This is TO ME the greatest kof ever made. People praise 2002, 98, 11 and 13. But the story alone in this game gives it a place in Mount Olympus of fighting games. The dark story, the tension, the atmosphere. Even the lack of music gives it an eerie feeling to something off is going on with this tournament. And the gameplay up to that point was the best out of the 4 games. Even introduced Advanced mode. I respect people choosing other games. But to me…this is the KOF of legend. Played it so much as a kid, and still play it to this day. This is the gospel of KOF in China. Just like 2002 is the gospel of KOF in Latin America haha. And I’m Latino. But 97 is just peak KoF in terms of storytelling. Great job, Nabil!
@NeoGeoNowАй бұрын
KOF 97 has a special place in my heart, and it is the game i played the most in the arcades. Yes, it is not well balanced (looking at you Terry's infinite) but as you said, the story execution alone, and presenttation makes this game stand out among many other chapters.
@hermontarmand2404Ай бұрын
It doesn't matter which KoF is the best. Everybody have their fav. The most important thing is we play and support the latest KoF or any other SNK's products and not stuck in the past.
@darkreaverhasham28 күн бұрын
I was just telling someone that the Orochi Saga lore alone is greater than the entire Street Fighter series.
@dwood78part23Ай бұрын
The climax of the Orochi Saga- which also indirectly leads to the start of the NEST Saga as well. Loving your documentaries on SNK fighters.
@NeoGeoNowАй бұрын
Thank you for the kind words!
@aspekt7631Ай бұрын
Best fighting game story and execution there of in my opinion. Seeing the last 3 stages change whilst fighting Orochi team is SICK!
@NeoGeoNowАй бұрын
Absolutely!
@nunayadamnbusiness28 күн бұрын
As usual, amazing job covering this interactive art with such passion and detail. Thank you for all your hard work.
@radamesrivera419326 күн бұрын
This is one of my favorite KOF games. I love how much this game felt like a live on TV tournament. I also really liked the fact that game used the sounds ambiance, rather than always having music. It was different and felt right with the whole esthetic of the game.
@Error-wn5gyАй бұрын
KOF 97's intro, cutscenes, and ESPECIALLY the canon endings still give me chills, as a story it does so much right, and even though it was put into a video game in the form of KoF: Kyo, I hope it gets an anime adaptation one day so it can be enjoyed by everyone.
@sladejosephwilson2300Ай бұрын
The final chapter of this game was one of the main reasons why KOF became so iconic.
@DolFunDolhpinVtuberАй бұрын
My favourite game of the series is 97. I spent a lot of money on this game in the arcades. Osaka Forever, Bloody & Rhythmic Hallucination are epic themes.
@1upLeviathanАй бұрын
Chizuru my beloved. She was so underated back then!
@julianocs87Ай бұрын
Great video. KOF 97 was huge here in Brazil.
@GANGRELIONАй бұрын
About the BGM: When previewing the game, some publications reported that 'every single character' would get their own specific music when entering the arena, This could have been just a misunderstanding when talking to the JP devs and not translating their words well, or maybe that was the original plan, but it was cut because of dead-lines (which's possible, given the buggy and unfinished nature of '97).
@NeoGeoNowАй бұрын
That's a possibility. It felt odd how only some characters had themes. Always bothered me to be tbh
@James-sn5mgАй бұрын
One of the best fighting games in history of gaming for sure. For me, its kof97, 98, street fighter 2, marvel SH vs street fighter, and tekken 3.
@unholydanger20 күн бұрын
Those days the arcade centres would be crowded with teens watching people play the KOF97 and challenging each other, those days were amazing. I do like the NEST saga as well especially on KoF 2000 and KOF 2001's Igniz and Lin
@sebbie_gonzo20 күн бұрын
12:26 ... ~25+ years later, I still think about how badly they dropped the ball with this. KoF '97 has some amazing music (-Rhythmic Hallucination FTW!), and it's a shame the game is mostly silent when you play it. Making things worse, the previous entry of the series, had an absolutely stellar OST. It makes the silence of '97 all the more apparent. Great video!
@fightrudyfight5799Ай бұрын
Grew up with KOF but ran into way more SF arcade machines than KOF but I’ve always loved the characters, their lore, the graphics and storyline way more than Street Fighter. I used to battle with my cousin from Mexico for hours when he’d come to visit in San Antonio.
@wolfven4623Ай бұрын
SNK needs to bring back special intros and background teammate assists.
@sladejosephwilson230025 күн бұрын
SNK wanted to add background characters. But, couldn't do that because it would increase load times for the PS4 load times.
