The King of Fighters '94

Review

by Kyle Knight

When this game was released in 1994, the team play idea was very original. Fighting fans have always wanted to match up their favorite fighters from different game series, and SNK has given gamers the opportunity to do just that in King of Fighters '94. The teams are composed of characters from the Art of Fighting and Fatal Fury series, as well as several new characters created specifically for this game.

The number of teams in the game belies the character variety. You only have eight teams to choose from, but that's actually 24 fairly individual characters. There are old favorites in the form of the Fatal Fury team and the Art of Fighting team, but also new characters to learn. The teams are generally fairly balanced, with one exception. Team USA, composed of three generic sports figures Brian Battler, Lucky Glauber, and Heavy D!, is disappointing. Their character designs are also laughable, halfway between outright mockery and a serious attempt to create sports-based fighters. Other than Team USA, though, the characters are all well designed.

King of Fighters '94 has a different graphical style for its characters than most fighters. Instead of portraying fighters as big beefy brutes, KOF characters for the most part are quite normal looking, with some even bordering on being anorexic. The characters are all drawn fairly well and animated smoothly. But that smooth animation comes at a cost, as the characters are smaller in size than what is typical in other SNK fighting games. The stage backgrounds are also decently drawn with a fair amount of background animation. Each stage background is actually composed of two separately scrolling layers to give the sense of depth. But gamers have come to expect more out of SNK fighting game backgrounds after the gorgeous backdrops in Fatal Fury Special.

The game's sound and music is decent enough. For imported characters their sounds are ripped straight from their respective games, although a few voice clips here and there seem to be missing. The music is mostly standard fare, although the China stage has music that's somewhat catchy.

The fighting system makes King of Fighters '94 stand out, both in innovation and in quality. Playing in teams of three fighters really emphasizes the importance of learning and getting comfortable with multiple characters. But because characters can't actually tag in, or even team up except in very rare instances, the game feels like a standard character versus character fighting game, just with more characters per round. The fighting system itself is also fairly deep, with not only character special techniques and desperation moves but also quick counters and the ability to dodge. King of Fighters 94 has a control system that's absolutely spot on, and probably tighter and more responsive than any SNK fighter that came before.

King of Fighters '94 is a very good fighting game, but it lacks some refinements that would have made it great. Team play is a unique experience, but in a glaring oversight players can't create their own teams. So if you like a particular fighter you're also stuck with his or her two teammates, who you might not enjoy playing with. The graphics and sound also could have been improved upon as in this game they don't show what SNK is fully capable of. All in all though this game is an enjoyable experience with a fighting system that's ahead of its time.