If you like SNK music, you need hear Fatal Fury Special Arranged Soundtracks or final Bosses Themes like from Rugal or Geese Howard. I love SNK Arranged Soundtracks since 90s era to this day.
Esaka(江坂) is an area in the city of Suita, Osaka in Japan, and it was where the company of SNK(who developed these games) was located. The Esaka themes are tied to the character Kusanagi Kyo, the one you see in the videos. In early games in the KoF series, the scenery of Kyo's personal stage were always taken straight from the streets of Esaka area. It was a place that carried a lot of memories for players and developers alike.
Also Goodbye Esaka is named that way because at the time SNK was on the verge of bankruptcy, so they thought "surely this is going to be our final KoF". Hence "Goodybe Esaka", goodbye our company HQ, goodbye SNK. And all those emotions were poured into the track, resulting in the masterpiece we got. In the end they did go bankrupt but managed to survive through a new company that took up the name and IPs of SNK, but at the time things were dire and it seemed like this might be the last KoF.
Being emotional over Goodbye Esaka is quite a fitting reaction actually since the song and it's name hold quite sentimental meanings for both SNK and their fans. KOF2000 would be one of the last games the original SNK would work on before their bankruptcy later that year. It was pretty much their swan song and they poured all of their heart into it.
3:27 "Who's the composer?" They're synonymously known as SNK Shinsekai Gakkyoku Zatsugidan (SNK New World Music Troupe) But the one who composed Esaka 98' and Goodbye Esaka is Sha-V (Hideki Asanaka) who also composed his debut work Esaka? 96'
“Tears” is a banger, it’s a good damn sorrow song for kyo. Kyo is the main character from Kof94 to 98, kof99’s mc switched to K’ and Kyo took the secret character and boss seat. K’ also has banger theme songs
Kyo is the official protagonist from 94 to 98 (The Orochi Saga), after that we get different protagonists, but Kyo is still very important, and if you ask the fans, he's still the face of KoF.
Goodbye Esaka is a really special song, it's always use for important moments. KOF 2000 was the last game made by the clasis SNK staff, a really goodbye. It also sound in KOF XIII as EX Kyo's theme, the las KOF with sprite style. And in KOF XV as Iori versus Kyo Theme. The oficial debut of the Team Sacred Treasures.
There are not enough words to describe the absolute chills around my entire existence when I listen to Esaka '98, I will forever defend the fact that this was the golden age of music in videogames, everytime I ask to myself HOW??? How were they able to compose something like this, with so much soul, passion and energy, mixing latino style, hard rock and those synths!!!! The nostalgia crushes me in beautiful ways 😅
5 months late, but yes, Kyo Kusanagi (the brown haired character in the videos) is _The King of Fighters'_ Ryu, debuting in _KOF ‘94_ as the series protagonist up to _KOF ‘98._ Even though, beginning with _‘99,_ Kyo is no longer the main protagonist, he’s still THE King of Fighters and the face of the series. Most of his themes have “Esaka” in the title, which is the name of a train station in Osaka, the city where the SNK headquarters was previously located: - ‘94: ESAKA (remixed in ‘98) - ‘95: FUNKY ESAKA - ‘96: ESAKA? (remixed in ‘98 and XII) - ‘97: ESAKA FOREVER - 2000: Good Bye ESAKA (SNK was going bankrupt, so this was their goodbye to the fans, remixed in XV) - 2002 UM: ESAKA!! - XIII: Esaka Continues - XIV: Yappari Esaka (a combination of the previous Esaka themes) - XIV: Yappari Esaka? (remix of ESAKA?) Kyo’s clones (Kyo-1, Kyo-2, and KUSANAGI) also follow this naming scheme: - ‘99 (Kyo-1 & 2): ESAKA? (Acid Mix); a remix of ESAKA? - 2002 (KUSANAGI): ESAKA; remix of ESAKA? - 2003 (KUSANAGI): ESAKA? 03; literally the same as the 2002 version Kyo’s themes that don’t follow this naming scheme are: - ‘99: Tears (remixed in 2002) - 2001: Invincible Flame - 2003: Blaze - XI: New Order
as someone who's favorite musician is (probably) daisuke, esaka 98 is one of my all time favorite FG songs. i remember the night i stumbled upon it and got blown away like you did, it's a truly under apprecaited track in the genre as a whole.
For me what makes KoF music different from other fighting games is that it sounds like an actual song, like, if you put lyrics in the songs it would work. In SF it's a theme straight up, like Guile, as an example, I can't imagine Guile's Theme as nothing more than a theme, but Goodbye Esaka I could actually imagine being played at an arena with lyrics(or just the instrumental) for a bunch of people
Red hair guy you pointed out at the end has my favorite kof track, super excited to see that one day. Honestly the entire kof franchise has some incredible music, I only got into it super late while seeing it at an MLG or something way back when. Going back to explore it all was super fun, added a lot to my favorites/daily playlists!
Honestly if you want to hear more KOF (or SNK in general) music, there's a video SNK released for EVO 2022 titled "SNK SOUND TEAM SPECIAL LIVE SESSION VIDEO" which is a series of live sessions of their music team playing some of their best tracks over the years. It's about 20 minutes long but it's probably a lot of fun for someone who hasn't had that much experience with them.
