Game:

The King of Fighters '97 (1997)

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We're back again with the fourth entry in the KOF series! The King of Fighters '97 is the last chapter to the Orochi Saga, introducing some new faces in a somewhat literal term. Blue Mary, Billy Kane, and Ryuji Yamazaki join the fray, and you'd be familiar with them already if you've played Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory.

We also have newcomer Shingo Yabuki, who admires and idolized Kyo Kusanagi to the point where he too, hopes to use flames like the one he looks up to. Although Kyo doesn't think too much of him at this point and finds Shingo to be an annoyance more than anything.

The New Faces Team consists of Yashiro Nanakase, Shermie, and Chris. Like Iori Yagami, they too have a band, and Yashiro has a heavy dislike for Iori (due to them being rivaling bands). As it turns out, all three members of this new team are actually part of the Four Heavenly Kings, and the Hakkesshu!

Yashiro, Shermie, and Chris all possess the Riot of the Blood and they each can control elements of nature. Yashiro being Earth, Shermie being Lightning, and Chris being of Flames. They plan on using the energy of tournament's participants in order to resurrect Orochi - and Chris' body happens to be the host!

Also, it turns out that there was something special about Leona Heidern after all. She too has the Riot of the Blood in her veins! Does it ever stop?

Canonically, it would be up to Kyo, Iori, and Chizuru to team up to put a stop to Orochi's resurrection, but for this playthrough, I ended up using the Fatal Fury Team. For some reason, I always got a hard laugh due to dialogue particuarly for the Fatal Fury Team when fighting against the New Faces Team at the end. KOF '97 has always been an in-between entry for me.

If you notice, this is pretty much the only entry known for a lack of background music for most of the stages. You'll hear some music themes for some characters, but most of the time you'll hear the crowd cheering or just the characters fighting. I guess they wanted '97 to feel akin to an actual tournament on a more realistic sense?

KOF '97 also introduces the Advanced and Extra system, with Advanced representing '96 whereas Extra is callback to '94 and '95 combined. In Advanced Mode you can hold up to three stocks of power allowing you to use a Desperation Move. You can also roll to avoid attacks - and activate MAX Mode where you'll gain extra damage when attacking, and can use Super Desperation Moves too. Extra mode allows you to dodge and charge your power gauge. Just like '94 and '95, once you charge it up fully, you can deal extra damage and use a Desperation Move.

There is also a hidden relation system where depending on which characters you choose if you decide mix up your team, it will affect how they act toward each other. For example, if two characters hate each other, they won't help you for backup attacks, or no power stock will be given to a character who's in line next to fight. If they like each other, the complete opposite happens.

KOF '97 feels solid enough, and as you'd expect, I had the Japanese Sega Saturn version in the past. I didn't find the CPU too particularly bad this time around, although some cheapness with certain characters remains (such as the Orochi New Faces Team, Orochi Iori, and Orochi himself). I've even played the game at default difficulty and only cursed out loud a handful of times. At least, special moves are easier to execute this time around.