The game might not have performed well with the fans, but it seems like Japanese retailers treat it as if it's the bubonic plague. When it was first released on July 30, King Of Fighters XII was priced at ¥7,140, or $79 at today's exchange rate, but, now, the title is being thrown out of stores at ¥980.

This $11 price must really rub SNK Playmore, its developer and publisher, the wrong way, considering the huge gap in value. The price crash was started by Bic Camera, and, if its objective was to get rid of the game, then it has succeeded, as its current stock for it indicates zero.

Japan has a bit of an old habit of staggering price drops for older games, but King Of Fighters XII isn't even in the same ballpark as a three-month old title. If anything, this can be seen as karmic intervention. The original $79 price that the Japanese gamers had to pay for it was ridiculous for a 2D fighting game, no mater what it offered. In America, the game arrived at a more approachable value, with retailers sticking close even now to the game's recommended price. Currently, in America, it is available for anything between $49.99 and $59.99.

The King Of Fighters XII didn't really do well on the Japanese market and that didn't change when it hit America. Prior to its release, the title did relatively well in previews and sneak peeks, but that quickly changed, as gamers and critics got their hands on the full experience. The initially praised graphics proved to be limited in diversity, as far as the backgrounds were concerned and some even complained that the character design was far too altered from the original characters.

The game also contained the smallest number of playable characters thus far in the King Of Fighters series. It received serious complaints regarding the online mode that suffered from major lag issues. The next King of Fighters title from SNK Playmore might do better, since the popular Mai Shiranui character that wasn't part of XII has been reintroduced in Sky Stage.