I love how close the 3D backgrounds in the Dreamcast look to the original ones. They blended very well with the pixel art characters since the game ran in 240p, at the cost of VGA compatibility.
Funny thing is, K.O.F. '99 Evolution is also 240p only on Dreamcast. Kind of weird how both lack VGA modes at all since Street Fighter Alpha 3, Double Impact and even 3rd Strike had 240p/480p modes fully supported.
@@RetroCore btw i was wondering if we could find a way to make some video or vg related work together one of these days, i've been idle for very long :D
Kof 98 is my all time favorite!!! The Ultimate Match is by far the best version!! All the extra characters and extras make it AWESOME!! GREAT VIDEO!!!!
Cheers Mark! The Steam port of KOF '98 Ultimate Match is worth checking out too - it's actually an exclusive update for the PC with tweaks and revisions to the PS2 port in the form of a 'Final Edition'.
I didn't know about that. Thanks for the info. I wonder if they have reworked the difficulty ballance? I had a hard time getting in to the PS2 version.
Always loved how snk took time when porting their fighting games to home consoles. Art of fighting, samurai showdown and fatal fury ran great even on the megadrive and snes
Solution 66 SNK didn’t actually do ANY home ports themselves until the 32Bit consoles. And the SNES/Genesis ports ALL had tons of issues and gameplay alterations.
Same for me, loved street fighter but was always skeptical of king of fighters. But I got 98(dream match 99 in the US) for free when I got my DC back in 1999 and it sat on the shelf for a while but when I finally opened it, I spent more time playing it that Street fighter 3 lol.
Yeah, it's not something I normally do but I felt the wealth of options on the home version made it a worthy addition. The actual game it 100% the same mind you.
One of my all time favorites. I’ve also owned all of those at one point. Anyways, amazing job as alway. Hope you do all the KOF’s. They all have very interesting ports.
I'm not a big fan of the 3D remake's balance issues, so of course I like the original the most. '98 is one of the best KOF titles overall and I play the AES version on the Neo Geo Arcade Stick Pro. Thanks for the remind, let's fight a few rounds!
Great video! One of my top fighters of all time. I owned a Neo Geo CD and this was my only game for a while so my buddies and I played it to death. Similar story when I imported a Dreamcast at launch. Suffice to say we played it a lot. One of the few fighters I can random characters and use them fairly effectively.
Another great video! Surprising no Saturn port but we have a great dream cast port instead. Btw your audio sounded a bit different, but very good. have you upgraded your mixer?
Still love it. Although my best playing game was KOF'97, there is no denying how great KOF'98 truly is. It played like 97 but brought back everyone from 94-96. It's truly SNK's Marvel vs Capcom 2. Redundacy aside, I still would've liked to see a Saturn port even if just to show up the PS One one last time!! I still have my NGPC and DC link cable. Too bad my SvC: MOTM is MIA... >w< Great installment!
Never had the Neo Geo version or had access to the arcade original. But I got the Dreamcast version shortly after its release and had a ball with it. Probably still have my original saves (and definitely still have my original game). Hell, just talking about it makes me want to fire it up again.
I think i like both the Dreamcast and PS2 versions. i might try this game on my PS2, once i get a working controller for it. i belive i first played this game on a Neo-Geo emulator for the PSP that had it, i do recall enjoying the game.
Ok, this is already an amazing video by the name alone. This game looks so great!!! Did you know that there was a bootleg Genesis version made? Yes, I'm actually series. Look it up!!!
I love KoF series and while I can admit 98 is better than the titles it came before, I play 97 whenever I sit down to play some KoF. I can't help myself. Great video as always
I wish you could have used original hardware for the dreamcast version.They designed the 3D backgrounds with 240p in mind so they retain the look of the original NeoGeo sprites. It was very unique and had great execution. Great video , regardless.
I'm the opposite. I do like the Samurai Showdown series but I could never really get in to it despite owning the first 3 games. Tekken is another one I can't get in to. It feels stuff to me when compared to Virtua Fighter or Dead or Alive.
The absence of a Saturn port is no surprise if you consider that by 1998 and going forward the Saturn was considered a "dead" system and so SNK wouldn't want to waste resources on it. The surprise for me is the absence of a GameBoy port given how SNK has released some KOF games on it, regardless of their chibi thematic. Great video as usual, Mark!
I still wish a Saturn port was made but still, we did get that awesome Dreamcast version which still looks better than the PS2 game that came almost 10 years later.
I want to point out that there’s a KOF 98 UM for Xbox Live. There’s no 3D background and no re-arrange soundtrack. But everything else is included. Including the original KOF 98 game.
I think you missed the PGM2 arcade port from 2009, unless I missed it in there. I've never played the arcade remakes, and probably spent the most time with the dreamcast version. It's my favorite KOF for sure.
@@RetroCore They sell it as 'kof '98 ultimate match HERO'--as if it's an improvement over the type x one, but I'm guessing the PGM2 is way down on power by comparison. You've probably looked it up by now, but it's here: system16.com/hardware.php?id=978&page=1#19201
Ah, good ol' The King Of Fighters '98. The best in the eyes of many in the series Mark. I love this game and gladly agree that it is the best for sure. The Neo-Geo AES and MVS are the best choices for me to play it on bro. Nothing against the NGCD version, but it takes too long to load. 8^) If you like, your welcome to also post this on the Neo-Geo thread over there as well bro. Anthony..
I'm also a big fan of KOF 98. Maybe I like 97 a little more? Hard to say but I really do enjoy 98. For me the idea version would be the AES with arrange soundtrack.
I own all the KOF Japanese imports for my ps2.. My favorite by far is KOF 99 and 2002 ultimate collections. 98 is good to. You should do a comparison of King of Fighters 94. The PS2 version has a really cool intro.
I just bought that version of 94 recently, known as KoF 94 Rebout. You can play with the old backgrounds, old music, but with the cleaned up sprites, and it looks really good. Not too fond of the newer backgrounds due to all the unnecessary background cameos though. I too have all the Japanese 2D KoF games for the PS2, the only US version I have is KoF XI. Orochi Hen, Nests Hen, 98 UM, 02 UM, Neowave, 02 and 03 separately (they were not released together there) are all Japanese releases, and took me a few years to get them all at decent prices.
