Not mentioned in the video, the Saturn port does suffer from sound issues, voices are slightly higher pitched, and punches and kicks sound like you are hitting a wet paper bag, with absolutely no oomph in them, unlike other versions. Also, thank you for choosing the better PS2 KoF Orochi compilation for this video, the difference from this and the western release is night and day.
That also happens on the PS1, only it's even worse than on the Saturn. It seems like they've reduced the sample rate of character voices and other sound effects to save RAM. Even with the 1MB RAM cartridge the Saturn still didn't have enough RAM to load all assets at once with the same quality as the original arcade version.
I had the PlayStation 1 ver, since the music is CD audio format, i always play the cd game on my CD player just for listening to the music. Great soundtrack
One good thing I can say about the NeoGeo CD is that the controllers for it are microswitched, giving it excellent control, and nice clicking noises when you move the stick
Thanks Mark! KOF '96 is easily in the top-tier of fighters for that era and definitely holds it own even when it comes to Capcom titles such as SFZ2, Vampire Hunter, and X-Men Vs. Street Fighter.
Errr, why do people forget about the Japanese Orochi Hen compilation, which is pretty much bug and glitch free, plus load free. Yes the western version is gimped, but the Japanese one is spot on with the AES version. Japanese PS2 Orochi Hen is the best home port this side of the AES versions of 95-97.
My favourite one in the series, and played to death to the arcade and Saturn version. This was my first imported game for my Saturn and I remember that costed 6990 pesetas (about 42€) Good memories:)
Great video. I noticed that the voices for the 32-bit home ports sound a bit faded. This was common with a lot of the Neo Geo fighters ported to those consoles.
I find the only minor issue with the Saturn port is the compressed voices. They lack the "omph!" of the original game. The PSone port sounds like the ADR was done through a paper bag! It sounds really bad!
Oh yeah thank you for the vidéo :D GG and KOF 96 is MY BEST KOF EVER, i like the music, the roster, the boss "Goenitz" the decor changing, the speed, the special moves, the gameplay and the characters design, this is the KOF we had with my brother on the Neo Geo. Great video great job thank you again. Top 3 KOF (my own top) : 1. KOF 96 , 2.KOF 97 , KOF 94 . I know all the players and hardcore fans they like the 98 (its a best of and its a great kof) but still the Orochi Saga are the best kofs ever.
I said to myself yesterday ...."Tommorow will be a Neo Geo day for me" and with unmatched timing BOOM!!! Retro Core uploads KoF96, haha YES!!! Another great episode for the books. 👍👍👍🔥🔥🔥
Japanese PS2 Orochi Hen for the ultimate win, the best version besides the AES to have and play. I know because I have 96 on PS1, Saturn, Wii Orochi Saga, and PS2 Orochi Hen, and the latter pretty much wipes the floor with the former. One thing Mark forgot to mention is the sound effects of punches and kicks on the Saturn version, they sound extremely weak, unlike any other version of the game, besides the Gameboy port. And 95-97 on Saturn does suffer from character voices that are slightly too highly pitched. I know this because I have played 95 in emulation, and do own 96 and 97 for my Saturn, these issues have always bugged me about the Saturn versions. I don't own 95 because I have a US Saturn, and constant cart swapping will eventually kill the console, not to mention an Action Replay Plus 4 MB in 1 cart being pulled out and put in constantly will result in your cart slot being stretched, a big no no to me, though I can still buy the game and play it in SSF, with the ROM cart emulated for it on the emulator.
Hello mon cher ami ! Thank you again this great and awsome video, thumbs up for the intro ! I have so much remember about this game !!!! Perfect job !! Can't wait for the next video.... Thank you soooooo much!!
Retro Core I'm Patron now ! I'll send you 1$ each month. It's not a lot, but, I hope it will help you anyway. I really apreciate what you're doing on this channel.
Not much I can say that hasn't been said already. I own this with a modded 4n1 ram cart and it has no problem playing on my USA Saturn. I do enjoy seeing the Saturn crush the competition especially ps1/2.
Sadly, unlike '95, the PS1 port of KOF '96 is only in Japan. Americans didn't get to play this game at home until 2008 with the Orochi Collection on the PS2...
Nice comparison, and more interesting than at first glance. I started playing KOF series with 97, which amazed me when I saw the cabinet and I became a big SNK fan. I know KOF 96 is well regarded and many ideas in the following editions started there. The sprite and background work is beautiful. KOF is the reason I had my Saturn modded in those days.
Love that vocal Athena stage theme. Anyway, I have a Japanese Saturn, so I'm thinking of picking this one up (we used to have this one at the local arcade, sadly, it was the only KoF our local arcades ever got.)
My favorite KOF is 97 followed by 96. Sadly, neither SNK nor Playmore nor Takara nor any other company showed love for these two games on the Dreamcast. Which I think was yet another nail on its coffin, the lack of quality games ported from other companies. But then again, everyone was so mesmerized by the PS1 and the PS2, so the Dreamcast was bound to be neglected.
Aaah, King of Fighters '96. How do I live thee. 8^) Great choice and continuing onwards with the KOF series Mark. Really an underrated title since most will say that '98 is the top choice. But '96 really made good improvements from the previous two installments that SNK was serious on marching forward to make this a successful franchise. I have both on the AES and NGCD since those are my favorite when it comes to the game itself. No disrespect to the ports, but when it comes to Neo-Geo titles, play it on Neo-Geo...But of course, that's just me. 8^) Also, thank you for posting this on the Neo-Geo thread on Atariage.com. Were enjoying it right now. Hopefully, will see KOF '97 next week? 8^) Thank you as always Mark. Keep up the great work. Anthony..
There's one downside to the Saturn version: the sound is mono even when stereo is selected. What's puzzling is that I've ran into several Saturn games with exactly the same problem (Golden Axe: The Duel being another example), and it doesn't make any sense that this was something done deliberately.