@samuelhan393Ай бұрын
Awesome serie of videos, can't wait to see the next one !
@NeoGeoNowАй бұрын
Thank you :)
@m3tl1kv3e9Ай бұрын
KOF '97 is one of my best game I played so far and best story through the Orochi Saga. I am looking forward to KOF '98 and KOF '99 Documentary in the future.
@NeoGeoNowАй бұрын
Currently working on the KOF98 one!
@tpatt513Ай бұрын
To this day, I'm amazed at why there were hardly any BGMs in this game, and then I finally got the story over ten years later when I got the Orochi Saga series on the Nintendo Wii. Very brilliant.
@NeoGeoNowАй бұрын
It still botheers me tbh. That is the only thing i did not like about the game.
@tpatt513Ай бұрын
@NeoGeoNow I agree. It did took me awhile to respect it.
@MrRenatopepinАй бұрын
Let me tell you something, story in FGs never meant much for me. Except for KOF 94-97. They said shit was going down in '97 and oh boy, they did not bs us. I LOVED THIS GAME BACK THEN. Broken as it is, full of glitches, busted damage, TOD combos ... this game was pure joy.
@NeoGeoNowАй бұрын
It absolutely was!
@bigshorty4855Ай бұрын
So many top tiers in this game. 98 was more balanced as everyone is viable, unlike 97. But 97 had almost half the roster as top tier, so that kinda balanced it out.
@alleycat93119 күн бұрын
97 was the game that got me hooked.
@Moulin13Ай бұрын
KOF 97 was big during my childhood, I spent many quarters on that arcade checking every single ending, my favorite was the Kyo, Chizuru and Iori ending, me and my best friend used to compete to see who was the best, to me this was the pinacle of KOF, then 98 came and while it was more balanced the lack of endings made it less favorite compared with 97
@adamgriffith87316 күн бұрын
Please make the 98 edition soon! I love these times a billion!!
@prodbyhostile20 күн бұрын
My fav version. Robert’s spinning kick has a glitch. If you input the command on the last kick he continues the move again without touching the ground so there’s no reset. Even the chip damage is high
@masanggarАй бұрын
thank you, I like these documentaries. 98 please
@NeoGeoNowАй бұрын
Coming soon!
@thiagovidal613729 күн бұрын
17:30 There is more to it. A character with a smile face will give you a green power up ball after defeated, so you will start the next fight with an extra POW level. The grey face does nothing, the angry red face will actually take away a POW level for the next fight. So always check and know if you are playing as someone with the red angry face.. if you do, make sure to use up all your POW before dying or select them last.
@NorwingMartinez-or6utАй бұрын
KOF been part of my Life 🧬
@ianreed963819 күн бұрын
seeing Leona's one hit KO in 97 were like seen a unicorn/lockness monster in real life..
@Ite33331Ай бұрын
🤯plz.. pllllz The History Of THE KING OF FIGHTERS '99: KOF 99 Documentary next... and thanks
@sladejosephwilson230025 күн бұрын
98 is next then 99
@AndresRodriguez-wy1de28 күн бұрын
9:54 Also known as “Iori loco and Leona loca”
@liamconverse895028 күн бұрын
Im not that into KOF, I never really knew anyone who played it here in USA but this video is very interesting
@sethpeters731824 күн бұрын
Listening to your recap and yet I keep getting distracted by the God Tier gameplay going on in the background
@xmaverickhunterkxАй бұрын
97 is where it's at.
@marplatense31Ай бұрын
The introduction of Shingo! KOF's Dan.
@braillynnАй бұрын
How?
@marplatense31Ай бұрын
@@braillynn He's a joke character.
@Henyo5566Ай бұрын
@@braillynntechnically. He does have incomplete Kyo moves.(Meta wise Shingo isn't intentionally made bad) He's closer to Sakura in everything else.
@MechaGАй бұрын
@@Henyo5566he's closer to Sean than Sakura.
@NorwingMartinez-or6utАй бұрын
Great 😃👍👍👍 best fighting of the 90s
@missmeme394626 күн бұрын
it weird that the King of Fighters series didn't get full long anime until now😶
@sladejosephwilson230025 күн бұрын
I agree
@Sleepy_Moon8424 күн бұрын
Hey NeoGeo Now, love the video as always but the captions are out of sync! Just a heads up! :)
@rafabcarvalho24 күн бұрын
I love KOF97, specially how broken it is 😂 Benimaru is criminally strong in this game, such a shame they nerfed him on the next instalments of the series.
