Lost In Translation/King of Fighters '94, The

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The King of Fighters '94
Manufacturer	SNK
Released	1994
Control Method	8-way Joystick 4 Button(s)
Main CPU	Neo-Geo 68000 (@ 12.000 MHz) Z80 (@ 4.000 MHz)
Sound CPU	Stereo YM2610 (@ 8.000 MHz)
Video Details	Raster (Horizontal) 320 x 224 pixels 59.19 Hz 4,096 Palette colours
Screens	1
ROM Info	25 ROMs 26,804,224 bytes (25.56 MiB)
MAME ID	kof94

About The Game

The King of Fighters '94 is a one-on-one arcade video game featuring 34 selectable characters in fixed teams of three clash to defeat Rugal Bernstein.

Additional Technical Information

Players : 2

Control : 8-way joystick

Buttons : 4

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

Trivia

Released in August 1994.

The King of Fighters (or KOF for short) revolutionized the fighter genre with the introduction of 3 member team fighting called the 'team battle system', and by combining elements of two of SNK's existing fighting game in "Fatal Fury - King of Fighters" and "Art of Fighting", as well as bringing back characters from games predating the MVS in "Ikari Warriors" and "Psycho Soldier". A new game in the series is produced every year.

At the demo previous to the first Rugal encounter, Rugal shows your team the statues he has gathered by turning his opponents into them. One of the statues is of a guy that looks a lot like Capcom's Guile making a Sonic Boom. Capcom later confirmed that it was indeed Guile's statue in "Capcom Vs. SNK - Millenium Fight 2000". When Guile fights Rugal that statue is shown and later destroyed by Guile.

Cast Of Characters

Kyo Kusanagi

Since Kyo was created as a snazzy character capable of holding his own against the main characters of "Fatal Fury - King of Fighters" and "Art of Fighting", coming up with the right design was quite a lengthy undertaking. Kyo's personality remained a mystery until the final stages of development. Originally, he was to be called 'Sho Kirishima', but during the latter stages of development, his designers decided on the name of Kyo Kusanagi, and Sho got a rapid name change. The setting for the Orochi Saga, in which we learn that Kyo's ancestors defeated the Orochi of the Yamata, began with this game.

Benimaru Nikaido

This character was loosely based on a comic book character (Jean-Pierre Polnaref from "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure"), and even after the name of Benimaru was decided on, game developers gave the poor guy an identity crisis by continuing to call him by the comic book character's name. The voice for this character, too, had a peculiar bent to it, and when Benimaru's designer heard his creation's victory line of 'Thank you' recited for the first time, rumor has it that he couldn't work for days after : the reading had nothing to do with the character's original image. His speech patterns have led some to question Benimaru's preferences as far as certain lifestyles are concerned.

Goro Daimon

This character comes from the designers' desire to create a judo athlete who uses dynamic body tosses. His initial designs incurred the criticism of some fellow designers who were of the opinion that it was just plain loopy for Daimon to fight wearing Japanese geta (wooden clogs), but Goro's creators were adamant and he kept his footwear. The suggestions for his laconic victory lines and the sound of an explosion when Goro is victorious also stuck.

Terry Bogard

When the concept for KOF was first formulated, Terry was tacked on to the roster as an afterthought, but his popularity skyrocketed! He became the character who got the designers' utmost attention, and they fretted over various aspects of his character. In the first KOF, Terry became the powerhouse, getting a super punch cancel move added to his arsenal and becoming the fearsome character he is today.

Andy Bogard

Compared to Andy's original form ("Fatal Fury - King of Fighters"), Andy changed little in his move to KOF, but what he got in return was the addition of his Ultra Disruptor move to his arsenal of moves. When first added, it boasted overwhelming power : it was easy to use, never missed, trumped other moves, and annihilated all opponents.

Joe Higashi

Joe is a character who underwent a major image makeover from his transition from "Fatal Fury - King of Fighters". The victory pose of KOF '94 initially lacked the toothy smile we're familiar with now. It was quite a thorn in the side that we felt inappropriate for Joe's legion of fans. So, in rethinking the original design, we added the pearly whites that makes Joe to loveable character he is today.

Ryo Sakazaki

Ryo (as can be said of all characters from "Art of Fighting") has so many Special Moves that it seems almost unfair to the other characters, and in the designing stage, the Art of Fighting team tended to be the strongest. The designers focused on adjusting this imbalance without taking out any moves, but in the end Ryo and his team remain the toughest competitors.

Robert Garcia

Overall, KOF's characters are fit and trim, but compared to their original concepts, Robert is the slimmest of them all. Matched up against Kensou, he chide his adversary in Japanese with an Osaka accent, allowing players to enjoy the amusing word play that Osaka comedians are known for.