I wonder if it's a hardware revision? I have to admit that I never actually noticed which is strange for me. I'm going to have to boot up Golden Axe the Duel now too to check that. It is very odd since both games use redbook CD audio which is in Stereo on the disc. The end and opening music I used for this video come from the Saturn game disc.
The Saturn RGB output is sharper, but the PS2 version is free from loading times and features the complete AST of this game - a superb soundtrack IMHO. Before the Japanese PS2 port, the only way to get the same quality was through a modified kawaks emulator, using AST mp3 rips and an Arcade ROM. I was fooled by the US version of the orochi saga too, but managed to get the superior version afterwards. There are official neo geo controllers for the PS2 that make the final experience definitive. I use official NGCD controllers on my PS2, but the arcade AES controller is also available. Thanks for the video!
Did you find that the Japanese PS2 release has a softer image than the Saturn via RGB or the original arcade? Even with the smoothing switched off it seem a little too soft. That could be because I'm running my PS2 via D-Terminal (Component) .
Lucas Milani, like me you know how good the Japanese compilation is, it's everyone else that has played the US Orochi Saga on PS2 that seems to have a hard time understanding this.
It is softer, but its a hardware limitation, because de source art for this game is designed for a 240p signal (like the neo geo/cd and saturn versions do), but the ps2 can only display 480i and above resolutions. So the developers have to use some kind of interpolation to strech the source art to fill the screen
I have the saturn version and since my ps2 is modded, i downloaded and burned the jp orochi saga to test kof96 ps2 version. Its a good version indeed, but just like the saturn version, the audio (voices and sfx) sounds muffed compared to the clear audio effects of the mvs aes and neocd versions, and it bugs me alot.
One problem with Saturn port is that stage music starts from the beginning after every round whereas Neogeo CD continues the music from previous round !!!!
Yes but like psx has two or three parts of the son splitted in tracks so It changes anyway. Not a perfect solution, but better that starting all over again like many 16bit fighters.
I remember reading this and some other SNK ports to Saturn exhibiting some graphical glitchiness on the 4MB cartridge and possibly on the 4-in-1 carts as well. Also, the Saturn version is darker than the other ones, and (just as with many arcade ports I notice in a pattern) seems to have a narrower resolution than the PS1. Saturn running at what I believe is 358x224, while the PS1 runs at the original 384x224.
The Saturn port isn't darker but it does look darker on my video because of the RGB cable I'm using. All Saturn games look darker on my videos unfortunately. The game will glitch when using the official 4MB cart and some 4 in 1 carts too. This is what makes it difficult to play on anything but a Japanese Saturn.
Aye, definitely true on that one Mark. It's why I play to get my NA Model 2 system eventually modded with a region switch, like my friend Chad did 15 or so years back. Also to play KoF'95. I'm still wondering what is up with the design decision Sega made when making the Saturn's VDP? With it being such a 2D powerhouse, it not being able to do many of the resolutions the PS1 could (384x224, 256x240, etc.) just strikes me as odd to this day. One could easily tell if you look at previous BotP episodes where you used Capcom Generations for the Saturn and PS1 ports.
I guess because it was based upon arcade hardware (the STV) so it didn't occur to them? The Saturn can even out put a really hi-resolution that no game has ever used. Apparently it needs some sort of special cable. Still at least it could output 704 X 480 at 480i which is still higher than anything until the Dreamcast came along.
I personally run my Saturn SNK fighters through an Action Replay Plus, the only time I get any graphical glitches is when I need to clean the contacts on the cart. Since it has a built in 1MB option supposedly, the games run just fine.
WOW! The japanese PS2 Port is looking really good compared to the western release! Also the scaling is correct 1:1 and very nice! But like KOF 95, the PS1 Version of KOF 96 seems to have odd scaling (or odd resolution? since PS1 games shouldn't scale at all). It's especially visible at 7:42 in the background (look at the radiator grill of the truck) when the background moves up and down.
With action replay cart most Saturn games that require 1mb and 4mb carts are easy to play. The hard one now though is kof 95 , before I had a Japanese Saturn I had to use the hot swap technique since it requires the special cart.
Curious how you determine that the Japanese PS2 version is a port and the US one is emulated? I have the Japanese Orochi collection and while I'm OK with it, I've heard people saying the sound emulation is off...
The sound isn't really off, a little muffled, but not as bad as people might claim it to be. I own a copy of it, and it's my preferred way of playing 95-97, much like the Nests one is my way of playing 99-01, and KoF 94 Rebout, my preferred way to play 94 (including keeping the old backgrounds with the cleaned up sprites, an option included in the remake of 94). The PS2 is also my preferred way of playing 02, 03, Neowave, 98 UM, 02 UM, and XI as well.
The Gameboy version looks great , and has some nice animation and fluidity on it that you didn't find often on Gameboy games (I used to have a Gameboy pocket back in the day). Its quite amazing just how far SNK pushed the Neo Geo hardware, alot of these games have better animation than whats found in alot of CPS-2 games.
I am not really a KOF kind of guy, but '96 isn't too bad. Also, when you said loading times are also an issue for another certain console port, the port that automatically shot in my head was the PS1 port.
I like it when you focus on these "newer" titles more than the really old school stuff :) Maybe it's just me, but I would have liked to see how bad the loading is in the CD and PS1 versions :P I own the Saturn version myself, which is nice of course.
Hah :D I have Real Bout Fatal Fury Special for my NGCD, it never gets played, and I don't even think that's half as bad as this would be :( A shame that they didn't went with the NGZ from the beginning, though it's not perfect it would have been a million times better for the consumers.