Esaka is the name of the area of the train station where SNK's legendary old HQ used to be in Osaka, and the train station where Kyo's stages often were in KOF 94-96, and 98. SNK even used to have their own arcade called "Neogeo Land" back then which served as a beta testing ground. Kyo is essentially the "Ryu" of KOF, if not SNK's counterpart and answer to Ryu: Ryu's devotion to hard work and training vs Kyo, a 20 year old highschool fighter born with inherited talent from the Kusanagi clan who likes skipping class and enjoying life. You have to look to up photos of "Alph Lyla" Capcom's in-house band from the 90s, and then look at photo's of SNK's in house band from the same era: SNK New World Music Performance Team (Specifically the first photo that pops up in google image search). The compare and contrast is a treat.
Esaka Forever is also very good, is Kyo's theme in 97'. Also "Tears" in 99' the song basically is "the end" of Kyo's saga and SNK's going to Bankrupsy.
The guitar is the instrument that represents Kyo Kusanagi and the bass is the instrument that represents his rival Iori Yagami. So in all their theme songs, the guitar and the bass are the prominent instruments no matter what. In the 90s there was a Band of Fighters and those theme songs were played live and the Voice actors sang their songs (Kyo and Iori also have a shit ton of songs with vocals, they could honestly release a whole album with just Iori and Kyo songs at this point)
'Good by Esaka' blew my mind when I heard it in KOF2000 for the first time, bc the guitars sounded quite good in the arcade cabinet. When I saw Kyo's KOFXV trailer and heard the song again I got goosebumps!!! what a beautiful remix of this song
Kyo is one of the protags of the KOF series. When you think of the main face people usually think of Kyo and Terry Bogard as the main two. So Esaka has always been a main thing for Kyo and SNK since their og headquarters was near Esaka, a train station in Osaka Japan
King of Fighters '98 alongside Street Fighter 4 are the two games that are the reason I play fighting games today. I was 10 when Street Fighter 4 dropped on console and KOF '98 saw a rerelease as '98 Unlimited Match on Xbox 360 as a download game. While all my friends were pretty much only into Call of Duty, FIFA and Halo, I ended up starting to play fighting games from that point on and the rest is pretty much history lol. Esaka '98 in particular is a track that means a lot to me, so much nostalgia.
KoF isn't an underdog by any means. It is not at the level of the two most popular fighters, Tekken for 3d and SF for 2D, but it has always been a constant up there every year it releases, only really eclipsed by the big two. There may be flavor of the years that go hard, but KoF is consistently big enough. As for Tears, if you want something to play it with, do it with Arashi no Saxophone and/or Fairy, the themes of Iori Yagami and Chiziru Kagura respectively, they are his two fellow teammates in the true hero team "The 3 sacred treasures", the two to the left of him in that last picture. Kyo got a new theme for his new costume (that white outfit) and new place in the storyline since 97 was supposed to be the end of his "Saga" and 98 was a dream match, 99 was the start of a new story and a new Kyo. However he was just too big and they could never really supplant him.
It's an underdog because it's developed/published by SNK. Pretty much every Fighters out there have this firm hold of their specific genre/audience that simply no one else can touch/move/replace them. With SNK going extinct every 10 years, it'd be lucky to call any of their series underdog, if not at all.
I love KOF. I am glad you're loving it : ) I grew up playing these games and listening to all these awesome songs. Hopefully, there's more on the way on the near future! Lol
KOF is pretty big in Latin America because the NeoGeo platform and KOF was cheaper to buy, implement and update compared to other arcade systems, hence you'd see KOF boots at fairs, arcades, and convenience stores all around the region.
I can explain the reasom why KOF and SNK are so big in Mexico and Latin America in general. A lot of Latin American countries aren't that wealthy so local arcade and store owners often couldn't afford to buy whole new machines to get the latest games. It just so happens though that SNK developed their arcade machines a little different. Their machines were a lot like consoles, instead of having one game preloaded, they opened up and had a slot for cartirdges, so if a new game came out, you could seemlessly swap out the old one. These cartidges were also way more affordable so a lot of Latin American business owners would opt for SNK machines rather than say Capcom, the result is latin american kids growing up with Ryo over Ryu (though they did still get street fighter it was just less common)
Kyo is my favorite(specifically 13's Ex Kyo) FG character of all time. Goodbye Esaka is in general one of my most favorite songs. I would've never imagined someone actually would make a reaction video related to any of these. Thanks, my guy🤎 To answer your question, yes Kyo is like the Ryu of KoF. Face of SNK along with Iori, Terry and a few others.
SNK at one point been doing stuff in their games before even Street Fighter or Tekken and was even par with them in terms animations. It’s just around 99 and 00 they were beginning to face bankruptcy and 00 was believe to be the end of them. To this day their KOF series still manages to hold up.
I've brushed past a lot of SNK music, especically because a lost of tracks ended up in Smash Ultimate. But somehow Esaka passed me by. I really like the guitar sound and the transition to electric was just smoooth.