@tfwajdi8010 күн бұрын
robert is strong too with his abusive spinning kick
@rafabcarvalho10 күн бұрын
@ Robert is my second pick! The third guy can be Iori or Terry but, I always pick Beni and Robert, they’re awesome in this game.
@jasonmenefield7974Ай бұрын
I loved playing the android version called KOF 97 HD a few years ago.
@NeoGeoNowАй бұрын
Surprisingly the HD sprites were great. I wished they were used in a console re-release.
@meganinten0078Ай бұрын
Something that I like about modern SNK games is that they improved the New Faces Team/Orochi Team (Yashiro, Shermie and Chris) In KOF 97, sure they are fun to play but we barely knew about them. They died in the same game they made their debut And after 97, they only appeared in non canon games like KOF 98 and 2002 When Shermie made her big return in SNK Heroines, we saw a new side of her. In that game, Shermie was fine working with others and even got along well with many of the gals, especially Sylvie Paula Paula Bless the developer who came up with the idea of making Shermie and Sylvie friends, something that returned for KOF XV 👍😄 Also, unlike her friends, Yashiro and Chris, Shermie doesn't get along with her Orochi form (Orochi Shermie). Despite being a member of the hakkeshu, she enjoys her human life and making friends. In the ending of the Awakened Orochi Team, after destroying humanity, Orochi Yashiro and Orochi Shermie ended up having regrets, while Orochi Chris is just happy.
@nosocomicsАй бұрын
Top❤
@biancaarmstrong5097Ай бұрын
Imagine playing KOF97 in arcades back in 1997, and you hear rumors of what happened to Kyo and Iori if you play as the Sacred Treasure Team. When you beat Orochi and see the ending, you see what happened to the boys, and it leaves you speechless. You think to yourself, "Are they dead after beating Orochi?" But two years later, when KOF99 came out, you wanna know if they are alive or not. They are alive and well, but you had you to unlock them by some crazy code, and to fight one of the two, you need to have a very good score, thus no continues. But yeah, I can imagine so many people back then when they saw that ending, which made them surprised. Plus, the opening intro for KOF97 is one of my favorites.
@NeoGeoNowАй бұрын
That was me in 1997!
@biancaarmstrong5097Ай бұрын
@@NeoGeoNow Really? What was it like when you first saw that ending?😮
@NeoGeoNowАй бұрын
@biancaarmstrong5097 had hours of discussions with friends on what it could mean, what happened to the trio etc. Obviously we didn't get an answer until 1999. Was fun speculating with no internet and forums lol
@Moulin13Ай бұрын
It happened to me, I couldn't believe it until I tried by myself, back then we didn't have internet like today and everything we learn about a game was just by rumors
@yukkikanaАй бұрын
Please, where i can read KOF 97 manga?
@spectrumbots426829 күн бұрын
Shermie!
@ianreed963819 күн бұрын
Shingu a scomic relief..? seems like Sai Kensu wasn't enough for the devs.. 😂😂
@agmcroom237424 күн бұрын
95-97 were the best in the series
@bigshorty4855Ай бұрын
You forgot to mention that the next character gains, loses, or keeps the super stocks. Edit: btw, we played the shit out if this game on release on my neo cr with my lil brothers. Had to retire rbs and older games when this came out😂. Also, I hated how sone dp's like andy and joe had in invincibility on dp's. Same for Yamazaki's guillotine super. This was later corrected in 98, but I hated this back in 97.
@NeoGeoNowАй бұрын
The advantage system was introduced in 98 whete the sicial interaction affects it.
@bigshorty4855Ай бұрын
@@NeoGeoNow no, iirc it was in 97 already. And red face you lose all your bars instead of just 1.
@peterbradypingakewa8534Ай бұрын
WE Want a translation in french
@NeoGeoNowАй бұрын
J'ai ajouter des sous titres en français a la video 🙂
@javierortiz8228 күн бұрын
As a story, it's a great game, and they even managed to create two versions of three very charismatic characters (each) only to have them killed in their introductory game lol. But as a game, in all honesty is very mediocre, it's very buggy and unbalanced, many exploits prevent it to have more than 4 viable competitive characters in a game with over over 20 characters.
@somebodysomewhere124328 күн бұрын
i wish they would move forward and let kyo sort of die along with the other fire users like they were doing in 99, it made the story feel so adult and sophisticated. but fanservice is necessary to keep the low IQ fan base happy I guess.
