The King Of Fighters '95

''(KOF '95)'' is a 1995 fighting video game developed and published by SNK for the Neo Geo arcade system. It is the sequel to ''The King of Fighters '94'', and the second installment in ''The King of Fighters'' series. The game features a similar cast to ''KOF '94'' with the exception of the USA Team, which was replaced by the Rival Team. The plot features a new King of Fighters tournament once again promoted by the criminal Rugal Bernstein, who seeks revenge against the protagonist Kyo Kusanagi, who defeated him in last year's tournament. ''KOF '95'' marks the first appearance of the fighter Iori Yagami, who becomes Kyo's rival in the series.

It is also the first game in the series to be ported to other home consoles besides the Neo Geo AES and Neo Geo CD, with versions released for the PlayStation, Sega Saturn and Game Boy. One of the main focuses in the creation of ''The King of Fighters '95'' was the introduction of the Rivals Team, most notably Iori as a means to expand Kyo's story. Gameplay remains similar to the first ''KOF'' game, with SNK working to balance the original gameplay with the new team feature as well as each character's expanded moveset.

''The King of Fighters '95'' received mixed reviews, with critics praising the gameplay and new characters but criticizing the game's controls and long loading times, especially on the PlayStation version. Several critics compared the game to Capcom's '' Street Fighter Alpha'', released the same year, with some finding it too similar. The game was followed by '' The King of Fighters '96'', which continued the "Orochi Saga" that concluded with '' The King of Fighters '97''.

Gameplay

''The King of Fighters '95'' is a fighting video game with gameplay and rules that are mostly unchanged from its predecessor, ''The King of Fighters '94''. Players choose a team of three members and compete against others until all three characters are defeated. The main addition is the introduction of the Team Edit feature, allowing the player to create a custom team from any of the game's twenty-four characters in addition to the pre-defined teams in the game. Through the main play mode, players must defeat all other teams in order to fight the bosses: the brainwashed Saisyu Kusanagi, followed by a stronger Rugal Bernstein. The dodge and counterattack mechanics were revised, resulting in better reactions from the fighters.

Plot

''The King of Fighters '95'' marks the beginning of a story arc that later became known as the "Orochi Saga". However, the only elements from the Orochi Saga known in this game is the introduction of Kyo's rival, Iori Yagami, and Rugal's use of the snake demon Orochi power.

Rugal Bernstein, thought to have perished in an explosion in the previous game, had in fact survived and sent out invitations to the teams from the previous game signed simply ‘R'. Only one of the previous teams failed to attend the new tournament: the American Sports Team, as their invitations were stolen by the "Rival Team" consisting of Iori Yagami, Billy Kane (from '' Fatal Fury: King of Fighters''), and Eiji Kisaragi (from '' Art of Fighting 2''). Saisyu Kusanagi, Kyo's father, appears as a fighter for the first time (having made a non-playable cameo in ''KOF '94'') as a computer-controlled sub-boss character. After defeating Saisyu in the arcade mode, it is revealed that Saisyu was being brainwashed and that Rugal will fight once again as a boss character, but as an enhanced version named "Omega Rugal".

Characters

Hero Team
* Kyo Kusanagi
* Benimaru Nikaido
* Goro Daimon

Fatal Fury Team
* Terry Bogard
* Andy Bogard
* Joe Higashi

Art of Fighting Team
* Ryo Sakazaki
* Robert Garcia
* Takuma Sakazaki

Ikari Warriors Team
* Heidern
* Ralf Jones
* Clark Still

Psycho Soldier Team
* Athena Asamiya
* Sie Kensou
* Chin Gentsai

Korea Team
* Kim Kaphwan
* Chang Koehan
* Choi Bounge

Women Fighters Team
* Yuri Sakazaki
* Mai Shiranui
*King

Rivals Team
* Iori Yagami (New character)
* Billy Kane (New character)
* Eiji Kisaragi (New character)

Mid-Boss
* Saisyu Kusanagi (New character)

Final Boss
* Omega Rugal (new character)