BODY GA AMEZE! MOERO! ORE NO... KACHI DA! Kyo has been one of the main characters across the series, though he hasn't been the main focus of the story in the last few games. He's a little bit of an all-rounder like Ryu, with a projectile (usually), uppercut, multi-kick move, but also a running command grab, a "rekka" combo of moves with several variations, etc. 18:04 That's Iori Yagami. Him and Kyo have a huge rivalry across the series and have some of the best pre-battle intros when facing off. They are basically never "friendly" with each other, unlike Ryu and Ken, even though they sometimes team up to fight a greater evil. Hope you get your wish of more KOF in the future!
KOF music continues to deliver! I have not played the games very often (tried to many times, but its hard for me to grasp my head around tag fighters) but I own all the vinyls that have been officially released for these games! Kyo was never my guy but honestly this song is enough to have made me want to play him. I think KOF's, and honestly SNK as a whole, relative obscurity occurred in non-Latin America when the shift from premier gaming being in the arcades to on home consoles. Without access to arcades, the only way to play KOF and other SNK games was on a Neo Geo. Neo Geo games were expensive AF because each cartridge was basically an arcade board. Their prices are ridiculous nowadays but even back then it was significantly more expensive than its competitors. I didn't personally delve into the Neo Geo back catalogue until I was introduced to it via Metal Slug on the Wii Virtual Console service, and I'm sure that sentiment rings true for a lot of modern SNK fans having experienced the games well after the fact in massive collections like they would put out in the late 2000s. And its such a shame because Neo Geo games are incredible, and their music even more so! There is totally an alternate universe out there where premier gaming stayed in the arcades and Capcom and SNK are the peak of the industry, and honestly? I'd much rather see that version of the industry than where we're at now
Yes, SNK had their own band. And yes, SNK music makes you cry : ) This is why KOF music has feelings, they were doing KOF 2000 songs when they knew they were going bankrupt (they recovered after on a different name) and put their all feelings into it. It's why Tears makes you always cry from joy and sadness.
KOF has rotating protagonists every generation; Kyo was the original protagonist of the series -- Goodbye Esaka was his goodbye track as the main character of the series for the first time. And SNK Sound Team is a band.
I believe that one of the things that make KOF being below other fighting games like Street Fighter and Tekken it's the problems that SNK have being through after KOF 98 (The Orochi Saga) and the combat system, while other games have one vs one fight, or 3 vs 3 but simultaneously like MvC, KoF have a 3 vs 3 in individual fights (in the Clone Saga we have 4 vs 4), and the characters are not that simple to learn like in the Versus series, their are very much complicated. So it's way more common to see KOF players adapting to other games, while people have struggles to deal with KOF series System.
I loved your reaction, you should listen to more soundtracks from the saga, especially the Ikari Warriors or rather also those from KOREA TEAM, they are spectacular, from 98 to 2000! Greetings from Argentina!
Always love to hear some KOF and these versions are amazing, but it's probably worth distinguishing that you're gonna be listening to the Arranged versions of each song because they are EXTREMELY different from the original ingame versions and were more of a bonus
King of fighters is a team battle based fighting game , Esaka is the protagonists team that includes Kyo Kusanagi , Goro Daimon and Benimaru Nikaido ( Psycho Soldiers is a team as well includes Athena Asamiya , Kensou and Chin Ginsai
Fun Fact: Time in the KoF games canonically passes just like IRL, which means that Kyo Kusanagi, the protagonist from KoF '94, has been using the same school uniform for the last 30 years of his life.
He dropped it in the Orochi saga though? Also that's certainly not true as many characters still look the same from back then, we don't really know how time works in KOF.
@@THENAMEISQUICKMAN don't be deceived by the looks m8, we got confirmation of how time works in KoF 13's conversations, where iirc Kyo gets called out by the other characters as being a 30-something guy who still dresses like a high schooler
I guess whoever wanted that song to be reacted by you, mean't "Esaka?" which is the theme from KOF 96 but it also shows up in KOF 98 with a different rendition
man that specific track always brings chills to my spine, if possible watch the king of fighters retrospective by Thorgi's Arcade on your own you can get a great insight on the series, the story and development, get a little idea on the development teams art ideals etc... SNK in general have great dedication to their games and theyre great developers but they got overshadowed by Capcom in North America and other companies at the time + some bad business decisions like selling arcade machines for a more expansive price in NA. Eventualy SNK got defunct after 2000 and theyre only back nowdays cause some saudi arabian prince bought the company and he-hired all the big names of the company to atleast try to bring back the former glory of the company.
Damn, the transition in the 1st one came outta nowhere! =O And it already was a banger! Btw. Jesse, any particular reason you've not used your "catchphrase" so much recently? Are you not a musician yourself anymore? =P
I've just never been a big fan of robotic TH-cam jargon. The whole, subscribe please, like the vid bla bla. Just wanna keep it natural and say my thanks at the end.
@@JessesAuditorium I mean, as a viewer I personally make a big decision between "Like, Subscribe, ringading da bell, ..." and just someone having a catchphrase. ^^ But obviously it's your own channel and whenever you feel like you wanna change up a few things, you should do that! =D
Be cool to see a reaction to some of the more uncommon KOF songs like Get'n Up, Slum No. 5, The Origin of Mind, or Senritsu no Dora. Or even stuff from some of SNK's other series like Samurai Shodown or Metal Slug.
