King of Fighters '96 [Archive]

thordog

Feb 25th, 2007, 08:34 PM

Graphics The graphics have gone over a little makeover. Some of the character sprites look a little different like Andy's and Daimon's or in other cases some of the characters sport some new duds like King's outfit makes her look more like a waitress(I don't think her last costume made her look like one)and Chang and Choi now where the same outfit Kim wears. The backgrounds look swell and go with the multimedia atmosphere like Chizuru's stadium stage or how about the Iori team's boat stage with a big crowd of spectators looking. OH and by the way King and Yuri don't have their clothes pop open anymore when someone finishes them with a special move so sorry guys. Gameplay It's still great and even better. The high damage rates for some moves have been toned down a little thankfully. The team edit mode is still in as always and besides since it was such a good thing in 95 there is no way they would abandon it. I liked a lot of the new character like Mature, Leona, and Mr.Big and they were all nice additions but I just didn't seem to care too much for Kasumi not that I hated her too much its just that I didn't care for her(They should have put someone better in her place like Billy, Eiji, or Lucky but hey that's just me talking). The difficulty is not too hard but once you get to Chizuru things turn around and when Goentiz shows up things really start to heat up. I can't really say how it is more fun then 95 but it just is really and I just enjoyed it more. Sound I didn't like the music to tell you the truth but actually I LOVE IT. The music here really kicks ass like Chizuru's and Iori's BGMs and those are just some of the music tracks that are great and they are also on par with some of 94s tunes. The voices sound good as always but Choi's voice sounds higher then ever(What did he swallow some air since the last tournament?). The announcer sounds a little more woman like but she really does a better job at announcing the rounds then the 95 announcer did with his broken English. Very good. Control Same four button format as always. The power up super meter is still here but if it is both full and your life is flashing at the same time then you will do an SDM which are more powerful versions of regular DMs. A lot of the special moves have been changed either motion wise or just the way they preform. Like Benimaru's Rajinken is now a fireball motion instead of a dragon punch motion and that was good. Ryo, Robert, and Yuri's projectiles have been shortened and look like the ones that would have been performed if your spirit meter was low in AOF. The only change that I didn't like was that Terry's Rising Tackle was no longer a charge move but now it requires a dragon punch motion and you really need to adjust to that kind of change but the control is done great. Replay Why yes there is my friend. This game is better then 95 so that means higher replay value right? Yes indeedy. The only thing that could prevent you from playing this game some more is probably Gonetiz's sheer cheapness but hey this was to expected from an SNK fighting game. The replay value is very high. Final Word A great addition to a great series. KOF'96 does not fail to impress and it provides lots of entertainment for KOF and fighting fans alike. If your arcade happens to have a Neo Geo cabinet with this game and go try it if you haven't but if have already played this game before then what the heck play it again for old times sake. So don't pass it up if you happen to see