Falcoon

Tatsuhiko Kanaoka, better known by the art-name Falcoon, is a Japanese artist working for SNK Playmore. He has been involved in several iterations of "The King of Fighters" franchise.

Falcoon had worked with the old SNK back in 1998 as a designer. He was also a card designer in "". [http://www.vgmuseum.com/end/ngpc/a/snkcard.htm] [http://www.vgmuseum.com/end/ngpc/a/snkcardcap.htm]

Falcoon started as a fan-artist doing renditions of different company games such as "The King of Fighters", "Street Fighter", and "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure." From here he grew quite a fanbase that made SNK Playmore take note. He was chosen to create the ingame artwork for "". [http://www.vgmuseum.com/end/neogeo/c/svc.htm]

Falcoon mostly contributes on character designs and is the one responsible for most of the new characters starting from "The King of Fighters 2003" to the current installment of the franchise. He is the one responsible for the alternate designs and new characters seen in the "" series, and is the "KOF:MI" series' producer and art director. "KOF: Maximum Impact 2" is the first game he has produced and it is assumed that he will be focusing more in this series with NONA and Hiroaki taking charge of "The King of Fighters XII".

Criticisms

Falcoon has quite a variety of fans and detractors. Grievances seem to be most prominent when concerning design decisions in the "" series, usually regarding original characters for "KOF: MI" which said critics may feel don't fit in with the style of the main series, in addition to some of the alternate costumes for pre-established characters. This is a result of these alternates usually being radically different from what's already set in place, bearing little resemblance to the previous design without accounting for consistency with the theme of the character (as opposed to alternates in other 3D fighters, which typically suit the character they're designed for).

External links

* [http://falcoon.hp.infoseek.co.jp/ Falcoon's official website]
* [http://www.snkplaymore.jp/blog/falcoon/ Falcoon's blog] at the official website of SNK Playmore
* [http://www.kof10th.com/english/comment/remember_kof.php?num=3 Interview on "'King of Fighters" 10th anniversary website]
* [http://xbox.ign.com/articles/617/617485p1.html Interview on IGN website]
* [http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20051117/sheffield_01.shtml Interview on Gamasutra website]