You didn't mention the Dreamcast version also has the music restart after every round (like the NeoGeo CD version) and it doesn't cycle through the different times of the day after every round (all versions of each stage exist in the Dreamcast IIRC, it's just that the time of day is fixed to whatever is chosen for Round 1 for all the rounds in a match).
good choice Rerto Core , you have choosed one of the best KOF and fighting game ever made . anyway the worst version of the game is the psx1 port because of the characters frames messing , and it used the mono sound .
Hmm, I think it's in stereo. I own the original Neo Geo hardware so I'll give it a try. It's possible that the Neo Geo you played it on was only capable of mono sound. Some of the Arcade boards didn't offer stereo.
Retro Core if you ever do future KOF games you might want to set flash to off. Red and White Strobing lights trigger seizures worse than any other colors. Just a tip for the future
Hmm my favorite version of this game? Well I have it on Wii's Orochi Saga, PS1, and on 98 UM, so I go with 98 UM due to the extra characters and options not found on the other releases. The DC version seems to use studio vocal samples due to sounding the cleanest, but the music has to restart each and every round, kind of annoying if you ask me.
I really like the NEO GEO CD port... and the Dreamcast port of course (if you can call it a port of the arcade of course). My Suggestion for the next 'Battle of the Ports' is Trojan by CAPCOM.
Nice my very first king of fighters game but I got it on ps1 the good thing about it though is that you can set a one button special for faster gameplay. Ps1 controllers have 4 trigger buttons which make it alot easier to do special combo btw theres an Anniversary Edition hack for mame which added the chars from the ultimate match and my fave to play on the go with my tablet.
Since you included the Ps2 UM version,you should have included also the IGS KOF98 UM which plays perfect on Mame. Fantastic PS1 port that growed up with it and a big miss from Saturn (because 98 is the best Kof for most people).
Maaaaark!! Where is the Switch's ACA NEO GEO ver. 😫? That's practically the "ultimate" Arcade Perfect port. Anyways, fantastic content as always. Thanks for your quality!!!!!
Sorry dude, I'm never going to include the ACA releases on any platform because they're nothing more than Arcade roms being emulated on which ever platform they appear on.
I think I like AES the most. Arcade perfect but with some options you could change? Yes please. Are your captured videos in RGB limited (16-235) range while emulation is at RGB full (0-255) range (which is the appropriate choice for TH-cam / computers / smartphones)? The PS2 FreeMCBoot thing someone else mentioned is just a temporary "soft-hack" that involves putting a hacked memory card into your PS2. It doesn't change anything permanently - doesn't involve any hardware mods, or changing any software on the system, or even opening the system up. You just have to use either certain exploits in certain games to then run some software or have someone who already has a hacked PS2 create a hacked memory card for your PS2. Doesn't work in the SCPH-90xxx series though. It's not difficult, risky or expensive to do (you can buy pre-modded memory cards under $10 I believe) and it's no more illegal than using an emulator for a game you don't own. I mean the emulator wasn't that bad for this video but just wanted to try and clear up misunderstanding around FMCB. I do think FMCB would be a little better a solution.
I'll look in to the PS2 FreeMCBoot exploit. It sure would be preferable to using emulation. Regarding the RGB, I'm using full RGB however since I have it running through the Framemeister the settings are a little different so that it displays well on my screen. This sometimes results in a slightly off image for the video capture card though.
I have UM on Steam, and the online is pretty good! Also, for the 240p-only Dreamcast games (and games that support 240p natively along 480p like SF3: W-Impact), a proper SCART cable or even a VGA box from BeharBros would work great. The latter, especially since it has a switch to go to 240p/480i out for games like this. So through that, you could output to your Framemeister or OSSC to the capture card.
Retro Core I read the product page, and see why: it only supports 480p modes. Damn shame, too. I know The Last Blade 2 will be another problematic game for that box. The ones I had that need the 15KHz mode were this, KoF99/KoF Evolution, Last Blade 2, Plasma Sword/Star Gladiator 2 - The Nightmare of Bilstein, Hydro Thunder, and Bakuretsu Muteki: Bangai-Ōh (what a title!). I know there is a list online of some games like Hydro Thunder that can be tricked with a regular VGA box or one like the Kuro or Toro to run at 480p. Just the other ones mentioned simply will not work. Guess an interim solution for now is to order a decent-quality SCART cable and run it to the Framemeister.
Indeed. I do have a RGB cable for my Deamcast but the pins are finicky at the DC side of it. I'll see if I can get that fixed since I need a JP21 spec cable and those are not cheap for the Dreamcast.
Indeed. I do have a RGB cable for my Deamcast but the pins are finicky at the DC side of it. I'll see if I can get that fixed since I need a JP21 spec cable and those are not cheap for the Dreamcast.
BlockABoots Yes. Many regard KOF ‘98 to be the best in the series. A few characters that died in KOF ‘95 thru KOF ‘97 were bought back to life in KOF ‘98 so it’s considered a “Dream Match” title.
You forgot to mention the character friendliness. on the order select screen, I believe you press start and you'll get icons showing how friendly they are towards each other( red faces being mean- meaning you get no extra stock carried over, to a happy face meaning they'll give you an extra stock). I It's a shame it's a step down from the PS port of 97. I found that 97 had a good amount of frames and good sound- but the downside, like all of them was the really long loading. 98' on DC was certainly the best way to play for a good while until 98UM. It does work under RGB if I recall correctly.
My Dreamcast Kof ‘98 game was packaged as KoF ‘99, complete with all the packaging and disk art. The shop owner where I’d bought it said that the fact that it was ‘98 on the game disk was down to a disk printing error. I’ve no idea if this is true or not though.
Retro Core I think that’s right, but I remembered the box and disk having the character K’ on them, and screenshots in the packaging of what looks like the Neo Geo KoF 99. I found the box art my game has with some googling. It’s all packaged and presented as ‘99 Evolution, a different game from the ‘98 Dream Match that is written to the disk.