Development

''The King of Fighters '95'' was directed by Masanori Kuwahashi, who had directed the previous game. Production took place at SNK's headquarters in Osaka. Creation of the game started shortly after winter 1994 when ''The King of Fighters '94'' was released. The staff was tired from developing the first game, which made coming up with new ideas far more challenging. The initial plan for the sequel was a "fun version" that incorporated more ideas than the previous game. The staff chose from as many ideas as possible to fit into a set schedule, and worked hard every day, cutting down on sleep, but there were quite a few elements that they had to cut down on due to time constraints. The trial and error of figuring out the order to bring them in within a fixed team—that was what made the original game appealing.

The entire ''The King of Fighters '95'' was meant to be a remake from ''The King of Fighters '94'' but issues with time scheduling and balancing resulted in the similarities between both installments. The team would instead reuse the idea for ''The King of Fighters '96''.

An important concept for the game was to bring team editing to the forefront and give players more freedom to play. The team introduced new features, including the counterattack, which was an improved version of the dodge attack that was difficult to execute in "'94" and was arranged in the ''KOF'' style.

The staff also wanted to include new characters in the ''KOF '95'' project, beginning with the concept of introducing Iori Yagami as Kyo Kusanagi's rival. Developers gave Iori traits to expand his relationship with Kyo, such as similar abilities and ancient rivalry between both of their clans. During the initial location tests to determine the popularity of the game, Iori was the character who stood out most, and also became a favorite of the developers, due to his violent moves comparable to the ones from Midway's ''Mortal Kombat'' fighting game series.

New special moves were created for the ''Fatal Fury'' characters while Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia from '' Art of Fighting'' were revised as they were considered overpowered. The time spent on balance adjustments was longer compared to the previous game, as the team now had to balance 24 different characters. However, the team had learned from their experience balancing the previous installment, which helped the process move faster. The CPU fighters in "'94" were easily trapped in fairly simple strategies, so the team sought to make the computer's movements as difficult as possible to defeat with just one pattern. However, there are still some characters that fall into a pattern.

The team also was careful to balance the sexualization of Mai Shiranui with the younger Athena Asamiya. Kuwahashi also came up with the idea of letting the play create their own teams in the form of the Edit Team feature rather than using the same usual which resulted in him consulted producer Takashi Nishiyama about it.

The team considered including '' Samurai Shodown'' characters, but balancing issues and weapons led to their removal. The creation of the Rival Team was one of the things developers worked the hardest, focusing in their moves and lines. The character of Eiji Kisaragi was originally from '' Art of Fighting 2'' and the staff had to adjust most of his moves to balance him with the other characters. Following this game, several ''Art of Fighting'' characters were removed from each sequel with developers saying it was "thanks to KOF jinx."

The sub-boss character, Saisyu Kusanagi, was initially not planned to appear in the game as the staff wanted to make it so that he died in ''The King of Fighters '94'' during one of the cut-scenes from the Hero Team. However, Saisyu was added at the last moment to the game. ''Fatal Fury'' villain Geese Howard was meant to be playable in the game; various considerations at the time, however, led developers to abandon this plan. In the previous game's story, Kyo was the protagonist in name only, so this time they tried to make him stand out more. That is when they introduced Iori as his rival and made Saisyu a mid-boss. As a result, it was creating a coherent story for Kyo, even though it was an all-star game. Due to development reasons, and had to limit the number of teams to eight, and after much deliberation, they decided to cut out the American teams. The team edit was an idea that had been floating around since ''KOF '94''. While Kyo was popular in the first game, his designer Shinichi Morioka decided to create his girlfriend Yuki which bothered several of his fans. The idea of having Yuki suddenly appear from behind Kyo just before fighting the final boss and stop him was something that was in the works since '94, but the director did not really want Yuki to appear on screen. He didn't want to have them get romantic. Kuwahashi made the plot which was inspired by the Yamata no Orochi myths as both Kyo and Iori were related to Orochi demon power first seen in this game when Rugal develops his maximum power. A more outlandish design, called "Rugal Infinity", would have featured his body merged with Geese and Krauser, appearing as a six armed naked man with the other two men's faces sticking out of the sides of his head, akin to depictions of the god Ashura. Dubbing him "Omega Rugal", they ultimately settled on an appearance similar to his ''King of Fighters '94'' counterpart, but with his upper body having burst from his clothing, wild white hair, cybernetic prosthetics replacing his right hand and eye, and the Greek letter "Ω" tattooed on his back.

