On this day 20 years ago, The King of Fighters '99 was first released. Let's talk about its GOAT soundtrack

[chaobreaker]

In the old forum, I posted a thread arguing that The King of Fighters '96 had the GOAT fighting game soundtrack on its 20th anniversary. I still think that's true today so lets put that aside when I say The King of Fighters '99 also has a GOAT fighting game soundtrack. I would argue '2000 is a close tie but I think first impressions matters a lot more than what is essentially a reiteration of a known successful formula.

The King of Fighters series has gone through a lot of makeovers over the years but nothing has been more drastic than the darker and edgier turn the series went with '99. Beyond it's visuals, presentation, and plot, nothing would probably represent this thematic shift more than its soundtrack. The cheery and more diverse tracks of the Orochi Saga games are out and in their place are the harder club-like beats and moodier tracks of the first entry of the NEST Saga. IMO none of the later KoF entries ever took a more drastic turn musically than '99 did.

For example: Here is the theme for the new protagonist K' and his team of genetic supersoldiers and Team Japan transplants:



Instead of the funky or upbeat themes of Kyo's Team Japan, KD-0079 hits you with some hard-hitting music. Music almost completely unknown in fighting games at that time. IMO this track ultimately represented the tone SNK set for the NEST saga (at least before they went bankrupt).

Team Fatal Fury's new theme 176th Street feels more in place for a jazz cafe than a fighting game:



Gone are Team Psycho Soldier's idol-musiclike/chinese-influence tracks and in comes the aptly named Psycho Sonic Trip:



The most drasticly changed in tone would arguably come from Kyo's '99 theme Tears. Symbolizing his departure of the role of the main hero of the series, here comes a track that invokes the iconic Esaka? from '96 but in way that seems nostalgic and longing for the good ol' days. Not a surprise if you know what he's went through after the end of the Orochi Saga. Arguably one of the best tracks in the series:



Here are some other tracks from the game that I quite like:

Sha-La-La

The Way to Rebirth

Ryu-Ko

And some official remixes of some '99 songs from later games that I want to give shout-outs to:

KD 0079+ (From 2002 UM)

KD-0079 -KOF XIV ver.-

W.W.III -KOF XIV ver.-

 

[JMTHEFOX]

KOF '99 had some of the best artwork made by Shinkiro for its time. New characters were also cool.

Anthena's design there suprised me though so it took a lot of getting used to.

 

[Annabel]

Cant help but agree, even if 99's soundtrack isnt my top favorite.

But KOF's soundtracks in general feel like one of their strongest points. Always consistently great beyond, like, the later NESTS games and XII.

My favorites probably are XI, 2002 UM and XIV.

 

[Korigama]

Needs more Sadistic Eyes.

 

[Subaru]

I love KOF 99 OST/AST, and I love the new voice acting direction. Ryo sounds so strong!

 

[UnholySpectacle]

Maxima was my character in that game. And yes it did have some of the best music for the series. It also had some of the best stages with awesome transitions between matches.

 

[Sapiens]

Kof99 was pretty ambitious in trying to figure out how to make this iterating series seem fresh. Gameplay wise, I don't know if they were successful, but in terms of mood and atmosphere, they did the best they could. Really nice sprite work. Really made it stand out from the rest in that era. Imo.


The music is another level though. They did a fantastic job breaking away from the tired themes of previous games, and kof2000 one-ups it.

Even if you're bad at kof or hate the striker-based gameplay and changes made in these two games, they're at least an interesting single player romp.

One thing I really didn't like about this new era was the rather bland and borderline awful character designs. In spite of the amazing detailed work on the sprites, the new character designs really sucked. Kyla, Bao, Maxima, et. al. are all rather generic and bland.

 

[chaobreaker]

Apparently Google lied to me and got the date wrong. It's initial Arcade release date was on the 22nd of July, 1999.

Oh well my point stands lmao

 

[Deleted member 1102]

Krizalid is one of my favourite KoF designs so I'm super mad that 99 is one of the only KoFs not available on the UK PSN store.

 

[krg]

chaobreaker are you the one who said that you successfully modded in KoF 96' Arranged Soundtrack onto KoF 98'? If so, please let me know how!

 

[chaobreaker]

chaobreaker are you the one who said that you successfully modded in KoF 96' Arranged Soundtrack onto KoF 98'? If so, please let me know how!

Click to shrink...

It's been a while but I think there was a guide on the steam community page for the Final Edition PC version.

 

[Korigama]

Kof99 was pretty ambitious in trying to figure out how to make this iterating series seem fresh. Gameplay wise, I don't know if they were successful, but in terms of mood and atmosphere, they did the best they could. Really nice sprite work. Really made it stand out from the rest in that era. Imo.


The music is another level though. They did a fantastic job breaking away from the tired themes of previous games, and kof2000 one-ups it.

Even if you're bad at kof or hate the striker-based gameplay and changes made in these two games, they're at least an interesting single player romp.

One thing I really didn't like about this new era was the rather bland and borderline awful character designs. In spite of the amazing detailed work on the sprites, the new character designs really sucked. Kyla, Bao, Maxima, et. al. are all rather generic and bland.

Click to shrink...

Neither '99 nor 2000 balanced Strikers particularly well, and replacing backward rolls with that hop-back-then-forward again stationary dodge was a mistake made in '99 then never repeated.

Couldn't disagree more with considering either Kula or Maxima "generic" or "bland" (the popularity of the former making it quite clear that such an assessment puts you in the minority). This was also the same saga that introduced Vanessa. Bao and Hinako were misfires though, indifferent to Lin, and the less said about the since retconned K9999 the better (though of course that last one was '01, not '99 or '00).

 

[Finale Fireworker]

This thread has been locked at the OP's request.

Maye next month, chaobreaker. :P

 

[B-Dubs]

I declare this thread, open!

 

[chaobreaker]

Thanks to the mods for opening this thread. My error was costly but I hope we can truly appreciate '99's impact in the KOF series during its actual 20 year anniversary.

 

[Evilisk]

Didn't know KOF99 had such a good soundtrack. I really need to get around to playing the post-98 KOF titles

One thing I really didn't like about this new era was the rather bland and borderline awful character designs. In spite of the amazing detailed work on the sprites, the new character designs really sucked. Kyla, Bao, Maxima, et. al. are all rather generic and bland.

Click to shrink...

I don't know how anyone could call Kula generic. Her ice skating inspired fighting style / animations already make her fairly unique

Her design is also so popular that there's a whole host of shitty recolors / edits based on her in MUGEN

 

[Korigama]

I don't know how anyone could call Kula generic. Her ice skating inspired fighting style / animations already make her fairly unique

Her design is also so popular that there's a whole host of shitty recolors / edits based on her in MUGEN

Click to shrink...

Going with generic and bland truly was a criticism that failed to articulate "I don't like thing" in a manner that chose words that actually made sense.

 

[Tizoc]

Kyo burning his headband made me legit shook as a kid.
His 2 punch special and super move though were hella weird looking and still are to this day. Granted I first played this via the psone so of course some animation frames were missing but even its original animation looks weird to me. Doesn't help that recent KoF games of the past years gave it back to him :V