Lost In Translation/King of Fighters '98, The - The Slugfest

About The Game
The King of Fighters '98 - The Slugfest is a one-on-one fighting arcade video game which is a special edition of the KoF series taking place outside of the established storyline with a whopping 38 selectable KoF alumni.

Additional Technical Information
Players : 2

Control : 8-way joystick

Buttons : 4

=> [A] Weak punch, [B] Weak kick, [C] Strong punch, [D] Strong kick

Trivia
Released in July 1998.

This game is known in Japan as "The King of Fighters '98 - Dream Match Never Ends".

It is said that this game is a 'dream match' for more reasons than one - this KOF is said to exist only in Shingo's dream - each character in this dream match was Shingo's impression of these characters, based on either personal experience or his notes in his notebook.

Yuri has a long record of taking movements from other characters, especially Capcom (see previous KOF entries). In this new opus : Yuri's new special attack 'Shin! Chou Upper' is a knock off of Ryu's Shin Shoryuu Ken. She also has a movement similar to Terry's burn knuckle. Finally, her Forward+A is a parody of Sakura's Flower Kick.

KOF98 contains pieces of music from older KOFs.

For example, the character select music when a second player joins in is straight from KOF 96 (it's called Roulette).

Here's a complete list of themes, the teams (or individuals) they belong to and the games they were taken from:

Also to note that the music that is played prior to facing Rugal (Kettou R&D) is also from KOF 94 (as the theme for Rugal's first form).

When Choi Bounge appears, a 7 seconds sample from a song is played. This song is 'Choi Bounge Ondo', which appeared in the KOF 97 Arrange SoundTracks. The song became quite popular in Japan.

Mr. Big from "Art of Fighting" makes a small cameo appearance in the USA Wharf background, during the first rounds.

About Kyo Version 95 : Because the introduction of different versions for this character included as "hidden features" in KOF '97 was such a hit with fans, designers thought, another version of Kyo in KOF '98 would make the game more inviting. Designers also remember that both versions for Kyo Kusanagi for game tests were equally popular. This concept for different versions of this character subsequently became the basis for the 'Kyo clones'.

In the Japan Street stage, during the second round if you look in the middle of the background where some shops are, you can see tiny moving people who look like Iori, Mai and Terry Bogard. In the third and fifth round, you can see two people doing hand signals, they look similar to Kyo Kusanagi & Shingo Yabuki. In the fourth round, you can see Mai and Terry.

A serious bug : Using a USA bios rom if you insert a coin on the 'winners don't use drugs' screen on a single slot the games will use the neo+geo bios s1 tile-set rather than the game tiles, this causes most of the graphics to be hidden and the games to be unplayable, it will also end up using the main-board z80 bios so sound will be broken, the games should fix themselves if you let them run another attact loop after game over, on a multi-slot the games will reset. This is one of the first 4 'gigapower' games, the bug was fixed after that.

Leona, Ralph and Clark are playable characters in the Foma 90x Series Mobile Phones game 'Metal Slug Survivors'.

Pony Canyon released a 2 CD limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (The King of Fighters '98 - PCCB-00334) on 19/08/1998.

Updates
At the Intro music (CIPHER) and the Staff Roll BGM (ZERO) a sample used says 'mot*er fu**er'. Apparently, this sample was removed in some non-Japanese carts.

Orochi Team (Evil Chris, Evil Shermie, Evil Yashiro)
At the Character select screen, hold Start and press any button on the normal team (Chris, Shermie, Yashiro).

KOF94 Art of Fighting characters (Ryo, Robert, Yuri)
At the character select screen, hold Start and press any button on the Art of Fighting characters.

KOF95 Style Kyo
At the Character select screen, hold Start on Kyo and press any button.

Real Bout 2 Characters (Mai, Terry, Andy, Billy)
At the Character select screen, hold Start on the respective characters and press any button.

View Attitudes
Hold Start at the match-up screen to view the attitudes of your opponents.

Select Victory Pose
Immediately press A, B, C, or D after defeating your opponent.

Fight Vs Shingo Yabuki
You must win the first three levels by 3-0.

Special Endings
Finish the game using one of these combinations to see the special endings:
 * Kyo, Shingo, Saisyu
 * Kyo, Iori, Chizuru
 * Kyo, Iori, Shingo
 * Kyo, Saisyu, Chris
 * Kyo, Terry, Ryo
 * 1) Benimaru, Andy, Robert
 * 2) Goro, Joe, Yuri
 * 3) Terry, Clark, Lucky
 * Ryo, Yuri, Takuma
 * 1) Yuri, Mai, Athena
 * 2) Heidern, Ralf, Leona
 * 3) Yashiro, Chris, Yamazaki
 * 4) Rugal, Vice, Mature
 * 5) Shermie, Vice, Mature
 * 6) Shingo, Chris, Kensou
 * Kim, Saisyu, Takuma
 * 1) Billy, Joe, Chang
 * 2) Chin, Chang, Choi

