The King of Fighters: Dream Match 1999

"Dream Match is a fan's dream come true"

Personality wise, only a few games ever really top in the fighting genre; Street Fighter and this series King of Fighters. While not a true ''sequal'' Dream Match is more of a side story; a sort of an SNK, and any true fighting fan's,
what if. Is it another Sequal...yes; is it a worthy one, most definatly.

First thing you'll notice when you start it up a finely crafted 2 minute anime intro of unbelievable proportions, making one wonder, is it a game or an anime series all it's own with a game as a bonus. The accompaning music truely fits and gives it emotion and depth as well as something to listen to.

When SNK did this game, they gave it the good share of modes, like: team start and versus, where you pick a team of 3(as does your opponent) and battle it out by elimination; single start and Versus modes is more a best two out of 3 match with you and the other player picks out one player.

Now music is where it's best at; music tracks up the yin yang and they sound really good...no great. Individual character music tracks during the fights are a nice touch and versus, character select and continue screens keep you interested by process of being less then the mondane and definately worth the price of admission.

Just like the music, the control is right on. Very tight timing between button presses and actions taking place on the screen. I found moves and even just doing jumping and moving left and right to be rather simple, as it should be. A few other reviewers of this game have claimed controls were not quite there and stated ''second delays'' but they must have a different copy then I had, control was just as I said, dead on.

Other small touches, while not Dream Match's only cool features, such as certain character intros while fighting certain other people are amusing(Joe got a kick out of showing that Champion belt to King didn't he) and taunts(Joe drops his shorts(No wonder he needs the belt)) and victory poses(Iori-- Pronounced, E-or-e(not Lori), laughing at the fallen really gets my friends every time) and again the beginning anime intro.

However the only downside to this amazing package is the dated graphics and animation which are a part of SNK games but aren't really that important if your a real fighting game fan. Of course, considering that the Neo-Geo is a 16-bit arcade system(with a load of RAM), it's no surprise that the quality of graphics and such are a bit lower quality then say a ''Street Fighter Alpha 3'' is pretty understandable but it should be noted that Alpha and other Capcom fighters have almost zip on loading while Dream Match has a second or two between rounds on team and also between matches(This is however is still an enigma to me).
Also noted, Garou: Mark of the Wolves and King of Fighters: Evolution have a slightly better grade of graphics.

Past the slightly dated graphics and animation, this game has it going on; the extras, the sound/Music and for sure the control really put the animation issue to bed, in my book anyhow. Also did I mention this game has over 30 characters(52 with the EX versions of certain characters), also a highly needed feature and lovable thing for SNK to pull off.

In the end, it's worth the price but however probably won't change the minds of 2D fighting game haters but will surely be loved by true gamers. I'd say buy but if your not sure, rent but once you play, my advice would be for you to lie your teeth off and say you lost it and then pay to own a piece of gaming history.

Graphics: 6 - Okay but dated and just not there in terms of the Dreamcast's power.

Sounds/Music: 9 - Great stuff. Sounds fit and music is excellent and is just right for a soundtrack CD.

Controls: 9 - Dead on and just right to humble your foes(and even more so if your cheap and use Orochi Rugal).

Extras: 10 - Excellent anime intro and 30+ characters; as well as, small personal touches and a good number of game modes.

Replay: 8 - It's a two player fighting game you surely can get some replay out of it(Unless your really poor at making any friends or don't have any)

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/11/00, Updated 09/11/00