You wanna see real bad load times for the NGCD? Try KoF 99 and both Last Blades. The latter will have you wanting to pull your hair out, unless you own a NGCDZ, which knocks some of the load times down to more manageable levels.
it's also on PSN,was on Xb Live i think as part of the ACA series ,Humble Bundle (dotemu ports suck) and Steam...i don't believe any of those had the Red Book audio of the CD versions of the game though.
The arcade/Neogeo ones have horrible drum samples used in the entire soundtrack, it sounds like the Drums in Metallica's St. Anger album (aka a drum kit made of trash cans). The compositions, however, are awesome as usual in the KOF series and it shows its strength in the arranged CD versions. (Chizuru Kagura's theme is awesome in the CD versions)
Next after aes...Kof 11,13,2002 U.M,14? (Not the 12...the first I already sold two days after). A special horizontal 2D shmup please...I looking for new greats games...since Deathsmiles,Troubles witches...and R type remake,I don't found a real love interest. Something with pixels,big sprites and a close to Cosmic cops,Last resort,Ikaruga,Atomic robot kid,In the hunt...
LOL @ that intro, nice touch. Are Gameboy games region free? The sound and gameplay impressed me on that, another one to keep my eye out for if I come across it. Nice video!
Ha I bet you did. I spent last night playing kof95 thanks to your recent videos, my god I forgot about snk bosses, damn cheap lol, I just gave up in the end, but it was fun anyway, onto 96 for today.
That's good to know, yeah I figured they would be more relaxed about that stuff back then, as importing games/anime etc was far harder back in the day.
There are two versions for the PS2. A Japanese one reprogrammed by SNK and a western release developed by someone else. The western release has all sorts of timing issues, loading, bad screen resolution and other problems. The Japanese version is pretty much perfect, has original or remixed audio and on-line play. May say that the US version is a poor emulation while the Japanese version was reprogrammed. To be honest though I seem to think that the Japanese version is emulated while the US version is reprogrammed. but apparently I'm wrong.
The PS2 Orochi Hen does, it also allows for the arranged soundtracks to be used as well. It's what makes the SNK compilations on PS2 for their fighting games so awesome.
I didn't know about this huge difference between the eastern and western versions os the PS2 game (port x emulated), besides I do remember SNK fans cursing the PS2 version (maybe for knowing only the western version). I would add that the PSX version has downsampled sfx (22 or even 11khz) and woud show Joe Higashi's "ultra pixelated" Screw Upper move (the same happens in Real Bout Fatal Fury). But nothing new but RAM restrictions being applied in this case, though.
Oh yes, the PSX does have really low samples for speed and sound effects. It's so noticeable too on the video. I was going to mention it but didn't in the end.
Retro Core thanks all your battle of the ports are really cool I like the way when you switch the version it has really nice flowing in and out effect.
Actually Kof 96 didnt make slightly changes,but a whole revamp to the gameplay,sprites and animation. Saturn port indeed is perfect as always but Psx isnt that bad other than the horrible loading times. Psx owners were lucky in the end because Kof continues on it with 98 and 99 which were very very good ports.
Seeing two great KOF Game Boy ports makes me mad they never came to the States. Probably the best fighter we had over here was Killer Instinct, and while it played well, it looked horrible. It tried to recreate the digital look Rare created in the arcade and SNES (similar to what they did for Donkey Kong Land), and it just didn’t work out. It managed to play pretty well despite having only two buttons (down from 6), and the combos for each character were roughly the same.
I checked it on ebay, and I stand corrected. It's not like it was a limited release, either, it's readily available, cart only is usually around $15. I have no excuse, lol.
For some reason many PS2 western SNK games are way inferior compared to their japanese counterparts. That includes KOF XI and Neo Geo Battle coliseum. Apparently the US versions are based on the PAL versions and were never properly optimized for 60hz. Also the japanese versions all support progressive scan over component cables.
KoF XI and NGBC play just fine for their US counterparts. I've played their arcade versions and find they perform the exact same on the US PS2 versions. I know Europe got screwed for them, but in the US, we weren't.
@@Bloodreign1 They may seem fine at a casual level, but they're not the exactly same. Back in the day when these games were still relevant tournament games, several competitive players compared all 3 versions and found a lot of issues with the us releases. The japanese versions on the other hand were found to be arcade perfect. The severity of the issues varies from game to game, with some of the compilation discs being the absolute worst. I get this stuff may not be important for casual players but I think it's still important to note for people looking for arcade perfect versions.
@@SK91NO Speed may be correct on many releases, but there are noticeable framedrops too on many of these. Like I said, quality varies and not all releases exhibit the exact same issues and some releases may be perfectly fine, but still there's a lot of these with issues.
A friend of mine had this on his USA Saturn back at the day and I am pretty sure he blew his cartridge port because of this game. You had to boot the game with the Sega Key cart, when the SEGA logo appeared, quickly remove the Sega KEY cart and insert the 1 MB Ram cart. After doing this so many times, after a while it never worked again.
Yeah, that wouldn't do your Saturn cartridge port much good. He should have bought a 4 in 1 cartridge with automatic region protection and the expanded memory included. Mind you they were pretty expensive back in the day.
That happened to a friend of mine who didn't get his Saturn modded. The cartridge port wearing out is something I've heard happening to Saturn consoles.
Oh yes after 95 next is 96, but why SNK decide name it with same year with the year they release it ? For easy name, for not forget when they release it, or message that SNK will release new fighting game every year ?
Probably they cannot keep up with the schedule, making port is hard after all many code need change or compress so port game wont lose to arcade version, after all console motto back in the days is "play game in your home", but now "game in the go" or for short "portable game" aka Switch motto.
Why do the Saturn versions of these games look darker and have seemingly duller colors compared to the other ports (seriously look at the title screen during the side by side comparison and you'll immediately see what I mean, KOF '95 has this exact same problem), the Saturn is supposed to be made for 2D games and I know it can handle the presentation of the arcade original in terms of brightness and colors so to see the system not match the original almost 1:1 in this regard is a bit of a disappointment for an otherwise excellent pre-ps2 era port.
