NOBODY TALKS ABOUT KING OF FIGHTERS 97!

[@adnanasif9538]

For those who don't know, He didn't get the "special" canon ending because for that you need to play as a team of Kyo, Iori and Chizuru.

[@ShaneDouglas713]

*3 Sacred Treasures Team*

[@adnanasif9538]

@@ShaneDouglas713 Yes.

[@beastdz16]

that's the really ending

[@ShaneDouglas713]

@@beastdz16 Yes it is

[@OrochiPops]

Love that bonus fight!

[@DiegoSPaulino]

KoF '97 was huge here in Brasil. The end of the Orochi Saga, discover the secret teams, chars and endings, fighting the 'devil' Iori and Leona for the first time... Good times. But yeah, game is broke as hell lol

[@Brancorpse]

I watch many people still playing it online in Brazil. The real ending sounds like a final RPG quest, it's brilhant.

[@mundart9824]

until today a lot of brazilians love kof 97, is the best mermão

[@cardsharpHS]

I've heard that. You guys might be the main reason why Global Match was released in 2018!

[@mundart9824]

@@cardsharpHS kof isa plague here in brazil, the main games are 97, 98 and 2002

[@Turnabout]

'97 is actually my favorite KOF, not counting the remixes. Love it.

[@Turnabout]

The arranged soundtrack (PS, Saturn) for '97 was the hottest of all fire

[@TonyTheTGR]

They tried something different and brave with it, I'll respect that; even if it was "Evil Ryu, but five and a half of them in one game." That said though? There's so many reasons this was busted and clearly '98 *is* what this one was intended to be. Billy Kane doesn't even have his vocals in this!

[@Leny1777]

Not sure why Justin says 97 is underrated. 97 is one of my favorites and people would talk about it back in the day. Not sure what he is talking about here.

[@jfitnesshealth]

97 was my 1st kof. Got it for Saturn in 98.

[@julianocs87]

Here in Brazil this game was huge back in the day. Even more than 98. Most places with an arcade machine it was almost guaranteed that you'd find this or SFA2

[@Brancorpse]

That's true. Everyone loves KOF 97 here in Brazil!

[@exeortegarubio]

Lo mismo aquí en Chile.

[@fightingforce8498]

Brazil don't play kof 98? That was the best kof

[@SuperFusionAJ93]

Would love to see Justin's reaction to the canon team ending that is Kyo, Iori, and Chizuru.

[@josedanielbanos1766]

This is peak SNK story building for me. Which is why I like KoF more than street fighter. The intricate story lines, world building., the whole Orochi myth thing reinterpretation. Best classic KoF for me. The fact that 98 doesn’t have a story mode means that 98 is an upgrade to 97.

[@adnanasif9538]

98 is like a special non-canon game like how Tekken Tag Tournament games are.

[@carlosaugusto9821]

@@adnanasif9538 I believe that idea of making a specific non canon sequel between canon sequels started in Fatal Fury Special. Then it became a kind of trend, being used in a few other games from FF, KOF and Samsho.

[@WastedTalent83]

i always thought kof was better as a game in general.. better char design, better fighting system etc.. that all stopped after 99 tho.. the other kof were ok , but for me, 96 to 98 were the 3 best.

[@adnanasif9538]

@@WastedTalent83 Kof 99's mistake was that it was a sequel to 98. After kof 2000 SNK went bankrupt and another division took over the franchise, which is why the dip in quality.

[@WastedTalent83]

@@adnanasif9538 i know i know, i was 13 when i started play Kof in 96.. i sadly know all the shit that happened after and why kof became such a mess, they even went 3d which was horrible, and went even worse back to 2d but MUCH morse drawings and animation than 96 lol. last kof i saw kyo is literally ugly compared t ohow he was before.. the new char design is horrible aswell

[@exeortegarubio]

This was my introduction to KOF. Great memories, everybody played with Robert and Benimaru.

[@Le_Stadt]

You also got spammed with roberts tatsumakis? There should be a group for people who survived through that.

