Visual references - Claire

Claire is one of the most well-known characters for ripping off another fighter's gameplay, in this case is Kula Diamond from KOF:

She actually takes notes  from other SNK characters. To begin with, she's kind of similar to Blue Mary from Fatal Fury, she's blonde, rides a motorcycle and has the signature belt hanging from her hips. Her stand animation is also very similar to B. Jenet (Garou: Mark of the Wolves):

Aside from that, she takes many of her normals animations from Kula:

Her special moves are practically verbatim copies from the ones of Kula:

Although the animation and pose is sometimes not exactly the same...

... They still work practically the same. That includes her supers:

Some other posses and mannerisms are imitated almost the same:

While she has an amount of original moves, they're still very similar to the ones of Kula:

Visual references - Yan

Next character is Yan, the second protagonist of the game. To begin with, his original design was more inspired in Kyo Kusanagi from KOF, so his gamestyle of fire punch combos.

His second design is still a shootout to Kyo and Shingo from the first KOF games:

He shares a couple attacks with Kyo:

While Kyo is the inspiration behind his design and concept, his big model to follow for the sprites and animations is Rock Howard from Garou: Mark of the Wolves. That includes his normals:

As well as some other various animations:

Yan also sports some mannerisms directly inspired by Rock:

Of course that's not everything. Yan takes inspiration of some other characters like K':

And Shen Woo:

Finally, the first part of his supermove is traced from K9999's gun super:

The second one, from Rock Howard's hidden super:

Visual references - Shanwoo

This street wrestler/underground boxer is well versed in different fighting styles. It seems like he has crossed through different schools of fighting. He first learned from legendary Terry Bogard some dance steps:

Seems like later he realized Terry was nothing but a hobo. He left him right after learning his own version of Power Geyser:

So, after some beers with Clark, he convinced him to teach him how to fight like military and crush the opponent under his elbows:

 

Shanwoo didn't finish his "Gattling" classes with Mr. Ralf, but even if his moves are not exactly the same, the result was quite similar:

After that, a few punching lessons with Yashiro:

Finally, wrestling classes with Tizoc taught him how to fall on his opponent from the heights:

Visual references - Tsukikage Arashi

Psychopath Tsukikage Arashi is probably possessed by the spirits from old ghosts from SNK, as his fighting style is more than similar to Freeman from Garou Mark of the Wolves. Starting with the martial art of scratching:

 

 ... Playing peek a boo with the opponent:

... Imitating his normal strikes, and even his strange way of bending his neck while running:

Arashi's head is inhabited by many voices; I bet Basara from Samurai Shodown III is inside there, somewhere:

Finally, but not less important, Arashi learned one day how to kick like Remy (Street Fighter III):

I bet they met each other because they go to the same hair stylist.

Visual references - Brazel

Brazel can be seen as the equivalent to Iori Yagami in the King of Fighters series. Both of them are violent adversaries. So, it's no surprise Brazel took some inspiration from Yagami in order to learn some normals:

Brazel's ideas for his fighting style don't end here. As he uses a murderous fighting style, he learned a couple things from the Heidern family, composed of expert assassins. Starting with the technique of sucking an opponent's blood:

And even a powerful hand attack from Leona, the daughter:

Brazel's learning didn't end there. He mastered the art of kicking as taught from Krizalid, the vicious and megalomaniac clone of Kyo Kusanagi:

It seems like Brazel's relationship with the NESTS cartel didn't end here. He also took a few tips from K9999 of how to use correctly energy to protect oneself:

Visual references - Ell Blue

Ell Blue Definitely learned something from Eiji Kisaragi.

Both fighters use their hands to cut their opponents, and they're as well masters in the usage of short ranged energy blasts.

Ell Blue decided to cosplay as Will from Advance Wars:

Tencent's fighting game pays homage to several video game material, but sometimes it's more like they just take whatever is trendy and use them to please their players.

The Incomplete Guide of Visual References

King of Combat is despised by many gamers because they acuse it of ripping off other video games. Although it's hard to disagree with the fact many of the poses and animations from some of their fighters are practically traced off from the ones of other video game series, it depends on you if you feel offended by that or not.

I'm in the second group, but still I've found in my way many hints to compare the XDZW characters to the ones of other fighting games.

I'll be posting the... ehem... Visual references used for the creation of these characters's movesets, as well as a screenshot of the corresponding move.

Have fun with this series of entries, and if you want to colaborate, I'll be glad to receive your suggestions :)

Welcome to King of Combat Secrets

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