The playstation version was so bad, even my brother doesn't think it was the good! (...oh, and I did get that £20 from the last game. Can't agree on neo geo vs ps2 though)
The Saturn port of 96 is ok but nowhere near as good as 95's Saturn port which used an exclusive cart, 96 has longer loads, wrong voice pitch, music restarts at each round etc.
The King of Fighters games have some great soundtracks, it's been so long I'd forgotten. After the last BotP I wanted to play a bit of King of Fighters and I happened to have a copy of XII that had been sitting around for years that I'd never played... They took Mai out of the game, why would they do this? It's like taking Chun Li out of Street Fighter. I guess I need to look for a copy of XIII or make some room and hook up one of my PS2s.
What? They took out Mai? She's a main character. I lost interest aster KOF 2002. I felt the games were becoming boring and to be honest I think it was 2001 which was really crap.
If you whine about the loading times, recall back in the 80s when you had to load a game from tape into your computer, or even worse via a 1541 disk drive into your C64.
“Violent fighting to come again, as a year flew by from the excitement. we now declare the opening of our special team tournament again……. In 1996.”
Always loved those snazzy SNK fighting game openings with the sprite animations. Really showcased how good the artists were.
They always did impress. They showed that you could make a cool intro without flashy polygons.
Not mentioned in the video, the Saturn port does suffer from sound issues, voices are slightly higher pitched, and punches and kicks sound like you are hitting a wet paper bag, with absolutely no oomph in them, unlike other versions.
Also, thank you for choosing the better PS2 KoF Orochi compilation for this video, the difference from this and the western release is night and day.
That also happens on the PS1, only it's even worse than on the Saturn. It seems like they've reduced the sample rate of character voices and other sound effects to save RAM. Even with the 1MB RAM cartridge the Saturn still didn't have enough RAM to load all assets at once with the same quality as the original arcade version.
Arcade of course and I'm going to order this for Saturn today.
96 came in last week 👍 team Japan all day of course
I had the PlayStation 1 ver, since the music is CD audio format, i always play the cd game on my CD player just for listening to the music. Great soundtrack
The Saturn and Neo CD are also using redbook CD audio :)
What a great way to start the weekend! Thank you so much.
You're welcome.
One good thing I can say about the NeoGeo CD is that the controllers for it are microswitched, giving it excellent control, and nice clicking noises when you move the stick
I do like the clicky feel to the Neo CD pads.
That controller is perfect for fighting games. That is one of my reasons to buy a NEO GEO CD (Japanese NEO GEO CD).
Thanks Mark! KOF '96 is easily in the top-tier of fighters for that era and definitely holds it own even when it comes to Capcom titles such as SFZ2, Vampire Hunter, and X-Men Vs. Street Fighter.
I agree. I had so much fun playing this back in the day. The copy I have now is the same one I bought back in December 1996 (Saturn version).
Great job! This game is in the top 3 of my life! I really love it! Thanks!
Funny how I click 'like' even before the video ends, can't wait until you get around to the KOF '98 BOTP, keep up with the awesome videos mate :)
Oh man, I may just do KOF '98 for next week. May as well.
Thanks for the likes too :)
Hahaha Totally agree Mark Jones!!! KOF 98 is my favorite all time KOF!!!
Yet again, Neo Geo and Saturn versions for the win.
SNES Fan89 PlayStation missed frame rate! The animation is not smooth as NG & Saturn !
Errr, why do people forget about the Japanese Orochi Hen compilation, which is pretty much bug and glitch free, plus load free. Yes the western version is gimped, but the Japanese one is spot on with the AES version. Japanese PS2 Orochi Hen is the best home port this side of the AES versions of 95-97.
This was the 1st game I imported for the Sat. I love the soundtrack. Played a lot of this in college.
My favourite one in the series, and played to death to the arcade and Saturn version. This was my first imported game for my Saturn and I remember that costed 6990 pesetas (about 42€) Good memories:)
Hope you go through all the king of fighters, thanks for a great video 😊👍
I'll be doing 97 & 98 for sure.
I bought 99 for switch , forgot how freaking hard these were, buying the Bitdo arcade stick as soon as possible
Once again another great game I had to import from Japan.
Great video. I noticed that the voices for the 32-bit home ports sound a bit faded. This was common with a lot of the Neo Geo fighters ported to those consoles.
You mean the ps1, the saturn sounded much better
It does, I meant to say that many Neo Geo fighting games ported to the Saturn and PlayStation have this issue with the voices.
Yeah, the sample rates on the PlayStation port are really low.
PlayStaion in most cases however the Saturn sounds pretty good in many cases such as this game. Fatal Fury 3 on the Saturn is an awful mess though.
@@NeoTurboManiac78 how have you been man? You planning to review Samurai shodown V perfect when it comes out since it's the true final neogeo game
Thank you, Mark!
no worries. Most likely KOF '97 will be here next week.
I find the only minor issue with the Saturn port is the compressed voices. They lack the "omph!" of the original game. The PSone port sounds like the ADR was done through a paper bag! It sounds really bad!
Rob Toohey low sample rate , bit depth and compression will do that.
Great compare video.!
Thanks and congratulations on being the first to comment.
Oh yeah thank you for the vidéo :D GG and KOF 96 is MY BEST KOF EVER, i like the music, the roster, the boss "Goenitz" the decor changing, the speed, the special moves, the gameplay and the characters design, this is the KOF we had with my brother on the Neo Geo. Great video great job thank you again. Top 3 KOF (my own top) : 1. KOF 96 , 2.KOF 97 , KOF 94 . I know all the players and hardcore fans they like the 98 (its a best of and its a great kof) but still the Orochi Saga are the best kofs ever.
I'm glad you liked the video. 96 is also one of my favourites in th KOF series.