[@quixodeath8879]

im just glad to see you playing more KOF. its a great series that deserves more attention

[@carlosaugusto9821]

Although he had already played 94, 95, 96, 00, 01, 11 and 02um on the channel. Now i dont remember 99. Anyways he played the huge majority of the classic games. There is little to do with classic KOFs anymore... and i mean single player content, because its very unlikely Justin plays real matches. He is a good KOF player but not really sharp on the classics, to challenge those asian and latin american hardcore players on fc.

[@killerjoke2945]

When I was a kid Manila back in the late 90s, KoF 97 was the bomb!!! there were long lines in the arcades and people were really invested in the endings. Benimaru's attacks had priority over everything, Terry had infinite tackle, Clark was top grappler, and Ralf's Galactica Phantom was actually scary! You were a loser if you can't get the orochis appear in the character select screen.

[@tpatt513]

For the special ending: Kyo, Iori, and Chizuru. Check out Orochi Iori's theme arranged. Classic theme.

[@MagodoCaos1]

The arranged version of the music in this game is insane. I used to play on the Playstation, so that was the default, and I'm very glad for that.

[@xGunbladeKnightx]

96 and 97 are unforgettable at least on a plot level, because they are like the two most important chapters of the saga. Goenitz appeared, who also created trauma due to the difficulty, just like Rugal did, and also the Hakkeshu, who became characters very beloved by the fandom. The ending of Kyo versus Iori at that time was fine, and was really cool, it was expected that they would at some point have time to decide their rivalry. Although that's not the canon ending.

[@Cloudcolin]

Here is a fun fact. If you do a playthrough with New Face Team (Chris, Yashiro and Shermie), the intermission scenes (encounter with the Awakened Orochi Team (Orochi Chris, Orochi Shermie, Orochi Yashiro) hinted you of a secret team that you can pick to get a secret ending.

[@FolksFox]

I remember on the month of my 7th birthday I went to Bangladesh for the first time, and my older cousin introduced me to KoF. He had all the ones on psx and we’d play through them, but we’d always come back to 97. I remember my first time meeting Orochi Iori. And dealing with the Orochi team. And the cheat codes to unlock them. There was a secret ending if you made your team Kyo, Iori, and Chizuru(I think). KoF 97 will always hold a special place in my heart.

[@toshikikarukawa8148]

This was the first KOF i ever played and I loved it. Then 98 came and I bought it for the Play Station and spent hours and hours fighting with a friend.

[@InitialDL84]

Dreammatch '99 on Dreamcast (basically a more upgraded KOF '98) was really my first entry into the series, even though I've always had a love for other SNK fighters. They always had this cool anime feel to them, and the characters seemed so much cooler to me. But Dreammatch '99 was my jam, those hard hitting sound effects had me hooked!

[@RuinAngel]

KOF 97 had the grand finale of the Orochi, massively improve effects and visuals, new power gauges, expanded roster, and is generally really fun to play. It's one of those fighting games that plays and feels solid but the balance is so bad that it is only viable for newbies who don't know what they are doing to play competitively.

[@carlosaugusto9821]

KOF 97 is the game that invented "playing mode select": which the american fgc, that is fixated to Capcom fgs, usually call "grooves" because of CvS2. Capcom first copied the idea for SFA3 from 98, then returned to the idea for CvS1 and 2. The difference is that KOF only had 2 different modes, and SFA3 and CvS2 had more modes. After KOF 97, the same idea was used by SNK in Last Blade 1-2, from 97-98, then never anymore in the classic era... and when SNK returned in 03, the idea was used in KOF Neowave (04), then never again. Even though its already an abandoned idea in the genre, not only by Capcom and SNK but every other company, it can be considered one important innovations, that just was forgotten. (Sadly there is a good number of abandoned important innovations in fgs, that still would matter nowadays)

[@Brancorpse]

Hello, Justin, i love your work. Probably, no one talks about KOF 97 in US, but here, in Brazil, this is one of most favorite games for the fans. Many people still play it online until present days. This is a masterpiece. Hugs from Brazil!

