KoF ’99 also is the first game that removes the characters cheering from the sidelines, for whatever reason. The final boss is Krizalid, who takes on two different forms before finally going down. The player is also graded after every fight, and assigned “Battle Points” – the only way to fight the true last boss is by consistently keeping the ranking high. The “Extra” mode from the previous games is gone entirely, while the tactical roll has changed a bit – instead of just dodging backwards, characters leap back then forward again. There are also two special modes that can be activated when the power bar is at max with three stocks – Counter Mode, which strengthens offense, allowing to execute super moves infinitely during this short period of time, and even combo in them and Armor Mode, which enhances defense but disables any super special moves. The fourth is designated as a Striker, who can be called out a limited number of times to execute special attacks. Now each team consists of four characters, but only three are let into battle. Taking a page from the Capcom’s frantic “ Versus” games, King of Fighters ’99 introduces Strikers into the mix. The character portraits, while still by SNK’s house artist Shinkiro, have a much more modern-feeling, cleaner look. The look and feel of The King of Fighters ’99 is quite a bit darker than the other games, which also shows through in the soundtrack. The roster is relatively small, and feels a bit lazy, seeing as how two characters are literally Kyo clones (Kyo-1, who plays like the ’94/’95 Kyo, and Kyo-2, who plays like the ’96/’97 version.) Iori and the “real” Kyo (who has another new moveset and is the version used in all following games) are initially hidden – they weren’t going to be in the game at all, but SNK eventually added them due to popular demand. Other new characters include the sadistic military girl Whip, stupid little kid Bao, Tae Kwon Do master Jhun Hoon, and Chinese girl Xiangfei, the latter of which is taken from Real Bout Fatal Fury 2. The new hero is K’, joined by cyborg grappler Maxima. The King of Fighters ’99 starts the NESTS storyline, a plot of an evil organization who seeks to clone the world’s most powerful warriors and use their DNA for their own nefarious purposes.

The king of fighters 99 box art