>>515776403I honestly think kof orochi saga is literally the peak of fighters in terms of character design.
It's just anime enough to avoid the VF lame syndrome, but also realistic enough to avoid the issues of guilty gear and MK being too anime, and the right doses of non fighting game IRL inspiration like shermie being a fashion designer and mai being a japanese kunoichi dancer, that very few fighters, not even kof has been able to replicate.
I would say the downfall of kof designs is after 2001 or 2000.
99 has the right dosis of enough edgy to be lame and not enough edgy to be cringe.
99 and 97 are the peak of the genre in terms of character designs.
