With its popularity increasing, The King of Fighters has now cemented itself as a series. There's now two games under its belt. KOF 95 was my ideal game, and I'll still actually play it every now and then. 96 was the first time KOF tried some experimenting with its combat philosophy, but this was the first entry I found myself not caring for that much, and is probably my least revisited King of Fighters. XII notwithstanding, of course.

This was released in its titular year, and that may have been the first indication that annual releases, while a neat novelty, is probably a bad idea for the long term when it comes to game balancing and configuring new roster additions. Up to this point, King of Fighters had s general sense of gameplay psychology; a mix of rushdowns fighting with some mid-range and zoning sprinkled about.

The zoning was always a little dubious in KOF, with characters having ground based projectiles, and King's ability to launch two Venom Strikes made some match-ups hell for large targeted heavies like Goro Daimon and Chang. So 96 adopted a more close-range defensive meta with new characters Kasumi Todoh, Vice, and Geese Howard making his KOF debut on the Bosses Team (why NOT bring Krauser back??). Good intentions on SNK's part, but this change makes a reasonably fast-paced fighter crawl to a sluggish pace and makes some match-ups even worse from the previous game.

KOF 96's roster included some characters that remain popular mainstays, like Heidern's adoptive daughter Leona, who harbors the power of the Orochi within her, making her an integral part of the Orochi arc. Mr. Big makes his one and only canonical appearance in King of Fighters, and Mature and Vice partner up with Iori to form the Yagami Team. In Rugal Bernstein's disappearance, the tournament's benefactor is now Leopold Goenitz, who single-handedly ingrained SNK Boss Syndome into one of single player fighting game's most stubborn nuisances. And Chizuru Kagura's debut as the game's mid-boss, a longtime friend of Kyo Kusanagi whose collective manner has quelled the rivalry between he and Iori for the sake of accomplishing dire missions, as the three are holders of the sacred treasures. Kasumi's inclusion was to bolster the character's presence for the soon-to-be released Art of Fighting 3: Path of the Warrior at the time, which was an amazing fighter in its own right. That might get reviewed one day...

Visually, it's not too much of a visual enhancement from the previous engine. But I am a mark for Neo Geo's sprite work. The background bustles with activity, and while it draws the eye, it seldom impedes or obscures the battle because it's so crisp. The shelf life on this signature look was becoming shorter lived on the hardware, as 3D fighters like Tekken 2 and Virtua Fighter 2 were gaining greater prevalence, and Capcom was cooking around this period with the Street Fighter Alpha games and the detailed Darkstalkers series. Looks good, and certainly defined SNK's style. 

Back to the gameplay. As I mentioned, KOF 96 was more so designed to be an "in your face" confrontational fighting game. The inclusion of rolls, replacing the hop and sidestep with a run dash, to emphasize getting in close and mixing it up. This led to characters having reworked moves, like the introduction of Kyo's 114 Shiki Aragami chain attacks. Biggest problem, and it may have had a little to do with 96's rushed development, but the level of unbalance makes playing some characters fairly pointless, and more work than it's worth to maximize damage or capitalize on opportunities. And it's especially frustrating to combat the final boss. Goenitz's constant projectiles push you to the back of the screen, leaving openings very rare. It doesn't help that his attacks have high recovery, priority, and he can armor through some of your strikes. Grabbing him is nearly impossible. Sadly, he's not King of Fighters' worst offender with annoying final bosses. Goddamn Krizalid...

Beyond some faces getting some spotlight, I just didn't really care for this KOF. It's not a bad game, certainly attempting to experiment with the meta. But it's inconsistent with how to play defense, leading some characters to get easily overpowered, and lacks the overall polish of 95. An effort to speed up the series inadvertently muddies its own waters 

The story is solid as the lore expands, and the roster additions were welcome. Perhaps it's a transitional entry, this is a rather weak King of Fighters, IMHO.