KOF '96 is something else...

[Yuri-chan]

KOF '96 is my personal favorite of the series. It had such a great lineup of characters and like KOF '94 and '95, you had the ability of having to fight every single one of them to win!! This game had such a memorable character cast overall and even with the boss team Geese Howard (Garou Densetsu) and Wolfgang Krauser (Art of Fighting) included. We actually had final two bosses here too, Chizuru and Goenitz, and that added an extra challenge to the game. KOF '96 plays and feels unique from all KOF's, and definitely different from anything beyond 2000. Both the boss team and last bosses of the game (5 bosses in all) were trully challenging. This game has always been so memorable and I always find myself going back to it even a decade after it has been released.

 

[recon_zero]

KoF '96 is one of my personal favs ever. Music, presentation, graphics, style, roster, goenitz, boss team, goenitz, great stages, goenitz, and Chang on Kim's outfit

Talk about coolness

It may be broken, but somewhat i am not into competitive gameplay, and kof 96 is great for solo fights.

 

[E=MC2]

i always thought 96 was the worst snk kof next to 94 and 99. though 99 and 96 are one of the best looking kofs they are really unbalanced and just plain boring and unfinished games that pretty much suck compared to other better kofs like 97/98 or 95. thats IMO at least.

 

[EX_Andy]

i always thought 96 was the worst snk kof

That's because it is. But as long as no one recommends a bad game over a good one (like 98, which is still the best in the series) to a potential buyer, I'm not going to argue about it anymore.

 

[NEO-GEO man]

I reckon its one of the best too, but i actually like 94 the best for playing against mates, 95 is just as good for me as 96, but they are both fairly different. I DO have 96 on MVS and i have never had any trouble pulling off the moves, i actually always felt they were very easy to do. There did seem to be alot of moves gone or changed to something different and often less effective. The "super specials" as ive always called them (when the health is red and POW is full) were incredible. It was good to have a more powerful version with red health and full charge.

Its a great game in my opinion, everyone's opinion will differ and video games are never going to appeal to every single player

 

[FoxyxKing4eva]

96 is lovely. So what if ilanced? More power to my sweet Mature!

Seriously though. The worst thing about 96 is that King plays terribly and Matures sprites look really ugly compared to 98. Also, King has a really cute win pose that didnt make it into 98!

 

[gamefreak202020]

The only things I really liked about '96 was Goenitz, and Geese Howard.

Finally, Geese can show Kyo a thing or two about being the real King of Fighters...

 

[Superfamifreak]

So it seems pretty split in here, with some loving and some hating 96. Personally it's my fave Neo game of all time.

What a lot of people seem to forget is that KoF96 was the start of the 'Evolution' of KoF.

It introduced the 'Advanced' mode and took on a whole new graphical style and a totally different feel.

BBH - I don't know how you have problems with moves on the MVS version. I've never had a problem playing 96 on MVS or AES. Maybe that's just because I'm so used to it.

Anyway, the last word from me is..

KoF96 is the best in the series. FIN.

 

[Baseley09]

KoF96 is the best in the series. FIN.

 

[Shito]

So it seems pretty split in here, with some loving and some hating 96. Personally it's my fave Neo game of all time.

What a lot of people seem to forget is that KoF96 was the start of the 'Evolution' of KoF.

It introduced the 'Advanced' mode and took on a whole new graphical style and a totally different feel.

Actually '97 did. '96 is still pure 'charge you power bar' gameplay. Yet I admit the ability to run and roll are part of the 'advance' gameplay afterall...

 

[Superfamifreak]

Actually '97 did. '96 is still pure 'charge you power bar' gameplay. Yet I admit the ability to run and roll are part of the 'advance' gameplay afterall...

Yeah, I know what I meant, but after nearly 48 hours without sleep I don't think I was typing what I knew my mind was saying

 

[Ajax]

One of my favorites. Just feels different than the others, I agree.

 

[E=MC2]

95 was a better kof than 96, just for this reason 95 cant be topdog. 96 was good looking but terrible playing IMO, 97 is where it got great.

 

[YeldellGW]

The only things I really liked about '96 was Goenitz, and Geese Howard.

Finally, Geese can show Kyo a thing or two about being the real King of Fighters...

That's rich! Most Geese fanboys consider his KOF 96 version to be his worst incarnation.

 

[alec]

I used to play 96 a ton back when I had my AES cart. A superb Neo game by all means.

These days I mostly play 98 on my MVS. I have yet to acquire a 96 MVS cart. I don't have a 97 either.

 

[masschamber]

don't care what anybody else thinks, I side with 96 as the best game in the series, never had a problem with the balance or the controls, plus it prefer the charge meter over the stock, plus later games are just as out of balance, I mean common Ralf in 2002 what's that about

 

[cam347]

That's rich! Most Geese fanboys consider his KOF 96 version to be his worst incarnation.

Agreed. He has that semi-infinite but it was less than useful lol. Maybe a guard break. If there were any in that game.

 

[Darkneo]

Yep! KoF 96 is a Pretty good game way better then '95. But i still kinda like '98 Dream Match. I like the BGM in '98. so can't wait to play the PS2 Port of it when it comes out ( I hope )