First of all, let us get one thing straight about this game, despite what the title tells you, this is not King Of Fighters 99. In the arcades, this went by the title of King of Fighters 98, with the occasional sub-title of 'The Slug-Fest'. For some reason, SNK decided to call the Dreamcast port of this game King Of Fighters:Dream Match 1999. There is no 'real' KOF 99, but this game's next sequel, King Of Fighters Evolution, was the KOF released in 1999, so by all rights it is KOF99. For the purpose of this review, Im going to be neutral and refer to this game as Dream Match.

The King of Fighters series from SNK has been running since 1994, and naturally each entry has made it's debut on SNK's Neo Geo arcade and home machines, the AES and MVS,as well as entries 94-97 recieving stellar ports on Sega's Saturn console, and less than stellar ports to Sony's PlayStation. The series is a fighting game, and while the gameplay is 1-on-1 in the fights, the player picks a team of three fighters, who fight until they are knocked out, at which point the next fighter gets his chance. This Turn-based 3-on-3 fighter system, which isn't turn based in the sense of an RPG,I mean fighters take it in turns, is the staple of the series, and one of the many things that set it out from it's rival 2D fighting games from Capcom.
Another thing is that the series takes in characters from all sorts of previous SNK games and blends them together in one universe with new characters. SNK's fighting game series' Fatal Fury and Art Of Fighting have both seen healthy chunks of their cast appear in a KOF game at some point, and appearances are also made by the soldiers from Ikari Warriors and even good old Athena, from the game of the same name.

Up until this point, the story of KOF games had focused on the characters of Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami, born of two rival clans, who are constantly at each other's throats, but must unite to stop the evil force of Orochi, which somehow always manages to tie it's nefarious plans for the world into a martial arts tournament.
However, the Orochi Saga was brought to a close at the end of King Of Fighters 97, and instead of coming up with a new story right away, SNK opted to create the game that would coin the phrase 'Dream Match', and go without a story and just make a fighting game with as many of the popular characters from past KOF's as they could fit onto an MVS/AES cart or GD-Rom.


The game boasts well over 30 playable fighters, including all the old favourites such as Terry and Andy Bogard,Joe Higashi,Kyo,Iori,Mai Shiranui,Billy Kane,Yamazaki,Kim,Leona,Heidern,Ralf,Clark,Ryo,Robert...the list goes on. The game also features two playable characters not in the Neo Geo version, the boss,Orochi Rugal, as well as Kyo wannabe Shingo. To further complicate matters, several characters have alternate versions accessed by holding down the 'Start' button while selecting, if the portrait changes a little, this means you can use an alternate version. This is a wonderful selection of characters, and anyone who has ever enjoyed a KOF title will find at least one character they will enjoy. The only complaint I have about the characters on offer, is that Geese Howard and Wolfgang Krauser are missing. While these are fairly minor gripes when you consider just how many characters there are, I had to get it in somewhere.

So how does the gameplay of King of Fighters differ from the other 2D fighters out there? for a start, the first thing you will notice is that it is a bit slower than any Capcom fighter, or even games in the Fatal Fury or Art of Fighting series, not slow to the point it's sluggish, it just doesn't move at the rapid fire pace of Streetfighter games. Another difference is the huge range of moves and combo's at the disposal of each of the characters. The instruction manual only reveals a handfull of special moves, leaving the player to figure out the rest for themselves, including varying amounts of special moves, and around 3 Super Moves per character, not to mention the countless combos and so on. The KOF games also have features in them such as dashing forward and back, and less emphasis on projectile based combat.
The gameplay is where it's at when you are talking about a 2D fighter, and Dream Match has it in spades. 30+ characters to master, not to mention the multiplayer aspect of the game, which earned it a star in itself. It's impossible to say why games like this are good, they just are. Everything falls into place for Dream Match, collision detection couldn't be better, controls laid out simply and responding perfectly. I see no point in even trying to complain about any aspect of the gameplay, because it would simply be lies.
Speaking of the controls, given that the Neo Geo only uses 4 Buttons, this means that the controls are perfectly workable on the regular Sega Dreamcast controller. X and Y control light and heavy punch, and A and B do the same for the same definitions of kick. L and R really aren't necessary, although one can be used to taunt, not really a necessary control, but cool anyway. The thing that lets it down in this aspect is that it forces you to use the D-Pad, which anyone who has every tried to use the Dreamcast D-Pad will tell you is crazy talk. A solid arcade stick is what you need, and owning the official heavy duty PAL Arcade Stick from Sega, Im in the perfect position to enjoy this wonderful game, controlled as it should be.

To add some value to proceedings, as well as the Team arcade mode, we have a 'Single', mode where, the characters fight one on one, Versus modes for Team and Single, as well as the obligatory Survival Mode, and something for linking up with the Neo Geo Pocket, which I don't own so cannot comment on what it is. While there isn't anything, for me anyway, ingenius or new in terms of modes, it covers all the necessary bases, and the fighting engine is good enough on it's own anyway.

Graphically is where, if anywhere, the game comes in for a lot of critics. The game is 2D,sprite based, which automatically turns a lot of people off. The sprites are grainier than any Capcom efforts, although at the same time the game opts for a more realistic look, which I feel it succeeds in. The animation is fluid,and the backgrounds are detailed, and even feature the non-active fighters clanging around. Personally 2D doesn't bother me, and while these sprites could also easily be achieved on the Saturn, that doesn't make them bad, and personally I don't have any real complaints about the graphics.
One thing that cannot come in for criticism from anyone is the anime styled intro, which runs for quite a time, and while not really relevant to anything, is really damn cool to watch.

The sound in the game is generally decent, if never veering above that standard on a regular basis. The music is nice enough, and better than the techno garbage Capcom seems intent on putting in it's fighters, but personally I don't find it all that memorable,although I know a lot of people love the KOF music. The voices are in Japanese, but all fairly clear and without much fault from what I can tell.

On the whole, my only complaint about this game is really that it doesn't have a story, which hampers the single player game quite a bit. A lot of people, particularly those who don't actually play them, often write off fighting games as not having stories, which is something that KOF 94-7 makes a complete mockery of, having a continuous story throughout the games, and a cool one at that. All KOF's post this entry,up until 2003 also had a,less impressive, story running throughout. Personally, as someone who just enjoys playing the game for the wonderful engine, this doesn't ruin the game for me, but it would have been nice, because SNK are good at that sort of stuff.

But with that said, I still feel the need to dish out full marks to Dream Match, solely on the basis of how much fun and enjoyment I have got out of it, especially on multiplayer. It's games like this that cemented the Dreamcast as the true 'King Of Fighters', in terms of consoles, and if you are a fan of the genre and lack one, I would opt for finding a cheap second hand DC and some of it's delightful scrappers over the sparse selection of quality fighters offered on the PS2 or XBox. If you like fighters and 2D doesn't bother you, and also have some friends of a similar inclination, Dream Match is a game you want in your DC collection. Now.

Other King Of Fighters Related Reviews
Fatal Fury for Sega Genesis
Fatal Fury for Super Nintendo
Real Bout Fatal Fury for PlayStation

Recommended: Yes