The King of Fighters '99

The King of Fighters '99
The King of Fighters '99's 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 The King of Fighters '98.

A sequel, The King of Fighters 2000, was released the next year.

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 or if "Maximu" is set on the options menu. Throws are not implemented.

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

Characters

Each character has a "orochi" or "evil" version to pick, they use an alternate color palette and their headshot has them making an 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.

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.
• 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 96, although it was ripped poorly and is a completely different size than all other fighters.
• Vega's (known as M. Bison in English versions of Street Fighter II) sprite is taken from Super Street Fighter II Turbo.
• Cammy was removed for unknown reasons, but is only restored in the sequel; The King of Fighters 2000 for SNES. She is replaced with Ioro in the SNES version of The King of Fighters '98.
• 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 plus the select screen background from the select screen are taken from The King of Fighters '97, for example: Ryu's headshot being an edit of Kyo Kusanagi's headshot.
• All of the new backgrounds are recycled from the SNES The King of Fighters' 98 , with the exception of the Women Team stage from KOF '96, which only appears in the SNES game.

Gallery

Box and Cart (Front)

Box and Cart (Back)