There are two KOF '99 games on the Dreamcast. I'm not sure about the US names but in Japan KOF '98 was released as KOF '99 Dream Match (this has the 3D backgrounds) then the real KOF '99 was released under the title of KOF '99 Evolution.
Ah my number fighting game of all time. Too bad you forgot 98 Final Edition, which as the name suggest is the last version of KOF98 made, only for Arcades and PC/Steam. Still a great video as always.
@@RetroCore Yeah global edition I think its called and then theirs the web versions of the games I think only released in China/South Korea. I think its because the games 97,98 and 2k2 are still extremely popular long after there initial release dates way back in the 90's, it's very rare any type of game would have so many updates across the years, but that just shows how good those games are I guess.
thank you mark it was really a HUUUUGE and great video now wanna know my favourite version of all time it is the one and only THE NEO GEO CD and second it is the dreamcast and third it is the one and lovely playstation 2 port yup this was my top 3 anticipating versions for this game now can you make next week to be real bout fatal fury special please?
I'm glad you liked the video. For me the best version would be the AES with the Neo Geo music closely followed by the Dreamcast port. Next week will be a different game I'm afarid. I've already started making the video.
Well guess what? I have the Ripoff of the PSP that just plays NES games and I somehow got it into a music maker once. You know. Anyway I got new batteries put in because of the screen dimming for no reason with the Energizer batteries and have now been experimenting with the thing again, and have got it to look like a jumbled mess with random sprites. Which by the way just now I got it mostly white screened with weirdly a grassy ground underneath the boxes to choose if you want to the language to be Chinese or English. I'll get back to playing some Donkey Kong after watching the video of yours.
I don't know what's with ultra pixelated retro games for big TH-camrs, the games wasn't looking like that in our old CRT TVs, that's why there are filters in emulators to simulate the look, designers made the games taking in account how the CRT TVs resolution will smooth those sprites...
@@RetroCore I find h2q filters on most emulators very true to the look of an old CRT TV without the need of scanlines, but just my opinion, you've got an excellent channel.
Dreamcast version is my favorite, however they did improve quite a lot of things in KOF 99 on Dreamcast (my favorite KOF by the way). When playing on real hardware, KOF 98 has two things I dislike : - the resolution of the 3D backgrounds is too low, they don't look so good on CRT - the music resets after each round Both of these points are fixed in KOF 99. On Neo Geo CD, there were too many tracks in KOF 98 for SNK to include each time both the one starting at the beginning, and the arranged version starting in the middle. KOF99 fixes this. However the loading times are quite long, even on CDZ.
Actually I think the low resolution backgrounds look great on a CRT. They are low so that they don't clash with the 2D sprites. Sadly there is a mesh over the 3D graphics.
Same as the PS2 version minus the 3D backgrounds option, no arranged OST option, and no physical copy option. Unless Yakumo has a 360 with the game downloaded on it (which he could possibly have, or not), then there's no way to put it in the video.
Recently King of Fighters 97 Global match was released. It had me kinda confused why they didn't use 98. What makes Kof 97 > 98? I hear the Chinese really love 97, but I never get a clear answer on why.
@@SoukaDeezNutz Good Question, the best reason I can come up with, is it's Story, which 97 is the final conclusion of the Orochi Saga, still the most celebrated KOF Saga, As opposed to 98, which is once of the dream match games, and doesn't have a story. Gameplay wise, there is no different from 97-98. 98 just added characters that were ether dead or removed since 98 (Saishu, Rugal..etc.). I think Ultimate Match 98, is the better way to go though
98UM absolutely mops the floor with the DC version. You can choose original or remixed music (only on the PS2 version though, the digital releases don't have that option), the roster is bigger, with more EX versions of characters to use, 3 different bosses to fight, Shingo isn't the only "midboss" of the game (UM has Shingo, Kasumi, Eiji, Orochi Leona, Orochi Iori, and regular Rugal you can face), a survival mode where you face all the games fighters, two of the 3 bosses are unlockable, Omega Rugal is already unlocked, but you can unlock regular Rugal. Not to mention any screen visual filters can be turned off. Plus the music doesn't restart every round, and zero load times between rounds and fights. The only advantage the DC version has is the cleaner audio for the voice samples, likely because they were recorded from the master tapes, and not the PCB.
@@Bloodreign1 Considering UM came out almost a decade after the DC version, it's not surprising. I'm obviously talking about among the contemporary ports. UM is pretty fucking awesome, though.
That is so odd, that SNK updated this game 10 year later but than again they did the samething with KOF 94. Is the Dreamcast's anime intro available in the PS2 version?
11:10 >My PS2 can't play unofficial disks How are you using a Playstation 2 in the modern day without Free McBoot? It's the easiest way to load up ISOs from either hard disk or LAN with OpenPS2Loader (I use LAN myself), or from a DVD with ESR. Not to mention that it's getting harder to find classic games these days without resorting to piracy (and before you bring up "the developers" argument, these are old, pirating games on old hardware only keeps money from scalpers), especially combined with how retro collectors tend to act (which is to say that the "Neo-Geo collector" mentality has extended to retro gaming in general), you never know what game might become rare next because of destruction of copies to make a collector retain his/her supposed value. Remember the classic Xbox devkit made into a PC by that one redditor, or the Starcraft Gold source code.
I don't play pirate games for my own entertainment which is why my PS2 isn't chipped or modded in any way. The only time I play a PS2 pirate game is if I don't own the original for a BOTP show. The Dreamcast game I do own officially but its one of the few Japanese games that isn't VGA compatable and because I don't have a RGB cable for my Dreamcast I can't capture the footage from it. Kind of annoying that I had to use emulation for the Dreamcast version..
@@RetroCore I'll have to post you one of my spare rgb leads. I thought there was a way to boot a non vga game into vga mode. I have a disc that does it
I do. I have a Neo Geo MVS set up. It's how the Arcade and AES footage was captured (I used a Neo SD cart). Still, MVS games can still be expensive. I only hold a few myself.
