King of Fighters XIV and Street Fighter V getting Arcade conversions

Fighting games have long since evolved and made the transition from debuting in the arcades to being released directly on home consoles first.  With the advent and frequency of online play being a big factor to this, most video game publishers have opted not to release some of their latest titles on an arcade board. That however hasn’t stopped the fighting game community from voicing their opinions about getting arcade conversions of some of their favorite titles – and it looks like their prayers are being answered - at least for Japanese fighting game players.

According to Event Hubs at the second annual Toushinsai fighting game tournament in Japan, SNK and Capcom announced to the general public that they will be doing Arcade conversions for their current titles, namely The King of Fighters XIV and Street Fighter V respectively. Just shy of two months being out in the market since it was released last August, KOF XIV is the latest installment in the long running fighting game series that is the first main line entry to be fully rendered in 3D. Its Arcade conversion will be on the NESICAxLIVE 2 system.

On the other hand, Street Fighter V won’t exactly be a “true” Arcade port of Capcom’s latest brawler. Instead, the PC Version will be used as the framework – with PC Stations placed in arcades that allow players to battle each other. More or less, that still translates to Street Fighter V making its arcade debut, and it will give those who love training and playing in arcades a chance to play outside of households and consoles.

The announcement for arcade versions for KOF XIV and SFV at Toushinsai was done there intentionally since that tournament is an arcade-only event. While they could only use previous installments and older games like Ultra Street Fighter IV and King of Fighters 13 this year, it’s a safe bet that next year will be a different story now that the publishers are making arcade ports of their current titles. — TJD, GMA News