[@fightingforce8498]

How about kof 98?

[@davidosclay852]

Did you know back at the 97 there was 3 voting gaming magazine to vote SNK characters to join KOF 97. Was Ryuji Yamazaki, Billy Kane and Blue Mary. Duck King was almost be the winner from the voting and have the same score of Blue Mary. But Mary won the vote.

[@BentoTirano]

Here in Brazil 97 was The most played!! We put The code to play with Orochi Iori and Leona and break The game!! Yamazaki was a 40 hits special!! So much Fun!!

[@tiomark1172]

97 is part of my childhood , one of my favorite KOFs

[@thedashingzack]

its my favourite KOF retro game, i used to play only this game in arcade. people say kof 98 is the best but for me kof 97 is my love. it only takes 1 token for me to end this game, i still play this game on fightcade

[@elissonthiagopaulinodemelo1416]

Kyo, Iori and Chisuru are a secret team, the cannon The brazilians are fans of kof 97, there's so many people that include like the history background, the pocket bravery creators was inpired on this game to make a history to the game that have created.

[@pablosalgado293]

pretty much all Latam is fan of KOF

[@elissonthiagopaulinodemelo1416]

@@pablosalgado293 podes crer meu irmão😂

[@jessragan6714]

SNK was great at international outreach. The Mexicans and Koreans love themselves some Neo-Geo too, which is impressive considering the fact that Koreans don't love Japanese ANYTHING. (There was history between the two countries in World War II.)

[@kuku556677]

KOF97 is still huge and popular in China.. but it is a really really old game.

[@upyoursenator]

KOF 97 & 98 will forever be my favorites!

[@RikuNamako]

Kyo got his rekka in 96 actually.

[@agung.shinryuukai]

97 is OP because is in advance mode when u use 1 stock to use hyper or advance mode (sorry if i called it wrong) and use another stock to do a super (desperation) move. The super move is became enhance BUT WHEN USE THE HYPER MODE IS NOT GONE instantly like they did in 98'. So if u have 3 stocks, just use hyper mode once and u can use 2 enhance super which is kinda insane Ps : sorry for bad english 🤣

[@xOmniCloudx]

You explained well. Insane game 😂

[@fightingforce8498]

That's why it's broken 😂

[@vichyssoise80]

Few reasons I keep coming back to 97 1. Yashiro is one of my favorite characters. 2. There's much more personality to the game. For an example, if you follow up Yashiro with someone like Terry, he wont leave you any stock when you KO yet someone like Athena would. The interactions prefight. Little touches are nice. 3. GALACTICA PHANTOMMM. Holy crap, what a busted but glorious move. Nothing that dangerous should be THAT easy to pull off.lol 4. Story stuff. Though I was like "oh so this is Orochi, huh", the build up of the saga was pretty exciting. 5. Shingo's debut. 6. I think out of most of the characters in the series, Leona has truly had the most character growth. 7. I forget if this was the one with the different version of Yuri where she was a shoto. I liked this version of her. 8. The presentation was really neat.

[@heroictragedy]

This is the one I grew up on. The best one for me. The sound effects all hit hard, the soundtrack goes ham, just everything about it is full of swag. The character select screen music is the best in the series IMO. And the canon ending got me emotional when I was 13 years old. Just the best KOF game overall

[@ivanorduz4033]

I really like see JW playing SNK games, specially the KOF series!! It's so EPIC!!

[@Ononokii]

This is for me the most nostalgic and favorite KOF of all time

[@Wonderpalm1979]

In 97 there were arcade machines in every convenience store, grocery store and Walmart in town (not to mention two arcades) 😢

[@miguelmata6883]

Jesus, those end of round flashes... You can really tell when something was made pre-pokémon shock incident.

[@carlosaugusto9821]

And actually that was kept for a while later. Many arcade games in the 90s liked the flashes for some reason, though not many were as intense as the KOF style. A notable example was the Double Dragon fg for Neogeo. And Capcom used white flashes in MSH, XvSF (the flashiest of them), MvSH (reduced) and MVC1 (even less) during the whole gameplay. I dont understand how and why that became a industry trend, and how it managed to last for so long.

