The King of Fighters '98: Dream Natch Never Ends

Review Introduction:

Gameplay: 🕹️

Graphics: 👾

The graphics are excellent as usual for KOF. Characters are animated with even more fluidity although some are recycled from '97. It’s all eye candy and still holds up today—especially on a CRT TV. The backgrounds never fail to disappoint with the amount of detail they provide. The famous “Under the Bridge” stage is even a real-life location in Japan. Each round something, like the time of day, changes, and spectating crowds really give the stages some sort of life.

I won’t lie, though... previous entries had more interesting stages, and I wish they would've ported many more from the saga. Unfortunately, this is the last game to have your teammates on the screen while you fight. It might seem minor, but it has a gameplay purpose and, at least to me, gave the franchise some soul and a sense of camaraderie between some characters. I am very sad to see this change continue even to the latest entry.

Sound: 🔊

In a vacuum, the music is decent but leaves something to be desired in terms of variety. Compared to the earlier entries—particularly KOF '95 and '96—the music is lackluster. Those games have music that transcend greatness, and I wonder why this one doesn't. The short development cycle perhaps... but this soundtrack isn’t all that bad, just a letdown from what came before. It’s about on par with '94, which had some banging tunes as well.

Sound effects are always great with KOF; blows and special moves all hit with a satisfying impact that enhances combat. I can’t tell if the voices are lifted from those appearing throughout the saga, but they remain nice, and, honestly, add to the notion that these are the same characters (except Athena who just has re-recorded lines. You can definitely tell whenever she says “PSYCHO BALL”.)

Conclusion: 📊

Best KOF on the NEO GEO? In my opinion, yes. This game was an amalgamation of KOF up to that point, and the priority was to enhance the gameplay to the highest degree. Even after the countless sequels and remakes, KOF '98 remains one of the most beloved fighting games of all time.

Fightcade lobbies are still reaching players in the hundreds whereas the remakes remain side events. Even Athena’s costume is made DLC in KOF XIV. The lasting power that this game has is legendary, and it is still really playable today. If KOF '98 had been the very last game in the franchise (as it could’ve been), it’d have been a darn good swan song. Give it a shot.