I am sure many of you remember the first time you tried out one of your now favorite
games for the first time, whether it was Gunstar Heroes from Treasure, Final Fantasy
from Square, or Mega Man 2 from Capcom, all that matters is that you remember
what it was like when you played it for the first time.
Well, one of my favorite gaming memories is from the first time I played The King
of Fighters 1994. Although, I only played it once back in 1999, but it was incredible.
I picked the All-Female team (I didn't care for the Art of Fighting or Korea teams,
and I wanted to try something different from Terry and company), and proceeded
to my first fight. I defeated my first team and I was having a great time, the
art style, the characters, just the attitude of it all was radically different
from the Street Fighter II updates that were appearing around that time. As fate
would have it, my next team was the cheapest one in the game, Korea. Even though
Choi quickly destroyed my entire team, I still thought very highly of the game
and have wanted to own a copy of a current King of Fighters game since that day.
Of course, after anyone waits so long for a port of one of their most wanted games,
it is guaranteed that something will look or sound at least a little bit dated
in comparison to the current crop of games. For this game, that 'something' is
the graphics. While most other fighting game series have evolved graphically by
using newer hardware or using polygonal-based graphics, SNK has opted to continue
to support is fanatical fan base by insisting on using the same hardware board
they introduced along with Magician Lord back in 1989. So how does decade old
technology stack up in this day and age? Very well in my opinion! While the majority
of normal moves are lacking in fluid animation, most notably jumping attacks and
other simple moves, most special attacks have a good deal of animation frames
and personality. Also noteworthy is the detail in the artwork. Every piece of
clothing has multiple creases that change as the characters pull off different
moves, Hair gets blown away from characters' faces as they charge their Power
Bars, and individual fingers are animated during opening taunts. Speaking of details,
King of Fighters Dream Match 1999 also features very well done polygonal backgrounds.
Fortunately, SNK didn't over do the backgrounds by using extremely high resolution
textures. instead, they designed them in such a way so that they blend seamlessly
in with the sprites in the background and the two fighters in the foreground.
While, in some respects, animation quality has not improved as much as one
would expect in a more current fighter, the music has kept pace with current
2D fighters. Most of the music tracks are of good quality, while a few really
stand out. Some notable standouts include the Hero Team music, Shingo's great
piece that just fits his character perfectly, and the final boss' background
music that pretty much says "you are going to die", and guess what?
I usually do. Surprisingly, SNK chose to store the game's music in redbook format
instead of using compression. Although the recording quality is excellent, it
appears that SNK was unable to keep the full versions of the background music
and still store it in redbook format. Thus, the background music lasts for about
two minutes at max, and then repeats. Furthermore, when playing in team mode,
the music stops playing to load the animation for the next character, and then
starts over, from the beginning, at the beginning of the next round. However,
keep in mind that in single character mode, the music doesn't restart between
rounds because there is no new character, or background, to load between rounds.
The sound effects are also very clear, and a lot of moves sound downright awesome.
However, this is partly due to the excellent voice acting, and personality,
that is exhibited from each character.
And in my opinion, that is what makes the King of Fighters series standout.
It doesn't matter whether or not the characters are simply doing their pre-fight
taunts, a special move, or one of their Desperation Moves. The personality always
shines through. For instance, Kyo has three opponent specific pre-fight taunts,
and one of those is when he fights against his bothersome little protege, Shingo.
Just for those that don't know, Shingo idolizes Kyo and pretty much begged Kyo
to teach him how to do his techniques. Even though I cannot translate what is
being said during the pre-fight taunt, the voice acting sounds excellent. It
is very easy to tell just how excited Shingo is at the prospect of showing his
sensei how much stronger he has become! Speaking of Shingo, his voice actor
is one of the finest I have ever heard in a fighting game, his "Shingo
Kickkkkk!" is classic! Beyond that, there are the Desperation Moves. While
some character's Desperation Moves are nothing more a few successive dragon
punch style moves, others are extremely impressive and really look painful!
