The King of Fighters '98: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:20, 27 December 2007

Introduction

Following the conclusion of the "Orochi" saga (marked by the '97 tournament), SNK decided to release a new "dream match" (meaning the characters in the game are not bound by a storyline; evidenced by the fact that the Orochi team was still alive for this tournament). The gameplay featured the same selectable super meter system as KoF '97. In addition, SNK added the "Advantage" system that allowed the losing team to earn an advantage each round (extra stocks for Advanced mode or a shorter charge bar for Extra mode). Many consider The King of Fighters '98 to be their favorite KoF game due to its play mechanics and large roster.

File:KoF98 screen1.png

Notation

Joystick Notation

                    .- up (u)
                    |
  up-back (u/b) - 7 8 9 - up-forward (u/f)

       back (b) - 4 5 6 - forward (f)

down-back (d/b) - 1 2 3 - down-forward (d/f)
                    |
                    `- down (d)

Note: These numbers can be easily referenced by looking at your keyboard numpad. Think of it as a joystick/controller that is facing to the right. "5" is used to signify "neutral".

Motion Abbreviations

qcf - 236 - Quarter circle forward/Hadouken/Fireball motion - In one smooth motion move to down -> down-forward -> forward.

qcf - 214 - Quarter circle backward - In one smooth motion move to down -> down-back -> back.

hcf - 41236 - Half circle forward - In one smooth motion move to back -> down-back -> down -> down-forward -> forward.

hcb - 63214 - Half circle backward - In one smooth motion move to forward -> down-forward -> down -> down-back -> back.

dp - 623 - Dragon Punch motion - In one smooth motion move to forward -> down -> down-forward.

rdp - 421 - Reverse Dragon Punch motion - In one smooth motion move to back -> down -> down-back.

Charge - Hold the given direction (usually back/down) for around 1 second, before moving to the next command (usually forward or up + a button).

tk - 2369 - Tiger Knee Motion - qcf, then move to up-forward.

Attack Notation

A - LP - Light Punch

B - LK - Light Kick

C - HP - Hard Punch

D - HK - Hard Kick

CD - Blow back attack, press C and D simultaneously.

P - Any punch

K - Any kick

Other common abbreviations

j. - Jump/jumping - Press up-back, up, or up-forward.

sj. - Super-jump - Tap down, down-back, or down-forward, then quickly press up-back, up, or up-forward.

sh. - Short hop - Lightly tap up-back, up, or up-forward.

hh. - Hyper hop - Tap down, down-back, or down-forward, then quickly and lightly tap up-back, up, or up-forward.

Game Mechanics

KOF98 has two basic modes of play. Both are explained below.

Advanced Mode

Block - Hold back - While blocking, you take no damage from normals and a single pixel-per-hit when blocking special/desperation moves. You can also block in the air while jumping up or back. Ground normals cannot be air guarded.

Backdash - Tap back twice quickly. During a backdash, you can perform air command normals and air special moves. Using a command normal will cause the trajectory of the backdash to change.

Run - Tap forward twice quickly. Hold the second tap to keep running. In KOF98, when you simply tap f,f to run, you will run a certain distance before you stop. This can be canceled by jumping, crouching, or attacking, but not by blocking. You can use this period to buffer moves such as command throws. For example with Ralf or Clark, you can tap f,f, then do the hcf motion for their command grab while you are moving forward, without having to keep holding forward over that first couple character spaces.

Also, there is a small recovery when you release f to stop a run. When running in to attack, keep holding forward if you're going to do a standing attack, or move to d/f for a crouching attack. This makes attacking from a run seamless. You can also hold d/f to keep charge a charge-down special move while running.

Roll forward - Press A and B simultaneously. Rolls are invulnerable from the very start, and vulnerable at the end. You can be thrown out of rolls as well. Since they are invincible at startup, you can use rolls as a wakeup 'reversal'. But unlike in later KOF games, you cannot mash the input. In KOF98, if you are not fully recovered from something and try to input A+B, you will get a standing A attack. Using that as a reversal will get out hit on counter, so be accurate with your roll timing.

Roll (backward) - Press back and A and B simultaneously.

Recovery roll (tech roll) - Press A and B simultaneously as you are touching the ground from getting knocked down. Some moves/knockdowns are not rollable. You can mix this up with staying on the ground to mess with your opponents setups on wakeup.

Throw Escape - Press back/forward + any button immediately after you are thrown. Some normal throws are not breakable, and instead you can mash all the buttons and directions to lessen the damage and get out faster.

Guard Cancel Roll - Press A and B simultaneously or while guarding a move (hold back to roll backwards). This uses one power stock.