As a Kof player in glad You enjoyed 👊that underated music but should listen Live perfomance of SNK sound team special for evo tournament you will Love it. About tears song listen the capcom vs snk 3 versión. 👌
For the future: it's pronounced "Esaka" (as in - "E" and "saka", not "eSAKA"). The "E" is hard and emphasized, like in "Edmond" or "Ed". Esaka was SNK's primary and biggest/most prominent arcade and entertainment center, which closed down and was liquidated in late 1999, shortly before SNK went bankrupt in 2001. Closing down of *the* "Esaka" marked a cornerstone in the entire Japanese arcade coin-op industry's history of existence, it began the period known as "dying out of arcades", globally. "Goodbye, Esaka" is named that for a reason. This is a swan song, a love letter, and a postmortem send-off, a funeral magnum opus of SNK's. Back then, SNK didn't know it would survive, it didn't hope for anything anymore, so it's the primary reason why Esaka was "parted with" and KoF 2000 was the very last "old school classic SNK" entry, as the company was never the same ever again, not while it was essentially "enslaved" by Eolith & Playmore. SNK managed to persevere and survive through (while being a literal slave of Playmore for longer than a decade), and had arisen like phoenix from the ashes in the late 2010's, due to it's freedom essentially being bought out by Saudi investors, it's now almost back to it's former self from it's pre-bankruptcy glory days, and "Esaka" still lives on in it's soul and it's music, but...the arcade center itself, unfortunately, was never resurrected back...yet. Maybe someday...somehow...
If you wanna react to "Tears", react to it alongside "Sadistic Eyes", it's Iori Yagami (Kyo Kusanagi's eternal rival)'s theme from KOF 99 and the two songs kinda complete each other.
I don't think KoF loses in relevance and merit to any of the blockbusters such as SF and Tekken, it suffers more due to the overall SNK market melt, since they didn't were prepared to a world where arcades lost relevance. But about the success it has in Mexico, and all LatAM and other developing countries around the world, it is maybe because people are poor, and playing KoF one could take more from one coin: playing 3 different chars instead only one, playing more round in a fight to a maximum of 5 instead 3, and the hardware also was cheaper than other arcade machines. It is common to see only fighting cabinets and some pinball stuff, in contrast to the big simulators found in more rich places.
For anyone that enjoyed this video... just wait til later this week is all I'll say, ( and watch the intro to it :D )
If you like SNK music, you need hear Fatal Fury Special Arranged Soundtracks or final Bosses Themes like from Rugal or Geese Howard. I love SNK Arranged Soundtracks since 90s era to this day.
Love fighting game music listen to the kid symphony album also last blade 2
Esaka(江坂) is an area in the city of Suita, Osaka in Japan, and it was where the company of SNK(who developed these games) was located.
The Esaka themes are tied to the character Kusanagi Kyo, the one you see in the videos. In early games in the KoF series, the scenery of Kyo's personal stage were always taken straight from the streets of Esaka area. It was a place that carried a lot of memories for players and developers alike.
Also Goodbye Esaka is named that way because at the time SNK was on the verge of bankruptcy, so they thought "surely this is going to be our final KoF". Hence "Goodybe Esaka", goodbye our company HQ, goodbye SNK. And all those emotions were poured into the track, resulting in the masterpiece we got.
In the end they did go bankrupt but managed to survive through a new company that took up the name and IPs of SNK, but at the time things were dire and it seemed like this might be the last KoF.
Being emotional over Goodbye Esaka is quite a fitting reaction actually since the song and it's name hold quite sentimental meanings for both SNK and their fans. KOF2000 would be one of the last games the original SNK would work on before their bankruptcy later that year. It was pretty much their swan song and they poured all of their heart into it.
3:27 "Who's the composer?"
They're synonymously known as SNK Shinsekai Gakkyoku Zatsugidan (SNK New World Music Troupe)
But the one who composed Esaka 98' and Goodbye Esaka is Sha-V (Hideki Asanaka) who also composed his debut work Esaka? 96'
“Tears” is a banger, it’s a good damn sorrow song for kyo. Kyo is the main character from Kof94 to 98, kof99’s mc switched to K’ and Kyo took the secret character and boss seat. K’ also has banger theme songs
Kyo is the official protagonist from 94 to 98 (The Orochi Saga), after that we get different protagonists, but Kyo is still very important, and if you ask the fans, he's still the face of KoF.
Funnily enough, it was his rival that stole the spotlight.
Edit: Auto-Correct Fail
He’s literally called Mr. KOF in KOF XV, so he’s definitely KOF’s poster boy.
Goodbye Esaka is a really special song, it's always use for important moments.
KOF 2000 was the last game made by the clasis SNK staff, a really goodbye.
It also sound in KOF XIII as EX Kyo's theme, the las KOF with sprite style.
And in KOF XV as Iori versus Kyo Theme. The oficial debut of the Team Sacred Treasures.