Series

 * 1) The King of Fighters '94 (1994)
 * 2) The King of Fighters '95 (1995)
 * 3) The King of Fighters '96 (1996)
 * 4) The King of Fighters '97 (1997)
 * 5) The King of Fighters '98 - The Slugfest (1998)
 * 6) The King of Fighters '99 - Millennium Battle (1999)
 * 7) The King of Fighters 2000 (2000)
 * 8) The King of Fighters 2001 (2001)
 * 9) The King of Fighters 2002 - Challenge to Ultimate Battle (2002)
 * 10) The King of Fighters 2003 (2003)
 * 11) The King of Fighters NeoWave (2004)
 * 12) The King of Fighters Maximum Impact (2004, Sony PlayStation 2)
 * 13) The King of Fighters XI (2005)
 * 14) The King of Fighters Maximum Impact 2 / The King of Fighters 2006 (2006, Sony PlayStation 2)
 * 15) The King of Fighters Maximum Impact - Regulation A (2007)
 * 16) The King of Fighters '98 - Ultimate Match (2008)
 * 17) The King of Fighters XII (2009)

Staff

 * Producer:
 * Takashi Nishiyama


 * Chief Director:
 * Toyohisa Tanabe


 * Sub Director:
 * Haruo Tomita
 * Honey-Bunny-Kaju
 * Tak.Yamashita
 * Hiroto Namada
 * T. Hosokawa
 * K. Hikida (Yanya)
 * Tomonori Kamio


 * System Editor:
 * Khozoh Nagashima (as K. Nagashima)


 * Demo Designers:
 * Kalkin Mizuno
 * Dandy
 * Matuisan!
 * M. Yokoyama
 * Masato


 * Special Effects:
 * Nishida Mika
 * Aoyama


 * Programmers:
 * S. Fujinuki
 * Cyber Kondo
 * Souta Ichino


 * Sound:
 * SHA-V
 * Tate Norio
 * Marimo


 * Adjuster:
 * Kiyoshi Asai
 * Hataboh de Go!
 * M-Panic! Plus


 * Bug Checker:
 * Anne
 * Sanpo
 * H. Shimmei
 * R. Tsune
 * 8097 :K.I (Non)

Front Designer

 * Chief:
 * Blaster-Lu


 * Kyo & Shingo:
 * Akiko Yukawa


 * Ryo:
 * Mitsuru Kawasaki
 * T. I-NO-U-E


 * Benimaru, Iori & Yamazaki:
 * Miki Asakura


 * Robert & Lucky:
 * Mitsuru Kawasaki


 * Daimon, Terry & Takuma:
 * Shinsuke Yamamoto


 * Yuri & Brian:
 * Mina Kawai


 * Leona, Ralf, Clark & Heidern:
 * Dear Ichi Jerry


 * Andy, Athena, Chizuru, Mai & Rugal:
 * C.A.C. Yamasaki


 * Joe & Billy:
 * Hiroto Kittaka


 * Kim & Heavy D!:
 * T. I-NO-U-E


 * Kensou, Chin & Choi:
 * 44Oka


 * Chang, Mary & Saisyu:
 * Tahara Ujyu-


 * Yashiro:
 * Shio Shio Shio


 * Shermie & King:
 * Miho Uematsu


 * Chris:
 * Hiroto Kittaka


 * Mature/Vice:
 * Shio Shio Shio
 * Miho Uematsu
 * Akiko Yukawa


 * Chief:
 * Yurika

Back Designer

 * JPN-Street Stage:
 * Manoru


 * USA-Yard Stage:
 * Tohru Nakanishi


 * China Stage:
 * K.W


 * JPN-Temple Stage:
 * Yurika


 * Korea Stage:
 * Tsugumi A.


 * USA-Wharf Stage:
 * Tsugumi A.


 * Mid-East Stage:
 * Muneki Raishi


 * Rugal Stage:
 * Souzi Takamori


 * Spain Stage:
 * M.K

Voice Actors

 * Kyo:
 * Masahiro Nonaka


 * Daimon/Ryo:
 * Masaki Usui


 * Benimaru/Ralf/Choi:
 * Monster Maetsuka


 * Terry/Kim:
 * Satoshi Hashimoto


 * Andy:
 * Keiichi Nanba


 * Joe:
 * Nobuyuki Hiyama


 * Robert:
 * Mantaro Koichi


 * Yuri:
 * Kaori Horie


 * Leona/Vice:
 * Masae Yumi


 * Clark:
 * Yoshinori Shima


 * Athena:
 * Haruna Ikezawa


 * Kensou/Brian:
 * Eiji Yano


 * Chin/Heavy D!:
 * Toshikazu Nishimura


 * Chizuru:
 * Akiko Saitou


 * Lucky:
 * Kazuhiro Inage (Key Inage)


 * Mai:
 * Akoya Sogi


 * Chang:
 * Hiroyuki Arita


 * Yashiro:
 * Makoto Awane


 * Shermie:
 * Hazuki Nishikawa


 * Chris:
 * Rio Ogata


 * Yamazaki:
 * Koji Ishii


 * Billy:
 * Atsushi Yamanishi


 * Rugal/Heidern:
 * Toshimitsu Arai


 * Takuma:
 * Eiji Tsuda


 * Saisyu:
 * Keiichirou Sakaki


 * King/Mary/Announce:
 * Harumi Ikoma


 * Mature:
 * Hiroko Tsuji


 * Shingo:
 * Takehito Koyasu


 * Iori:
 * Kunihiko Yasui

Ports

 * Consoles :
 * SNK Neo-Geo CD (1998)
 * Sony PlayStation (1999)
 * SNK Neo-Geo Pocket Color ("King of Fighters Round-2")
 * Sega Dreamcast (1999, "The King of Fighters Dream Match 1999")
 * Sony PlayStation 2 (2006, "NeoGeo Online Collection Vol.5 : King of Fighters Nests Hen")