The year is 1997. Kyo Kusanagi, Ryo Sakazaki, and dozens more fighters enter the new King of Fighters Tournament. Little do they realize, mankind's real battle will be fought here.
Overview
Yep, that's right. A new year dawns a new King of Fighters game. For the uninitiated, the King of Fighters series is about the best fighters from SNK's fighting universe (excluding characters from non-matching time periods of course) competing in a massive tournament, and to them, become the strongest. But there's always someone that breaks in on the fun with their insidious plans. Full of sub-plots and character rivalries. The King of Fighters is to SNK like Street Fighter is to Capcom. Plain and Simple.
Graphics 7/10
King of Fighters '97 is pretty average all around. The graphics have come a long way since the early days of Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting. But doesn't reach the level as later games like Garou: Mark of the Wolves and Last Blade 2. The character sprites are animated fairly well, some better than others, and look a little smoother than KoF '96. I couldn't get past the fact how weird some characters look in their "Win Portraits" though. The shoulders seem much too broad on most characters, and seem unporportioned with their head (even on a lot of the female characters). Stages are also a mixed bag, some are greatly designed like the final stages or the "concert" stage. But others I found not all too interesting and bland compared to other games. However there's a nice detail that SNK added, when a round progresses the stage changes. Instances like daylight turning to night or a crowd watching in the background changing. It's a nice concept, but it still isn't done as well as other KoF games.
Another downside is the strange slowdown that occurs on some characters' supers. It's nothing too awful, but can get frustrating and ruin the presentation of the game.
Gameplay/Controls 8/10
The gameplay is classic King of Fighters. You can choose between two modes. Both of which have their distinct advantages and differences. One is Advanced, which lets a character run by double-tapping Forward. You can also dodge roll backwards and forwards to avoid enemy attacks. And performing attacks and special moves fills up a gauge where you can fill up 3 stocks. You can use the stocks as single Lv1 Supers (or DMs as referred by most KoF guides) or you can use a stock by pressing the A, B, and C buttons where a small time gauge appears on screen , and in this time, your attack strength increases and use any extra stocks to perform Lv 3 Supers (also known as SDMs). On the other side you've got Extra. A completely different style of gameplay where your character can perform a dash instead of run, perform a sidestep and counter instead of roll, and you also have a different kind of super meter whereas you use the A, B, and C buttons to charge (in almost "Dragonball Z-esque" fashion) and perform a DM when your gauge is fully charged. You can also perform unlimited DMs when your life bar is low and is flashing or perform a SDM when your gauge is charged AND your life is low. These gameplay types were the basis for the S and N grooves for Capcom vs SNK 2, and they work well here, giving players a nice choice for gameplay.
There's also a wealth of character variety to choose from each with their own special strengths and weaknesses. Almost any fighting game fan can jump into this game and find their character of choice.
The computer A.I. is true SNK. Hardcore expert players may find it easy, but to most casual players (like myself) the AI fits this game nicely. Smart computer opponents can easily recognize your attack patterns and have their own pre-designed patterns that can be easily effective. However, it's not too cheap and can easily be figured out by a human player.
Sound/Music 6/10
A really disappointing factor of this game considering the future and past realeses of the King of Fighters series. The musical score breaks away from the other KoF games by only giving a certain few characters their own music theme, but leaving everyone else with bland, boring "background" music for the stage you're currently in. It was a nice idea, but just wasn't executed well. The few character themes do shine though. The nice guitar-based Kyo Kusanagi theme, the heavy metal theme for Billy Kane, and the fitting blues theme for Blue Mary with actual vocal accompiament. It just doesn't make sense that one minute you're listening to a nice upbeat theme when fighting Terry Bogard, but then go back to some slow unmatching background music. The voice actor roles are solid for the most part. Though Masahiro Nonaka (as Kyo Kusanagi) and Kunihiko Yasui (Iori Yagami) don't sound quite up to snuff as in later titles (though they're not as bad earlier titles either). The sound effects are also average. Good for the most part but not as good as other titles.
Another drawback is the announcer. While it's cool to hear him say who won the match. For one who's English, I find a lot of his pronounciations rather strange. "Benimaru" comes out as "Beny-ma", "Ryo" comes out as "'yo" and "Choi" comes out as "Chewie". Yeah, it could just be how I think the names should be pronounced, but it would be better with just the "K-O!" I also don't have a clue on what the announcer is saying in the intro. It's just so muffled, I can barely make anything out
Replay Value 9/10
The King of Fighters '97 is a solid installment of the series in term of story. Only the bad experimentation of few character themes and some gameplay kinks keep this from being one of SNK's best titles. Though the amount of infamous Engrish in this game is considered one of the best by fans. If you're a fan of KoF and haven't played this title, I highly recommend it, as it's one of the key points of the series in terms of story. It also has nice gameplay which can be learned easily and quite enjoyable when played with friends.
Overall 8/10
KOF ’95 was king of the world when it was first released, and frankly it’s still good after eight years and seven sequels. Question is: will you want to play this game when its sequels have more characters, special moves and better animation.
- By Cain Highwind