I said to myself yesterday ...."Tommorow will be a Neo Geo day for me" and with unmatched timing BOOM!!! Retro Core uploads KoF96, haha YES!!!
Another great episode for the books. 👍👍👍🔥🔥🔥
Cool. Next week will probably be a Neo Geo day too :)
great video mate ,,, I love KOF ,,,plz continue
Looks like KOF '97 is coming next week.
Fire~ Fire~ Psycho Soldier~~ love the musics of KOF 96
Saturn for the win again
Absolutely!
As always.
Japanese PS2 Orochi Hen for the ultimate win, the best version besides the AES to have and play. I know because I have 96 on PS1, Saturn, Wii Orochi Saga, and PS2 Orochi Hen, and the latter pretty much wipes the floor with the former.
One thing Mark forgot to mention is the sound effects of punches and kicks on the Saturn version, they sound extremely weak, unlike any other version of the game, besides the Gameboy port. And 95-97 on Saturn does suffer from character voices that are slightly too highly pitched. I know this because I have played 95 in emulation, and do own 96 and 97 for my Saturn, these issues have always bugged me about the Saturn versions.
I don't own 95 because I have a US Saturn, and constant cart swapping will eventually kill the console, not to mention an Action Replay Plus 4 MB in 1 cart being pulled out and put in constantly will result in your cart slot being stretched, a big no no to me, though I can still buy the game and play it in SSF, with the ROM cart emulated for it on the emulator.
Hello mon cher ami ! Thank you again this great and awsome video, thumbs up for the intro ! I have so much remember about this game !!!! Perfect job !!
Can't wait for the next video....
Thank you soooooo much!!
Thanks for watching, Marc. Glad you liked the Iori opening :D
Retro Core I'm Patron now ! I'll send you 1$ each month. It's not a lot, but, I hope it will help you anyway. I really apreciate what you're doing on this channel.
Thankfully, the West finally got a good version with M2's PS3/PSP "Neo-Geo Station" versions.
Not much I can say that hasn't been said already. I own this with a modded 4n1 ram cart and it has no problem playing on my USA Saturn. I do enjoy seeing the Saturn crush the competition especially ps1/2.
Sounds like you have a good 4 in 1 cart. Some of them have issues playing the SNK 1Mbit games.
Retro Core Action replay 4m plus with pseudo Saturn added is what I run.
Sadly, unlike '95, the PS1 port of KOF '96 is only in Japan. Americans didn't get to play this game at home until 2008 with the Orochi Collection on the PS2...
Nice comparison, and more interesting than at first glance. I started playing KOF series with 97, which amazed me when I saw the cabinet and I became a big SNK fan. I know KOF 96 is well regarded and many ideas in the following editions started there. The sprite and background work is beautiful. KOF is the reason I had my Saturn modded in those days.
Owning a Saturn meant you had to mod it if it wasn't Japanese. So many great games stayed in Japan.
Love that vocal Athena stage theme. Anyway, I have a Japanese Saturn, so I'm thinking of picking this one up (we used to have this one at the local arcade, sadly, it was the only KoF our local arcades ever got.)
Make sure you get the 1mb ram cartridge with the Saturn game as SNK Fighters tend not to work so well with the 4mb ram cartridge.
My favorite KOF is 97 followed by 96. Sadly, neither SNK nor Playmore nor Takara nor any other company showed love for these two games on the Dreamcast. Which I think was yet another nail on its coffin, the lack of quality games ported from other companies. But then again, everyone was so mesmerized by the PS1 and the PS2, so the Dreamcast was bound to be neglected.
There are loads of SNK / Play more games on the Dreamcast. There's 4 King Of Fighters games, 2 last blade games and I'm sure other stuff too.
@@RetroCore The only other one you didn't name was Garou MotW.
Kasumi in the PlayStation and Saturn versions sounds just like Princess Daisy from the Super Mario series of games.
9:50 love the vocal track here!
I always though that was so cool back in 1996.
Aaah, King of Fighters '96. How do I live thee. 8^)
Great choice and continuing onwards with the KOF series Mark. Really an underrated title since most will say that '98 is the top choice. But '96 really made good improvements from the previous two installments that SNK was serious on marching forward to make this a successful franchise.
I have both on the AES and NGCD since those are my favorite when it comes to the game itself. No disrespect to the ports, but when it comes to Neo-Geo titles, play it on Neo-Geo...But of course, that's just me. 8^)
Also, thank you for posting this on the Neo-Geo thread on Atariage.com. Were enjoying it right now. Hopefully, will see KOF '97 next week? 8^)
Thank you as always Mark. Keep up the great work.
Anthony..
I may just do KOF '97 next week but leave it there before moving on to '98.
There's one downside to the Saturn version: the sound is mono even when stereo is selected. What's puzzling is that I've ran into several Saturn games with exactly the same problem (Golden Axe: The Duel being another example), and it doesn't make any sense that this was something done deliberately.
I wonder if it's a hardware revision? I have to admit that I never actually noticed which is strange for me. I'm going to have to boot up Golden Axe the Duel now too to check that.
It is very odd since both games use redbook CD audio which is in Stereo on the disc. The end and opening music I used for this video come from the Saturn game disc.
The Saturn RGB output is sharper, but the PS2 version is free from loading times and features the complete AST of this game - a superb soundtrack IMHO. Before the Japanese PS2 port, the only way to get the same quality was through a modified kawaks emulator, using AST mp3 rips and an Arcade ROM. I was fooled by the US version of the orochi saga too, but managed to get the superior version afterwards. There are official neo geo controllers for the PS2 that make the final experience definitive. I use official NGCD controllers on my PS2, but the arcade AES controller is also available. Thanks for the video!
Did you find that the Japanese PS2 release has a softer image than the Saturn via RGB or the original arcade? Even with the smoothing switched off it seem a little too soft. That could be because I'm running my PS2 via D-Terminal (Component) .
