The King of Fighters '94
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| The King of Fighters '94 | |
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| Developer(s) | SNK |
| Publisher(s) | SNK |
| Release date(s) | August 25, 1994 |
| Genre(s) | Versus Fighting |
| Mode(s) | Team Battle; Up to 2 players simultaneously |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, Neo Geo CD |
| Input | 8-way Joystick, 5 Buttons |
| Arcade cabinet | Upright |
| Arcade system(s) | Neo Geo |
The King of Fighters '94 is the first game in The King of Fighters. SNK released a Japan-only remake, The King of Fighters '94 Rebout, for the PlayStation 2 in 2004 to commemorate the series' tenth anniversary.
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[edit] Gameplay
King of Fighters' 94 introduces the series' signature 3-man team system, instead of a simple one-on-one two round fight system a player chooses a team of three characters then determines the order to play them before a fight, each fight consisting of up to 5 rounds and each round ending when one of the two fighters is knocked out, the remaining fighter stays and faces the opponent's next character, a fight is won when one of the two players looses the last of their three fighters. This system has remained constant throughout the series (and modes with a similar system have been used since in such games as Tekken and Soul Calibur). The major difference between this and other KoF titles is that players can only choose from pre-set teams of three instead of being able to build their own team from the whole cast.
[edit] Story
Rugal Bernstein is an incredibly rich and notorious arms and drugs trafficker, as well as an incredibly skilled and ruthless fighter has become bored with the lack of competition, so decides to host a new King of Fighters tournament. The King of Fighters tournament was previously held by Geese Howard in the Art of Fighting and Fatal Fury games, Wolfgang Krauser also heald some of the tournaments in the Fatal Fury series, the game's ending reveals that Rugal has apparently fought and bested both characters in the past.
Rugal has his secretary (later revealed to be the assassin Mature) travel to eight destinations around the world and invite them to his new tournament, unlike previous tournaments this new King of Fighters is a team tournament, eight teams enter representing England, America, Brazil, Korea, Japan, Mexico, Italy] and China with the Japan Team later known as the Hero Team, made up of Kyo Kusanagi, Goro Daimon and Benimaru Nikaido, being the canonical winners (all teams win if the arcade/story mode is completed with that team) and being taken by Mature via air-lift to Rugal's private air carrier the Blacknoah.
The hero team are greeted by Rugal in his 'museum' filled with statues of the fighters he has fought and killed and they battle, Rugal defeats Goro and Benimaru and reduces Kyo to his knees, until Kyo sees the unconscious body of his father Saisyu Kusanagi who had confronted, and lost to, Rugal before the tournament. Not sure if his father is alive or dead Kyo becomes infuriated and defeats Rugal who initiates the boat's self-destruct mechanism, the Japan team, Mature and Saisyu manage to escape but it appears that Rugal does not (in truth he did survive and was revived as a cyborg known as 'Omega Rugal').
[edit] Characters
[edit] Returning Characters
From Art of Fighting:
From Fatal Fury:
From Ikari Warriors:
From Athena:
From Psycho Soldier:
From various SNK sports titles:
[edit] New Characters
[edit] Boss
[edit] Countries of origin
King of Fighters '94 is the only game in the series to assign a nation to each team in a similar fashion to Street Fighter II.
While the Korea team, Japan team and the USA team do include a team of characters that are all from their assigned country of origin no other team does, in fact the China team, later known as the Psycho Soldiers team is the only other team to include any character who's official place of birth is their assigned country (both Sie Kensou and Chin Gentsai are Chinese, Athena is Japanese). The Italy team are made up of two Americans (Terry and Andy Bogard) and one Japanese fighter (Joe Higashi) while curious the only Italian in the game, Robert Garcia is a member of the Mexico team, along with two Japanese/Japanese-Americans (Ryo and Takuma Sakazaki). The England team are made up of two girls from Japan (Mai Shiranui and Yuri Sakazaki) and King, who was born in France and raised in Thailand (though she was living in England at the time), finally the Brazil team are made up two Americans (Ralf and Clark) and Heidern, who's birthplace is unknown.
[edit] Sources
- The King of Fighters 10th Anniversary Official Website
- Galactica Phantom: The King of Fighters Resource Centre