[@SiniBANG]

First KOF I ever played as a kid, seeing Mai made me happy.

[@stevereyes2845]

97 was pretty big back in the day, everybody was playing in the arcades

[@nassattack]

I have a lot of fondness for KOF 97, this is what we had in our arcade back when I was in high school. It was pretty rare to find any KOF machine where I grew up so this was the only one I got to play.

[@tribulacion]

Young people / Americans may not know, but the Riot of the Blood, Orochi Team and Orochi fights were considered the pinnacle of artistry in a FG back in the actual year 1997. The level design in the Orochi Team fight along with that killer backing track were kind of unprecendented. Game's still broken af though.

[@carlosaugusto9821]

It was the highest point of storytelling and lore making in 2d fgs at that point. And the game that skyrocketed KOF to a huge popularity. Since KOF 95 the franchise was on a solid rising pace, because the story mode were just getting better... then in 97 it was a jump to a whole new level.

[@carlosaugusto9821]

And yeah, the american classic arcade scene worked in different ways from other parts of the world, but in all the places that embraced SNK culture and had a strong connection to the games (like Brazil, where im from) KOF 97 was a huge phenomenon among 2d fgs in general around its release. And i say that because i heard stories of people from other countries that also had a true and solid SNK culture in the 90s. People who missed that, like americans, for their fixation to Capcom fgs, just missed long chapters of fg history. Just didnt form any relation to SNK culture, that is much richer than Capcom's fg library. Then in the early 00s comes CvS, and those guys are just surprised about everything: what is this that is being matched with the powerful Capcom fgs? Capcom wouldnt collab with anyone after all. I have actually researched the scene and heard a lot of hardcore fg old schoolers say they only got to know SNK chars through CvS, that is a 00s game made by Capcom.

[@PedroPauloMota]

The soundtrack playing in the arcades gave me chills as a kid. The anime vibes of 97 are really awesome. It shows the artistic quality SNK had in the 90s.

[@deltoad]

The characters got a design upgrade in '96 and a mechanical upgrade in '97. '98 had returning characters from the earlier games with the new playstyle

[@carlosaugusto9821]

The whole game was revamped in 96, with the introduction of sdm's (with actual different animations), hops, rolls, etc. And that new core mechanic base was refined in 97, with the introduction of the new meter system, the max mode, etc.

[@deltoad]

@@carlosaugusto9821 revamped but unfinished as you can see sprite frames from 95 with some characters like Joe, and there was almost no combos or chains in '96. But yeah '96 was the beginning of KOF's evolution

[@Gilded30]

this game was my introduction to kof, fighting games and arcade games as a whole... and this happened easily 25 years ago XD

[@jonesy7425]

97 is mad fun. I love the character select screen music, and winning themes. It has a lot of cool stuff in it.

[@carlosaugusto9821]

The major improvements in presentation to me are the opening first of all, and the versus screen and initial battle intro screen making it look like a tv broadcast of a tournament. Impressive stuff for that time.

[@leegunring]

1:09KOF's staff was originally in charge of R-TYPE at IREM. As a result, their art style is not like other ACTs, but more like 2D STGs. This is especially evident in the flame and explosion of KOF 94~97, where the eruption of a large number of particles is full of inorganic industrial style, which causes some lag. I miss that.

[@KingMob4313]

KOF 97 is the one I played the MOST when they had it for YEARS at the WMU basement arcade. Blue Mary was a BEAST in it, used to piss off so many people with her command throw which did insane damage. But yeah, there's a reason people moved on to 98 - 97 was JANK.

[@carcosa_swamp]

always a great day when JWong uploads a classic story mode playthrough

[@revolutionoftheclassics3630]

This will always be my favorite KOF I played it a lot in Mexico

[@elvisaguilar8008]

I was introduced to kof with this one, I was visiting Mexico and saw it for the first time, great memories

[@VBrancoPT]

The game that introduced us Shingo.

