The King Of Fighters 96 / ザ・キング・オブ・ファイターズ'96 / Za Kingu Obu Faitāzu '96

The King of Fighters '96[a] (KOF '96) is a fighting game released by SNK for the Neo Geo arcade and home consoles in 1996. It is the third game in The King of Fighters series, following The King of Fighters '95. Like its predecessor, the game was ported to the Neo-Geo CD, as well as the PlayStation and Sega Saturn. Unlike the previous game, the PlayStation and Saturn versions were released only in Japan, with a language setting allowing the player to set the game to English. It is also part of the compilation The King of Fighters Collection: The Orochi Saga for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Wii. It was also released on the Wii Virtual Console in Japan on February 15, 2011, in North America on July 12, 2012 and in the PAL region on November 22, 2012.

The game made a few changes to gameplay such as new techniques, various changes of some teams, with a few of them introducing new characters. The plot follows a new King of Fighters tournament created by Chizuru Kagura, the heir of Yata Clan who wants to find and recruit Kyo Kusanagi, who defeated the previous host, Rugal Bernstein, to ask him and his bitter rival, Iori Yagami, to help her in the sealing of the Orochi demon. The new boss is one of the servants from Orochi, Goenitz, who appears after Chizuru is defeated.

SNK members had various troubles with the development of the game as they were dragged on right up to the time of its scheduled release. This happened since developers had difficulties with making the sprites and special moves of new characters from the game. The game has had mixed reviews from several video games publications. While some reviewers have praised the graphical improvements and the addition of new characters, some have commented it was unbalanced in comparison to its prequels.
Gameplay

KOF '96 makes significant changes to the gameplay of previous KOF games by introducing new techniques. The Dodge technique from the previous two games has been replaced with an "emergency evasion" or "attack deflector" technique, which allows the player's character to roll away or towards the opponent. In the latter case, the player has the opportunity to end up at the other side of their opponent. The player can also determine the height of their jumps and perform small or high jumps. Additionally, the graphics for all the character sprites have been redrawn and the commands for certain Special and Super moves have been changed from previous games. Super Special Moves can still be performed when the Power Gauge is filled up or when the player's life gauge is flashing red, but in addition to this, the player can also perform a more powerful version of their regular Super move if both conditions are met (i.e., the player has low energy and their power gauge has reached Maximum level). One other change to the gameplay system is that the player can now run instead of hopping forward in order to approach the opponent faster.

Plot
A new King of Fighters tournament is announced, though the letters of invitation sent out to the fighters are no longer sent by Rugal Bernstein. There are many changes in the tournament's approach. Since the previous year, the tournament's fame has grown immensely, turning it into a major international event. Huge corporations transform the King of Fighters tournament into something widely televised, commercialized, and celebrated, drawing in many crowds from around the world. The tournament is now held by Chizuru Kagura, a descendant of the ancient Yata Clan responsible for sealing the snake demon Orochi along with the Kusanagi and Yasanaki clans (the clans from Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami, respectively). Chizuru uses the tournament in hopes of finding and recruiting Kyo and Iori in order to stop the upcoming Orochi threat, but Kyo and Iori aren't willing to work together on friendly terms.

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Developer(s)
SNK
Publisher(s)
SNK
Director(s) Kuwayan
Producer(s) Takashi Nishiyama
Designer(s) Eri Koujitani
Kaori Kusunoki
Masato Yokoyama
Programmer(s) Khozoh Nagashima
S. Fujinuki
Artist(s) Toshiaki Mori
Composer(s) Akihiro Uchida
Hideki Asanaka
Kazuhiro Nishida
Series The King of Fighters
Platform(s)
Arcade
Release
1996
Genre(s) Fighting
Mode(s)
Single-playerMultiplayer
Arcade system Neo Geo MVS

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