Lucas Milani, like me you know how good the Japanese compilation is, it's everyone else that has played the US Orochi Saga on PS2 that seems to have a hard time understanding this.
It is softer, but its a hardware limitation, because de source art for this game is designed for a 240p signal (like the neo geo/cd and saturn versions do), but the ps2 can only display 480i and above resolutions. So the developers have to use some kind of interpolation to strech the source art to fill the screen
I have the saturn version and since my ps2 is modded, i downloaded and burned the jp orochi saga to test kof96 ps2 version. Its a good version indeed, but just like the saturn version, the audio (voices and sfx) sounds muffed compared to the clear audio effects of the mvs aes and neocd versions, and it bugs me alot.
One of your best battle videos😎😎K.O.F is my favorite fighting games😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎
Who knows, maybe in the future I'll cover KOF '98 :)
One problem with Saturn port is that stage music starts from the beginning after every round whereas Neogeo CD continues the music from previous round !!!!
Yes but like psx has two or three parts of the son splitted in tracks so It changes anyway. Not a perfect solution, but better that starting all over again like many 16bit fighters.
I remember reading this and some other SNK ports to Saturn exhibiting some graphical glitchiness on the 4MB cartridge and possibly on the 4-in-1 carts as well.
Also, the Saturn version is darker than the other ones, and (just as with many arcade ports I notice in a pattern) seems to have a narrower resolution than the PS1. Saturn running at what I believe is 358x224, while the PS1 runs at the original 384x224.
The Saturn port isn't darker but it does look darker on my video because of the RGB cable I'm using. All Saturn games look darker on my videos unfortunately.
The game will glitch when using the official 4MB cart and some 4 in 1 carts too. This is what makes it difficult to play on anything but a Japanese Saturn.
Aye, definitely true on that one Mark. It's why I play to get my NA Model 2 system eventually modded with a region switch, like my friend Chad did 15 or so years back. Also to play KoF'95.
I'm still wondering what is up with the design decision Sega made when making the Saturn's VDP? With it being such a 2D powerhouse, it not being able to do many of the resolutions the PS1 could (384x224, 256x240, etc.) just strikes me as odd to this day. One could easily tell if you look at previous BotP episodes where you used Capcom Generations for the Saturn and PS1 ports.
I guess because it was based upon arcade hardware (the STV) so it didn't occur to them? The Saturn can even out put a really hi-resolution that no game has ever used. Apparently it needs some sort of special cable. Still at least it could output 704 X 480 at 480i which is still higher than anything until the Dreamcast came along.
Retro Core don’t forget the widescreen mode (maybe what you mentioned?) used for ten player mode in Saturn Bomberman.
I personally run my Saturn SNK fighters through an Action Replay Plus, the only time I get any graphical glitches is when I need to clean the contacts on the cart. Since it has a built in 1MB option supposedly, the games run just fine.
I really wish the KOF games had gotten SNES ports. xD This one would have definitely needed an accelerator chip.
I wonder how it would have looked on the SFC? That would have been interesting to see.
WOW! The japanese PS2 Port is looking really good compared to the western release! Also the scaling is correct 1:1 and very nice!
But like KOF 95, the PS1 Version of KOF 96 seems to have odd scaling (or odd resolution? since PS1 games shouldn't scale at all).
It's especially visible at 7:42 in the background (look at the radiator grill of the truck) when the background moves up and down.
Yeah, I noticed that too. You'll also notice that the PS2 and Saturn have similar resolutions. More box like than TV like.
Whats considered the high point of the series, '98 and 2001?
98, 98UM, 2K2, 2k2UM and XIII
Hahaha. Gotcha Mark. Thank you as always. 8^)
Anthony..
With action replay cart most Saturn games that require 1mb and 4mb carts are easy to play. The hard one now though is kof 95 , before I had a Japanese Saturn I had to use the hot swap technique since it requires the special cart.
Curious how you determine that the Japanese PS2 version is a port and the US one is emulated? I have the Japanese Orochi collection and while I'm OK with it, I've heard people saying the sound emulation is off...
Play the US version next to the Japanese one and you'll see how different they are. The US version is awful in every possible way.
I don't doubt that at all, I'm just curious how you determine one is a port and one is emulation...
The sound isn't really off, a little muffled, but not as bad as people might claim it to be. I own a copy of it, and it's my preferred way of playing 95-97, much like the Nests one is my way of playing 99-01, and KoF 94 Rebout, my preferred way to play 94 (including keeping the old backgrounds with the cleaned up sprites, an option included in the remake of 94). The PS2 is also my preferred way of playing 02, 03, Neowave, 98 UM, 02 UM, and XI as well.
The Gameboy version looks great , and has some nice animation and fluidity on it that you didn't find often on Gameboy games (I used to have a Gameboy pocket back in the day).
Its quite amazing just how far SNK pushed the Neo Geo hardware, alot of these games have better animation than whats found in alot of CPS-2 games.
lightdark28 Very true gameboy version looks and plays infinite better then snes
lightdark28 nicer than any other fighting game I've seen on gameboy or gameboy colour
Geo Belmont killer instinct mk2 they wore decent as well
I am not really a KOF kind of guy, but '96 isn't too bad.
Also, when you said loading times are also an issue for another certain console port, the port that automatically shot in my head was the PS1 port.
Yep, that's the one.
in Europe gb version released as King of fighters: heat of battle
One more thing :D the boss TEAM : Geese, Mr Big, Krauser what else
Whats with the "bouncing" animation they added on Mai?
That's been around longer than KoF 96. Win with her in Fatal Fury 2, and if you win, she bounces there too. It's all about fanservice.
I like it when you focus on these "newer" titles more than the really old school stuff :)
Maybe it's just me, but I would have liked to see how bad the loading is in the CD and PS1 versions :P I own the Saturn version myself, which is nice of course.