@meganinten0078Ай бұрын
8:56-9:03 The reasons why we love Shingo 😄👍 Same thing with Dan Hibiki (Street Fighter), Shingo is cool because he sucks at fighting! Also, people like an underdog character, the every day person who fights alongside people with super powers. Edit: Maybe is just me but I think SNK made Shingo to be a counterpart for Sakura (Street Fighter) and also to make fun at her 🤔 1:41 I knew it! KOF games were not made by the same developer team. I heard that the people who made KOF 97 didn't make KOF 98 but returned to make KOF 99 2:25 Hey look! It is Maxima's prototype! Looking forward the video of KOF 99 😉 5:00 NOOOOOOOO!!!!! DUCK KING!! 😢😔 At least he finally appeared in KOF XI 5:38 GOLLY! Mary's bazongas! 😍 Look at Terry, he is enjoying the view 😏 6:21 KOF improved Yamazaki's story. Same with Kim, KOF gave him a whole cast of characters that are like a family to him at this point 😊 That is one of the reasons why I prefer the KOF timeline over the Fatal Fury one 7:06 Mmmmmm. He looks like Akira in one of the covers from the AKIRA manga. Say it with me: "SNK REALLY LOVES AKIRA!" In fact, the theme of the Bali Stage in KOF 97 sounds like music from the AKIRA movie 7:25 When the $hot@ becomes a Giga Chad Orochi's final design is kinda lame imo Also his theme is just fine, I prefer Mizuchi's theme (Neo Geo Battle Coliseum)
@MegaShingo97Ай бұрын
Everytime i see your several comments about KoF 97 , a huge part of me thinks that you hate it more than even KoF XII 😆
@meganinten0078Ай бұрын
Ah yes, KOF 97, Shermie's debut! 😍 The first female character who can compete against Mai Shiranui in terms of f@n$€rv¡c€ 😁 Shermie was based on Fujiko Mine from the 'Lupin the Third' series No wonder why Shermie ended up being so h0t 😉 Shermie, Angel and Lien are the beauties of The King of Fighters 🥰 Love how SNK made Shermie's hips and gams bigger each game she appears Just compare her 2D sprite of KOF 97/98 with her sprite of 2002 The devs made her gams bigger in 2002! 😃🥰 And in KOF XV, they made her 'cake' bigger (and gave her an amazing new outfit!) 😍🤤 Bless you SNK!
@duckhiveАй бұрын
Thumbs Up if you prefer KoF'96
@OutFreak28Ай бұрын
Thumbs down
@bigshorty4855Ай бұрын
96 was garbage. 95 was better, returned 96 and traded it for metal slug as that was a better game back then. 94 and 96 are ass tbh.
@GORO911Ай бұрын
If you are talking BGM, stages and overall joyful atmosphere then yes kof96 was more colorful and cheerful. But gameplay wise Kof97 is definitely better.
@undedcelebrity1009Ай бұрын
They should've had Duck King instead of Mary in KOF 97. He would've looked better with Yamazaki and Billy
@bigshorty4855Ай бұрын
No.
@undedcelebrity1009Ай бұрын
@@bigshorty4855 that's only your opinion
@bigshorty4855Ай бұрын
@@undedcelebrity1009 above Billy, maybe. But above Yamazaki or Mary? Fuck no.
@undedcelebrity1009Ай бұрын
@bigshorty4855 Yamazaki and Mary are already in multiple KOF installments; Duck King was only in KOF XI. Duck King is much more enjoyable to play and a fun to watch. The only reason Mary is liked is because she's a girl. Mary is just fan service.
@meganinten0078Ай бұрын
KOF 97, the game with almost no music. Yeah...not a fan of that 😅 I even prefer the soundtrack of KOF 2001 and 2002 over 97 🎵 Something that 97 did better than 96 is that doing special moves and combos is much easier! Also, rolling was fixed. I have mix feelings about the Social Relations mechanic 🤔 In terms of lore I get it, but as for the gameplay mechanic I dislike it. Maybe that is why it didn't return for modern games. I bet 90% of the characters would dislike Ash Crimson or he wouldn't like to help others Of all the KOF games made during the original SNK era, KOF 97 has the most amount of bugs and glitches 😅 Especially the infamous TASK OVER! which is very easy to do with Kyo's flames Also, the balance is terrible. Orochi Iori is banned. While the top tiers are gods! Orochi Yashiro and Iori are the best examples, mainly because of the throws or lack of animation for the throws, something that KOF 98 fixed
@James-sn5mgАй бұрын
Go fight against Kyo and tell me if there's no bad ass rock music or not.
@bigshorty4855Ай бұрын
The music that was in 97 was great, though, while it did lack music. Also, bs on the tiers. Almost half the cast us top tier in this game.
@MegaShingo97Ай бұрын
In my opinion the very few actual music in that game is still better than the entire 2001 soundtrack, even the Bali stage.