[@Masamatt90]

What about King of Fighters 95' for the gameboy? Loved the music in that game and I think you can unlock all the characters by mashing the select button as soon as you start the game. It also has slow motion on the final hit, so if you hit someone with Ryo, you'll see their combo super slowed down. Also Ralf is broken and you can juggle people in the corner because his rapid punch doesn't stop as long as you keep mashing.

[@Kishimatto]

I remember meeting my friend at the coffee shop before school at 5 am to play king of fighters 96 and cruising USA …good times

[@boredbeck]

KOF 97 is my favorite KOF game...just for the sole purpose that it actually gave a "shonen tournament" feel really strong.

[@KiMLoKO1]

i played kof 2002 for so long until 2015 or something... shits awesome.

[@kinciscorner]

This is rhe one that got me started in fighting games. Seriously the coolest one back then.

[@Aoiavalon.]

The stages in Monaco and the band's show don't have music because at the time SNK didn't have any more space on the cartridge (700 megas) to add more music, so they left these ambient songs and some other things were also cut from the game to save space

[@kennethbelga4456]

KOF 97 was so good. Very nostalgic

[@bigshorty4855]

There's actually a real ending that you get with one of the special edit teams. The real ending is the one with Kyo, Iori, and Chizuru. Lot's of special team endings. I always liked the Terry, Mary, and Joe one cause of the art.

[@tedjomuljono3052]

Kyo got his rekka in 96 iirc, that's when everyone starts to lose their projectiles and became Dan Hibiki

[@carlosaugusto9821]

Kyo got the rekka in 96 and that decision had some mixed reactions, that encouraged SNK to add Ex Kyo in 97, so people could pick the version with the fire projectile.

[@carlosaugusto9821]

Yeah in 96 most chars had a strange fireball nerf all of a sudden. Kyo completely lost the move and the other chars lost the fireball range. That apparently was done to reinforce the close range fighting overall and add complexity to the fireball use of those chars, to make it more different than the typical SF zoning.

[@tedjomuljono3052]

@@carlosaugusto9821 at least Kyo got some lore reasons of why the sudden change of moves(his old moves didn't work on Goenitz), the rest was just bizzare, it's like SNK trying to prove to Capcom that Dan's Gadouken isn't a joke ironically over a decade later Dan's Gadouken became one of his deadliest tool when he arrived in SFV

[@tedjomuljono3052]

@@carlosaugusto9821 and in 98 everyone got an EX version, and eventually SNK just rolled back the odd changes on their later games and gave everyone their fireballs back anyways

[@fordesponja]

This was the second game I went into the series after Kof 96 on Game Boy, I spent hours playing it in a internet cafe that had Mame and controllers available around 1999. I remember I skipped Kof 98 because it didn't have story and wanted to know what happened. Good times.

[@kenlee1149]

This is when I know JWong isn’t as old skool as I thought. He probably wasn’t around when it hit the arcades. I can only go by arcades across London. 94 was somewhat popular. I don’t even remember seeing 95 in the arcades. 96 was pretty popular. But 97 is when it got proper big. The main arcade in London at the time was Namco Wonderpark in Shaftesbury Avenue. They had 4 plama arcade machines with 97. No other game had that treatment Around 1997 I went to HK and wow. The only game they were playing was Kof97. They even had some arcades dedicated for only 97. Even to this day kof97 is the most popular game in China with daily uploads from the great 4S players. 98 I feel was never as popular in the arcades as 97 but it is basically 97 without the infinites. It is difficult for newer players to truly appreciate the arcade scene in its day. The only tournament player that can is Ryan Hart. He was around the 96-97 scene. He was by far the best player I have seen at 97 from Europe.

[@OrochiPops]

I do! My favorite canon KOF and the reason I chose my name. The game that showed me Fighting Games can have dope stories.

[@raton3718]

Nobody in US, Latin America is all about KOF!

