![]() You’re offered a choice between the original arcade tracks or an arranged mix of tunes, both of which sound stellar, and the various sound effects and vocal samples sound generally clean and effective all in all, and sound as good as they did ten years ago. As some characters have new moves/animations/intros added to this version, it’s obvious some effort was given to make sure this isn’t just another KOF game, and all in all, it looks damn good, if dated compared to more modern 2D fighters. As for the animations, well, they’re all pretty much as detail-oriented as ever, and the characters all move and flow as well as they ever have. You’re also offered a choice between the normal 2D backgrounds and the ’99 Dream Match 3D backgrounds, which both look pretty good and lively, though which one you prefer depends on you, really. ![]() You can soften up the sprites however, which actually makes them look significantly less dated than they otherwise look, which helps the visual quality significantly. Visually, the same sprite quality has been present in the KOF games (Re-Bout excluded) for years now, and KOF98UM is no exception. In short: OH YEAH there’s a lot to do here. As if all of that wasn’t enough, you’ve also got Neo-Geo Mode, or, in other words, you also get the original KOF98 as a playable title on the disc in addition to this remade version, in case you want to play the older version of the game (or never have). You’ve got Endless mode, which is Survival Mode, basically, Practice Mode, which lets you practice move combinations and such, Gallery Mode, which amounts to a gallery of stills from the various earlier games, Challenge Mode, which lets you take on various challenges (beat these characters with this character, do this combo, etc.), and you’ve got Network Match, which lets you play online (though, as this is a Japanese game, I can’t exactly test that out, sadly, though if it’s in the US release, I’ll finally be able to live out my life-long dream of getting my ass whipped by Alex Lucard, WHOO!). You’ve got single character play, with the same above modes. You’ve got the classic Arcade style three-person team play, either in tournament, versus another player, or versus the CPU for one match. That said, the game modes more than make up for that. So, okay, KOF98UM doesn’t come with a story build in, as it’s a “Dream Match” title, and as such represents more the idea of getting a bunch of characters together and letting them beat the crap out of each other. Assuming it comes to the US with the exact same features it has on-board in the import version, any fan of fighting games NEEDS to own this, especially considering the low, low price tag of twenty dollars (for the US release, as of this point, anyway… importing it costs… a whole lot more, shall we say, but the pain, it is worth it). King of Fighters ’98 Ultimate Match is a strong reinvention of the original decade-old title, featuring a whopping sixty-four characters (IE pretty much everyone from KOF ’94-97 and a bunch of alternate versions of characters), new moves for old favorites, and a ton of stuff to do. So leave it to SNK to re-release the game and make it BETTER. In short, it’s generally considered one of the best KOF titles ever, and could well be considered one of the best fighting games ever, period. It’s also a “Dream Match” title, meaning there are a metric ton of characters in it, for those who love their variety. ![]() This is not to say that the games post-98 are bad, however, so much as to note how fantastic a product ’98 was from ’94 to ’97, SNK had been experimenting with different styles of visual and gameplay elements, trying to find styles that clicked, and by the time ’98 came around, it pretty much set the gameplay tone for the next several games in the series until ’03 came along, as most of the later games are derived in large part from the strides made in the first few games. The original King of Fighters ’98, which is itself now celebrating it’s tenth anniversary, marks the point, arguably, where the KOF series propelled itself over the proverbial man-eating fish it’s more or less a giant collection of characters from the first four games in the series, marks the end of the Orochi Saga, and is essentially the last game before K’ and his storyline took center stage and more or less signaled the downward slide in interest in the series.
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