The King of Fighters ‘98: The Slugfest

Release Date - January 23, 1998 (JP)

Developer - SNK

Publisher - SNK

Platform - Arcade (Neo Geo MVS)

The SNK Neo Geo MVS arcade board had already become a legendary platform for games, with a lifespan dating back to 1990! The platform had featured series such as Fatal Fury (1991), Samurai Shodown (1993), Metal Slug (1996) and The Last Blade (1997). Perhaps the most successful and most loved of all the Neo Geo series of games however, is The King of Fighters. 

The King of Fighters ‘98 is the fifth game in franchise that began with The King of Fighters ‘94 (1994), and is also the first ever King of Fighters ‘dream match’ game. 

Ralf from Ikari Warriors faces off against Athena from Psycho Soldiers!

The King of Fighters takes its name from the fact that the franchise was born as a crossover between SNK’s Fatal Fury series and the Art of Fighting series. Not content with combining the roster of those two series, the King of Fighters series would also incorporate characters from other titles such as Ikari Warriors (1986) and Psycho Soldier (1987). Being a ‘dream match’ essentially means that the game brought together many characters from all the previous King of Fighters titles, regardless of the canon-story status for the ultimate fighting game roster. This is no mean feat, considering that King of Fighters games were already known for their large cast of characters in any given game, but The King of Fighters ‘98 was the biggest yet with a staggering 38 characters to choose from! There are even alternate versions of the same character available in some cases, reflecting different iterations of them from different games!

It’s a dream match for sure. Just look at all your potential teammates!

As a series, The King of Fighters is recognisable among its peers for the team based nature of the battles. Players are required to choose not just one character to play, but three, forming a team to square off against another team of three. Each game’s roster is made up of pre-made teams linked in the story mode, but players are free to mix and match to create their own dream line up. Unlike other team based fighting games such as Capcom’s Marvel vs Capcom (1998), the characters cannot ‘tag’ in and out during the fight. Rather, the player will assign and order for them, either first (‘point’), second or last (‘anchor’). When a fighter is knocked out, the next on the team will take over for the next round, until one team’s fighters have all been defeated. This system has always resulted in some interesting strategy around team-building and choosing the order of fighters; some characters are best on ‘point’ and can do damage early on, whereas some are better on ‘anchor’ position to make use of the extra resources available to the last character. It adds a new dimension to the regular fighting game formula.

At any given time, you’ll see your team-mates in the background. They’ll even cheer or panic depending on how the fight is going!

Over the years since the original King of Fighters ‘94, the mechanics behind each game had gone through some major alterations. For example, in older titles you would have to charge your super bar up manually by holding three buttons and your character going into a vulnerable state. In newer games, it was done automatically (but slower) through using special moves or taking damage. In King of Fighters ‘94 and ‘95 characters would leap forward when double tapping a direction toward the opponent, but in ‘96 and ‘97 characters would instead be able to perform an indefinite run! How would a ‘dream match’ scenario reconcile the different mechanics from all these games? King of Fighters ‘98 presented players with choosing either ‘Advanced’ or ‘Extra’ mode before choosing their characters. ‘Advanced’ would play mostly similar to the latest entries (mostly The King of Fighters ‘97), and ‘Extra’ would adopt many of the features of older titles like ‘94 and ‘95. Different modes would obviously appeal to different play-styles and even different characters to varying degrees, so choosing the right mode would make a drastic difference to your approach in playing the game. It was also a fantastic way to pay tribute to the series’ long history and various gameplay changes over the years.

Demonstrating the ‘Advanced’ vs ‘Extra’ mode, Yamazaki is using Extra, which requires manually charging up his meter.

In a friendly concession to the single player arcade challenge, the game even introduced the ‘Continue Service’, where players that were defeated could choose to be given a leg-up for their next fight, with options like denying the opponent their access to super moves, or having your own super bar filled from the start of the match. SNK fighting games are notoriously difficult, so this was a nice appeal to the punters!

Thankfully, regardless if you were trying to defeat the single player mode or playing with friends (or strangers at the arcade!), The King of Fighters ‘98 was an absolute joy to behold. Yes, the Neo Geo MVS was beginning to show its age (the old girl has been a workhorse since 1990 after all!), but it also means that SNK had mastered the hardware and was capable of making a truly beautiful game. The graphics might not have the fidelity of the latest 2D showcases of 1998, but the characters are all oozing cool with some amazing designs that are still iconic decades later. Not only that, but the care that has gone into their animations is second to none, with not only the smooth fighting action but even their personality quirks and mannerisms showing through in pre and post-fight animations. There are even special fight introductions for certain pairings of characters, lending the game to feel like it has more authentic characters than most with character relationships being displayed with some excellent non-verbal storytelling.

The King of Fighters series has always been known for the lively backgrounds. This busy Japanese underpass is no exception.

Likewise, the soundtrack is a real highlight of the game, possibly one of the finest fighting game OSTs ever released. Original tracks have been combined with a veritable ‘greatest hits’ of character themes from the previous King of Fighters games makes for an enormous list of tracks, covering jazz, industrial, rock and more. Like the previously mentioned character sprite animation, the music also fits each character like a glove, and any track will get your blood pumping for some fisticuffs.

The King of Fighters ‘98 remains a jewel in SNK’s crown, regarded as one of the finest King of Fighters games to this day. The game has remained a staple of arcades around the world for decades, and continues to attract dedicated players and a strong fanbase. 

Beautiful animations and iconic characters have made ‘98 one of the most beloved entries.

Building on the success and widespread love for the title, SNK would revisit the game for its tenth anniversary, and would release The King of Fighters ‘98: Ultimate Match in 2008. Ultimate Match would bring back even more characters, finally including every single character from The King of Fighters ‘94 through to ‘97, including bosses! The game was revised again, although this time mostly with balance changes for competitive play, in 2014 with The King of Fighters ‘98: Ultimate Match Final Edition. With the game still being a popular draw for fighting game fans, it seems the Dream Match truly will never end.

25 years on, and ‘98 still gets a lot of play. Will we be playing this great game for another 25?