I don’t know if The King of Fighters XI is my favorite, but it has my favorite character-selection screen. That’s because almost everyone there is grinning like an idiot.
![Well, it's easy to be happy when you're RICH, Jenet.](http://kidfenris.com/kofgrins1.png)
Most of the characters on the roster wear big, goofy smiles in their portraits. Some of them look a little off, especially when the headshots are flipped for the two-player side, but that only adds to the impact. They’re not happy despite looking stupid, they’re happy because they look stupid.
![Shingo is just glad to be here.](http://kidfenris.com/kofgrins2.png)
The grins of The King of Fighters XI range from smug little expressions to big, toothy face-splitters that perch their wearers on the edge of laughter. It adds a good-natured aura to the game. Yes, you’ll find insidious plotting and brutally difficult boss fights once you actually play, but for now almost everyone is happy.
![Kasumi is perplexed at the absence of capital letters and wonders if this game was written by Roast Beef from Achewood.](http://kidfenris.com/kofgrins3.png)
The characters who aren’t smiling contribute as well. They look resentful or confused about the majority of their fellow fighters beaming unabashed at everything. Kasumi seems to suspect that a circulating joke has skipped her.
![Gato doesn't recognize anyone here and has trouble making new friends.](http://kidfenris.com/kofgrins4.png)
Even those who grimace seem as close to happiness as they’ll ever get, like Gato there. As for Eiji, he’s putting in a rare appearance as a actual playable character, so we can assume he’s smiling under that mask.
![Blue Mary apparently got over Terry having NEW DUDS AND A NEW PARTNAAAA.](http://kidfenris.com/kofgrins6.png)
The only strange exception is Kula, who’s normally cheerful even in the face of world-wrecking cataclysms and certain death. This can be explained by her being without the ice cream she constantly demands.
The King of Fighters XI is a memorable outing on other points. The backgrounds seem empty, but you'll find a large cast and a neat tag-team mechanic atop the sturdy gameplay the series normally fashions. SNK and Sony should put it on the PlayStation Network, because it still has a lot to offer.
It does not have Leona Heidern, however, and for that I unloaded on the game when I reviewed it many years ago. All was in jest, though I’m still a little resentful that The King of Fighters XI, in many ways the last celebration of the line before it recast itself with new artwork for the modern era, ignored a long-running character created specifically for the series.
![Leona might smile in that KoF dating sim, but that doesn't count.](http://kidfenris.com/kofleona1.png)
Yet I now understand why Leona didn’t make the cut. She doesn’t smile much.
Except King of Fighters '94 AND King of Fighters: NeoWave, you mean. Good grief was that a fetid pile.
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