The King of Fighters '96

The Good
Well first of all, the graphics were finally updated on this game and it shows. No longer we have an updated clone of last year's game, now we get a REAL sequel, with new graphics, sounds, gameplay, etc. The rest remains the same, you choose your team and go at it in hopes of winning the tournament, however some things have changed this year gameplay-wise and while some are bad, some are good. For starters the projectile attacks have almost entirely been eliminated. What!?? I hear you say, "How can you think that's good??" Well, the KOF games have always had a different pace than other fighting games, they have always been much more technical and offer a lot of complex features that imho ruin gameplay, the "dodge" feature is the foremost example of this, and it rendered every projectile attack and every tactic related to it useless in previous KOFs. The removal of the projectiles forces you to REALLY focuss on the "fist-fighting" aspect of the game, which is its strongest point and...c'mon, they didn't work anyway!

Some may see this as a neglection of the true spirit of the KOF games, since the dodge feature has been modified also, (now you roll) and you spend less time using it. But Imho it improves gameplay a LOT.

The Bad
The other changes that were made really suck when compared to other KOFs. The game balancing is way off. Mostly thanks to the removal of these projectile attacks, the Fatal Fury guys have been tremendously powered-up but they are also very hard to use accurately, and a fairly proficient player can reign supreme just by using Iori (which borders the ridiculous power-wise). Also my congratulations go out to anyone who can successfully handle Chang and Choi.

But the worst by far is Goenitz. SNK has a reputation of making extremely cheap bosses for its games, bosses that simply don't fight you, they just lift a finger and Wham! you lose half your life bar. But Goenitz is just too much, he is the absolute pits, he doesn't even move around! He just teleports, and throws some winds at you that take out anywhere from a third to three-quarters of your life. This has got to stop! you hear me SNK??? Oh, wait...they went bankrupt. Well, guess this is why! Add to that the tremendous loading times in this home version and you have yourself an exercise in frustration.

The rest are minor gripes that only have relevance if you are not into KOFs and are more of a Capcom kind of fighter: generically-looking fighters, too much power-management, gameplay that borders the analy-retentive when it comes to complexity (remember that Kyo's SDM is unblockable whenever done on a full moon night, with 75% of your power bar gone, in the wake of his 180 RED spin-kick, vs a female opponent and after eating a cup of noodles), etc.

The Bottom Line
Essentially for KOF fans this is a love or hate game, for me it's a good one despite it's flaws. But still it's only fun to play in the arcades, only KOF fans or obssesive-compulsive players need apply for the home version. The game is insanely complex and extremely difficult (in the BAD way) and if you are not used to KOFs playing this one first can ruin you forever unless you are prepared to practice 20 hours a day and learn by heart every single move and glitch the game has. Aproach at your own risk.