Takuma Sakazaki

Since the Takuma of "Art of Fighting 2" closely resembled Daimon, he received a karate tunic in his ensemble to set him apart and that's why he looks the way he does today. He originally had a combo attack after the 'Super Shrike Gale' move that appeared to be a glitch. Hence, during game development, this move was taken out, but the game designers thought that he just wasn't Takuma without this move and it was put back in. The designers slightly regret their decision because Takuma's become quite a mean little bugger as a result.

Yuri Sakazaki

Yuri is a disciple of Kyokugen Karate but her appearances in the KOF series are frequently as a member of the women fighters' team. Originally in KOF '94 there was no such team and production began on King Billy Big Bear as the English team. But "Art of Fighting 2" was completed at that time and the designers pressed to put Yuri into KOF, replacing her with Big Bear, who was presenting various problems, for various reasons (hah, hah) concerning capacity. Enter Yuri, goodbye Billy! (A tragedy, we know) And so the originally planned team started life anew as the mighty women fighters' team.

Heidern

Heidern was devised as a cold-blooded killing machine when he first saw digital life, but as the KOF story unfolded, Heidern's designer identified with the character and provided him with a tragic past. When his super special moves were completed, the moves were so wild that game designers worried that he would have to be depicted as a sorcerer or an alien in order to explain his dazzling moves.

Ralf Jones

In the first stages of Ralf's development, he appeared shirtless to truly express the feeling of ikari or rage, but during the designing phase, someone felt his look was a bit dated and Ralf got the apparel he's now known and loved for. He originally had special moves that allowed him to use grenades, setting him apart from other team members, and a distinctive design, but his use of grenades in a fighting competition was deemed a bit unfair, so he lost that particular talent.

Clark Steel

At the beginning of development, the only differences in designs for Ralf and Clark was one had a hat and the other had a bandanna, but Clark later got a pair of sunglasses to become the character he is today. Clark basically looks a lot like Ralf, but since the designer in charge of adjusting this character worked on his hit accuracy, action speed and attack strength, their combat style is where the true differences between the two can be found.

Athena Asamiya

Given that Athena is always the most highly anticipated character of the series, the pressure to keep her on the roster at any cost is pretty overwhelming. And because SNK staff focuses so much on her, SNK have been accused of favoritism. Japanese fans asked SNK to dress her in a sailor blouse and skirt, but we scrubbed that idea because SNK felt it wouldn't translate overseas and be a bit too risque. But SNK made up for that omission with her wild entrance actions (Hubba! Hubba!).

Sie Kensou

Compared with Athena, Kensou's design has been a bit slapdash. In the previous title, Athena stole the show and since we felt Kensou was a bit too overshadowed by her, SNK gave him a radically new look to appeal to our female fans. We're often asked about Kensou's use of Japanese with an Osaka accent in the game, but he's always done that since his Psycho Soldier days. In other words, he's been doing it far longer than Robert has.

Chin Gentsai

When SNK first decided to try our hands at a fighting game, SNK felt we just had to have a geezer who used the Drunken Fist form of martial arts. Getting the OK, SNK introduced this character as Athena's teacher. As we aimed to create a genuine Drunken Fist master, SNK thought it would be hard to get the right touch, but since designer was good at drawing old guys, the finished product far exceeded original expectations. Unfortunately for the designer, he was unable to shake this habit and all of his subsequent characters tended to look like spry old men.

Mai Shiranui

Regarding Mai's familiar pause action... One day, the designer for Mai asked if it was all right to increase Mai's pause actions, and because the powers that be thought there was enough remaining memory for the game (actually there wasn't) they said, 'Go for it'. When the completed pose was presented, it knocked people flat. Due to this pose's potency, however, Mai's eye-popping motions were stilled in the KOF '94 international home version.

King

As far as King's super special moves go, there were various reasons why the 'Surprise Rose' was initially scheduled to be scrapped. Just when the development staff was worrying about coming up with a move that was something different, though, King's designer whipped this move up, it was well received, and it became her super special move, with no alterations needed.

Heavy D!

Since there has been a number of boxers in fighting games, Heavy D! was designed with the intent to create a different type of pugilist. When he first appeared on the drawing board, D! was not intended to be that big a character, but as he evolved and stood among the other characters it became apparent that he was one huge dude. ...Due to certain production circumstances, however, D! kept his imposing stature and came to be the character he is today.

Lucky Glauber

Known as the basketball fighter, Lucky's original image was based on the character appearing in the Bruce Lee movie, 'Game of Death'. Though originally created with that image in mind, his first design was deemed too plain and he then received his current look. His ability to use karate, though, is a remnant of his original conception.

