The King of Fighters: Dream Match 1999

"SNK's Last American Effort Should Leave A Good Impression"

I'll start off by saying that I've only been an SNK fan for about a year and I, like many others, I am disappointed in their withdrawal from the US market. Unfortunately for me, I've only been able to play their games and their excellent portable: the NeoGeo Pocket Color for a year, so when I saw this in my local Best Buy for only $20 I had to get it. Well, here's what I thought.

Graphics- Well it's kind of a mixed bag here depending on how you feel about 2-D sprite based graphics. I, being an old school gamer from a long time back, don't have anything against 2-D graphics so I find the graphics fairly good. One thing that lowers the overall grade is that the resolution of the fighters is pretty low, especially in light of 2-D games like Street Fighter 3: Third Strike and Guilty Gear X. That's not speaking for the backgrounds though, which look very nice and in 3-D much in the way of Marvel Vs Capcom 2. The two to three minute, hand-drawn anime intro is very, very cool too, much better than almost any other intro for a fighting game I've ever seen. It really gets you in the mood to bust some heads and break some bones, which for a fighting game is a major plus. 7/10

Sound- Here's another personal preference score. The soundtrack in KoF DM '99 is much like Marvel Vs Capcom 2 with a lot of 70's dance/techno-ish tunes. There's some weird piano stuff in there too. The sound effects are fine and add an occasional voice sample in for good measure. Don't worry though, although I don't care much for many of the songs, some of them are pretty good, and none of them actually take away from the actual fun. 8/10

Gameplay- Definitely the highest point in the game. Ever since I've played an SNK fighter I've liked them more than Capcom's (not that Capcom's are bad -far from it) just because linking moves are just so cool. Marvel Vs Capcom has them to some extent, they just don't feel as cool an in KoF. KoF also has the tag mode ALA MvC 2, just you tag after a match, which kind of defeats the purpose but hey, at least it's in there. Other than that, it's for the most part, just like a Capcom fighter. The four-button layout is a major plus too. The presentation is a little underwhelming though. 9/10

Replay Value- The replay value would probably be a ten if all of the fighters weren't unlocked right when you start. It'd also help if there was some sort of story at all. The list of fighters is monumental though, so it kind of makes up for that. In another comparison to Marvel Vs Capcom 2, the fighter list, while not as famous as the one in MvC 2, is about the same amount of characters. Well, maybe a few less, but then again, the sheer number of fighters in MvC 2 is an accomplishment all in itself. The difference is that just about every character in KoF is significantly different and deserving of a few plays. Maybe you like having all of the characters unlocked at the beginning (if you do, raise this score a point of two) but I liked the purchasing system in MvC 2, it kind of gave you a feeling of accomplishment not found in many fighters. 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/01/01, Updated 01/13/01