The Neo CD is really slow. It wouldn't make for great viewing to be honest. Just imagine looking at a loading screen for 40 seconds.
Hah :D I have Real Bout Fatal Fury Special for my NGCD, it never gets played, and I don't even think that's half as bad as this would be :( A shame that they didn't went with the NGZ from the beginning, though it's not perfect it would have been a million times better for the consumers.
You wanna see real bad load times for the NGCD? Try KoF 99 and both Last Blades. The latter will have you wanting to pull your hair out, unless you own a NGCDZ, which knocks some of the load times down to more manageable levels.
it's also on PSN,was on Xb Live i think as part of the ACA series ,Humble Bundle (dotemu ports suck) and Steam...i don't believe any of those had the Red Book audio of the CD versions of the game though.
They're Arcade emulated versions which is why I didn't feature them on the show.
The music in the Saturn port sounds like it's in mono.
eh? really? It shouldn't be. The music is redbook streamed audio which is in stereo. I'll have to check this.
hey, can you please tell me what controller you are using too play fighting games?
I hope you do more kof ports in the future.
Will do. KOF 98 will be next.
I'll just get the Virtual Console version, because at least that version runs virtually flawlessly, as well as in 240p over component cables.
Probably my favorite KOF. Is the Japanese ps2 version in the same format as the AOF/ Fatal Fury collections?
The Japanese one is. No idea about the western release, if there is a western release.
The arcade/Neogeo ones have horrible drum samples used in the entire soundtrack, it sounds like the Drums in Metallica's St. Anger album (aka a drum kit made of trash cans). The compositions, however, are awesome as usual in the KOF series and it shows its strength in the arranged CD versions. (Chizuru Kagura's theme is awesome in the CD versions)
Jon Campos boi St. Anger drums are a meme
Next after aes...Kof 11,13,2002 U.M,14?
(Not the 12...the first I already sold two days after).
A special horizontal 2D shmup please...I looking for new greats games...since Deathsmiles,Troubles witches...and R type remake,I don't found a real love interest.
Something with pixels,big sprites and a close to Cosmic cops,Last resort,Ikaruga,Atomic robot kid,In the hunt...
I love in the Hunt. Such a classic.
Here's a BOTP challenge: Toaplan GetStar / Guardian. Perhaps there is room for another series: DGNP (Decent Games Never Ported)?
Both good games but no ports. I'll try y and feature them on another video some time.
LOL @ that intro, nice touch. Are Gameboy games region free? The sound and gameplay impressed me on that, another one to keep my eye out for if I come across it. Nice video!
Ahahahaha, AHAHAHAHAHAHA. :)
I hoped some people would like that. I had a stupid smile on my face when I added it.
I'm pretty sure all Gameboy games are region free.
Ha I bet you did. I spent last night playing kof95 thanks to your recent videos, my god I forgot about snk bosses, damn cheap lol, I just gave up in the end, but it was fun anyway, onto 96 for today.
That's good to know, yeah I figured they would be more relaxed about that stuff back then, as importing games/anime etc was far harder back in the day.
That was the main downside with SNK Fighters. The bosses were stupidly cheap.
you sound much better. :D
Err, thanks. Maybe I had a cold in the previous video? I think I did.,
How you can tell,that PS2 versiona arent emulated?
There are two versions for the PS2. A Japanese one reprogrammed by SNK and a western release developed by someone else. The western release has all sorts of timing issues, loading, bad screen resolution and other problems. The Japanese version is pretty much perfect, has original or remixed audio and on-line play. May say that the US version is a poor emulation while the Japanese version was reprogrammed. To be honest though I seem to think that the Japanese version is emulated while the US version is reprogrammed. but apparently I'm wrong.
None of the ports kept the original arcade audio.
The PS2 Orochi Hen does, it also allows for the arranged soundtracks to be used as well. It's what makes the SNK compilations on PS2 for their fighting games so awesome.
I didn't know about this huge difference between the eastern and western versions os the PS2 game (port x emulated), besides I do remember SNK fans cursing the PS2 version (maybe for knowing only the western version).
I would add that the PSX version has downsampled sfx (22 or even 11khz) and woud show Joe Higashi's "ultra pixelated" Screw Upper move (the same happens in Real Bout Fatal Fury). But nothing new but RAM restrictions being applied in this case, though.
Oh yes, the PSX does have really low samples for speed and sound effects. It's so noticeable too on the video. I was going to mention it but didn't in the end.
Anyway it only states the superiority of Sega Saturn ports of these games. Sadly it didn't have a KOF98 or Real Bout 2 ports, they would be great.
Very good I like this battle of the ports I think I might play this could you do a battle of the ports on Mortal Kombat 3?
Some time in the future I will cover mortal Kombat 3
Retro Core thanks all your battle of the ports are really cool I like the way when you switch the version it has really nice flowing in and out effect.
Thanks, Shadow Mewtwo Gaming HD.
Retro Core it’s quite alright
Actually Kof 96 didnt make slightly changes,but a whole revamp to the gameplay,sprites and animation.
Saturn port indeed is perfect as always but Psx isnt that bad other than the horrible loading times.
Psx owners were lucky in the end because Kof continues on it with 98 and 99 which were very very good ports.
It sad that the Saturn never got 98 and 99. I guess if the Dreamcast wasn't around it mage have done so.
Seeing two great KOF Game Boy ports makes me mad they never came to the States. Probably the best fighter we had over here was Killer Instinct, and while it played well, it looked horrible.
It tried to recreate the digital look Rare created in the arcade and SNES (similar to what they did for Donkey Kong Land), and it just didn’t work out. It managed to play pretty well despite having only two buttons (down from 6), and the combos for each character were roughly the same.
It is very strange that the GB KOF games never made it state side considering how popular the Neo Geo was there.
