After the surprise King of Fighters XIV reveal during Sony’s Tokyo Game Show press conference wore off, many fans came to the same conclusion: the game is pretty damn ugly. Sure, graphics are far from the most important thing when it comes to enjoying a competitive title (have you seen Melee these days?), but it was a rather jarring transition from its predecessor’s superb sprite work.

Almost anticipating the backlash, SNK Playmore quickly released a trio of screenshots that depict combatants Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami locked in the same battle from the initial teaser. Of course, it’s almost impossible to tell what’s real and what’s actually representative of gameplay in this era of game development, but you can’t deny the images below don’t look nicer.

King of Fighters XIV is scheduled to arrive on PlayStation 4 sometime in 2016. Due to this far-off release window, it’s entirely likely the game’s aesthetics will improve over time. Let us know what you think in the comments.

Source: 4Gamer