Thanks for the offer, Speedkingfox0007. Normally there is but for some reason Airforce Delta and KOF 99 Dream Match will not boot in to VGA. Or at least not when using a VGA to HDMI box such as the Akura or Gekko. They should work but sadly no signal is found.
The Japanese KOF collection is different from the Western version as it was developed by a different company. The down side is that it only contains KOF '95,' 96 and '97.
The PS1 port isn't that bad, it's quite playable if you ask me. I didn't pay a lot for it either on my "get all SNK made fighters for the consoles I own" exploits.
The upside of that Japanese Orochi Hen collection is, the quality of the games on it are fantastic, likely the best versions to own outside of Neo Geo hardware. Of course that collection is why I had to get 94 Rebout for my 94 fix on the PS2, and already had 98/98 UM before I got ahold of the compilation. But if one is to get the Orochi Saga US compilation, best one to get is the Wii version, which has none of the sound issues, or slowdowns/loadings of the PS2 version. But they also removed all the flashing screens, and the Pao Pao Cafe wall intro from the Mexico stage in 94 on the Wii version.
Really weird SNK Dreamcast games don't support VGA. I got a Dreamcast S-Video cable just for playing SNK games, but it's the only example I can think of where I have to swap cables just to play certain games.
@@RetroCore I just checked some Dreamcast and KOF forums. It seems '99 Dream Match is one of those Dreamcast games that can't even be tricked into VGA mode. There's talk of a patched version you can burn, but I can't find it anywhere. Again, I have real Japanese hardware and software and it won't play through VGA. I ended up buying an S-Video cable just for that game.
Loving that Dreamcast version with its animated intro and 3D stages.
BEST fighting game still being played on tournaments all over the world in 2018 and beyond.
It just goes to show how good it is.
Will Do Show 250 Frogger Please?
I love how close the 3D backgrounds in the Dreamcast look to the original ones. They blended very well with the pixel art characters since the game ran in 240p, at the cost of VGA compatibility.
Funny thing is, K.O.F. '99 Evolution is also 240p only on Dreamcast. Kind of weird how both lack VGA modes at all since Street Fighter Alpha 3, Double Impact and even 3rd Strike had 240p/480p modes fully supported.
This channel deserves WAY more subscribers and views! Keep up the great work, Retro Core!
Make sure you watch it 12 times at least then.... do your part brother. ...
IKR!!! His content is awesome!!!
I had the Dreamcast version. Still the best version I had.
I love 98, but the orochi climax in 97 is my favorite story in all the 90s games. I'm always torn, just shows how great those games were.
97 is also a favourite of mine. I'm not sure which I like better. KOF 97 or 98.
Karsten here mate, i thought you stated you would never touch KOF i nbattle of the ports :D glad you did!
Hi Karsten. Yeah, how ideas change 😊. I've done 95, 96 and now 98. I thought I had covered '97 but seems I haven't.
@@RetroCore btw i was wondering if we could find a way to make some video or vg related work together one of these days, i've been idle for very long :D
Watching the intro start up brought back memories of playing on neoragex and the happy feeling of being able to play at home and for free.
Kof 98 is my all time favorite!!! The Ultimate Match is by far the best version!! All the extra characters and extras make it AWESOME!! GREAT VIDEO!!!!
Cheers Mark! The Steam port of KOF '98 Ultimate Match is worth checking out too - it's actually an exclusive update for the PC with tweaks and revisions to the PS2 port in the form of a 'Final Edition'.
I didn't know about that. Thanks for the info. I wonder if they have reworked the difficulty ballance? I had a hard time getting in to the PS2 version.
Retro Core A lot of the changes are frame-time related for competitive play and no real tweaking to the AI in single player was implemented.
This reminds me of my childhood trying to find a non expensive good home version to play.
Classic game!
Always loved how snk took time when porting their fighting games to home consoles. Art of fighting, samurai showdown and fatal fury ran great even on the megadrive and snes
Solution 66 SNK didn’t actually do ANY home ports themselves until the 32Bit consoles. And the SNES/Genesis ports ALL had tons of issues and gameplay alterations.
My introduction to KoF was KoF 98 on the Dreamcast and I have to say what a way to make a first impression. Well done video man!
You jumped in at the right time. Any later and you would have probably been dissapointed.
We played a ton of the DC version and CvS2 back then.
I had turned 10 at the time of the Arcade release! No wonder this was my favorite in the series.
The best fighting of all time.
It’s my best fighting game ever, of all time!!!! Thank you 🙏, and as always, good job 👏👍!!!!
Your Battle of the Ports series are always fun to watch. King of Fighters '98 is my favorite in the series. Great job with this episode.
Thanks, Craig.
Same the XBOX 360 Version!
The Dreamcast version is my favorite and really got me into SNK games
Same for me, loved street fighter but was always skeptical of king of fighters. But I got 98(dream match 99 in the US) for free when I got my DC back in 1999 and it sat on the shelf for a while but when I finally opened it, I spent more time playing it that Street fighter 3 lol.
WHOW!!! Those 3D background look amazing!
Ohh the ultimate match.....The selection screen music still stuck in my head
Separating the Neo-Geo Arcade and Home versions, that's a first! Well played :D
Yeah, it's not something I normally do but I felt the wealth of options on the home version made it a worthy addition. The actual game it 100% the same mind you.
AES is my favorite. Also the 360 version was alright since it had online play.
One of my all time favorites. I’ve also owned all of those at one point. Anyways, amazing job as alway. Hope you do all the KOF’s. They all have very interesting ports.
Amazing BotP! KOF98 is playability at it's best. I miss a Saturn port...it would be fantastic for sure.
It is a shame this never got a Saturn port but at least the Dreamcast got an interesting port.
I'm not a big fan of the 3D remake's balance issues, so of course I like the original the most. '98 is one of the best KOF titles overall and I play the AES version on the Neo Geo Arcade Stick Pro. Thanks for the remind, let's fight a few rounds!
