The King of Fighters: Dream Match 1999

"Not for everyone, but for the fighting game fan this is the business!"

Right, seen as this is my first review it may be prone to errors, but being quite a fighting game fan I shall try my best. Here goes my review for the game The King of Fighters '98!

To begin with, KOF '98 is known as a dream match that brings together many of the past combatants of the previous KOF games (with a few exclusions.) The character roster for this year's version weighs in with a whopping 38 characters (not to mention the alternate versions of some of the characters,) adding to the huge roster that this game harbors. This allows old fans to make up their favourite teams, and new players can discover what works best for them. Many of the characters have good variation and personalities (even though they are prone to the white shirt and jeans combo!)

Graphics wise, the characters are solid 2-D and are quite appealing, with the backgrounds being rendered in (could have been better) 3-D. Animation on some of the characters is very good, where as some characters I felt needed that little more fluidity to make them equal to those that stand out.

Soundwise, this game performs very well in my eyes (or should that be ears?) Old themes return remixed along with new themes for newly organised teams. Advocating the more instrumental side like the Neo CD, tracks come through as cool and gearing you on as you lay down that punch on your opponent. Sound effects are equally as punctuated, with hits sounding like they truly hurt (Ralf's supers come to mind!) The couple of problems I have with the sound is that it discontinues and restarts after every bout, so you never get to hear the themes in their entirety (and just when your getting pumped!) It doesn't matter anyway, as the themes go in cycles of 2 minutes or so, meaning you don't get to hear the whole theme (which is a shame as some of them get way better later on!)

Gameplay is an area where KOF fans have stated that the series shines, and I'd also agree with them. Playing the game at first may be difficult, but like any decent fighter once you learn the systems you become more proficient and greater at this instalment of KOF. Finding small tricks that you can do with characters and new combos seems very satisfying on KOF, and I find that you can pull a lot more out of this game than most Street Fighters I've played (I also enjoy SF by the way!)

Add to this the fact that there are several character intros, custom teams, alternate versions of characters to find and hidden artwork to unlock, and you will see that KOF '98 truly is for the fighting game fan 'the business!'

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/19/02, Updated 03/19/02