Guard Cancel Strike (CD counter) - Press C and D simultaneously while guarding a move. This uses one power stock.

Activate MAX mode - Press A, B, and C simultaneously. This will use one power stock and give you a meter that shows you how much time you have left in MAX mode. While in MAX mode you get a large damage bonus (25% increase), more pushback on hit for all attacks, and any Desperation Moves (supers) performed during this time will become Super Desperation Moves, and will take one power stock in addition to the one you used to go into MAX mode. These SDMs are enhanced versions of the normal supers and will do more damage/hits, etc.

Extra Mode

Basic Commands

Block - hold 4 (air)

While blocking, you take no damage from normals and reduced damage from specials and Desperation Moves.

Backstep - 4,4

Dash - 6,6 (quick hop)

Short Hop (sh) - Tap 7 / 8 / 9

Hyper Hop (hh) - Tap 1/2/3~7 / 1/2/3~8 / 1/2/3~9 / Dash, 9

Jump (j) - Press 7 / 8 / 9

Super Jump (sj) - Press 2, 7 / Tap 2, 9 / Dash, 9

Evade - A B

With this move you dodge while standing in place and are temporarily invincible during the dodge. You can, however, be thrown out of this by command grabs (not standard 4 / 6 P / K throws).

Counter Attack - A B, P / K

This is done while using the Attack Evade

Down Evade - A B as you land

With this you can recover as soon as you hit the ground after being knocked down.

Throw Escape - You cannot escape any throws in EX mode.

Guard Cancel Evade - Block, A B

Guard Cancel Strike - Block, C D

Strike Attack - C D (air)

Charge Power Gauge - A B C (until Power Gauge is at maximum capacity).

Taunt - Press Start

Power Guage

In Extra Mode, you have a power gauge that fills over the course of a fight. It is filled by :

1. Taking damage.

2. Charging.

Once the gauge fills, it says "MAXIMUM" and begins to slowly empty. During this time your body glows/flashes and a multitude of things happen :

1. All of your attacks do 50% more damage.

2. You may perform a Desperation Move.

3. You may perform a Guard Cancel Evade / Strike.

Doing either of the latter 2 will drain your gauge and return you to normal.

When you are at 20% or less health, your Life Gauge begins to flash red. During this time, a multitude of things happen :

1. You may perform DPs freely.

2. You may perform Guard Cancel Evades / Strikes freely.

3. If your Power Gauge reaches maximum, you may perform Super Desperation Moves. These are the same commands as your standard DMs, but they often have different attack animations and do larger amounts of damage to the opponent.

If your life should increase back above 20% for any reason, you lose all of the benefits of a low Life Gauge.

Teams

Your team has an effect on the way that the game is played. While selecting your team, you can hold down the Start button and see three types of faces next to your characters. The three types determine a few things. They are :

1. Red Face (Angry) : This means that the character does not like the rest of your team. After they lose, they will remove one POW point from the next fighter. Also, they will be unwilling to use their jump in attack to save you from an attack while dizzy/throw.

2. White Face (Neutral) : This means that the character has no strong emotions one way or the other. They are not likely to use their jump in attack, and when they lose they will have no effect on the POW points of the next fighter.

3. Yellow Face (Happy) : This means that the fighter has been put in a team that he enjoys. He will be more likely to help out your current fighter (although he still won't very often), and he will pass on one POW point to the next fighter when he loses.

The bits about POW points only applies to Advanced mode.

When a character is defeated, the winning character regains a small amount of health. In addition, losing a team member gives the losing player an advantage (so long as the option is enabled).

In Advanced mode, you can have an extra POW point after each fighter is lost. The first fighter has a maximum of three, the second fighter has a maximum of four, and the last fighter has a maximum of 5.

In Extra mode, your Power Gauge is shortened after each fighter is lost. The first fighter has a full length Power Gauge, the second fighter has one that is 25% shorter than normal, and the third fighter has one that is 50% shorter than normal.

Game Versions

The Characters

Japan Team

Fatal Fury Team

Psycho Soldier Team

Art of Fighting/Kyokugenryu Team

Ikari Warriors Team

Orochi Team

Women's Team

'97 Special Team

Korea Team

'98 "Father" Team

Yagami Team

US Sports Team

Orochi Unleashed Team (Secret Team)

Edit Characters

EX Characters

KoF '98 Final Boss

Omega Rugal

@@ Line 65: / Line 65: @@
 KOF98 has two basic modes of play. Both are explained below.
-===Advanced Mode===
+==Advanced Mode==
-====Basic Commands====
 Block - Hold back - While blocking, you take no damage from normals and a single pixel-per-hit when blocking special/desperation moves. You can also block in the air while jumping up or back. Ground normals cannot be air guarded.