[@OROCHITHEO]

Here in Brazil, KOF is one of the most wanted franchises. And KOF97 is one of favourite's games. I'm included 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

[@PikangsFutaba]

KOF'97... yeah... pretty much ANY character who uses fire causes slowdowns easily, heck, is kinda easy to cause a TASK OVER (AKA: crash the game and even the NeoGeo itself).

[@xDTHECHEMISTx]

I still have my original i got from J&L game store many years ago in old Chinatown on Elizabeth street lol. Definite classic

[@AliganRamadhan]

in my early day, i've playing '97 so much that i changing so much character team and spamming the ones i like such as Benimaru and Ryo, so much joy playing this gem.

[@perchayweas]

97 was my first kof in the arcades, i never like fatal fury but kof 97 im all in baby

[@clarencegutsy7309]

Orochi Leona's character select picture used to give me nightmares. Her running animation being her coming at you like a fucking tiger was pretty goddamn cool though.

[@ZioSerpe]

Kyo got Rekkas in 96, the game that hates fireballs. '97 is "the story game" all endings are great especially the sacred treasures special ending. People just usually talk 98 because that is the balanced game

[@respectfulremastersbymetal8336]

You know what no one talks about: Weaponlord. You should play Weaponlord.

[@beebeefoke1205]

When I lived in China, I was very surprised to see how many KOF97 there was in the Arcade, dozens of them.

[@GinisisDroid]

Kof 97 was huge in Pakistan, this game was everywhere, i spend all my childhood playing this exellent game

[@ToastyMarshes]

I love KOF, K is one of my favorite fighters, along with Terry and Joe. I had a NeoGeo color and 2 of my favorite games were Fatal Fury and KOF...until it got stolen that is 😢.

[@CientifiKOF]

Damn, this brought back memories of going to the arcades to beat the game with every team and see the endings of 97' and 99'.

[@yagamiyasaki4091]

My favourite game ,best story arc ,best time in world some people might be forget but not snk fans

[@uxm4life94]

Always loved 97. Climax of Orochi Saga that has a unique ambiance in the stages

[@gooseherdez336]

96 is a fan favorite, but by 97 you could see the cracks appearing in the series and how yearly KOF releases were just unsustainable. 97 is by no means a bad game but you can feel it could have used a bit more time in the oven. Then came 98 and fixed all that and most people forgot 97.

[@DroolinLizard]

This is the only KOF I have experience with a laundry matt down the street from my house had a cab. That laundry matt became my favorite hang out spot for a while 😄

[@THEKAKOTASS]

for me is my fav KOF game of all, i love it so much and so many memories playing it with my brothers in emulators

[@Atomic-Punk]

I have a special place for 97. It's one of my all-time favorites.

[@hector8927]

This is my very first Fighting Game :'). I used to play this all the way in 97 when I was just 7 years old. Been using Iori, Athena a Mai since

[@mannion1985]

I actually owned this one for the AES back in the day.

[@naytcrow]

kyo and iori was meant to be removed after 97(orochi saga) but at kof 99 testing fans responded negatively so snk add them at last minute thats why kyo and iori is secret characters in arcade

[@jessragan6714]

A KOF without Kyo, Iori, Mai, or King is just wrong. (All of these characters were removed in past KOF games. Tsk tsk, SNK.)

[@nugamer2475]

I love KOF 97 and 2000. 97's boss is fun and challenging. Cheap but still fun. I love those ring girl's too just before the match starts.

[@carlosaugusto9821]

That was a big part of the game's innovative presentation imo. The whole tv broadcast vibe too.

[@mistervader]

96 was the first game where Kyo had a Reka, not 97.

[@huynghiepdu]

Favourite kof for me in term of the arcade run. Best game, a little bit broken on the balancing side though😅

[@houayang7947]

This was the first time i was introduced into snk games. Memories.

[@hackerxhgc]

My favorite KOF games: 1- KOF 97 2- KOF 2002 3- KOF 98

[@admyconstruccion6321]

Kof 97 in Mexico was the top tier arcade Game, even send to the canvas sf series for a while.