This should be quite an interesting one, since KoF 98 is so damned good.
Great video! One of my top fighters of all time. I owned a Neo Geo CD and this was my only game for a while so my buddies and I played it to death. Similar story when I imported a Dreamcast at launch. Suffice to say we played it a lot. One of the few fighters I can random characters and use them fairly effectively.
It is a fantastic game. It's also at that time when many of the stage songs became really good.
Yes ! Love battle of the ports
I love that intro song
I like the Dreamcast version, in spite of the non-VGA. :) (and because that's the one I have... heh.)
Arguably the best one....
I really like the 3D backgrounds
This is one of the best KoF
13:23 - certified Shingo player moment
Another great video comparison!
I really appreciate and Enjoy ur Show, Keep up the Amazing Work
Thanks, Neo Senpai.
My favourite KOF! I was waiting when you would do KOF98 mate! Loved it!
I was going to do KOF '97 next but due to the many requests for this one I went straight to it.
Another great video! Surprising no Saturn port but we have a great dream cast port instead. Btw your audio sounded a bit different, but very good. have you upgraded your mixer?
Nope, same set up as always. I did tweek a few settings on the mic input if that's what you noticed was different.
Still love it. Although my best playing game was KOF'97, there is no denying how great KOF'98 truly is. It played like 97 but brought back everyone from 94-96. It's truly SNK's Marvel vs Capcom 2. Redundacy aside, I still would've liked to see a Saturn port even if just to show up the PS One one last time!! I still have my NGPC and DC link cable. Too bad my SvC: MOTM is MIA... >w< Great installment!
Never had the Neo Geo version or had access to the arcade original. But I got the Dreamcast version shortly after its release and had a ball with it. Probably still have my original saves (and definitely still have my original game). Hell, just talking about it makes me want to fire it up again.
The original look of the DC version makes it special IMO.
@@RetroCore Oh yeah. I love the look of the game.
Great show as usual.
Great video i have this game on my Xboxone .
I think i like both the Dreamcast and PS2 versions. i might try this game on my PS2, once i get a working controller for it. i belive i first played this game on a Neo-Geo emulator for the PSP that had it, i do recall enjoying the game.
Thanks mah boi!
Also, probably due to being an emulator, but the Dreamcast footage is higher resolution than it’s supposed to be. Particularly the backgrounds.
True. The whole game should be running in 240p.
アケアカ NEOGEO all the way.
Ok, this is already an amazing video by the name alone. This game looks so great!!! Did you know that there was a bootleg Genesis version made? Yes, I'm actually series. Look it up!!!
No, I didn't know that. I'll have to check it out now.
I love KoF series and while I can admit 98 is better than the titles it came before, I play 97 whenever I sit down to play some KoF. I can't help myself. Great video as always
I personally think KOF 97 and 98 were the pinnacle of the series. The early 2000 games were terrible I thought.
97 is really good, my favorite game of the series outside the Dream Match titles.
@@RetroCore yes. around the time when the whole brand was in shaky grounds and trying to stay alive, their games were not as good.
@@Bloodreign1 makes me happy to see people like 97.
I wish you could have used original hardware for the dreamcast version.They designed the 3D backgrounds with 240p in mind so they retain the look of the original NeoGeo sprites. It was very unique and had great execution. Great video , regardless.
So do I. I need to get a RGB cable for my DC.
I was wondering when the next king of fighters game would be
KoF never really jelled with me the way Samurai Showdown did.
I'm the opposite. I do like the Samurai Showdown series but I could never really get in to it despite owning the first 3 games. Tekken is another one I can't get in to. It feels stuff to me when compared to Virtua Fighter or Dead or Alive.
The absence of a Saturn port is no surprise if you consider that by 1998 and going forward the Saturn was considered a "dead" system and so SNK wouldn't want to waste resources on it. The surprise for me is the absence of a GameBoy port given how SNK has released some KOF games on it, regardless of their chibi thematic. Great video as usual, Mark!
Carlos Oyuela Takara did those ports and by that time the NGPC existed and they were putting all their major efforts there.
I still wish a Saturn port was made but still, we did get that awesome Dreamcast version which still looks better than the PS2 game that came almost 10 years later.
BURN KNUCKLE!!
POWAA WAVE!!
I want to point out that there’s a KOF 98 UM for Xbox Live. There’s no 3D background and no re-arrange soundtrack. But everything else is included. Including the original KOF 98 game.
Yes, this is right. Somebody else also mentioned this.
Another great offering Mark
Overall based on extras, closest to original release and game price, the Neo-Geo CD version wins for me.
especially if you have a cdz
0:34 walk this way "homage"?
XD
Possibly. I also noticed they say the F word on that intro music. It's at the begining if you listen closely.
I think you missed the PGM2 arcade port from 2009, unless I missed it in there. I've never played the arcade remakes, and probably spent the most time with the dreamcast version. It's my favorite KOF for sure.
PMG2 port? I.wasnt aware of that. I know the 2008 Taito X hardware port which I mention but didn't show.
@@RetroCore They sell it as 'kof '98 ultimate match HERO'--as if it's an improvement over the type x one, but I'm guessing the PGM2 is way down on power by comparison. You've probably looked it up by now, but it's here: system16.com/hardware.php?id=978&page=1#19201
Ah, good ol' The King Of Fighters '98. The best in the eyes of many in the series Mark. I love this game and gladly agree that it is the best for sure. The Neo-Geo AES and MVS are the best choices for me to play it on bro. Nothing against the NGCD version, but it takes too long to load. 8^)
If you like, your welcome to also post this on the Neo-Geo thread over there as well bro.
Anthony..
I'm also a big fan of KOF 98. Maybe I like 97 a little more? Hard to say but I really do enjoy 98. For me the idea version would be the AES with arrange soundtrack.
Walk this way, talk this way.
I own all the KOF Japanese imports for my ps2.. My favorite by far is KOF 99 and 2002 ultimate collections. 98 is good to. You should do a comparison of King of Fighters 94. The PS2 version has a really cool intro.
Sometime in the future 94 will be covered along with 97 which I thought I'd done but it seems not.
