NCS Game Notes & Spoilers
» In the title screen of the game, the familiar image of Kyo Kusanagi hiding his face with a forearm is placed next to the KOF logo. Do nothing and a lightning laced intro starts for King of Fighters '95. Leave things alone some more and an automatic battle starts where Chang Koehan battles Iori Yagami in a rowdy bar while a band plays in the background and hostesses travel back and forth. The customers appear enraptured by the fighting in the foreground. If you allow the intro to continue, a sequence for KOF '96 appears followed by KOF '97.
» Upon pressing START, a game selection screen appears which consists of four hexagons on the top and five hexagons on the bottom.
TOP: KOF 95 / KOF 96 / KOF 97 / ONLINE MODE
BOTTOM: LOAD+SAVE DATA or TOGGLE AUTOSAVE / MAP CONTROLS TO DUAL SHOCK / SET SCREEN POSITION / SOUND OPTIONS / EDIT CHARACTER COLORS
Kyo in a bright green outfit makes him look like a leprechaun wearing a headband... The Sound Option allows for a BGM CHECK where all 73 tunes in the game may be listened to. For fanatics, you may spool all of the tunes to your iPOD.
The Default Controls are as follows:
SQUARE / Light Punch
X-BUTTON / Light Kick
TRIANGLE / Strong Punch
O-BUTTON / Strong Kick
R1-TRIGGER / LP + LK
L1-TRIGGER / SP + SK
R2-TRIGGER / LP + LK + SP
L2-TRIGGER / LK + SP
» Since the games are Neo Geo ports, press the SQUARE button (for the Neo Geo "A" button) to activate menu selections rather than the PS2 default of "O" or "X" that you're all used to.
» Playing the games in sequence this morning gives an idea of how SNK refined their craft through the years and updated their presentation style. It's unclear why SNK Playmore delayed this particular Neo Geo Collection title but the final product plays well and the action mimics the Neo original closely in looks, feel, and speed. Unfortunately, SNK Playmore neglected to include a gallery mode and missed a chance to dig up SNK history and present players with a treasure trove of old sketches, artwork, and other old school data.
» The visuals hold up well under the harsh scrutiny of our PS2's D-terminal signal. The colors are vibrant but the jagged edges of the text and backgrounds are evident and give away their 16-bit heritage. The character portraits are also raggedy like the original and higher quality video doesn't clean them up. The voices are crisp and clear for nigh perfect audio snippet samples. Along with old school Street Fighter, the early KOF games represent the fighting feast that we grew up on and getting the first three KOF games on a single DVD is convenient and a welcome addition to our library of Neo Geo software.
King of Fighters 95
» NCS started with a game of KOF '95. Upon selecting it, the crisp trilling Neo Geo music plays (faithful rendition) followed by the classic 1995 KOF intro with hokey introduction and ever lovin' characters as they flash on screen. Iori has a flame bursting out of his left hand. The sound conversion quality is excellent and mimics the thud and somewhat hollow resonant quality of the original.
» Upon starting the game, an option menu may be visited but it only contains LEVEL SELECT from 1 to 8. The 1 is for Beginners, 3 is normal, 4 is MVS, all the way up to 8 for Expert.
» Starting a game will present the following options:
Single Play / Team Play / Single VS / Team VS / Single All.
» A simple tutorial teaches the button combos from A to D before the bout begins. The controls are seemingly very similar to the original KOF '95 but unfortunately NCS didn't get a chance to fire up the MVS original this morning. The voices of the fighters as they grunt and yell are close to what we remember them to be.
» The blood spills red and ripe when fighters are smashed in the face and clocked with massive body shots.
King of Fighters 96
» Starting a game presents the following options:
Team Play / Team VS / Single Play / Single VS / Survivor.
» In the OPTIONs menu, the level select from 1 to 8 appears again and a new option for Play Time appears from 1 to 5. 1 is for SLOW and 5 for for FAST. Just in case you're wondering 2 is for LITTLE SLOW, 3 is NORMAL, and 4 is LITTLE FAST. The operation mode of the game may also be toggled between Japanese, English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
» There's ruddy blood in KOF '96 but most hits will show impact blasts rather than splashy crimson.
King of Fighters 97
» Starting a game presents the following options:
Team Play / Team VS / Single Play / Single VS / Survivor.
Options include:
Level Select (Difficulty from 1-8)
Play Time (Slow to Infinity)
Language (Japanese, English, Spanish, Portuguese)
Stage Select (Off or Japan, USA, Bali, China, Korea, Monaco)
There's lots of impact blasts and the blood jets red when released.