The King of Fighters '99

The King of Fighters '99
The King of Fighters '99 title screen
Publisher	X Boy
Console	Sega Mega Drive/Genesis
Date	1999
Alternate names/hacks	KoF '99

The King of Fighters '99 is an unlicensed fighting game published for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis console by X Boy as a follow up to King of Fighters '98.

Overview

The King of Fighters '99 character select screen

The game consists of 3-on-3 matches as the previous version did. Each character has their own special moves and one super move. New backgrounds exist and a few of the ones used previously have been altered significantly. There are reused and new music tracks along with songs reused from other unlicensed Mega Drive games that use the same sound driver.

The controls are the same as '98. The A button blocks, B & C punch and kick respectively. A super move can be done whenever the MAX icon flashes below your lifebar. Throws are not implimented.

The endings are minimal, with a simple "Congratulation" screen with the character select portraits scrolling beneath it.

Characters

Each character has a "dark" or "evil" version to pick, they use an alternate color pallete and their headshot has them making an angry or evil face. These are often thought of as simple recolors to pad the roster out (a technique used in many Famicom fighters), however on this game they are true alternate versions. Their basic moveset is usually the same, but their special and super moves are totally different from their regular versions. The only exceptions are the three new characters Cycl, Vega, and Ioro, who have the same moves in both forms.

The character roster remains the same as The King of Fighters' 98, with the exception of Cammy and the addition of Cyclops, Vega (M. Bison), and Iori.

Characters: (no number means taken from the first game in the franchise)

Ryu (Sprite taken from Street Fighter II Turbo)

Ryo (Sprite taken from Fatal Fury Special)

Takuma (Sprite taken from Art of Fighting 2)

Robert (Sprite taken from Art of Fighting 2, slightly thinner)

Iori (Sprite taken from The King of Fighters '95)

Cyclops (Sprite taken from X-Men: Children of the Atom)

Guile (Sprite taken from Street Fighter II Turbo)

Vega/M.Bison (Sprite taken from Super Street Fighter II)

Joe (Sprite taken from Fatal Fury 2)

Terry (Sprite taken from Fatal Fury 2)

Andy (Sprite taken from Fatal Fury 2)

Trivia

• The sprite for Cyclops, referred to as "Cycl" ingame, is the same sprite used in the SNES version of X-Men VS Street Fighter . Because that game only used one punch and one kick attack, he is forced to have those same animations and does not include a heavy/fierce attack like the rest of the characters do.

• Iori's, referred to as "Ioro" ingame, sprite is taken from either the Sony Playstation or Neo-Geo version of The King of Fighter's 95, although it was ripped poorly and is a completely different size than all other fighters. Like Cyclops he does not have heavy/fierce attacks.
• Vega's (known as M. Bison in English versions of Street Fighter II) sprite is taken from Super Street Fighter II.

• Cammy was removed for unknown reasons, but is restored in the sequel; The King of Fighters 2000 for SNES.

• Like most unlicensed games, this featured a copy protection scheme that rendered the ROM unplayable on copiers and emulators. The ROM did not work in any emulator until the protection scheme was emulated in HazeMD then used in subsequent versions of a few other Mega Drive emulators. Because the copy protection was simply emulated and not actually patched onto the ROM, as of this date only the original printings of the cartridge exist due to pirate manufacturers not having a patched ROM to produce carts with. The original ROM file was not properly patched until programmer D4S patched the ROM in 2011.
• The headshots are taken from The King of Fighters '97, with Ryu's headshot being an edit of Kyo Kusanagi's headshot.

Gallery

Box and Cart (Front)

Box and Cart (Back)