I just bought that version of 94 recently, known as KoF 94 Rebout. You can play with the old backgrounds, old music, but with the cleaned up sprites, and it looks really good. Not too fond of the newer backgrounds due to all the unnecessary background cameos though.
I too have all the Japanese 2D KoF games for the PS2, the only US version I have is KoF XI. Orochi Hen, Nests Hen, 98 UM, 02 UM, Neowave, 02 and 03 separately (they were not released together there) are all Japanese releases, and took me a few years to get them all at decent prices.
You didn't mention the Dreamcast version also has the music restart after every round (like the NeoGeo CD version) and it doesn't cycle through the different times of the day after every round (all versions of each stage exist in the Dreamcast IIRC, it's just that the time of day is fixed to whatever is chosen for Round 1 for all the rounds in a match).
This is true although I didn't forget to mention them. I had actually recorded that as part of the voiceover but cut it out due to time.
good choice Rerto Core , you have choosed one of the best KOF and fighting game ever made .
anyway the worst version of the game is the psx1 port because of the characters frames messing , and it used the mono sound .
If memory serves me right, the Neo Geo arcade version was also mono, so it matched that aspect.
Hmm, I think it's in stereo. I own the original Neo Geo hardware so I'll give it a try. It's possible that the Neo Geo you played it on was only capable of mono sound. Some of the Arcade boards didn't offer stereo.
@@Bloodreign1 still the sound horrible on psx1 version .
Retro Core if you ever do future KOF games you might want to set flash to off. Red and White Strobing lights trigger seizures worse than any other colors.
Just a tip for the future
Hmm my favorite version of this game? Well I have it on Wii's Orochi Saga, PS1, and on 98 UM, so I go with 98 UM due to the extra characters and options not found on the other releases.
The DC version seems to use studio vocal samples due to sounding the cleanest, but the music has to restart each and every round, kind of annoying if you ask me.
I agree. I can't stand it when the music restarts each round.
Pity there was never a Saturn version.
I always preferred 97 myself but.... it's a kof game so all good
I really like the NEO GEO CD port... and the Dreamcast port of course (if you can call it a port of the arcade of course). My Suggestion for the next 'Battle of the Ports' is Trojan by CAPCOM.
Sir, you are a mind reader. Trojan is scheduled for the show after the next. This week will be Sonic Wings Special.
@@RetroCore HELLYEAH :D Aaaaah Sonic Wings Special I've played hell of a lot in the arcades and on the PlayStation. Long live VIDEO SYSTEM.
Nice my very first king of fighters game but I got it on ps1 the good thing about it though is that you can set a one button special for faster gameplay. Ps1 controllers have 4 trigger buttons which make it alot easier to do special combo btw theres an Anniversary Edition hack for mame which added the chars from the ultimate match and my fave to play on the go with my tablet.
I didn't know about the anniversary hack. Thanks for the info.
Since you included the Ps2 UM version,you should have included also the IGS KOF98 UM which plays perfect on Mame.
Fantastic PS1 port that growed up with it and a big miss from Saturn (because 98 is the best Kof for most people).
Dreamcast my favorite version (^^)
Maaaaark!! Where is the Switch's ACA NEO GEO ver. 😫? That's practically the "ultimate" Arcade Perfect port.
Anyways, fantastic content as always. Thanks for your quality!!!!!
Sorry dude, I'm never going to include the ACA releases on any platform because they're nothing more than Arcade roms being emulated on which ever platform they appear on.
Was KOF 98 on the Dream cast called 98 in Japan, or was it Dream Match 99 like in the US?
It was also called Dream Match 1999 in Japan.
I think I like AES the most. Arcade perfect but with some options you could change? Yes please.
Are your captured videos in RGB limited (16-235) range while emulation is at RGB full (0-255) range (which is the appropriate choice for TH-cam / computers / smartphones)?
The PS2 FreeMCBoot thing someone else mentioned is just a temporary "soft-hack" that involves putting a hacked memory card into your PS2. It doesn't change anything permanently - doesn't involve any hardware mods, or changing any software on the system, or even opening the system up. You just have to use either certain exploits in certain games to then run some software or have someone who already has a hacked PS2 create a hacked memory card for your PS2. Doesn't work in the SCPH-90xxx series though. It's not difficult, risky or expensive to do (you can buy pre-modded memory cards under $10 I believe) and it's no more illegal than using an emulator for a game you don't own. I mean the emulator wasn't that bad for this video but just wanted to try and clear up misunderstanding around FMCB. I do think FMCB would be a little better a solution.
I'll look in to the PS2 FreeMCBoot exploit. It sure would be preferable to using emulation.
Regarding the RGB, I'm using full RGB however since I have it running through the Framemeister the settings are a little different so that it displays well on my screen. This sometimes results in a slightly off image for the video capture card though.
I have UM on Steam, and the online is pretty good! Also, for the 240p-only Dreamcast games (and games that support 240p natively along 480p like SF3: W-Impact), a proper SCART cable or even a VGA box from BeharBros would work great. The latter, especially since it has a switch to go to 240p/480i out for games like this. So through that, you could output to your Framemeister or OSSC to the capture card.
You see, I thought so too. I'm using the Gekko from BeharBros but it refused to allow KOF Dream Match 99 to boot :(
Retro Core I read the product page, and see why: it only supports 480p modes. Damn shame, too. I know The Last Blade 2 will be another problematic game for that box. The ones I had that need the 15KHz mode were this, KoF99/KoF Evolution, Last Blade 2, Plasma Sword/Star Gladiator 2 - The Nightmare of Bilstein, Hydro Thunder, and Bakuretsu Muteki: Bangai-Ōh (what a title!). I know there is a list online of some games like Hydro Thunder that can be tricked with a regular VGA box or one like the Kuro or Toro to run at 480p. Just the other ones mentioned simply will not work.
Guess an interim solution for now is to order a decent-quality SCART cable and run it to the Framemeister.