Release

The original Japanese arcade version was released on July 25, 1995 and it was ported to the Neo Geo AES and Neo Geo CD later that year. In 1996, the game was ported to the PlayStation and Sega Saturn. A Game Boy Color was also made but by changing the visuals from the original game into a cartoon-like. A Game Boy game based on ''The King of Fighters '95'' (''Nettō The King of Fighters '95'' in Japan) was published by Takara in Japan and by Nintendo in North America. It featured compatibility with the Super Game Boy, as well as introducing Nakoruru from the '' Samurai Shodown'' series as a secret character.

''The King of Fighters '95'' was one of the first titles from SNK to be ported to the PlayStation. To improve its appeal to the North American market, Chad Okada of SNK added new options to the game that were not present in the original Japanese version, such as selecting stages and improving the grammar and spelling, which was one of the biggest issues from the Neo Geo version. The PlayStation version was published on August 31, 1996 in North America and the PAL region by Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. It featured a remixed soundtrack which took advantage of the Redbook audio format. The PlayStation version released in Europe ahead of the Saturn version due to a timed exclusivity deal between SNK and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. The "PlayStation the Best" version was also re-released on March 28, 1997. The Saturn version (which required a ROM cartridge that came packaged with the game disc) was also released in Europe by Sega. The bundled ROM cartridge contains the majority of the character animations. It was the first video game to use a CD-ROM and a ROM cartridge in tandem.

An emulated version of the game was released as part of ''The King of Fighters Collection: The Orochi Saga'' in 2008 for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Wii. The Neo Geo AES version was added via emulation to the Wii's Virtual Console service on April 26, 2010. It is slightly edited, however; the blood is removed and Mai lacks her signature bounce, both in her fighting stance and win animation. Both of these aspects can be activated with a code, however.

The arcade version was emulated and released as part of the '' ACA Neo Geo'' series for the Xbox One on March 30, 2017, with releases for PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android following afterwards.

Related media

A variety of licensed media based on the game was released in Japan in 1994 and 1995:

Original soundtrack:

* ''The King of Fighters '95'' (PCCB-00187) released by Pony Canyon
* Arranged soundtrack ''The King of Fighters '95 Arrange Sound Trax'' (PCCB-00189) released by Pony Canyon

Guide books:

* ''The King of Fighters '95 Graphical Manual'' (GMC-14) by Shinseisha
* ''The King of Fighters '95 Neo Geo Hisshō Hō Special'' () by Keibunsha
* ''The King of Fighters '95 Perfect Guide Book'' () by Shinseisha
* ''The King of Fighters '95: Official Guide Book for the Ultimate Fighters'' () by Aspect
* ''The King of Fighters '95 Complete Manual'' by Shinseisha

Manga:
* 4-koma manga collections ''The King of Fighters '95 4-Koma Ketteiban'' ()
* ''The King of Fighters '95 4-Koma Ketteiban Side 2'' (), created by fans and professional artists and published by Shinseisha
* ''The King of Fighters '95 Comic Anthology'' (), created by various artists and published by Shinseisha.