KoF is popular everywhere except the US
US: "Mortal kombat" homelander & omni man is the proof
KOF is very popular in Brazil, even more than Street Fighter
There are not enough words to describe the absolute chills around my entire existence when I listen to Esaka '98, I will forever defend the fact that this was the golden age of music in videogames, everytime I ask to myself HOW??? How were they able to compose something like this, with so much soul, passion and energy, mixing latino style, hard rock and those synths!!!! The nostalgia crushes me in beautiful ways 😅
5 months late, but yes, Kyo Kusanagi (the brown haired character in the videos) is _The King of Fighters'_ Ryu, debuting in _KOF ‘94_ as the series protagonist up to _KOF ‘98._ Even though, beginning with _‘99,_ Kyo is no longer the main protagonist, he’s still THE King of Fighters and the face of the series. Most of his themes have “Esaka” in the title, which is the name of a train station in Osaka, the city where the SNK headquarters was previously located:
- ‘94: ESAKA (remixed in ‘98)
- ‘95: FUNKY ESAKA
- ‘96: ESAKA? (remixed in ‘98 and XII)
- ‘97: ESAKA FOREVER
- 2000: Good Bye ESAKA (SNK was going bankrupt, so this was their goodbye to the fans, remixed in XV)
- 2002 UM: ESAKA!!
- XIII: Esaka Continues
- XIV: Yappari Esaka (a combination of the previous Esaka themes)
- XIV: Yappari Esaka? (remix of ESAKA?)
Kyo’s clones (Kyo-1, Kyo-2, and KUSANAGI) also follow this naming scheme:
- ‘99 (Kyo-1 & 2): ESAKA? (Acid Mix); a remix of ESAKA?
- 2002 (KUSANAGI): ESAKA; remix of ESAKA?
- 2003 (KUSANAGI): ESAKA? 03; literally the same as the 2002 version
Kyo’s themes that don’t follow this naming scheme are:
- ‘99: Tears (remixed in 2002)
- 2001: Invincible Flame
- 2003: Blaze
- XI: New Order
KOF is for the fighting game connoisseur. It was an incredible feeling discovering this franchise after growing up with MK & SF.
as someone who's favorite musician is (probably) daisuke, esaka 98 is one of my all time favorite FG songs. i remember the night i stumbled upon it and got blown away like you did, it's a truly under apprecaited track in the genre as a whole.
I’m surprised nobody’s requested Rhythmic Hallucination.
..and Thrash Head or The Ketchaku R
For me what makes KoF music different from other fighting games is that it sounds like an actual song, like, if you put lyrics in the songs it would work. In SF it's a theme straight up, like Guile, as an example, I can't imagine Guile's Theme as nothing more than a theme, but Goodbye Esaka I could actually imagine being played at an arena with lyrics(or just the instrumental) for a bunch of people
Red hair guy you pointed out at the end has my favorite kof track, super excited to see that one day. Honestly the entire kof franchise has some incredible music, I only got into it super late while seeing it at an MLG or something way back when. Going back to explore it all was super fun, added a lot to my favorites/daily playlists!
Honestly if you want to hear more KOF (or SNK in general) music, there's a video SNK released for EVO 2022 titled "SNK SOUND TEAM SPECIAL LIVE SESSION VIDEO" which is a series of live sessions of their music team playing some of their best tracks over the years. It's about 20 minutes long but it's probably a lot of fun for someone who hasn't had that much experience with them.
Kyo theme from KoF'99 "Tears" is also amazing, hope its on the list ;3
I was never a KOF fan or much of a fighting game player. But Goodbye Esaka still found its way into my playlists.
10:27 the priceless moment
Esaka is the name of the area of the train station where SNK's legendary old HQ used to be in Osaka, and the train station where Kyo's stages often were in KOF 94-96, and 98. SNK even used to have their own arcade called "Neogeo Land" back then which served as a beta testing ground.
Kyo is essentially the "Ryu" of KOF, if not SNK's counterpart and answer to Ryu: Ryu's devotion to hard work and training vs Kyo, a 20 year old highschool fighter born with inherited talent from the Kusanagi clan who likes skipping class and enjoying life.
You have to look to up photos of "Alph Lyla" Capcom's in-house band from the 90s, and then look at photo's of SNK's in house band from the same era: SNK New World Music Performance Team (Specifically the first photo that pops up in google image search). The compare and contrast is a treat.
KOF XV, the latest game in the future, continues the tradition of featuring banger after banger. The soundtrack covers 2 albums.
HOLY CRAB another uncle Jesse KOF music reaction?! Finally!!!
Esaka Forever is also very good, is Kyo's theme in 97'. Also "Tears" in 99' the song basically is "the end" of Kyo's saga and SNK's going to Bankrupsy.
The guitar is the instrument that represents Kyo Kusanagi and the bass is the instrument that represents his rival Iori Yagami. So in all their theme songs, the guitar and the bass are the prominent instruments no matter what. In the 90s there was a Band of Fighters and those theme songs were played live and the Voice actors sang their songs (Kyo and Iori also have a shit ton of songs with vocals, they could honestly release a whole album with just Iori and Kyo songs at this point)
@@helsicdraws3051 Indeed
Dude, KOF and FF7 will always be my favorite video game osts ever. As others mentioned, Ioris theme from 96 is another unreal song from KOF
Glad your loving kof!
