You know, I've often wondered (well, actually, no, I haven't, but that would really defeat
the anecdotal style) what it's like to be a bottom-tier character in a fighting game, like
SF2 Turbo's Blanka or Nightwarrior's Donovan. Do you just wake up in the morning, resigned
to yet another day of mindless tournament fighting, culminating in a dragon punch to the
noggin and a brief albeit pleasant period of restful hospitalization? I mean, that's
really got to hurt the ol' ego. I see them as sort of a video game Hamilton Burger, who,
despite hundreds of courtroom losses to Perry Mason, still shows up in the morning to work
with a smile on his face and a docket full of Sisyphusian tasks. You gotta respect these
guys who can not only take it on the chin, but do it throughout every incarnation of their
respective fighting game series. Poor buggers. It just doesn't pay to be anything other
than a marquee character. Of course, a tournament has to have losers, as any good Don King
wanna-be will tell you.
The King of Fighters Tournament is, well, yet another fighting tournament. Of course, to
devotees of SNK fighting games, it's the be-all, end-all of annual combat competitions
starring the characters of their favorite series. Apparently, once a year, the gang from
the Fatal Fury franchise, the Art of Fighting series, and several other SNK non-fighting
titles (yes, SNK does make them, shockingly enough) gather together to beat the crap out
of each other, in the hopes of becoming the (drum roll) King of Fighters.
This year, the roster has changed a bit, with fan favorites Blue Mary and Billy Kane
showing up for fisticuffs. Also new are hired thug Ryuji Yamazaki, ex-KoF hostess Chizuru
Kagura, and the unsurprisingly dubbed "New Face Team," featuring original
characters Yashiro Nanakase, Shermie, and, uh, Chris (just Chris). Missing in action are
Kasumi Todoh, Mature, Vice, and the Boss Team. I really miss the latter; an SNK fighter
just doesn't feel quite
right without Geese Howard and his patent brand of malice.
Now, most of you with an interest in importing this title are probably familiar with the
KoF series, or at least with SNK fighting games in general, so I'll spare you a discussion
of the basic mechanics. New features (at least over '95, the last version I played
competitively) include the ability to store Desperation Moves, and some distinctly
simplified motions to perform them. Gone are the thumb-torquing back-forth-
back-forth-half circle back-half circle front maneuvers, repaced with either a double
quarter rotation (ala SF Alpha 2 Supers) or a down-half circle rotation. While the sense
of accomplishment isn't quite as high with these new motions, it's a heck of a lot easier
on the ol' digits. This game is much more offense-oriented than previous installments,
becoming more like Alpha 2 with the storing of DMs. It's important to mix it up and charge
your POW meter so as to build up a healthy stock of potentially destructive DMs to combo
into. For the most part, though, it feels like previous ventures in the series (I can't
speak for '96, having played it very little thanks to out-of-touch arcade owners), and
those looking for the same vein of stylishly-brutal 2D head-cracking won't be disappointed
in the play capacity.
Of course, what's really on everyone's mind is the quality of the conversion. KoF'97 is a
game that requires 6 characters (three per team) to be available at once; you aren't gonna
cram that into 3 Megs of RAM (the 1 Meg cart is required) easily. As a result, we have
loading times after one team member on a side is defeated. Fortunately, these aren't too
long, and are, according to those experienced with the previous Saturn conversion of
KoF'96, are a second or two shorter. There are also load times before each stage launch,
however, which compound these times somewhat and break up the flow of the game.
Control is tight and precise; it's exactly as it was in the arcade, although I find the
DMs simpler to perform on the Saturn pad. Two punches, two kicks, and combination button
presses are the order of the day, with the expected charge moves and pad rotations for
specials. Everything works just as you'd expect, if not a bit better than usual, thanks to
the fighter-friendly Saturn pad.
Graphics are true to the original Neo-Geo version, with very little animation cut, save
for a bit of walking animation here and there and the team taunts on the character select
screen. Still, for those of you expecting a 2D fighter with glossy graphics, look ye not
here; KoF'97 still looks a bit pixellated and 16-bittish, as per the Neo-Geo standard. The
art itself is high quality, except for the win portraits, which range from decent to
downright hideous. The fellow who drew Chizuru's win portrait needs a remedial art class,
and *badly* - she looks like she's been shooting up anabolics of the testosterone variety.
It's especially creepy considering some of the excellent portraits of her in the art
gallery; obviously, some chum-monkey in the art department at SNK has all the aesthetic
discretion of a blind post-Modernist Republican on crack. Or something like that.
Background graphics are completely intact, although the adrenaline- -boosting effect of
most of the splash graphics and screens are substantially diluted due to load times.
Graphically, it's a 90% conversion, and, in that capacity, SNK fiends should be mightily
pleased.
Sound, on the other hand...Mon Dieu! The sound effects for which the KoF series is so
well-known have been piped through some sort of 30kHz to .03 kHz compression, resulting in
fuzzy, treble-skewed, ear-piercing hisses vaguely reminiscent of the original's voice
effects and sound. Ouch. The sheer suckiness of the sound effect quality defies
description. Remember how disappointed you were when you fired up Street Fighter Alpha on
the Saturn for the first time, and heard the hissy, low-quality voices? Well, take that
experience, and imagine driving nails through your ears at the same time. Well, it's
ALMOST as bad as that. To cap it off, much of the voice used during special moves has been
replaced with choppy grunts or has been hacked up
altogether. Now, I understand that 0.5 Megs isn't a lot of space for as much voice as the
KoF characters have to deliver, but I'd rather have a few high-quality voices than the
vast range of incomprehensible helium-addled hisses SNK felt obligated to include.
The few music tracks present are actually pretty good fare, although you'll want to go to
the Options menu and crank 'em up as soon as you start. Most characters don't have any
music playing while they fight, save for marquee characters, so be prepared to spend most
of your fights listening to the ambient (and poorly-compressed) stage sounds. Apparently,
the arcade version was like this, as well, only the stage sounds were clearer and less
irritating. As a sonic package, you'll want to turn it all off and pop in some Crystal
Method or Aphex Twin.
Fortunately, on a more positive note, SNK has included an excellent Training Mode for you
to practice your combos and DMs with. Select your character, select a practice dummy,
configure it for unlimited POW bar, and you're off! Most menus are (thankfully) in
English, as are most splash screens, so even casual import types will have no difficulty
getting into the swing of things. Weenies can even assign the Desperation Moves to
individual button-presses, although they deserve to be heartily mocked for doing so.
Altogether, KoF '97 is great port graphically, and a substandard one sonically. Throw in
improved but still irritating load times, and you have what amounts to a shockingly
average port. I recommend importing it only if you are a King of Fighters fan, or are
deaf. Otherwise, save your hard-earned greenbacks for Vampire Savior, due in the middle of
April. In the Saturn fighting game library, this port of KoF'97 is strictly middle-tier.
It won't be beat on regularly in comparisons to the big name titles, but it isn't Battle
Monsters (yech!), either.
As an addendum, KoF'97 *does* support the 4 Meg cartridge, although it only uses 1 Meg of
it. What this amounts to, simply, is that you won't have to remove your 4 Megger if you
get a feemin' for X-Men vs Street Fighter; no other advantages are offered.