Just try out either of Ralf's Desperation Moves for some great examples, not
that I should be surprised, he is an Ikari Warrior after all! Before seeing
them (and watching my character get slaughtered in the process), I didn't really
care about trying to learn to use him. However, seeing it for the first time
actually made me want to try to learn how to use him better!
And knowing how this game is designed, it should take quite a while to become
anywhere near proficent using him again the computer, much less against an experienced
player! That is because the King of Fighters series plays very different from
other 2D fighting games. While many of the older fighting games' strategy was
largely dependent on combos, the King of Fighters series' gameplay has more
to do with tactics and how the character is used than memorizing combos. Of
course, I am not saying that the King of Fighters series lacks an ample amount
of combos per character, far from it, just that while I can pull off some pretty
decent five to six hit combos in the Street Fighter games, achieving anything
more than a three hit combo in The King of Fighters Dream Match 1999 can be
pretty difficult at times, at least it can be when not wanting to finish the
combo with a Desperation Move. That is one of the hardest things to come to
grips with concerning this series. In my opinion, the way that the combos flow
in the Street Fighter series seems to be less disjointed, and easier for a beginner
to get something out of, in comparison to the King of Fighters series. Of course,
that could be either a good or bad point depending on what style of fighting
game you prefer. Nevertheless, while the combo system is less forgiving for
the beginning player, it makes up for it through giving the player many options
on how a character can be played.
Ever since the last major change in the gameplay in The King of Fighters 1996,
there has been two styles of play, Advanced, which is tailored more toward the
aggressive fighter, and Extra, for the more defence oriented player. For example,
when using Advanced Mode, pressing the light punch and kick buttons simultaneously
allows your character to either roll towards, or away from, the opponent, and
get a quick hit in from behind. In Extra Mode, however, instead of rolling,
you dodge by moving into the background momentarily, and have the opportunity
to attack from there. Furthermore, the way the Power Bar's energy is increased
is dependent upon what mode is selected. When using Advanced Mode, the Power
Bar's energy is increased when hitting the opponent or blocking an attack, and
when the bar is filled, the energy is stored and a Desperation Move can be used
when necessary. However, when using Extra Mode, the Power Bar behaves very differently.
Instead of the Power Bar's energy being raised when hitting an opponent or blocking,
it is raised when the opponent makes a successful attack upon you, or you can
choose to charge the bar without fighting, and leave yourself open to attack,
by holding down the light punch, light kick, and heavy punch buttons. However,
whereas the energy can be stored for later use in Advanced Mode, the same cannot
be said when using Extra Mode. The moment the bar is filled in Extra Mode, there
is a limited amount of time to do a Desperation Move. Whether or not a Desperation
Move was done, when the time to do a Desperation Move has expired, the Power
Bar must be recharged in order to earn another chance at doing a Desperation
Move.
Thankfully, with good control, all of those options are not going to waste.
Controlling the fighters is very smooth, with little to no delay between the
button press and the action on screen. Plus, with only four buttons used for
attacks, an arcade stick is not required to get full enjoyment out of the game.
Although, I do think I will purchase an arcade stick for this title eventually,
sometimes it feels like I could pull off some of the more advanced motions for
the Desperation Moves with a little more Consistency if I had one.
Outside of the fact that The King of Fighters Dream Match 1999 doesn't add
to the story that has been developed over the past few years (although that
shouldn't be to surprising, it is a dream match after all), there is very little
to complain about. Even with a huge number of characters (thirty-eight not counting
secret versions), everyone has a distinct personality. And, although I wouldn't
buy the soundtrack, the music is good for a fighting game. Besides, with some
major gameplay changes, and the start of a new storyline, this is the game that
ends the old series of King of Fighters games, and welcomes the next series
of King of Fighters games with The King of Fighters Millenium Battle 1999. Finally,
for those that are wondering, yes, this was worth waiting years for.
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