Fun fact. I forget which member but one of the members of casiopea worked on the soundtrack for one of the games (i believe 96)
"Seul Road" also from KOF 96' has a transition that it gives me Goosebumps every time i hear it.
'Good by Esaka' blew my mind when I heard it in KOF2000 for the first time, bc the guitars sounded quite good in the arcade cabinet. When I saw Kyo's KOFXV trailer and heard the song again I got goosebumps!!! what a beautiful remix of this song
You know what, I teared up the same time as you said it
Kyo is one of the protags of the KOF series. When you think of the main face people usually think of Kyo and Terry Bogard as the main two. So Esaka has always been a main thing for Kyo and SNK since their og headquarters was near Esaka, a train station in Osaka Japan
I want Arashi no Saxophone 1, 2, 3... all of them! I want Jesse to fall off his chair lol
hell yeah
KoF music is very underrated. You have stepped into a gold mine lol, my fav will always be ALL of the "Arashi no Saxophone" songs ❤
King of Fighters '98 alongside Street Fighter 4 are the two games that are the reason I play fighting games today. I was 10 when Street Fighter 4 dropped on console and KOF '98 saw a rerelease as '98 Unlimited Match on Xbox 360 as a download game. While all my friends were pretty much only into Call of Duty, FIFA and Halo, I ended up starting to play fighting games from that point on and the rest is pretty much history lol. Esaka '98 in particular is a track that means a lot to me, so much nostalgia.
KoF isn't an underdog by any means. It is not at the level of the two most popular fighters, Tekken for 3d and SF for 2D, but it has always been a constant up there every year it releases, only really eclipsed by the big two. There may be flavor of the years that go hard, but KoF is consistently big enough. As for Tears, if you want something to play it with, do it with Arashi no Saxophone and/or Fairy, the themes of Iori Yagami and Chiziru Kagura respectively, they are his two fellow teammates in the true hero team "The 3 sacred treasures", the two to the left of him in that last picture. Kyo got a new theme for his new costume (that white outfit) and new place in the storyline since 97 was supposed to be the end of his "Saga" and 98 was a dream match, 99 was the start of a new story and a new Kyo. However he was just too big and they could never really supplant him.
It's an underdog because it's developed/published by SNK. Pretty much every Fighters out there have this firm hold of their specific genre/audience that simply no one else can touch/move/replace them. With SNK going extinct every 10 years, it'd be lucky to call any of their series underdog, if not at all.
I love KOF. I am glad you're loving it : ) I grew up playing these games and listening to all these awesome songs. Hopefully, there's more on the way on the near future! Lol
So good.
I'm gonna check out another one mentioned in this vid pretty soon.
King of Fighters music is truly legendary and I really hope you listen to more of it. It's worth any fighting game fan's time
KOF is pretty big in Latin America because the NeoGeo platform and KOF was cheaper to buy, implement and update compared to other arcade systems, hence you'd see KOF boots at fairs, arcades, and convenience stores all around the region.
Now we need him to react to Cool Jam. This theme is sick
The name has relevance cuz that's where Snk's main building used to be at and it was called goodbye because they had moved offices I think to Osaka
Man how embarrassing, I've played all these games a lot and never noticed the music. This is so good!
I can explain the reasom why KOF and SNK are so big in Mexico and Latin America in general. A lot of Latin American countries aren't that wealthy so local arcade and store owners often couldn't afford to buy whole new machines to get the latest games. It just so happens though that SNK developed their arcade machines a little different. Their machines were a lot like consoles, instead of having one game preloaded, they opened up and had a slot for cartirdges, so if a new game came out, you could seemlessly swap out the old one. These cartidges were also way more affordable so a lot of Latin American business owners would opt for SNK machines rather than say Capcom, the result is latin american kids growing up with Ryo over Ryu (though they did still get street fighter it was just less common)
This also made the Neo Geo MVS popular in a lot of more remote places in Asia, places like Taiwan and Vietnam.
Kyo is my favorite(specifically 13's Ex Kyo) FG character of all time. Goodbye Esaka is in general one of my most favorite songs. I would've never imagined someone actually would make a reaction video related to any of these. Thanks, my guy🤎
To answer your question, yes Kyo is like the Ryu of KoF. Face of SNK along with Iori, Terry and a few others.
Goodbye esaka tocou o coraçãozinho dele.❤
21:30 Another classic meow from Jesse.
SNK at one point been doing stuff in their games before even Street Fighter or Tekken and was even par with them in terms animations. It’s just around 99 and 00 they were beginning to face bankruptcy and 00 was believe to be the end of them. To this day their KOF series still manages to hold up.
"Fairy" from 96', "Arashi No Saxophone 2" same game.
I've been playing KOf since 1994
Soundtrack really motivates me to play aggressively.
It's like it pushes me to play better.
Finally someone reacting to KOF.
Gotta check out Mad Fantasy and Saxophone under the Crescent Moon.🌙
I've brushed past a lot of SNK music, especically because a lost of tracks ended up in Smash Ultimate. But somehow Esaka passed me by. I really like the guitar sound and the transition to electric was just smoooth.
