Hey G1s, it's been a while since I've posted a blog (not that many people read mine anyway xD) But recently I've watched some of the retrospective videos on GameTrailers and I find them quite entertaining. Therefore I've decided to do my own retrospective on one of my favorites and one of the lesser popular series in the US, the King of Fighters series. This is definitely my favorite 2D fighter; yes, even more so than SF even though I grew up on SF2T and the zero/alpha series. My first KoF game was KoF 95 on the Gameboy. I think I was only about 10 years old at the time and honestly, I didn't enjoy the game very much. I haven't touched any KoF related title until I played Capcom vs SNK. Then I was like, oh yeah I remember some of those characters! So I went back and tried out the older games and I've followed the series from that point on. Anyway, enough about my own experies, here's a retrospective on the entire series. This first part will cover the original title of '94 up to the last game of its first story arc, '98. We all know about Capcom's Street Fighter II in 1991 that pretty much made fighting games what they are like today. However, another game company known as SNK, which stands for "shin nihon kikaku 新日本企画" started to develop their own fighting game, capitalizing on the popularity of the franchise that SF2 has brought to the arcade business. SNK has been making games for several years before making KoF though, they started a few popular franchises such as Ikari warriors and Psycho Soldier. In 1991, after the release of SF2, SNK released its first fighting game, Garou Densetsu (dubbed in English as Fatal Fury). After the success of Garou, SNK made other fighting games like the Art of Fighting, Samurai Spirits/Showdown, and World Heroes, as well as several sequels for these games. Because SNK's NeoGeo arcade system was so much more powerful than other arcade systems and they are able to swap game cartridges, these titles were extremely popular all over Asia. In 1994, SNK came out with a game that mashed storylines of most of its previous titles into one, and the result of that was The King of Fighter 94. Some of the characters were the Italy team, represented by Joe Higashi, Terry and Andy Bogard from Garou. The China team, represented by Athena, Kensou and Chin from Psycho Soldier. The Brazil team, represented by Heidern, Clark Steel and Ralf Jones of Ikari warriors. The Mexico team, represented by Robert Garcia, Ryo and Takuma Sakazaki from Art of Fighting. Other characters such as Kim Kaphwan, Shiranui Mai, etc from Garou, AoF were also included. Samurai Spirits characters are not inthis game due to timeline conflicts (KoF takes place in the modern world and SS takes place in ancient Japan). I was a bit surprised that World Heroes characters were not included.. But that might be because most of them use weapons and not that many KoF characters use weapons. Who knows. However, the King of Fighters 94 was not just a dream match of every SNK fighting game character, the game introduced its own storyline. The main character is Kusanagi Kyo and its up to him and his teammates Daimon and Benimaru to stop the evil Rugal Bernstein, who holds a tournament to fight and kill the strongest fighters in the world. Shallow and typical story? Yes, but the gameplay mechanics are much different than any other fighting game before it. Until this point, all fighting games are 1v1 based. However, the KoF series introduced a 3v3 system in which the player picks not one, but a team of 3 characters to fight. Although the only drawback to 94 is that you cannot swap character nor pick characters on different teams, so you must learn all three characters of the team you have chosen. This has been changed in future games. The system of 3v3, although tweaked many times, is an ongoing tradition of this franchise. Another difference is its super system. In SF2, characters will fill their super bar when they attack their opponents or use special moves. In KoF, characters are able to charge their supers by pressing hard punch and hard kick together. This makes the characters vulnerable to attacks but will charge the super bar quickly. Characters can also have unlimited supers during critical health, but having both a charged super bar and low health will allow a player to use a much more powerful version of the super. This has been given the name "standard mode" in KoF 97 and "S groove" in Capcom vs SNK. With the success of KoF 94, SNK immediately started working on the next installment, KoF 95. The game was a big improvement over the first one. The biggest change is that you are able to pick a team of 3 with any character on the roster. Additional characters from other Garou, AoF has been added such as Billy Kane and Kisaragi Eiji. The game also introduced its other original main character, Yagami Iori as the rival of Kyo, the protagonist. Storyline-wise, Rugal has been utilizing the Orochi powers and has become more powerful than Kyo (who defeated Rugal in 94). However Rugal wasn't fully able to use this power the powers were too overwhelming and killed him in the end. The King of Fighters 96, gameplay-wise, was pretty much the same as 95. There hasn't been much change in the game other than adding additonal characters into the mix. A new boss called Goenitz took Rugal's place, who eventually became a fan favorite. Nothing much can be said about this year, other than Athena's PSYCHOBAAAALL really bugged the crap out of me. Kof 97 however, was possibly the best title up to that day. Gameplay wise, SNK added a new super mechanic that allows players to stock up to 3 supers, or use 1 stock to gain a temporary stat boost. Using a super during this stat boost will result in a more powerful version of a super. This was called "Extra mode" in this game and Capcom vs SNK called it the "N groove". In the storyline, players are introduced to 3 new original characters called the orochi team; Chris, Shermie, and Yashiro. There are two versions of Iori, Leona, Chris, Shermie, and Yashiro in this game. They have their original forms and a form in which their orochi blood awakens. Iori and Leona have the same moves but moves much quicker (sometimes it's really hard to control because they move so damn quick) and the orochi team characters play very differently. They became opposites of the Hero team. For example, Chris utilize fire like Kyo, Yashiro becomes a grappler like Daimon and Shermie uses lightning like Benimaru. Anyway, Chris becomes Orochi and he got his ass kicked by the Heroes team. This concludes the Orochi storyline. Oh btw, Athena's psycho ball is STILL annoying as hell. The King of Fighters 98 is not exactly a game that is related to the main storyline, because it isn't. Kof 98 is a dream match for all previous games. It uses the same standard and extra game modes like in 97. Every character thus far is included, even the American team that was taken out since 95. To many, Kof 98 was the best KoF ever. If you're looking for storyline, you won't find it in 98, but this game is truely a dream come true for any fan who has followed the series for these 4 years. In the next part I will go over the NESTS storyline, going from KoF99-2002. New gameplay elements, a new main character that dethroned Kyo (oh noes!), and a bigger, badder dream match game. Part 2 is up: http://screwattack.com/node/16108