[@DanHemsath]

I first got introduced to KOF via the PS1 port of '95, and I just loved it. I kept hoping I'd see '96 and '97 get localized, but it wasn't until I got my Dreamcast that I got to play '98 (which was called "Dream Match 1999, for some reason). It was weird, but I didn't like '98 at first. (I guess I had no taste as a kid. lol) I ended up playing that game constantly, but always wished I understood who characters like Yashiro and Shermie were. I had no context. Glad that I finally got to play '97, even though it is weird that only some characters get music. The rest of the music in the game is awesome, and the game plays so well. Love this series!

[@Jetterz1999]

I recently bought the orochi collection on my PS5 and had fun playing 97, but the lack of emphasis on the music really killed the experience for me. KOF'S OST is too good to get done dirty like that

[@carlosaugusto9821]

That is a big issue in the game. Maybe it wasnt possible to add personal themes (unlike team themes) for everyone, like in the Marvel series... either for technical limitations (the Neogeo is inferior and KOF 97 has a bigger roster than the early Marvel games) or time constraints for a yearly sequel. We can notice that the game is inclined to personal themes, unlike the music concept of the whole rest of the series.

[@Akaykimuy]

97's ost is great, they're just not many tracks and for some reason they barely get played in the game ngcd version of the ost: kzbin.info/aero/PL2DF6A1604609050B

[@j2dacee]

I'm from Argentina. KOF97 was HUGE here. Most played than any SF, the capcom versus series, VF or Tekken. Unless untill KOF 2002. Yep, Argentina is a weird country XD

[@carlosaugusto9821]

The same happened in Brazil... and from the stories i heard, KOF also skyrocketed in the 90s in some other latin american countries. The rising started around 95-96 and peaked in 97-98. And eventually surpassed the other fgs.

[@nikito370]

it still is. I still have substance-fueled meetings with the buddies to play this.

[@ivervj2923]

I rather wonder why they don't talk about '96. That year marked a before and after in the whole gameplay. They completely change Kyo's style, introducing new abilities such as running, rolling, SDMs. '96 is the key year for this franchise.

[@pablocasas5906]

'96 is a very weird game, it feels like an in-between transition between the gameplay style of '94 and '95 and how KoF would become. Not to mention that, while it plays, sounds and looks nice, there's plenty of bugs and hackers found plenty of cut moves and animations, the game feels like SNK didn't manage to finish the game like they wanted

[@j3r3miasmg]

The good old 97!

[@garfieldRYL]

Orochi Shermie has 1 chain combo that takes out the whole life bar without any repeated or bugged move. Relatively easy to perform on players, but against computer so far only Ralf will take the bait. circle front + punch > Causes Ralf to guard low. Makes sure you are A+B+C pior. Jump crossover heavy Punch, standing heavy Punch > Forward + Light Kick > qcf x2 + punch.

[@Pd69bq]

iirc, KOF '97 was pretty popular in Asia. I've played shit ton of it during my childhood, all the input "shortcuts" and cancels. I still vividly recall the first time I saw Terry's infinite Rising Tackle/Power Charge combos at my local arcade, It blew my ten-year-old mind, and I spent all my allowance trying to beat that cheesy high schooler.

[@carlosaugusto9821]

In all latin america too, in the places with a strong fg culture. Im from Brazil and know and heard from people of different regions here that KOF was huge, and got much bigger with 97. And heard similar stories from people of different latin american countries.

[@monstersinthecity]

97 is definitely one of my favorites for the lore and glitch combos

[@dropkickmonk3y]

Of all the games between KOF 94-98 (Golden age, end of the Orochi saga), 97 has the easiest special/desperation move input. 98 is my favorite, but 97 is a close second.

[@SamuraiSnake]

KOF97 is a huge favorite of mine. My favorite KOF game.

[@christophermarshall2362]

Beat the game with Kyo, Iori and Chizmaru to get the true ending.

[@MikeDBloke]

My first KOF, well the first one I played at home (Unless you count Fatal Fury)

[@sufamidan1006]

I love the aesthetic of 97

[@TAKUMI143]

One of the best King of fighters game, the introduction of the orochi team😍😍😍