KOF is here again! 96 is easily the best version of Esaka but 2000 is a worthy honorable mention. You'll love it ❤
BODY GA AMEZE! MOERO! ORE NO... KACHI DA! Kyo has been one of the main characters across the series, though he hasn't been the main focus of the story in the last few games. He's a little bit of an all-rounder like Ryu, with a projectile (usually), uppercut, multi-kick move, but also a running command grab, a "rekka" combo of moves with several variations, etc. 18:04 That's Iori Yagami. Him and Kyo have a huge rivalry across the series and have some of the best pre-battle intros when facing off. They are basically never "friendly" with each other, unlike Ryu and Ken, even though they sometimes team up to fight a greater evil. Hope you get your wish of more KOF in the future!
KOF music continues to deliver! I have not played the games very often (tried to many times, but its hard for me to grasp my head around tag fighters) but I own all the vinyls that have been officially released for these games! Kyo was never my guy but honestly this song is enough to have made me want to play him.
I think KOF's, and honestly SNK as a whole, relative obscurity occurred in non-Latin America when the shift from premier gaming being in the arcades to on home consoles. Without access to arcades, the only way to play KOF and other SNK games was on a Neo Geo. Neo Geo games were expensive AF because each cartridge was basically an arcade board. Their prices are ridiculous nowadays but even back then it was significantly more expensive than its competitors. I didn't personally delve into the Neo Geo back catalogue until I was introduced to it via Metal Slug on the Wii Virtual Console service, and I'm sure that sentiment rings true for a lot of modern SNK fans having experienced the games well after the fact in massive collections like they would put out in the late 2000s. And its such a shame because Neo Geo games are incredible, and their music even more so!
There is totally an alternate universe out there where premier gaming stayed in the arcades and Capcom and SNK are the peak of the industry, and honestly? I'd much rather see that version of the industry than where we're at now
Why feel like crying? Because you say goodbye to esaka
I love to experience Kyo's journey through his themes over the years. I know Tears is going to be amazing too
Yes, SNK had their own band. And yes, SNK music makes you cry : )
This is why KOF music has feelings, they were doing KOF 2000 songs when they knew they were going bankrupt (they recovered after on a different name) and put their all feelings into it. It's why Tears makes you always cry from joy and sadness.
@@fantasywindofchange6568 Dw, I know my SNK lore hahaha. But there is a Tears in KOF 2000 as well
KOF has rotating protagonists every generation; Kyo was the original protagonist of the series -- Goodbye Esaka was his goodbye track as the main character of the series for the first time. And SNK Sound Team is a band.
I love the kof xv version of goodbye esaka
Mr. Uncle Jesse, I am happy to inform you that KoFXIII has two more Esakas, one of which is another remix of Goodbye Esaka
"Tears" from KoF 99 is my top#1 music of KoF 99. It's different from Esaka, but it's one hell of a banger.
Tears is the goodbye song to Kyo as he wasn't the main character but the hidden bonus boss of the game
I believe that one of the things that make KOF being below other fighting games like Street Fighter and Tekken it's the problems that SNK have being through after KOF 98 (The Orochi Saga) and the combat system, while other games have one vs one fight, or 3 vs 3 but simultaneously like MvC, KoF have a 3 vs 3 in individual fights (in the Clone Saga we have 4 vs 4), and the characters are not that simple to learn like in the Versus series, their are very much complicated.
So it's way more common to see KOF players adapting to other games, while people have struggles to deal with KOF series System.
I loved your reaction, you should listen to more soundtracks from the saga, especially the Ikari Warriors or rather also those from KOREA TEAM, they are spectacular, from 98 to 2000! Greetings from Argentina!
Right in my childhood ❤
Goodbye Esaka, best theme Kyo will ever have, utter perfection
Always love to hear some KOF and these versions are amazing, but it's probably worth distinguishing that you're gonna be listening to the Arranged versions of each song because they are EXTREMELY different from the original ingame versions and were more of a bonus
Esaka acid mix kof 99
@@shermannicolasespinozabalc4874 the arranged version is a master piece
There's also Funky Esaka from KOF95 :P The "dude with red hair " also has a recurring theme in many games.
Goodbye Esaka always get me emotional
King of fighters is a team battle based fighting game , Esaka is the protagonists team that includes Kyo Kusanagi , Goro Daimon and Benimaru Nikaido ( Psycho Soldiers is a team as well includes Athena Asamiya , Kensou and Chin Ginsai
LET'S FRICKING GOOOOOOOOOO!!!
Fun Fact: Time in the KoF games canonically passes just like IRL, which means that Kyo Kusanagi, the protagonist from KoF '94, has been using the same school uniform for the last 30 years of his life.
And he has always looked incredibly fly as hell, I would wear that too if it meant I would look as good as he does every day
@@wzrdchkn Meanwhile Iori being a philosophy teacher as well as a world-class rockstar
He dropped it in the Orochi saga though? Also that's certainly not true as many characters still look the same from back then, we don't really know how time works in KOF.
That's really not true, lmao. You can see it especially in the younger characters like Athena or Chris.
@@THENAMEISQUICKMAN don't be deceived by the looks m8, we got confirmation of how time works in KoF 13's conversations, where iirc Kyo gets called out by the other characters as being a 30-something guy who still dresses like a high schooler
hey u have to try kof XIII music
Are we entering the Jesse FGC return arc?
