The King of Fighters '96

The King of Fighters '96 is a 1996 fighting game released by SNK for the Neo Geo arcade and home consoles. It is the third game in The King of Fighters series, following The King of Fighters '95. Like its predecessor, the game was ported to the Neo-Geo CD, as well as the PlayStation and Sega Saturn. Unlike the previous game, the PlayStation and Saturn versions were released only in Japan, with a language setting allowing the player to set the game to English. It is also part of the compilation The King of Fighters Collection: The Orochi Saga for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Wii. It was also released on the Wii Virtual Console in Japan on February 15, 2011, in North America on July 12, 2012 and in the PAL region on November 22, 2012.

The game made a few changes to gameplay such as new techniques, various changes of some teams, with a few of them introducing new characters. The plot follows a new King of Fighters tournament created by Chizuru Kagura, the heir of Yata Clan who wants to find and recruit Kyo Kusanagi, who defeated the previous KOF host, Rugal Bernstein, to ask him and his bitter rival, Iori Yagami, to help her in the sealing of the Orochi demon. The new boss is one of the servants from Orochi, Goenitz, who appears after Chizuru is defeated.

KOF: Maximum Impact 2

KOF: Maximum Impact 2, released in North America as The King of Fighters 2006, is a 3D competitive fighting game produced by SNK Playmore and released for the PlayStation 2 in 2006. It is also released for the Arcades under the title The King of Fighters 2006: Regulation A. It is the sequel to The King of Fighters: Maximum Impact, which itself was a spinoff of The King of Fighters series.

Plot

Many contended that the illegal fighting tournament in Southtown was sponsored by the gangland syndicate "Mephistopheles" to achieve the annihilation of their rivals and procure some operating capital. After its "King," Duke, suffered defeat at the hands of Alba Meira in the finals, he and his organization vanished from Southtown. Meanwhile, the media, firmly under Duke's control, released a fusillade of sensational exposés based on information from confidential sources regarding their former oppressors. In spite of this new torrent of "information," almost no one knew that an even larger entity had been pulling Mephistopheles' puppet strings.

The King of Fighters 2003

The King of Fighters 2003 (commonly abbreviated KOF 2003) is a competitive fighting game produced by SNK Playmore for the Neo Geo arcade and home platforms in 2003. It is the tenth game in The King of Fighters series and the last one released for the Neo Geo, which served as the primary platform for the series since the very first game. It was ported to PlayStation 2 and Xbox, was released in North America as a two-in-one bundle with the preceding game in the series, The King of Fighters 2002.

Gameplay

The 3-on-3 Team Battle Format is applied in the game once again, just like the past editions. It also uses a Multi-Shift format that allows players to change characters during the middle of battle. When the "Change OK" sign is displayed above the Power Gauge, the player can do a Quick Shift and change characters immediately, or perform a Switch-Off Attack against the opponent that will consume one Power Gauge stock.

The game also features a Tactical Leader System, in which one of the members of the team is designated as the Leader. The chosen Leader can have an access to an exclusive move known as the "Leader Super Special Move" (in addition to the regular "Super Special Moves"). However, this usually requires two Power Gauge stocks to be able to perform it.

The King of Fighters

The King of Fighters (ザ·キング·オブ·ファイターズ, Za Kingu obu Faitāzu), officially abbreviated KOF, is a series of fighting games developed by SNK Playmore (formerly SNK), which began with The King of Fighters '94 in 1994.

The series was originally developed for SNK's Neo Geo MVS arcade hardware, which served as the main platform for the series until 2004, when SNK retired the MVS in favor of the Atomiswave arcade board. Only two King of Fighters games were made on the Atomiswave platform (The King of Fighters Neowave and The King of Fighters XI) before SNK decided to discontinue using the platform for the series. The current arcade hardware for the series is the Taito Type X², with its first usage coming with the release of The King of Fighters XII. Ports of the arcade games and original The King of Fighters games have been released for several video games consoles.

Games

Main series

The King of Fighters '99

The King of Fighters '99: Millennium Battle is a 1999 head-to-head fighting game by SNK released for the Neo Geo arcade and home platform. It is the sixth installment in the company's The King of Fighters series. The game was ported to the Neo-Geo CD and the PlayStation as the final KOF game released for both platforms. A Dreamcast and Windows version was also released under the title The King of Fighters '99 Evolution in which the stages look exactly the same as compared with the arcade counterpart only to be exclusively remodeled into 3D. That version was released both in Japan and North America. Both the Neo Geo and Dreamcast versions are included in The Kings of Fighters NESTS Hen compilation released for the PlayStation 2 in Japan. The game introduces several changes to the established KOF format, as well as a new story arc that would later be dubbed the "NESTS Chronicles".

Gameplay

Instead of the three character teams from previous KOF games, each team now has four members. Before a match, the player chooses three of the characters to use in the actual fights, while the fourth member becomes the designated "Striker", a character the player summons during battle to help their character out by performing one of their Special Moves against the opponent. A striker can only be summoned a limited number of times during a single match, which is determined by the number of "Strike Bombs" at the bottom of the screen.

The King of Fighters XII

The King of Fighters XII (ザ・キング・オブ・ファイターズ　トゥエルブ) (KOF XII) is the twelfth installment of The King of Fighters series. SNK Playmore announced that it is abandoning the Atomiswave system and is moving its most popular game franchises to the Taito Type X2 arcade system. KOF XII uses newly drawn 2D sprites on 2D backgrounds. Due to the time the developers took to make the sprites, there are 20 playable characters (giving it the smallest roster in the series), with an extra two added to the console versions. The game was released in Japan in April 2009 for arcades. Home versions of the title for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 (PS3) had a worldwide release on July 28 of the same year. Like The King of Fighters '98 and The King of Fighters 2002, this game does not have a storyline; the saga from Ash Crimson that started in The King of Fighters 2003 finishes in The King of Fighters XIII.

Gameplay

The King!

The King! is an album by jazz saxophonist Illinois Jacquet which was recorded in 1968 and released on the Prestige label.

Reception

Scott Yanow of Allmusic stated, "Tenor saxophonist Illinois Jacquet has never made an indifferent record, and this CD reissue of a Prestige date from 1968 has its strong moments. ... Enjoyable music but not all that essential".

Track listing

All compositions by Illinois Jacquet except as indicated

Personnel