(KOF '95) is a 1995 fighting video game developed and published by SNK for the Neo Geo arcade system. It is the sequel to The King of Fighters '94, and the second installment in The King of Fighters series. The game features a similar cast to KOF '94 with the exception of the USA Team, which was replaced by the Rival Team. The plot features a new King of Fighters tournament once again promoted by the criminal Rugal Bernstein, who seeks revenge against the protagonist Kyo Kusanagi, who defeated him in last year's tournament. KOF '95 marks the first appearance of the fighter Iori Yagami, who becomes Kyo's rival in the series.

It is also the first game in the series to be ported to other home consoles besides the Neo Geo AES and Neo Geo CD, with versions released for the PlayStation, Sega Saturn and Game Boy. One of the main focuses in the creation of The King of Fighters '95 was the introduction of the Rivals Team, most notably Iori as a means to expand Kyo's story. Gameplay remains similar to the first KOF game, with SNK working to balance the original gameplay with the new team feature as well as each character's expanded moveset.

The King of Fighters '95 received glowing reviews in the Arcade and consoles, but mixed reviews for the PlayStation 1, with critics praising the gameplay and new characters but criticizing the game's controls and long loading times, especially on the PlayStation version. Several critics compared the game to Capcom's Street Fighter Alpha, released the same year, with some finding it too similar. The game was followed by The King of Fighters '96, which continued the "Orochi Saga" that concluded with The King of Fighters '97.

Gameplay

thumb|left|Gameplay screenshot showcasing a match between [[Athena Asamiya and Iori Yagami.]]

The King of Fighters '95 is a fighting video game with gameplay and rules that are mostly unchanged from its predecessor, The King of Fighters '94. Players choose a team of three members and compete against others until all three characters are defeated. The main addition is the introduction of the Team Edit feature, allowing the player to create a custom team from any of the game's twenty-four characters in addition to the pre-defined teams in the game. Through the main play mode, players must defeat all other teams in order to fight the bosses: the brainwashed Saisyu Kusanagi, followed by a stronger Rugal Bernstein. The dodge and counterattack mechanics were revised, resulting in better reactions from the fighters. Production took place at SNK's headquarters in Osaka. Creation of the game started shortly after winter 1994 when The King of Fighters '94 was released. The staff was tired from developing the first game, which made coming up with new ideas far more challenging. The initial plan for the sequel was a "fun version" that incorporated more ideas than the previous game. The staff chose from as many ideas as possible to fit into a set schedule, and worked hard every day, cutting down on sleep, but there were quite a few elements that they had to cut down on due to time constraints. The trial and error of figuring out the order to bring them in within a fixed team—that was what made the original game appealing. The entire The King of Fighters '95 was meant to be a remake from The King of Fighters '94 but issues with time scheduling and balancing resulted in the similarities between both installments. The team would instead reuse the idea for The King of Fighters '96. An important concept for the game was to bring team editing to the forefront and give players more freedom to play. The team introduced new features, including the counterattack, which was an improved version of the dodge attack that was difficult to execute in "'94" and was arranged in the KOF style. Despite the character's lazy demeanor, SNK made Kyo develop new moves per game such as the where he grabs a foe with his hand and creates an explosion, to show that he actually takes fighting seriously.

New special moves were created for the Fatal Fury characters while Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia from Art of Fighting were revised as they were considered overpowered. The time spent on balance adjustments was longer compared to the previous game, as the team now had to balance 24 different characters. However, the team had learned from their experience balancing the previous installment, which helped the process move faster. The CPU fighters in "'94" were easily trapped in fairly simple strategies, so the team sought to make the computer's movements as difficult as possible to defeat with just one pattern. However, there are still some characters that fall into a pattern.

The team also was careful to balance the sexualization of Mai Shiranui with the younger Athena Asamiya. The character of Eiji Kisaragi was originally from Art of Fighting 2 and the staff had to adjust most of his moves to balance him with the other characters. Following this game, several Art of Fighting characters were removed from each sequel with developers saying it was "thanks to KOF jinx."