I guess whoever wanted that song to be reacted by you, mean't "Esaka?" which is the theme from KOF 96 but it also shows up in KOF 98 with a different rendition
KoF is always an istant click for me, i grew up playing the 2002 version on the arcades, i wonder how much money did i use there lol.
oh man, you missed my favorite of all, Esaka Forever from KoF '97
man that specific track always brings chills to my spine, if possible watch the king of fighters retrospective by Thorgi's Arcade on your own you can get a great insight on the series, the story and development, get a little idea on the development teams art ideals etc... SNK in general have great dedication to their games and theyre great developers but they got overshadowed by Capcom in North America and other companies at the time + some bad business decisions like selling arcade machines for a more expansive price in NA. Eventualy SNK got defunct after 2000 and theyre only back nowdays cause some saudi arabian prince bought the company and he-hired all the big names of the company to atleast try to bring back the former glory of the company.
Damn, the transition in the 1st one came outta nowhere! =O
And it already was a banger!
Btw. Jesse, any particular reason you've not used your "catchphrase" so much recently?
Are you not a musician yourself anymore? =P
I've just never been a big fan of robotic TH-cam jargon. The whole, subscribe please, like the vid bla bla.
Just wanna keep it natural and say my thanks at the end.
@@JessesAuditorium I mean, as a viewer I personally make a big decision between "Like, Subscribe, ringading da bell, ..." and just someone having a catchphrase. ^^
But obviously it's your own channel and whenever you feel like you wanna change up a few things, you should do that! =D
Be cool to see a reaction to some of the more uncommon KOF songs like Get'n Up, Slum No. 5, The Origin of Mind, or Senritsu no Dora. Or even stuff from some of SNK's other series like Samurai Shodown or Metal Slug.
Kyooooooo! love this dude! :D
Love me some KOF. I suggest checking out "Fairy" from KOF '96, both original and arranged versions. But most tracks are stellar anyway.
Worst thing about playing KOF in the arcades was you could barely hear the music back in the day lol
You should definitely check out Tears from 2000 and Arashi no Saxophone from 96. Personally my two favorite soundtracks out of any franchise.
KOF 13 soundtrack is one of the GOATS
Now we need the original Esaka theme.
You need to listen Seoul Road from KOF 96, that's an underrated hood classic.
As a Kof player in glad You enjoyed 👊that underated music but should listen Live perfomance of SNK sound team special for evo tournament you will Love it. About tears song listen the capcom vs snk 3 versión. 👌
Kyo the best FG character ever made. ( try listening to kyo's theme from kof 97 and kof 13 later. They are my favorites )
ESAKAAAAAAA!!! 😎
For the future: it's pronounced "Esaka" (as in - "E" and "saka", not "eSAKA"). The "E" is hard and emphasized, like in "Edmond" or "Ed". Esaka was SNK's primary and biggest/most prominent arcade and entertainment center, which closed down and was liquidated in late 1999, shortly before SNK went bankrupt in 2001.
Closing down of *the* "Esaka" marked a cornerstone in the entire Japanese arcade coin-op industry's history of existence, it began the period known as "dying out of arcades", globally. "Goodbye, Esaka" is named that for a reason. This is a swan song, a love letter, and a postmortem send-off, a funeral magnum opus of SNK's. Back then, SNK didn't know it would survive, it didn't hope for anything anymore, so it's the primary reason why Esaka was "parted with" and KoF 2000 was the very last "old school classic SNK" entry, as the company was never the same ever again, not while it was essentially "enslaved" by Eolith & Playmore.
SNK managed to persevere and survive through (while being a literal slave of Playmore for longer than a decade), and had arisen like phoenix from the ashes in the late 2010's, due to it's freedom essentially being bought out by Saudi investors, it's now almost back to it's former self from it's pre-bankruptcy glory days, and "Esaka" still lives on in it's soul and it's music, but...the arcade center itself, unfortunately, was never resurrected back...yet. Maybe someday...somehow...
If you wanna react to "Tears", react to it alongside "Sadistic Eyes", it's Iori Yagami (Kyo Kusanagi's eternal rival)'s theme from KOF 99 and the two songs kinda complete each other.
OH yeah. that's all. I'll let everyone else explain. I love the game but don't know lore.
Look up Shoryugame or NeoGeoNow for KOF lore
Please dona big kof appreciations extravaganza one day. You wont be disappointed
You have to do soy sauce for geese in all of Kim's themes
Maybe fairy 97 arranged would be good
If this esaka series. Then u need to do arashi no saxophone series 😊
I don't think KoF loses in relevance and merit to any of the blockbusters such as SF and Tekken, it suffers more due to the overall SNK market melt, since they didn't were prepared to a world where arcades lost relevance.
But about the success it has in Mexico, and all LatAM and other developing countries around the world, it is maybe because people are poor, and playing KoF one could take more from one coin: playing 3 different chars instead only one, playing more round in a fight to a maximum of 5 instead 3, and the hardware also was cheaper than other arcade machines. It is common to see only fighting cabinets and some pinball stuff, in contrast to the big simulators found in more rich places.
You gotta listen to the art of fighting ryo KOF 99 theme
you missed the best ! esaka from KOF 99 (acid mix)