news45

Last Update: 7/02/98

This Article Written in collaboration with-

Ese- Nambara's Guerilla-Like KOF98' Site

King Of Fighters 98 Let's Go Gorgeous! - The KOF Series all United!! -The All-Star Dream Battle!!!-

Illustration Courtesy of SNK Homepage

NOTE: Leona's Costume has been confirmed to be her old original, nothing new. Apparently the illustration on the Phone card was a preliminary sketch! Other characters seem to be basically correct. Beta Testing News From Neo Geo Land At Osaka, Japan While Henry Moriarty has not been able to check out KOF98' himself since the Beta Testing In Tokyo will not begin until next month, testing has already begun in Osaka's NeoGeo Land and Ese- Nambara has reported the following information from it. There are also some information collated from other sources. Teams All characters from KOF97' are still in the game. Mature, Vice and Rugal from 94's second form are back as well. The New-face team exists in both styles- Normal and Orochi (hold start on select) The old AOF team which has flying projectiles and classic moves can be selected in the same way. Likewize, 95' style Kyo is still in the game (hold start on select). The Game System There is a miss pose when a special throw fails or is done out of range ( like SF2's Zangief) There are no abbreviation commands like KoF97' ( ie: Backdown, Forward + Attack instead of HCF + Attack) Character colors can be selected out of a choice of 4 by their buttons- A,B,C, D. There is a random select in which the team members change every match, instead of being picked once only in the beginning. Advanced Mode The First fighter has 3 stocks in the beginning of the fight. The second character has 4 stocks, and the third has 5. This means that the more the player loses, the more advantage the player has. Also, DMs done during when the player has POWered up will kill off the remining meter. Extra Mode Likewise to the Advanced mode, the POW meter in Extra mode is long at the beginning but shortens each time a character loses. Also, counter attacks can be done from the AB dodge, and the middle jump which was only available in Advanced mode for 97' is useable. The AB dodge can be canceled into a combo. Storyline In KOF98' there is no storyline- (much of a dream match like RB2) But, unlike KoF97' there is actually a Winner-message. As bosses, Shingo comes out after the 3rd team if the player's characters are related to him (Kyo, Iori, etc), and Rugal comes out after the 6th team. Misc. There is still no information if each team has their own music and stage or not. There is also no information on any new original characters yet -There is a rumor that they will be released in the final version, but not in the beta. Most of the character seem to have not changed much, but the new characters seem have at least one new move, like Heidern's "Heidern End", Mature's "Sacredge", and Rugal's "Dead-end Screamer" Character sprites have been told by many to be bigger, and the music better.

Title Logo Courtesy of SNK Homepage Teams confirmed Thus so far the following have been confirmed-

USA Team (HeavyD!, Lucky, Bryant)
Middle Age Team (Heidern, Saishu, Takuma)
Yagami Team (Iori, Mature, Vice)

Ikari Team (Leona, Ralph, Clark)
China Team (Athena, Kensou, Cheng)
Fatal Fury Team (Terry, Andy, Joe)
Female Fighters Team (Chizuru, King, Mai)
KOF Special Team (Yamazaki, Mary, Billy)
Kim Team (Kim, Chang, Choi)
Art Of Fighting Team
(Ryo, Robert, Yuri - Present & Classic)
NewFace Team -
(Yashiro, Shermie, Chris -Normal & Orochi)

Shingo
Rugal 94 #2

Previous Coverages (6/25/98) The ever famous videogame goods store Gamers already begun to take in reservations for kof98' illustrated phone cards. The "Madman" Henry Moriarty has checked out the catalouge first hand and confirmed the illustrations done by SNK's usual artist Shinkiro. While the catalogue was as dirty-looking as recycled toilet paper, it was clean enough to confirm the following: USA Team (Heavy D!, Lucky Glover, Bryant Battler) *CONFIRMED* Middle Age Team (Heidern, Shashuu Kusanagi, Takuma Sakazai) *CONFIRMED* NewFace Team (Yashiro, Shermie Chris) *CONFIRMED* Ikari Team (Leona, Ralph Jones, Clark Steele) *CONFIRMED* China Team (Athena Asamiya, Sie Kensou, Chin Gensai) *CONFIRMED* Fatal Fury Team (Terry Bogard, Andy Bogard, Joe Higashi) *CONFIRMED* Iori *CONFIRMED* Kensou has some changes in his costume and now looks a bit like Shingo as he has his shirt down. Leona also has a new costume, and while HeavyD and Bryant hasn't changed, Lucky's costume is also renued. Athena is wearing the first costume from the left in 98'.

Click for full view- Picture Courtesy of Nagi First Costume from the left is the official.

Click for full view- Picture Courtesy of Nagi

Numerous rumors have been afloat on King Of Fighter 98', and the fever seems to be high as even fake moves lists have been floating. While not much about the game has yet to be released, a good friend of Henry Moriarty, Ms. Nagi has graciously sent in sketches of the confirmed characters. According to the pictures, Shingo now wears the gloves given by Kyo, King wears a blouse instead of a vest, and Benimaru has a new outfit again. Terry has minor changes. Meanwhile, SNK has announced to open a private showing in Osaka on 7/1, featuring KOF98 and SS3D2. Also, according to retailers, shipping is announced to begin on 7/10 and the official release date on the game is set at 7/22. Collation of Rumors Major rumors goes as follows: There are 50 characters in Total: 36 normal + 14 secret. The 94' USA Team is Back. Takuma and Heidern are back. Rugal is back, and so are the secretaries. But they are not teamed up. The 97' Special team is still present, as with all the characters in KOF97'. Yashiro, Shermie and Chris are back as their Orochi Versions.

The following has been posted by KOF Forever, in credit of Sephiroth and Darklancer for the actual information. The source of the information comes from a friend of Sephiroth, who is scheduled to set off to the meeting at Osaka- thus the information can be thought as reliable. To note, Sephiroth was one of the pioneers in distributing KOF97' info last year, together with Moonrun. The Information goes as follows: [Teams] "New Iori Team": Yagami Iori - Mature - Vice "Uncle Team": Sakazaki Takuma - Heidern - Kusanagi Saisyu "America Team": Brian - Lucky - Heavy D! "Japan Team": Kusanagi Kyo - Nikaido Benimaru - Goro Daimon "Fatal Fury Team": Bogard Terry - Bogard Andy - Hagashi Joe "Art of Fighting Team": Sakazaki Ryo - Garcia Robert - Sakazaki Yuri "Special Team": Yamazaki Ryuji - Blue Mary - Kane Billy "New Faces Team": Nanakase Yashiro - Shermie - Chris "Kim Team": Kap hwan Kim - Koehan Chang - Bounge Choi "Ikari Team": Leona - Jones Ralf - Steel Clark Single Entries: Shingo and Bernstein Rugal No new teams? [Game System] Advanced Mode: Maximum of five (5) stocks. Extra Mode: Able to counter after A+B dodge ('95). Random Characters: Able to choose three random members; winning a team will give you another different random team. (not sure about this) Team Member Help: Same as '97 which depends on the character relation.

The following are the more rare (and probably 100% inaccurate) rumors. There is a third main character who controls green flames. As always, the Madman's Cafe will keep on track in the latest news concerning KOF98'.