The King of Fighters '96

"It fails in making complex AI systems once more, but 'King of Fighters 96' gives enough to keep the average gamer interested..."

Synopsis
With 'The King of Fighters 95', game and graphics were excellent for Gameboy standards, and fun lasted for awhile, with new modes and unlockable characters. 'Real Bout Fatal Fury Special' created similar success, as graphics looked just as impressive and unlockable characters were existent as well.

'The King of Fighters 96' makes it way to the gameboy and it as well represents the similar fun of the other two titles, featuring similar favorites such as Mai, Geese and Terry. Unfortunately, it fails in making complex AI systems once more, but 'King of Fighters 96' gives enough to keep the average gamer interested, and by far it features the most unlockable characters by far... however, nothing more.

Gameplay Elements:
As its predecessor, KoF96 offers lengthy gameplay mainly through the randomly arranged battles until the infamous boss, Rugal introduces himself. As far as this goes, it is still a charmer. Fun as usual, and the jam-packed characters make for interesting character selections. Once again, Team Battle returns once more, where 3 characters pit against another 3 characters, along with Single Player, where it is a simple 1 v 1 battle. Both are suited fine as modes go, but the single player, due to its many characters, tends to become much more tedious than the quick and final battles of the Team Battle Mode. Nevertheless, Takara inputs plenty of codes and hidden secrets to make the gameplay fun, just as its previous game did. Some gamers may be disappointed with the sudden disappearance of popular characters Kim, Billy, Eiji.. etc. but it doesn't hamper the game too much.

Once again, characters have a meter that determines whether they are desperate enough to perform a powerful move that damages an enemy substantially. A button command that boosts the meter is available, and makes using the Power meter much more easier, however, this also hampers the game's difficulty. As mentioned before several times, the AI has not improved, and may even have decreased in intelligence. Characters can simply win by pressing B repeatedly. I literally won several matches with my eyes closed, and this truly hampered the game's potential. With the AI much worse than the other two games, in my opinion, the difficulty level of KoF96 is by far the easiest of the gameboy games.

But this, however, compensates for the repertoire of interesting moves and nice animations. Several of the moves are actually comprehensible and doable, and taking the harder way out can sometimes compensate for the diminished AI. Using actual moves instead of the B button makes this game alot more pleasurable, and approaching this game with the knowledge that many of the fighter games are horrible on the gameboy will make the game a lot more interesting and exciting in terms of gameplay.

Takara needs to understand that the difference between the Medium and Hard difficulty setting is very minimal, and sometimes, gamers want a wider range of difficulty. However, because of the sheer amount of characters, unlockable or otherwise and the super Mr. Karate, this game tends to lengthen its replay value... a bit. That's not saying much though. This game lacks in the gameplay department, and while it may be considered a King of Fighters to a larger scale, the difference between the time of KoF95 and 96 is approximately one year, and through that one year, gamers would expect more in the this installment. 6/10

Visual Presentation:
The graphics in Takara's KoF series for the Gameboy has always been one of the more impressive visuals. Character models are small and miniature, but make for amazingly detailed models for a Gameboy. Once again, character models only appear in two shades of color, and while this may seem minimal, it is exactly enough to visualize Mai and Terry's otherwise completely red outfit. Nicely done, the Visual Presentation keeps itself together rather nicely.

The environments are nice stills that characters fight in, and are done nicely. Once again, Takara keeps the backgrounds nice and sharp, making for great background visuals. It holds the mood, and makes the visual presentation heightened once more.

Takara likes to make nice, miniature and cute character models and environments. These are once again the puny collection of gameboy models that surprisingly make for nicely done conversions. Animations are done nicely, and keeps the graphic quality alive from its predecessor, if not somewhat sharper. 8/10

Audio Presentation:
The music in this game is once again, one of the best. Sound and music are top-notch, and Takara brings in more of the arcade tunes, making for some really rhythmic battle tunes. You could tap your feet to some of these, and keeps SNK's KoF music alive once more. Nothing much has changed in the audio department, and perhaps it's for the better. The SNK games of Gameboy are much more interesting than pretty much all the music of the other fighter games, aside from the rare gems of Gameboy fighting.

For attack sounds, the game creates nice and the expected mixed effects attempting to depict physical contact. It is actually a part of the presentation that adds in heightened atmosphere that is easily overlooked by many gamers. When charging up your Power meter, a squealing sound occurs and gradually increases in pitch. Interesting little bits and pieces of sound effect make this game good for what it represents.

Takara never fails to present another nice conversion of music. As well as the visual presentation, the audio presentation counterpart makes nice use of the gameboy, despite its limitations. Music is actually very complex, and KoF96 also has some reminiscent arcade beats. 9/10

Story and Composition:
Takara creates more depth into this edition over the Real Bout Fatal Fury Special game. With a less vague storyline, however still vague, KoF96 tells the story of each character's ambition in this otherwise fixed tournament. Fighting Kagura and Goenitz in the end gives a little bit of storytelling that gives much more insight to the plot than 'Real Bout', and this is a welcome addition.

An interesting addition to plot occurs when once the main boss is defeated and you selected a special combination of team, the winner will have to face the other two members, resulting in a desperate fight to see who is the best of the best. Interesting little bit that makes you wonder if there are other interesting story combinations of 3 characters!

Perhaps while it can be marked, it is still a very weak plot. Fortunately for KoF, fighter games don't give many plot intrigues and therefore, does not contribute much to the criteria. 4/10

Replayability and Extras:
Takara has a large abundance for replayability and extras, and for everytime you defeat the game, a hint to discover an extra unlockable something is given. Nice little addition that might intrigue players to find more. Probably an innovative addition to the fighter genre of gameboy, is variation of a character. The Orochi, or otherwise crazy version of Leona and Iori become available. This is simply fun and make for interesting differences between the normal and orochi versions.

Extras can range from simple activation of the 3 bosses or superiors (Goenitz, Kagura, Mr. Karate) to accessing several cheats. Cheats including unlimited Power meter and of the like. Many SNK fans may be familiar with these popular unlockables. But nevertheless, being able to do this on a gameboy is a welcoming and very unanticipated concept.

Replay... well, this doesn't offer much, but the extras can have you examining new things several times. While not as deep as a Zelda or a Pokemon - it's a fighting game, and on that term, ranks with its other SNK titles as some of the better unlocking fighter gameboy games out there. 9/10

Conclusion
Takara's 1996 edition of King of Fighters takes a step up and a step down. While it does offer the great music and the infamous unlocking abilities, the gameplay of the AI is much too shabby and in some cases, seems much more stupid than average.

Oh well, while this cannot be corrected, playing on Hard Mode for this game may be relatively acceptable. The unlockables keep you busy and the great amount of characters make for nice enjoyment. King of Fighters 96 is good in some aspects, but seriously needs to deepen gameplay to get farther ahead of the fighting genre of this console. This is a nice addition to any gameboy library, and it can be said that Takara makes some of the better fighters for Gameboy, aside from Street Fighter II.

How it all adds up!
Gameplay Elements: 6/10
Visual Presentation: 8/10
Audio Presentation: 9/10
Story and Composition: 4/10
Replayability and Extras: 9/10
Final Score: 7

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/13/02, Updated 02/09/03