One thing that annoys me with the new KOFs is that SNK-Playmore (or whatever their name is now) changed the button layout to a square configuration. That really irks me because I really like the four buttons in-a-row style from the previous games.
Yes! Four buttons in a row is a MUST for me when it comes to KoF! Actually I don't really play the KoFs after '98 (although my friend who is even more into it than me insists that 2002 is better, but I haven't played it much), so maybe the gameplay won't rely on the four button in a row layout as much.
Here is my KoF review list:
KoF'94 - A start, to say the most
. The concept of KoF was outstanding by making a fighting game combining all of these SNK characters from all sorts of games, including Ikari Warriors, Athena, Fatal Fury, etc... Anyways, this game sucks.
KoF'95 - Gameplay still sucks, but new characters and cool start for the Orochi storyline makes this game better than '94. Still nothing I'd really spend my time with.
KoF'96 - Story and character improve again (Geese, Krauser, and Mr. Big is the COOLEST team of all time, I wish they could come back!). Gameplay is starting to gain some new ideas and you can see how it's becomming a bit like the gameplay in the next two following games, but unfortunately the gameplay is still pretty ass when it comes to supers.
KoF'97 - When it comes to the best overall KoF game, this is it, no doubt. This game concludes the Orochi story and does a fantastic job, along with a great soundtrack (though they don't play music much in the game). A decent character selection is available in this game, but it's not as good as the next game to come
and the gameplay is outstanding, but still just not quite as good as the next game to come.
KoF'98 - Alright, definitely a graphic improvement here since it's the first KoF to use GIGA Power, but the backgrounds are terrible. Music is the same as '97 for the most part, so that's a plus as well. But please, don't play a KoF game for graphics, story, music, or whatever; play it for the gameplay and this is the game to show why. This game supports a MASSIVE 38 character selection (including many extra versions, which could sort of be counted as totally different characters) with incredible balance between them all (my only exception really would be Rugal), and the same fighting system as '97. Not only that, but this game is just about bug free. There are a few infinite combos that are known, but trust me, these can't be pulled out of your ass like in KoF'2001. The gameplay is just so perfect in this game that I can't touch any other KoF game.
KoF'99 - Everything except the graphics in this game totally suck, and even the backgrounds are pretty retarded for the most part. I like to call this the worst KoF game sometimes.
KoF'2000 - Improvement over that '99 shit, but this game still isn't so great. The gameplay is just nothing compared to '97-98 still.
KoF'2001 - A VERY interesting KoF game, and made with Eolith. This is a game I just like to mess around with every now and then in Practice mode to pull off huge combos with strykers, but don't take this is a serious KoF game because this game is loaded with bugs
.
KoF'2002 - Haven't been able to play this game a whole lot, but my KoF buddy insists that this is the best, even better than '98. This game does look promosing indeed from what I have played, but I haven't been able to put nearly enough hours into this game as I have with '98 to say it's better. Howerver it does seem to be the best KoF after '98 for sure.
KoF'2003 - Only played a few times at a arcade and it seemed pretty bad, though the graphics just keep improving.
Haven't played any KoF games after 2003 but as you can see from my point of view, the graphics have been getting amazing over the years, but the gameplay is constantly decreasing.