Brian Battler

Brian came into being well before the KOF project came down the pike, and he's one of the oldest characters. He originally wore a helmet and chest pad, but he shed that equipment to arrive at his current design.

Kim Kaphwan

At first, the duo of Chang and Choi were set to team with another vicious criminal to form the Fugitive Team, but due to certain circumstances the third criminal was replaced with Kim and the familiar team came into being. The addition of Kim was considered somewhat forced, however, so Kim received the mission of rehabilitating the two.

Chang Koehan

Chang was originally far more violent than he is today, but once he teamed up with Kim, he became mellowed a bit. Chang's super special move, the Wild Ball, was originally designed as a test move, but it got such a good response that it was put into the game without alteration. This move is a pastiche of Kim's Phoenix Kick.

Choi Bounce

Choi is KOF's mighty novelty character. His original design looked way too much like a certain someone, so he was hastily given a new look a month before the final character designs had to be completed, giving Choi's designers one major headache. The first time Choi displayed his attacking and retreating moves and rolled around the screen, he revealed not only his fighting abilities but his talent for physical comedy.

An interesting thing about Chang and Choi : Chang was the tallest and heaviest KOF character, while Choi was the lightest and shortest. The duo is very popular in Japan, but hated by American fans. Because of their size differences, they have made a (quite) comedic couple, making the Korean team (or the Kim team) the comedy-relief team of KOF.

Rugal Bernstein

The concept for this character at the time was to make the mightiest (most violent) and most evil boss character ever. As everyone knows, Rugal is the King of Bosses who boasts the most appearances in the KOF series as a boss character, but even considering the whole genre known as 'competitive fighting games', his story and moves have changed ever so gradually while appearing in so many titles, he's one of the few bosses to have been loved (heh, heh) over such a long period.

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

Pony Canyon / Scitron released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (The King of Fighters '94 - PCCB-00162) on 21/10/1994.

Tips and tricks

Select Victory Pose

Press a Punch or Kick button immediately after winning a match.

Critical Hit Oddity

A critical hit is an attack done at the opponent while he/she is attacking. In this game there is a bug that enables either the CPU or the player to take out insane amounts of damage if this is done right. An easy-to-do example is to counter Kim's Hisho-Kyaku with Heidern's Moon Cutter (you must hit Kim's legs with Heidern's hand), if done right you'll take 80-90% off Kim's life-bar in one hit! Try it with other characters and be amazed (This does not work in any other game in the KOF series, though!). :)

• Beat the game without continuing to see all the characters grouped together on the The End screen.

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

Executive Producer

Eikichi Kawasaki

Producer

Takashi Nishiyama

Chief Director

M. Kuwasashi

Sub Director

Haruo Tomita

Yosisi Hashimoto

System Director

Toyochan

System Editor

Khozoh Nagashima (as K. -Mac- Nagashima)

Graphic Director

Mitsuo Kodama

Front Designers

Yoshiko Kubo

Tatsuya Shinkai

Koji Hamada

Tatsuru Murakemi

Peach Hagihara

Mai-Yamasaki

Nobunaga Mikan

Morioka Shinichi

Akihiko Nasu

Miki Asakura

Jetta

Yuichirow Hiraki

Yoshiko Ogata

Masa Sato

Kazuhiro Toba

Yujirou Hayami

Miho Uematsu

Akiko Yukawa

Back Designers

Kenta-Ro

Tsugumi Maeda

Hirolin Hajime

Sahori Etoh

Eri Kohjitani

Kaori Kusunoki

Programmers

Shinchan (as 'Shinchan-Gts')

S. Fujinuki

Sound

Masahiko Hataya (Papaya)

Brother Hige

Pearl Sibakiti

Ackey

Voice Actors

Terry Bogard

Satoshi Hashimoto

Andy Bogard

Jun Hashimoto

Joe Higashi

Katsuhisa Namase

Athena Asamiya

Reiko Fukui

Sie Kensou

Eiji Yano

Brian Battler

Eiji Yano

Chin Gentsai

Toshikazu Nishimura

Kyo Kusanagi

Masahiro Nonaka

Benimaru Nikaido, Choi Bounce & Ralf Jones

Monster Maetsuka

Goro Daimon & Ryo Sakazaki

Masaki Usui

Heavy D!

Toshikazu Nishimura

Lucky Glauber & Robert Garcia

Kazuhiro Inage (Key Inage)

Kim Kaphwan

Satoshi Hashimoto

Chang Koehan

Hiroyuki Arita

Heidern

Toshimitsu Arai

Clark Steel

Yoshinori Shima

Mai Shiranui

Akoya Sogi

King

Harumi Ikoma

Yuri Sakazaki

Kaori Horie

Takuma Sakazaki

Eiji Tsuda

Cabinet and Artwork

• 

  Neo-Geo arcade cabinet.

