Index
Page 1 - Characters
Page 2 - KoF 94/Rebout, 95, 96
Page 3 - KoF 97, 98, 99
Page 4 - KoF 00, 01, 02
Page 5 - 03, Neowave, XI, XII
Page 6 - Portable Versions
Page 7 - Maximum Impact
Page 8 - Spinoffs / Media
The King of Fighters 94 - Arcade / PlayStation 2 / PSP / Wii (1994)
Neo CD Cover
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King of Fighters 94
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King of Fighters 94
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Although the first King of Fighters had a lot of innovative ideas, it's been completely surpassed in every aspect by it's successors. Most annoyingly, you're forced into choosing set teams of three instead of picking your own selection. There's also very little in the way of plot, at least compared to its successors. Although most of the characters hail from Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting, the protagonist of the game is Kyo Kusanagi, and the final villain is the evil Rugal (both created specifically for KoF.) Also notable is the Sports Team, hailing from USA, which includes some of the most laughable characters in the series - one of the guys hurls basketballs to attack. You can build up your power bar by defending, taking damage, or by charging up your character by holding LK, HK and SP, rendering them temporarily defenseless. When you fill the bar, you enter MAX mode, which strengths your character temporarily and allows uoi to execute Super Moves (also called "Desperation Moves" or DMs.) If you don't use them quickly enough, the power will drain completely. Much like Fatal Fury 2, you can also use super moves when your health is low. There's also a dodge move which lets you avoid attacks, although the evasive roll found in the later games is absent. The enemy AI is also pretty obnoxious. KoF '94 and '95 are the only games in the series where finishing certain female characters with a special move will cause their clothes to tear off, revealing their undergarments. It has some good music, and it's still playable, but it feels pretty archaic in comparison to the later games.
In addition to the port found on the KoF 94 Rebout release (see below), this was also included in the SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1 for the PlayStation 2, PSP and Wii. Unfortunately, the emulation on the PS2 and PSP versions are terrible, with an extremly jerky frame rate that completely ruins the game. A port can also be found on the US release of KoF Orochi Saga, also for the PlayStation 2, PSP and Wii - here, the PS2 port is significantly improved, but the Wii version is still probably the way to go.
MP3s
Esaka
Jungle Bouncer
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King of Fighters 94
King of Fighters 94
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The King of Fighters 94 Rebout - PlayStation 2 (2004)
Japanese Cover
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King of Fighters 94 Rebout
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King of Fighters 94 Rebout
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For its tenth anniversary, SNK remade KoF 94 for the PlayStation 2 until the name King of Fighters 94 Rebout. All of the characters have been redrawn in high resolution, although they appear to simply be upscaled and smoothed out, similar to techniques applied to many emulators. It's still not remotely near Guilty Gear quality, but they look better than any other game in the series. SNK also added a whole slew of nice new 3D backgrounds, many of which include cameos by characters from later games. There's also a cool three minute long intro showing the various characters brawling, and while it's not as good as the KoF 98 Dreamcast intro, it has some nice rock music. The gameplay is pretty much the same as KoF 94, except for the addition of a Team Edit mode (thank God.) The character select screen features new artwork done by artist Hiroaki, but the rest of the portraits are taken from the original version. Since this is technically commemorating the 10th anniversary of the series, there are also two videos that explain the Orochi and NESTS storylines.
Considering KoF 94 initially never received a home port, this is a nice package for fans (and includes an emulated version of the original game, which is essentially arcade perfect), but it feels like such a major step backwards that it's hard to play. However, it does include online play. Rebout was only released in Japan, although it was originally scheduled to be ported to the Xbox for American release. Unfortunately, due to constant delays and several bugs, the game was eventually scrapped.
Video
Opening Anime Youtube
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King of Fighters 94 Rebout
King of Fighters 94 Rebout
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The King of Fighters 95 - Arcade / PlayStation / Saturn / PlayStation 2 / PSP / Wii (1995)
Neo CD Cover
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King of Fighters 95
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King of Fighters 95
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King of Fighters 95 improves quite a bit over its predecessor, mostly because it let players choose their own team (known as Team Edit) and introduces a storyline revolving around the Orochi powers. There are also several new characters introduced into the story, including Billy Kane (from Fatal Fury) and Eiji Kisaragi (from Art of Fighting), as well as Iori Yagami, who was designed to be the mortal enemy of Kyo. The main enemy is once again Rugal, although Kyo's father Saishu also appears as a midboss.
King of Fighters 95 was ported to both the PlayStation and Saturn. The PlayStation version was released in America, and although it played well, as saddled with cut animation and lots of load times. The Saturn version came with an expansion ROM cart that was necessarily to play the game. Unlike the RAM carts used in other SNK and Capcom games for the Saturn, this ROM cart contains data from KoF 95, reducing the load on the CD and resulting in faster load times. Unfortunately, this hindrance makes it very hard to play on non-Japanese Saturns. It's is also part of the King of Fighters Orochi Collection for the PlayStation 2 - the Japanese versions contain arcade-perfect ports of KoF 95, 96, and 97, along with online play and arranged soundtracks, making it the definitive versions. The US release for the PlayStation 2, Wii, and PSP includes only the arcade version (and also includes Kof 94, 96, 97 and 98), with a bit of extra load times, but no arrange soundtracks.
MP3s
Desert Requiem
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King of Fighters 95
King of Fighters 95
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The King of Fighters 96 - Arcade / PlayStation / Saturn / PlayStation 2 / PSP / Wii (1996)
Neo CD Cover
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King of Fighters 96
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King of Fighters 96
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King of Fighters 96 redraws a lot of the character graphics and introduces Leona, a blue haired female member of the Ikari Warriors team, although she's brutally overpowered here and was toned down for later games. Also notable is the Boss Team, consisting of Geese Howard (Fatal Fury), Wolfgang Krauzer (Fatal Fury 2) and Mr. Big (Art of Fighting 2.) Kasumi Todoh is also introduced, as well as Chizuru, a midboss who uses illusionary powers to attack. Vice and Mature, two vicious female characters, also make their first appearance. The final boss is Goenitz, whose hurricane attack makes him just as remarkably annoying as most SNK bosses. This is also the first game to introduce the tactical roll, which drastically changes the way the game is played - by pressing A and B simultaneously, you execute a roll that's impervious to damage. Not only that, but you can roll behind an opponent and attack them from behind, or go for an easy throw. Also new are Super Special Moves, also known as Super Desperation moves or HSDMs, which are extra powerful moves that can be executed when your power bar as it max and you have low health. KoF 96 also has one of the best soundtracks of the series - such as Kyo's guitar-heavy "ESAKA?", the Art of Fighting's acoustic-oriented "Kamikiri Mushi" and Kim's rock music "Seoul Road".
KoF 96 was ported to both the PlayStation and Saturn. The PlayStation version was once again saddled with cut animation and load times. The Saturn version used the 1 MB RAM cart, and while there's still plenty of loading, it's much shorter and very little animation is sacrificed. It also appears on the King of Fighters Orochi Collection. The Neo Geo CD version includes an extensive database of the characters, as well as other supplemental material.
MP3s
ESAKA?
Fairy
Seoul Road
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King of Fighters 96
King of Fighters 96
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