羅門在他的墳墓中旋轉。如果你對這個特殊的系統不熟悉的話

it can be a bear just to try to digest it all. Sure, you can flail through with a random

它可以是一個熊只是試圖消化這一切。當然，你可以通過一個隨機的耀武揚威。

team of your favorite four-letter words. But sooner or later, some SNK boss is going to

隊你最喜歡的四個字母的單詞。但遲早有一天，一些SNK的老闆要

roll up and Tommy Lee Jones you back to reality, Agent J. Fortunately, a challenge mode gives

捲起和湯米-李-瓊斯你回到現實中，代理J.幸運的是，挑戰模式提供了

you a perfect opportunity to practice roll recoveries, throw breaks, and get practice

你有一個完美的機會來練習翻滾恢復，投擲突破，並得到練習。

against some of the bosses, while unlocking not only the bosses but some of the more egregious

對付一些boss，同時解鎖的不僅是boss，還有一些更惡劣的。

exclusions from the roster, including Mai, Robert Garcia, and Geese Howard.

排除在名冊之外，包括邁、羅伯特-加西亞和吉斯-霍華德。

Also when you inevitability when you bite the dust, here’s where the game takes a

同時當你不可避免的當你咬住塵埃，這裡是遊戲需要一個

bit of pity on you, in a shrewd move for the arcade industry: your reward for plunking

有點可憐你，在一個精明的舉動為街機行業：你的獎勵，以投入

in another quarter (or, given that this is the PS2 version, deigning to press the start

在另一個季度（或者，鑑於這是PS2版本，冒昧地按開始

button) is a power boost for the upcoming rematch. You can either knock down the opponents’

按鈕）是對即將到來的複賽的力量提升。你可以擊倒對手的

health by a quarter right off the bat, begin the match loaded with for special attacks,

健康四分之一的蝙蝠，開始比賽加載的特殊攻擊。

or turn down said pity and prove that you can do it the hard way. Your choice.

還是拒絕別人的憐憫，證明你能做到這一點的硬辦法。你自己選擇吧

My primary issue, though, is that - compared to contemporaries like the Guilty Gear series,

不過，我的主要問題是--與同時代的《罪惡裝備》系列等相比。

the sprites look kinda dated. I know there was a lot of frustration regarding the recycling

這些精靈看起來有點過時了。我知道有很多關於回收的挫折感。

of Darkstalkers-era graphics in the Marvel Vs. Capcom series; I hoped that in 2006 we

的《暗黑破壞者》時代的畫面，在Marvel Vs.卡普空系列；我希望在2006年我們

could do better. And it’s upsetting, because the UI itself pushes a much more modern aesthetic,

可以做得更好。而且這很讓人不爽，因為UI本身就推崇更現代的審美。

with a robust sound palate. Chances are, if you’re the kind of fan who’s already put

具有強大的聲音調色板。機會是，如果你是那種已經把你的粉絲

countless hours into sussing out the plot of this monstrous undertaking, you’ve already

無數個小時的時間去弄清這個怪異的任務的情節，你已經...

got a copy. If you don’t, prepare to get very, very lost while enjoying a decent fighter.

得到了一個副本。如果你沒有，準備好在享受一個體面的戰鬥機的同時，得到非常，非常迷茫。

Besides, with re-releases and virtual console ports, how hard can it be to amass twenty

此外，隨著重版和虛擬主機的移植，要積累二十個

four or so of the older games so as to get a clue?

四款左右的老遊戲，從而獲得線索？