• 

  The King of Fighters '94 marquee.

• 

  The King of Fighters '94 flyer.

• 

  The King of Fighters '94 alternate flyer.

• 

  Back of The King of Fighters '94 alternate flyer.

Ports

Consoles

SNK Neo-Geo CD (1994)

Sony PlayStation 2 (2004, "The King of Fighters '94 Re-Bout")

Microsoft XBOX (2005, "The King of Fighters '94 Re-Bout")

Soundtrack Releases

Album Name	Catalogue No.	Released	Publisher	Comments
The King of Fighters '94 Arrange Sound Trax	PCCB-00165	1994-11-18	Pony Canyon	CD version.
The King of Fighters '94	PCCB-00162	1994-10-21	Pony Canyon	CD version.
The King of Fighters Best Arrange Collection ~since 94 to 00~	SCDC-00014	2000-06-21	Scitron Digital Content	CD version.
The King of Fighters Symphonic Sound Trax	PCCB-00220	1996-07-19	Pony Canyon	CD version.
Scitron 10th Anniversary Special: The King of Fighters THE BEST -Selected by Characters-	PCCB-00324	1998-09-18	Pony Canyon	CD version.
K.O.F. Dance Trax	PCCB-00233	1996-11-21	Pony Canyon	CD version.
Neo Geo Gals Vocal Collection	PCCB-00219	1996-06-21	Scitron	CD version.
Game Sound Legend Arrange Series - Speed & Wind	SCDC-00375	2004-11-17	Scitron Digital Content	CD version.
NEO-GEO DJ Station	PCCB-00244	1997-01-18	Pony Canyon/Scitron	CD version.
Neo Geo DJ Station Special Radio Drama	PCCB-00262	1997-06-04	Pony Canyon/Scitron	CD version.
SNK Character Sounds Collection Volume 1 ~ Kyo Kusanagi	PCCB-00268	1997-07-18	Pony Canyon/Scitron	CD version.
SNK Character Sounds Collection Volume 6 ~ Mai Shiranui	PCCB-00297	1998-01-21	Pony Canyon/Scitron	CD version.
NEO-GEO DJ Station Live '98, SNK Presents	PCCB-00307	1998-03-18	Pony Canyon/Scitron	2 CD version.
NEO-GEO DJ Station in Neochupi	PCCB-00329	1998-08-05	Pony Canyon/Scitron	CD version.
SNK Character Sounds Collection Volume 8 - Leona	PCCB-00344	1998-11-18	Pony Canyon/Scitron	CD version.
SNK Character Sounds Collection Volume 10 ~ Shermie	PCCB-00357	1999-02-03	Pony Canyon/Scitron	CD version.
NEO-GEO DJ Station 2 ~ B.O.F. Returns	PCCB-00361	1999-03-03	Pony Canyon/Scitron	CD version.
NEO-GEO DJ Station Live '99, SNK Presents	PCCB-00374	1999-05-19	Pony Canyon/Scitron	2 CD version.
SNK Character Sounds Collection Volume 11 - Iori Yagami	PCCB-00378	1999-06-17	Pony Canyon/Scitron	CD version.
Iori Yagami Original Drama -Sun and Moon- ~ Prologue	PCCB-00380	1999-07-07	Pony Canyon/Scitron	CD version.
NEO-GEO GUYS SONG COLLECTION	PCCB-00386	1999-08-18	Pony Canyon/Scitron	CD version.
SNK PLAYMORE Slot Panic Sound Tracks	SCDC-00423	2005-04-06	SCITRON DIGITAL CONTENTS Inc.,JAPAN	CD version.
NEO GEO DJ Station in Gemudora night !	SCDC-00029	2000-07-19	Scitron	CD version.
Dengeki CD Bunko Best Game Selection 13 - The King of Fighters '94	MWCG-0014	1995-01-31	Media Works	CD version.
THE KING OF FIGHTERS NEOGEO's SOUNDTRACK 10th Anniversary Memorial Box	DECX-0001~9	2004-03-10	Dex Entertainment	9 CD version.
NEO-GEO DJ Station Live '99, SNK Presents	PCLP-00703	1999-06-02	Pony Canyon, Scitron Label
NEO-GEO DJ Station Live '99, SNK Presents	PCVP-12619	1999-06-02	Pony Canyon, Scitron Label	Released on VHS.
KOF 15th Anniversary Special Soundtrack	N/A	2009-07-30	SNK Playmore	CD version.

References

The contents of this page are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
The sources used include MAME (version 0.113u2) and history.dat (revision 1.28 - 2008-10-18).
Please see http://www.arcade-history.com for credits.