Just look at the colours in the Bali stage. Each of the stages felt like they were locations set up to have a bunch of dudes and dudettes beat the crap out of each other KoF '97's stages are a visual treat, SNK really went all out in having this game presented as a martial arts/fighting tournament that is broadcast worldwide through the SATELLA NEOOS NETWAHK. I didn't feel like I missed much by not trying out Orochi Leona I never really cared for her much but she did have a few cool supers. One of the people we played with would teach use the codes for Orochi Iori and he would be picked from time to time when we felt like it. Sadly we didn't have access to a D button so we just settled with Light Punch, Light Kick and Hard Punch. The arcade cabinet that ran the game had 6 buttons, and wasn't the usual 4 button one that Neo Geo games were on. I abhored what they did to that move in KoF '98 (which is among the LEAST of my personal gripes with that game, but let's leave that to another thread). I'd post a GIF of it, but the internet is dumb and I can't find it anywhere unless I become proficient in Chinese or something. I dunno WTF this is but I like it it's the one where he swings his arms at you. Yashiro had one of the coolest special moves to me as a kid. There's an interesting dynamic to them that is also apparent in some of the victory portraits Going back to the portraits, I really like how they are presented like they're something from a photo op.
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When a round starts I just like that they show their full names and the tourney's logo which further gave the game a sensation of watching a TV broadcast. Looking back I did play a few beat'em-ups that had characters with more than 1 word for a name (Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, AvP), but I think for a fighting game this one stood out more.
Granted a few characters only had their first name, but the fact that many of them had their full name blew my mind for some reason. Yashiro Nanakase (wtf is a nanakase? I don't care that name is cool) I did play Street Fighter II on my SEGA Mega Drive but the characters in this game were something else: for one thing you were given their full name. Gotta say the character portraits in KoF '97 are still impressive to me. I much liked his mercenary/guerilla colored attire from the earlier KoFs. I honestly don't like how they changed Ralf's defaul color pallete to a military-like one.
What exactly was about it that gripped me I cannot say for certain but after playing it the first time I was hooked. One day as I look around the arcade for a game to play I chance upon this game. With 2017 ending soon I figured I should quit slacking and just write what comes to mind.
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I've gotten way ahead of myself, but throughout this year I've been thinking about how to get this thread written and slacked off big time due to work and other stuff. The ambiance that then builds up to that short musical beat has stuck with me to this day. THIS is what the Bali theme sounds to me to this day Now maybe SNK had to rush some stuff to get the game out in time, maybe that would explain why the stages don't exactly have their own tracks and only certain themes would play depending on the characters that are fighting during a round, but I don't give a shit. This is a game that has its own personality and presentation: From the stages, to the freakin' UI and in-game messages, to the character portraits and the character sprites and their animations (hell the characters themselves were a treat to a first timer to SNK games in general at the time), to that goddamn brilliant announcer. To this day I still enjoy it despite any glaring flaws it has, or how unbalanced it is. Not Street Fighter II ST, not Double Dragon Neo Geo, surely not KoF '94 nor Power Instinct 2. It was the game that got me more interested in fighting games, like no other at that good old arcade I played at. in 1998, man that game just blew my mind as a kid. King of Fighters '97 on the other hand, looking back at it now, having played it prob.
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Nowadays FF7 doesn't really grip me much, it is a game that I should someday go back and see if I can enjoy it with the recent fan mods and hacks etc. Funnily enough they all released in 1997, though I cannot in full confidence say that 10 year old me played all of them for the first time in 1997. Everybody has that one (mainstream accepted) game or two that changed their view of gaming and/or made them more interested in them.įor this optimistic, crazed, loud Spanish obscenities spouting luchador fan of a Birdman, there were at least 2 games that were this to me:įinal Fantasy VII and King of Fighters '97.and Megaman X4, make that 3 games.