Reception

Critical reception

Arcade

''The King of Fighters '95'' received positive reviews upon release. ''Computer and Video Games'' magazine called it "arguably the greatest 2D fighting game ever" made. ''The King of Fighters '95'' was awarded Best Neo-Geo Game of 1995 by ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' in 1996. The four reviewers of ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' declared the Neo Geo AES version a solid improvement over the previous ''King of Fighters'', particularly applauding the addition of the team edit feature. Major Mike of ''GamePro'' agreed that this was the game's best feature, but also expressed approval for the replacement of the U.S. team with the new "Rival" team and the control modifications. He did criticize that the game lacking notable improvements despite enjoying the combat. A reviewer for '' Next Generation'' was unimpressed, however, remarking that despite the innovating team fighting game, it is always one-on-one fight. IGN commented that the characters' designs and abilities are very similar to the ones from ''Street Fighter Alpha''. Jeff Gerstmann complained that the characters have unattractive moves as well and over pixelated sprites. 1UP.com praised SNK's characters designs and the addition of the team edit option, making the game a good competition for ''Street Fighter Alpha''. However, '' Game Revolution'' liked the large number of playable characters and the several options featured in the game such as the team fights and special moves.

Game designer Masahiro Sakurai regarded the game as one of his favorite competitive experiences. However, after realizing he had been defeating rookies, Sakurai decided that fighting games should also be accessible to newcomers.

Home console ports

Rich Leadbetter of '' Sega Saturn Magazine'' stated that the Saturn port is nearly arcade perfect, the ROM cartridge enabling it to recreate the look of the arcade version with only brief load times. He found the level of skill and technique involved in the game to be both its strongest point and the main limiting factor on its appeal comparable to Capcom's '' Street Fighter Alpha'' because the element of skill required is that much tougher - making the rewards that much sweeter. The majority of us are unlikely to reach that pinnacle of skill ... but the fact is that if you're good enough, it remains one of the greatest fighting games of all time." He added that while ''The King of Fighters '96'' was already out for the Saturn in Japan, the two installments are different enough from each other that it is worth getting both.Reviewing the Neo Geo CD version, ''Maximum'' deemed that "SNK remain masters of the sprite-based one-on-one fighting genre, leaving all competitors way behind with ''King of Fighters '95''." They elaborated that the team combat makes for greater variety than the average fighting game, the team edit feature greatly increases the game's enjoyability and longevity, the unusually high difficulty of executing combos makes pulling them off more satisfying, and the animations are greatly improved from ''The King of Fighters '94''.

The PlayStation version, however, was much less well received, as reviewers stated it has poor design in comparison to other fighting games from the same year. IGN criticized that the characters are not very responsive to controls and "even though these are difficult hurdles to jump, they're not impossible". However, they noted it to be a likeable game, saying it has "that 2D anime look that everyone loves". A reviewer for ''Next Generation'' said that the PlayStation version compounded the game's lack of fresh and original gameplay with long load times. Jeff Gerstmann from ''GameSpot'' also criticized the long loading times from the PlayStation version as well as how frequent they are since every round requires loading time. ''Game Revolution'' noted the game to be very entertaining but still not as good as other fighting games from the year it was released in North America. They criticized that the fighting system is very similar to other SNK games such as ''Fatal Fury'' and '' Art of Fighting''. However, Scary Larry defended the PlayStation version in ''GamePro'', saying it "plays well, looks good, and sounds the same as the arcade version. You could do worse." 1UP.com praised the introduction of Omega Rugal, noting him to be "one of the most stylish boss designs in fighting history", although players could hate him due to how difficult it is to defeat him.

Sales

In Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed ''The King of Fighters '95'' on their September 1, 1995 issue as being the second most-successful arcade game of the month. The Neo Geo AES version sold 108,883 cartridges in its first week of release in Japan, at a price of £160–200 ( at the time, or adjusted for inflation) per cartridge. The Neo Geo CD version also sold 142,825 copies in its first week on the market. They sold a combined 310,060 units in Japan.

During its release week, the Sega Saturn port of the game sold 135,214 copies in Japan. As of 2004, the game sold 257,294 copies. The game also sold 145,389 units for the PlayStation in Japan, adding up to a combined total of 712,743 units sold in Japan.

Notes

References

External links

*

''The King of Fighters '95''
at GameFAQs

''The King of Fighters '95''
at Giant Bomb

''The King of Fighters '95''
at Killer List of Videogames

''The King of Fighters '95''
at MobyGames

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