New Retro Gamer discusses Yasuyuki Oda's big plans for The King Of Fighters XV

This month’s issue of Retro Gamer features SNK’s magnificent crossover series The King Of Fighters. This special edition of the magazine not only boasts a glorious ‘Barn Door’ cover which opens up to reveal classic characters from the first 13 games in the series, but it also has amazing input from Yasuyuki Oda and Eisuke Ogura.

The duo look at every aspect of the franchise from its character creation ‘Things like action, looks, backbone, gameplay, etc are all taken into consideration’ to level design and the franchise’s brutal bosses with Oda revealing that their high difficulty was intentional. “This might catch a bit of flak, but the idea originally came about as a means to push arcade players into beating a game.” They even talk about the incoming The King Of Fighters XV, with Oda revealing that, “We’re developing this game to be played for many years to come.”

Other highlights of issue 222 include an interview with Charles Martinet who has been voicing Nintendo’s classic plumber Mario since the mid-Nineties. He tells us how failing to secure a coveted role led to him landing a dream job that he still does today. Mama-Mia!

We also take to the pitch and discover how FIFA Soccer 95 and Mutant League Football were made, go behind the scenes of the creepy horror series The Suffering and speak to the coding legends that have made every Game & Watch title available to use in Mame.

Finally, we examine the evolution of Summer Games, from a canceled Atari 2600 title to California Games II, reveal the best arcade ports to collect for Sega’s Saturn and look at every aspect of Namco’s fantastic shoot-’em-up Xevious, from its many sequels to its numerous conversions.

Issue 222 of Retro Gamer is on sale now. You can buy it from Magazinesdirect.com or subscribe.