The large number of young characters appearing in the game represented a problem for the developers as a result, the staff introduced older characters such as Seth and Vanessa (who appeared only in the Dreamcast version as Strikers and would not officially debut until the following game) to balance the game. Like the earlier games the artwork was done by Shinkiro. The character Whip was originally meant to appear in KOF '96, but due to Leona Heidern's introduction in that game, the staff decided to wait until KOF '99.
This idea was abandoned, but they later created a tribute to it in The King of Fighters 2000 by introducing Rocky, a character from Robo Army, as a Striker for Maxima. The staff wanted to create a Robo Army Team. To contrast with the previous series' protagonist, Kyo, K' was designed to be the "dark hero". As a result, based on the practice of adding earlier versions of various characters to games, the staff created the Kyo clones that featured him with classic movesets: Kyo-1 uses Kyo's movesets from the first two games, while Kyo-2 uses his movesets from KOF '96 and KOF '97. Kyo was redesigned for this game, but the developers still liked his school uniform. Instead, they ended up as unlockable hidden characters after fans responded negatively to their removal at location tests. With the introduction of a new lead character, K', SNK had originally planned to remove main characters Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami, who had previously appeared in earlier installments of the series, from The King of Fighters '99. With its myriad of mysteries, the King of Fighters gets ready to begin! Benimaru is confused-he's never seen these names listed at any other fighting events regardless.īenimaru heads toward the tournament venue, clearly unsettled by the circumstances, and the other entrants are soon to follow. Meanwhile, Heidern, who sees through the suspicious tournament, dispatches Ralf and Clark to investigate the truth behind this tournament.īenimaru Nikaido, as well, receives an invitation to KOF and to join the Special Team consisting of other carefully selected fighters.Īmong the pre-selected teammates listed appear two names: K' (K-Dash) and Maxima. The fighters cannot hide their surprise at this unfamiliar mode of battle. The adoption of Striker Matches, however, has been decided for this tournament." "The method of combat will be 3-on-3 battles. For the skeptical fighters, even the new tournament rules for battles bode ill.
There is not a hint of the hoopla surrounding the entrants like that of the previous tournament which thrilled the whole world. The King of Fighters will take place again this year!īut the circumstances this time around are different. The invitation is sent to fighters all over the world. "You are cordially invited to this year's King of Fighters." 9.2 Available only in the Dreamcast version (KOF '99 Evolution).9.1 Available in All Versions of The Game.