Retro Core Correction: The US didn't get 96 on the gameboy. 95 WAS released here (Published by none other than Nintendo themselves).
That's a shame. '96 is so good.
I checked it on ebay, and I stand corrected. It's not like it was a limited release, either, it's readily available, cart only is usually around $15. I have no excuse, lol.
For some reason many PS2 western SNK games are way inferior compared to their japanese counterparts. That includes KOF XI and Neo Geo Battle coliseum. Apparently the US versions are based on the PAL versions and were never properly optimized for 60hz. Also the japanese versions all support progressive scan over component cables.
KoF XI and NGBC play just fine for their US counterparts. I've played their arcade versions and find they perform the exact same on the US PS2 versions. I know Europe got screwed for them, but in the US, we weren't.
@@Bloodreign1 They may seem fine at a casual level, but they're not the exactly same. Back in the day when these games were still relevant tournament games, several competitive players compared all 3 versions and found a lot of issues with the us releases. The japanese versions on the other hand were found to be arcade perfect.
The severity of the issues varies from game to game, with some of the compilation discs being the absolute worst.
I get this stuff may not be important for casual players but I think it's still important to note for people looking for arcade perfect versions.
They were optimized, they just didn't feature progressive scan support but the game speed was correct
@@SK91NO Speed may be correct on many releases, but there are noticeable framedrops too on many of these. Like I said, quality varies and not all releases exhibit the exact same issues and some releases may be perfectly fine, but still there's a lot of these with issues.
A friend of mine had this on his USA Saturn back at the day and I am pretty sure he blew his cartridge port because of this game. You had to boot the game with the Sega Key cart, when the SEGA logo appeared, quickly remove the Sega KEY cart and insert the 1 MB Ram cart.
After doing this so many times, after a while it never worked again.
Yeah, that wouldn't do your Saturn cartridge port much good. He should have bought a 4 in 1 cartridge with automatic region protection and the expanded memory included. Mind you they were pretty expensive back in the day.
That happened to a friend of mine who didn't get his Saturn modded. The cartridge port wearing out is something I've heard happening to Saturn consoles.
We didn't even know such a thing existed back at that time :D
It does wear out and its pretty annoying.
The gameboy games looks so much like the NGP versions...
Takara really did a fantastic job on the GB games, especially this one.
Oh yes after 95 next is 96, but why SNK decide name it with same year with the year they release it ? For easy name, for not forget when they release it, or message that SNK will release new fighting game every year ?
I guess they knew it was going to be a yearly thing. The funny part is that KOF '96 came out on the PlayStation in '97.
Probably they cannot keep up with the schedule, making port is hard after all many code need change or compress so port game wont lose to arcade version, after all console motto back in the days is "play game in your home", but now "game in the go" or for short "portable game" aka Switch motto.
Kof 98 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉😻🏆😻😻😻😻🐱🐱🎮🎮☯️☯️☯️☯️🕹️🕹️🕹️🕹️🕹️🦊🦊🦊🦊🐺🐺🐺🏆🏆🏆
Eventually it will come.
Esakaaaaaaaaaa
What about the nes port? *snickering
Why do the Saturn versions of these games look darker and have seemingly duller colors compared to the other ports (seriously look at the title screen during the side by side comparison and you'll immediately see what I mean, KOF '95 has this exact same problem), the Saturn is supposed to be made for 2D games and I know it can handle the presentation of the arcade original in terms of brightness and colors so to see the system not match the original almost 1:1 in this regard is a bit of a disappointment for an otherwise excellent pre-ps2 era port.
The problem is not with the Saturn but the way my video capture card captures image from the Saturn's RGB output. On my TV it looks perfect.
Playstation version sounds awful. Gameboy music is great, i love it. As always, great video, keep it up with KOF series (y)
The sample rates on the PlayStation are probably 22khtz, half of the other big consoles. I do love the GB music. Excelent stuff.
Capcom vs. SNK please
I don't think it has any ports besides the PS2.
when it comes to 2D games the Saturn easily beats the PSX.
I have to agree with you there but there are some very nice 2D games on the PlayStation as well.
I think it's the last king of fighters to feature good music. As the others seem a lot generic...
I know 2000 is pretty poor for music.
KOF 98 is the best one.
That will be coming along with the special Dreamcast 3D remake.
Battle Of The Ports - Popeye
Do this so I can see what you have to say about the terrible Odyssey 2 port.
Hehe, I have popeye on the list. One day I'll get around to it.
The playstation version was so bad, even my brother doesn't think it was the good!
(...oh, and I did get that £20 from the last game. Can't agree on neo geo vs ps2 though)
The Saturn port of 96 is ok but nowhere near as good as 95's Saturn port which used an exclusive cart, 96 has longer loads, wrong voice pitch, music restarts at each round etc.
Ah, the music follows the same rule as the Neo CD. It doesn't restart but more often than not skips to another section of the song.
The NGCD and PS1 ports work like that, but the Saturn port of 96 just restarts the song at each round in most stages
The King of Fighters games have some great soundtracks, it's been so long I'd forgotten.
After the last BotP I wanted to play a bit of King of Fighters and I happened to have a copy of XII that had been sitting around for years that I'd never played... They took Mai out of the game, why would they do this? It's like taking Chun Li out of Street Fighter. I guess I need to look for a copy of XIII or make some room and hook up one of my PS2s.
What? They took out Mai? She's a main character. I lost interest aster KOF 2002. I felt the games were becoming boring and to be honest I think it was 2001 which was really crap.
If you whine about the loading times, recall back in the 80s when you had to load a game from tape into your computer, or even worse via a 1541 disk drive into your C64.
That was bad but in many cases it was one long wait then the game was ready.
5 exactly the same and 1 "why bother?" Real exciting.
On the surface they do look the same but look closer and there are differences. This video is more for the real hard core fans of the KOF.