Xuan Dou Zhi Wang

Development

The game is influenced by the The King of Fighters series, both in gameplay and art design. It is generally considered the development of the game responds to the need of Chinese players to be able to play The King of Fighters (or at least something "similar") at home, since video game consoles sale was banned in China by the time.

On April 2013, Tencent confirmed a strategic alliance with SNK Playmore, developers of the King of Fighters series, and the first step was including characters Terry Bogard and Benimaru Nikaido as guest fighters for the game: The two characters were added to the game on August 2013.

The game's distinctive visual style consists on sprites over 3D backgrounds. The character sprites are created via 3D models later photographed and retouched to give the appearance of traditional 2D sprites (akin to The Rumble Fish series). That also allows the designers to include alternative skins (alternate costumes) for the characters, which are included via updates.

On September 2013, a spin-off of the game for mobile systems was announced. It departs from the gameplay of the PC version and plays instead as a 1-player beat'em up game. The spinoff, titled Tian Tian Xuan Dou (天天炫斗, Fighting Days) was released for iOS and Android and released in English language as Fantasy Fighter. The game features redesigns of characters Brazel, Ell Blue, Kaoru Kuraki and Seal as playable characters, as well as original characters Catherine (凯瑟琳, Kǎisèlín), Constantine (康士坦丁, Kāngshì tǎn dīng) and Looli (洛漓, Luò lí) not present in the PC version. Guest characters from The King of Fighters series Kyo Kusanagi and Mai Shiranui were announced on September 24, 2015 and were subsequently added to the game.

Somewhere after May 2014, Jade Studio was dismantled following a reestructuring plan by Tencent, and the game entered a development hiatus. The SNK guest characters were "temporarily removed" from Xuan Dou Zhi Wang on January 5, 2015, as a consequence of this reassignment, but developers state the rights over those characters will be reacquired later. The game will resume development still under the Jade Studio name but designed by new personnel, date still to be announced.

Gameplay

The gameplay is taken straight from games like The King of Fighters '97 and The King of Fighters '98. It consists of the same 4-buttons layout, including the ability to perform short and super jumps, rolls and strong attacks ("blowbacks"); throws are performed by pushing the two punch buttons together, however. A maximum of 3 Super gauge levels are attainable. Pushing light kick and heavy punch together puts the characters in MAX mode, where their damage is increased and gain the ability to perform an improved version of a super move.

Single and team battles (3 vs. 3 fighters; either six players, each one of them controlling a fighter, or two players, each one controlling three) in the King of Fighters fashion are available.

Online features

While the game is downloaded and installed in the PC, it cannot run without the computer being connected to the internet, in order to connect with the Tencent servers. Ranked single battles and the option to create rooms to sustain matches are included, as well as single player modes including a 1-player arcade mode, bonus stages of breaking barrels (similar to Street Fighter II), and an adventure mode resembling a beat 'em up game.

There are "missions" to complete every day (for example, beating arcade mode once or sustaining 5 team battles) that grant experience points and "Point coupons", used to rent or buy characters and costumes in the game's store ("Shop").

Users win experience to unlock new fighters, and they can train each one of their characters to upgrade their skills, with characters unlocking a powerful "Hidden" super move upon reaching level 30.

Updates with new characters, costumes and game modes are added every 1 or 2 months, as well as balance patches with changes to the characters' moves and their properties.

Plot

In year 20XX, a meteor called The Messiah landed in Peru, carrying with it mysterious "CORE crystals", containing a microscopic form of life called "The EVA". United Nations formed a group of scientists called the CRD ("CORE Research and Development") in order to obtain and investigate the properties of the CORE. The CORE is a life form in the middle of a virus and a compound, and it can bond to living hosts. The first contact with the scientists ("First Baptism") was lethal, but after discovering the CORE is a potential unlimited source of energy, they developed a way to create Human-EVA hybrids, granting amazing powers to the subjects of the test.

In China, the powerful Fung Family (or "Maple Group") consortium decided to begin its own line of investigations, but found problems on getting their own CORE samples. That changes when a mysterious sect called "SHINE" appears and offers them an amount of CORE crystals, with unknown intentions.

Realizing only the strongest subjects can resist the bond with the CORE crystals, the Fung Family announces a worldwide fighting tournament called the XD Tournament, and lots of martial artists in representation of different organizations sign up to win the prizes.

Fighters

The first build of the game was launched with five characters in the initial roster. Later updates have been adding up more characters. As of October 23, the character list is the following:

Guest characters

The SNK guest characters were added to the game on August 5, 2014, but they were "temporarily removed" from the game in January 15, 2015, following a change in terms of negotiation between Tencent and SNK Playmore.

Reception

At first, the game was received with skepticism or derision from Chinese players, that considered it a shameless knock-off of The King of Fighters series. After it was reported to Western media for first time, it received similar criticism. However, after the alliance with SNK Playmore and more original characters being developed, this criticism has softened.