The sub-boss character, Saisyu Kusanagi, was initially not planned to appear in the game as the staff wanted to make it so that he died in The King of Fighters '94 during one of the cut-scenes from the Hero Team. However, Saisyu was added at the last moment to the game. Fatal Fury villain Geese Howard was meant to be playable in the game; various considerations at the time, however, led developers to abandon this plan. In the previous game's story, Kyo was the protagonist in name only, so this time they tried to make him stand out more. That is when they introduced Iori as his rival and made Saisyu a mid-boss. As a result, it was creating a coherent story for Kyo, even though it was an all-star game. Due to development reasons, and had to limit the number of teams to eight, and after much deliberation, they decided to cut out the American teams. The team edit was an idea that had been floating around since KOF '94. While Kyo was popular in the first game, his designer Shinichi Morioka decided to create his girlfriend Yuki which bothered several of his fans. The idea of having Yuki suddenly appear from behind Kyo just before fighting the final boss and stop him was something that was in the works since '94, but the director did not really want Yuki to appear on screen. He didn't want to have them get romantic. Dubbing him "Omega Rugal", they ultimately settled on an appearance similar to his King of Fighters '94 counterpart, but with his upper body having burst from his clothing, wild white hair, cybernetic prosthetics replacing his right hand and eye, and the Greek letter "Ω" tattooed on his back. A Game Boy Color was also made but by changing the visuals from the original game into a cartoon-like.

The King of Fighters '95 was one of the first titles from SNK to be ported to the PlayStation. To improve its appeal to the North American market, Chad Okada of SNK added new options to the game that were not present in the original Japanese version, such as selecting stages and improving the grammar and spelling, which was one of the biggest issues from the Neo Geo version. The PlayStation version was published on August 31, 1996, in North America and the PAL region by Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. It featured a remixed soundtrack which took advantage of the Redbook audio format. The PlayStation version released in Europe ahead of the Saturn version due to a timed exclusivity deal between SNK and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. The "PlayStation the Best" version was also re-released on March 28, 1997. The Saturn version (which required a ROM cartridge that came packaged with the game disc) was also released in Europe by Sega. The bundled ROM cartridge contains the majority of the character animations. It was the first video game to use a CD-ROM and a ROM cartridge in tandem.

An emulated version of the game was released as part of The King of Fighters Collection: The Orochi Saga in 2008 for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Wii. The Neo Geo AES version was added via emulation to the Wii's Virtual Console service on April 26, 2010. It is slightly edited, however; the blood is removed and Mai lacks her signature bounce, both in her fighting stance and win animation. Both of these aspects can be activated with a code, however.

The arcade version was emulated and released as part of the ACA Neo Geo series for the Xbox One on March 30, 2017, with releases for PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android following afterwards.

A variety of licensed media based on the game was released in Japan in 1994 and 1995:

Original soundtrack:

  • The King of Fighters '95 (PCCB-00187) released by Pony Canyon
  • Arranged soundtrack The King of Fighters '95 Arrange Sound Trax (PCCB-00189) released by Pony Canyon

Guide books:

  • The King of Fighters '95 Graphical Manual (GMC-14) by Shinseisha
  • The King of Fighters '95 Neo Geo Hisshō Hō Special () by Keibunsha
  • The King of Fighters '95 Perfect Guide Book () by Shinseisha
  • The King of Fighters '95: Official Guide Book for the Ultimate Fighters () by Aspect
  • The King of Fighters '95 Complete Manual by Shinseisha

Manga:

  • 4-koma manga collections The King of Fighters '95 4-Koma Ketteiban ()
  • The King of Fighters '95 4-Koma Ketteiban Side 2 (), created by fans and professional artists and published by Shinseisha
  • The King of Fighters '95 Comic Anthology (), created by various artists and published by Shinseisha.

Reception