"The next dream match in the King of Fighters franchise."

Back in 1998, the first dream match of the KoF series was developed and released by SNK. It was a pure golden coin. It was great! The combos are incredible! Sadly, we don't see SNK developing this game. Playmore Corporation has taken all Neo-Geo rights from SNK.

This game is soon to be released on the Sega Dreamcast and Sony PlayStation 2 systems. Hopefully, sometime this year.

On with the game....

Background Visuals/Character Art - 7
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Not as good as when SNK draws them, but still a improvement over King of Fighters 2001. The backgrounds seem a little more dimmer compared to KoF 2001, but nonetheless it looks fantastic.

Gameplay - 7
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Improvement over KoF 2001, in my opinion. The striker system has been removed completely and it goes back to old school KoF where it's 3 on 3 matches. And this time, everyone is on a team, as seen in the character select screen. There are some hidden characters, though...If noticed, King(the waitress) is not in this game.

The boss this time is a stronger and quicker version of Omega Rugal from King of Fighters '98. He basically can juggle you when he does certain moves, but he has no infinite unlike Igniz. But he is a challenging boss to fight against, so watch closely to what he does and you'll someday get use to him.

Combos weren't as insane as King of Fighters '98 or 2000, but there are some pretty neat combos you can do.

The DM/SDM system has somewhat changed. You need your health to be on red and charge up a dot in order to perform Max SDMs! This was the tough part. Other than that, you can use one of your stocks to cancel any special into another attack.

Sound/Music - 9
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The voice actors seem to change some of their quotes when doing certain specials or SDMs. Yes, we still see some of our favorites, like Masahiro Nonaka and Kunihiko Yasui, the long time actors for SNK's charmed and gifted Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami.

They seem to have remix versions of previous King of Fighters team themes and certain character themes as their music. Their not bad at all. I love to hear old music instead of techno-ish music.

Overall - 7
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Play this game as many times as you can, but you could get bored quickly if you are not really interested in the game. This, of course, has less replay value than King of Fighters '98. Combos aren't as insane as King of Fighters 2000. Of course, you can still practice combos if you know any. Just read some of the FAQs written by some of the people who enjoy KoF.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/28/03, Updated 03/28/03