Indeed. I do have a RGB cable for my Deamcast but the pins are finicky at the DC side of it. I'll see if I can get that fixed since I need a JP21 spec cable and those are not cheap for the Dreamcast.
Indeed. I do have a RGB cable for my Deamcast but the pins are finicky at the DC side of it. I'll see if I can get that fixed since I need a JP21 spec cable and those are not cheap for the Dreamcast.
DAMN no Saturn version!!. Why was '98 remade again in 2008? is it regarded to be the best KOF game or something??
BlockABoots Yes. Many regard KOF ‘98 to be the best in the series. A few characters that died in KOF ‘95 thru KOF ‘97 were bought back to life in KOF ‘98 so it’s considered a “Dream Match” title.
Excelent post.
You forgot to mention the character friendliness. on the order select screen, I believe you press start and you'll get icons showing how friendly they are towards each other( red faces being mean- meaning you get no extra stock carried over, to a happy face meaning they'll give you an extra stock). I
It's a shame it's a step down from the PS port of 97. I found that 97 had a good amount of frames and good sound- but the downside, like all of them was the really long loading.
98' on DC was certainly the best way to play for a good while until 98UM. It does work under RGB if I recall correctly.
Kof 98 on Ps1 is great port and not a step down to 97,equally were well ported.
Only problem is the loading times as usual.
Ah, so that's what those smiling faces represent. I knew about them on the Dreamcast version but didn't know about them on other ports.
@@RetroCore yeah, It's a nice little way to see how well your team works together.
ps2 all day!
My Dreamcast Kof ‘98 game was packaged as KoF ‘99, complete with all the packaging and disk art. The shop owner where I’d bought it said that the fact that it was ‘98 on the game disk was down to a disk printing error. I’ve no idea if this is true or not though.
Nope, it's not true. The Dreamcast game was released in 1999 so they renamed it to The King of Fighters 1999 Dream Match.
Retro Core I think that’s right, but I remembered the box and disk having the character K’ on them, and screenshots in the packaging of what looks like the Neo Geo KoF 99.
I found the box art my game has with some googling. It’s all packaged and presented as ‘99 Evolution, a different game from the ‘98 Dream Match that is written to the disk.
There are two KOF '99 games on the Dreamcast. I'm not sure about the US names but in Japan KOF '98 was released as KOF '99 Dream Match (this has the 3D backgrounds) then the real KOF '99 was released under the title of KOF '99 Evolution.
Ah my number fighting game of all time. Too bad you forgot 98 Final Edition, which as the name suggest is the last version of KOF98 made, only for Arcades and PC/Steam. Still a great video as always.
I do know about that but left it out to avoid confusion. I also didn't show the Arcade version of Ultimate Battle although I did talk about that one.
Retro Core Oh ok, np I guess KOF 97, 98 and 2k2 have quite a few different versions/updates, that could get confusing for some people.
Indeed. I wasn't even aware there was an updated version of KOF '97 until a few months ago.
@@RetroCore Yeah global edition I think its called and then theirs the web versions of the games I think only released in China/South Korea. I think its because the games 97,98 and 2k2 are still extremely popular long after there initial release dates way back in the 90's, it's very rare any type of game would have so many updates across the years, but that just shows how good those games are I guess.
thank you mark it was really a HUUUUGE and great video now wanna know my favourite version of all time it is the one and only THE NEO GEO CD and second it is the dreamcast and third it is the one and lovely playstation 2 port yup this was my top 3 anticipating versions for this game now can you make next week to be real bout fatal fury special please?
I'm glad you liked the video. For me the best version would be the AES with the Neo Geo music closely followed by the Dreamcast port.
Next week will be a different game I'm afarid. I've already started making the video.
i Knew it The XBOX360 (XBLA) Version Port of KOF98UM in Game Mode Selection to Play Neo Geo Mode!
Well guess what? I have the Ripoff of the PSP that just plays NES games and I somehow got it into a music maker once. You know. Anyway I got new batteries put in because of the screen dimming for no reason with the Energizer batteries and have now been experimenting with the thing again, and have got it to look like a jumbled mess with random sprites. Which by the way just now I got it mostly white screened with weirdly a grassy ground underneath the boxes to choose if you want to the language to be Chinese or English. I'll get back to playing some Donkey Kong after watching the video of yours.
Ah, the reliability of Chinese junk.
Meh, plays a good game of Super Mario Bros although the music is heck of fast.
I'm late to the party but no KOF 97? Although I love hearing great things about Saturn Ports, I prefer getting my port comparisons from you.
Someday I'll cover KOF 97.
@@RetroCore I forgot to mention Garou Mark of the Wolves but if you do, I can't wait.
I don't know what's with ultra pixelated retro games for big TH-camrs, the games wasn't looking like that in our old CRT TVs, that's why there are filters in emulators to simulate the look, designers made the games taking in account how the CRT TVs resolution will smooth those sprites...
Which is why I always use scanlines. But using scanlines on a TH-cam video really messes up the quality of the encoding.
@@RetroCore I find h2q filters on most emulators very true to the look of an old CRT TV without the need of scanlines, but just my opinion, you've got an excellent channel.
Dreamcast version is my favorite, however they did improve quite a lot of things in KOF 99 on Dreamcast (my favorite KOF by the way).
When playing on real hardware, KOF 98 has two things I dislike :
- the resolution of the 3D backgrounds is too low, they don't look so good on CRT
- the music resets after each round
Both of these points are fixed in KOF 99.
On Neo Geo CD, there were too many tracks in KOF 98 for SNK to include each time both the one starting at the beginning, and the arranged version starting in the middle. KOF99 fixes this. However the loading times are quite long, even on CDZ.
Actually I think the low resolution backgrounds look great on a CRT. They are low so that they don't clash with the 2D sprites. Sadly there is a mesh over the 3D graphics.
What about the 360 version of KoF 98 UM?
Same as the PS2 version minus the 3D backgrounds option, no arranged OST option, and no physical copy option. Unless Yakumo has a 360 with the game downloaded on it (which he could possibly have, or not), then there's no way to put it in the video.
