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The King of Fighters '96 (ザ・キング・オブ・ファイターズ’９６) is an entry in SNK's The King of Fighters series. It is the third in the series, and the sequel to The King of Fighters '95.
Among other systems it was brought to the Sega Saturn in 1996, though this version was released exclusively in Japan. Despite this fact, it supports all the languages of the Neo Geo versions (Japanese, English, Spanish and Portuguese). The Saturn version was extremely late, being released on the 31st of December - almost missing 1996 altogether.
It requires a 1MB RAM expansion cartridge in order to function correctly. Though 4MB RAM expansion cartridges exist, using one will corrupt graphics in the game.
The Saturn version of The King of Fighters '96 stems from the Neo Geo CD and shares its arranged CD audio soundtrack. Loading times are faster on the Saturn than on the Neo Geo CD, though sound effects have been lowered in quality and some stage introduction special effects are missing. Animations on the character selection screen are missing in all CD versions of the game, as are team reactions when the player is slammed into the ground during a fight.
The Saturn compares favourably to its PlayStation counterpart, which in addition to the aforementioned cuts, lacks many character and background animations. The PlayStation port also manages to load slower than the Neo Geo CD at times, despite its disc drive being twice as fast.
Production credits
Producer: T・Nishiyama
Chief Director: Kuwayan
System Director: Toyochan
Sub Director: Toyochan, Haruo Tomita, Namaan-Hiroto, T.Hosokawa
Big Shot! "寂"
