It's out, and it's awesome. In brief, KOF '98 Ultimate Match is a re-release of The King Of Fighters '98, put out in time for its 10th anniversary. Besides some tweaks to the main roster here and there, the biggest differences come from the added characters (Geese, Krauser, Mr. Big, Kasumi, and Eiji), and the new Ultimate play style. Ultimate is nothing more than a free select; you can pick and choose from both Advanced and Extra modes' features, meaning you can store power stocks and dodge instead of role, or make the perfect gauge by combining dashing and rolling with Extra mode's power gauge. (Thus rendering extra mode USELESS
) The regular cast remains essentially the same from what I saw (again, tweaks here and there...need to head back soon and play more!), however all of the "another" characters have been significantly changed up, gaining new or changed special moves. Another Terry, for instance, now has his ground wave as a dp motion with punch, and Another Mai has her shadow image attack from the Real Bout games (complete with afterimages) as a normal attack.
Unlike all of the other post-Neo-Geo MVS hardware SNK fighters, '98 Ultimate did not get any major aesthetic changes. The sprites and special moves all look just like they did on the Neo-Geo...there's no filtering going on, and no added effects. The backgrounds are the same too, and while there are new backgrounds that have been added (which I didn't get to see; the game never went to any of them when I was playing it!), the resolution also stays the same, so the sprites don't stand out. The music is also unchanged, being the original (and superior to the arranged) PCM versions. The select screen and pre/post match screens did get new music though. The life and power bars have been changed up, as has the "ready...go" text, but it all fits in perfectly with the game. The added characters and another characters have all gotten new portraits and win artwork that have been done in the same style as the original '98, too. While '98 UM offers nothing new, it's a nice anniversary title, and it's always fun to go back and play some KOF '98. I just wish that they would have gone all out and added EVERY character through KOF XI as playable characters; it would have made for a bigger last hurrah before they start all over again with KOF XII later this year.