I'm afraid I don't have that for my 360 😕
i prefer KOF 97 and KOF 2002 but this one is very good too
Recently King of Fighters 97 Global match was released. It had me kinda confused why they didn't use 98. What makes Kof 97 > 98? I hear the Chinese really love 97, but I never get a clear answer on why.
@@SoukaDeezNutz Good Question, the best reason I can come up with, is it's Story, which 97 is the final conclusion of the Orochi Saga, still the most celebrated KOF Saga, As opposed to 98, which is once of the dream match games, and doesn't have a story. Gameplay wise, there is no different from 97-98. 98 just added characters that were ether dead or removed since 98 (Saishu, Rugal..etc.). I think Ultimate Match 98, is the better way to go though
Hard to beat the Dreamcast version, let's be real here.
98UM absolutely mops the floor with the DC version. You can choose original or remixed music (only on the PS2 version though, the digital releases don't have that option), the roster is bigger, with more EX versions of characters to use, 3 different bosses to fight, Shingo isn't the only "midboss" of the game (UM has Shingo, Kasumi, Eiji, Orochi Leona, Orochi Iori, and regular Rugal you can face), a survival mode where you face all the games fighters, two of the 3 bosses are unlockable, Omega Rugal is already unlocked, but you can unlock regular Rugal. Not to mention any screen visual filters can be turned off. Plus the music doesn't restart every round, and zero load times between rounds and fights.
The only advantage the DC version has is the cleaner audio for the voice samples, likely because they were recorded from the master tapes, and not the PCB.
@@Bloodreign1 Considering UM came out almost a decade after the DC version, it's not surprising. I'm obviously talking about among the contemporary ports.
UM is pretty fucking awesome, though.
That is so odd, that SNK updated this game 10 year later but than again they did the samething with KOF 94. Is the Dreamcast's anime intro available in the PS2 version?
I'm afarid the anime intro is only on the Dreamcast game.
I think it is unlockable in the Gallery mode, but can't be viewed outside of it.
Dreamcast Wins!
Not in the least bit, 98 UM destroys that port due to having much more content to it.
KOF98UM epic👍
11:10 >My PS2 can't play unofficial disks
How are you using a Playstation 2 in the modern day without Free McBoot? It's the easiest way to load up ISOs from either hard disk or LAN with OpenPS2Loader (I use LAN myself), or from a DVD with ESR.
Not to mention that it's getting harder to find classic games these days without resorting to piracy (and before you bring up "the developers" argument, these are old, pirating games on old hardware only keeps money from scalpers), especially combined with how retro collectors tend to act (which is to say that the "Neo-Geo collector" mentality has extended to retro gaming in general), you never know what game might become rare next because of destruction of copies to make a collector retain his/her supposed value. Remember the classic Xbox devkit made into a PC by that one redditor, or the Starcraft Gold source code.
I don't play pirate games for my own entertainment which is why my PS2 isn't chipped or modded in any way. The only time I play a PS2 pirate game is if I don't own the original for a BOTP show.
The Dreamcast game I do own officially but its one of the few Japanese games that isn't VGA compatable and because I don't have a RGB cable for my Dreamcast I can't capture the footage from it. Kind of annoying that I had to use emulation for the Dreamcast version..
@@RetroCore I'll have to post you one of my spare rgb leads. I thought there was a way to boot a non vga game into vga mode. I have a disc that does it
I do. I have a Neo Geo MVS set up. It's how the Arcade and AES footage was captured (I used a Neo SD cart). Still, MVS games can still be expensive. I only hold a few myself.
Thanks for the offer, Speedkingfox0007. Normally there is but for some reason Airforce Delta and KOF 99 Dream Match will not boot in to VGA. Or at least not when using a VGA to HDMI box such as the Akura or Gekko. They should work but sadly no signal is found.
Good to know PS2 KOF Collection is poor, i was planning to get it one day :) Shame PS One once again got bad port.
The Japanese KOF collection is different from the Western version as it was developed by a different company. The down side is that it only contains KOF '95,' 96 and '97.
The PS1 port isn't that bad, it's quite playable if you ask me. I didn't pay a lot for it either on my "get all SNK made fighters for the consoles I own" exploits.
The PS port is playable as mentioned on the video however the loading and really poor audio kind of kills the experience.
The upside of that Japanese Orochi Hen collection is, the quality of the games on it are fantastic, likely the best versions to own outside of Neo Geo hardware. Of course that collection is why I had to get 94 Rebout for my 94 fix on the PS2, and already had 98/98 UM before I got ahold of the compilation.
But if one is to get the Orochi Saga US compilation, best one to get is the Wii version, which has none of the sound issues, or slowdowns/loadings of the PS2 version. But they also removed all the flashing screens, and the Pao Pao Cafe wall intro from the Mexico stage in 94 on the Wii version.
Is the 360 version emulation then?
Hmm, I'm not sure. I would have featured it if it was available on physical media but sadly its download only. I don't think it can be bought anymore.
@@RetroCore i have it. Plays great but not an expert like yourself when comparing it with original versions
@Retro core i own 98 um on ps2 the usa port is a thing
Really weird SNK Dreamcast games don't support VGA. I got a Dreamcast S-Video cable just for playing SNK games, but it's the only example I can think of where I have to swap cables just to play certain games.
Japanese versions do. Sometimes they removed the VGA option from the western releases for some reason.
@@RetroCore My Dreamcast is Japanese and so is my copy of KOF '99 Dream Match. No VGA out.
@@RetroCore I just checked some Dreamcast and KOF forums. It seems '99 Dream Match is one of those Dreamcast games that can't even be tricked into VGA mode. There's talk of a patched version you can burn, but I can't find it anywhere. Again, I have real Japanese hardware and software and it won't play through VGA. I ended up buying an S-Video cable just for that game.
That must be the only one. The others all have VGA out. Such a shame as with it being a remake it would benefit from VGA out the most 😢
I'm surprised Aerosmith didn't sue SNK over that opening music. That title song should be called "Plagiarize This Way."
@TrueSinister You are truly sinister!
What do you think of the ps4 version?
Never played it.