About the Orochi team stage, you actually miss the fact that there are changes to it when your team loses too, not just when each member of the Orochi team steps in.

Regarding the USA stage, a detail you may not have noticed is that there is a helicopter that crashed into the background. It is only present if the Ikari Team members are participating in the fight. It is part of a running gag, since their stages in KOF 94 and 95 also feature helicopters that have crashed (though in 96 the helicopter is present, it flies over without crashing).

Woah, you just blew my mind. I never expected Adventureland or East Farmingdale to be named in a video game. I've been to Adventureland so many times and I live right there. As you mentioned, the stage is mostly a mixture of much bigger theme parks across the country. The only thing that is accurate to the actual Adventureland is the roller coaster in the background.

I'm glad someone's appreciating the sense of atmosphere that 97 went for in its stages, music and ambience

I do so love how alive the stages felt in older 2D games. The regional card girls were a nice touch along with the overall presentation of it being a televised tournament. Even the scenes showing the upcoming matches fit the theming.

I always liked that KOF 97 has a lot of traditional stages, and the ambiences for most of them are really impressive. My cousin used to joke so much on the USA stage, being a Disneyland reference, and I'm glad that it's described that way. xD I never noticed those trucks for the Monaco that had those hidden references, so that's super new to me! I always thought the orochi boss stage and its variations to be extremely epic considering yashiro's lava variation for it. Overall, Great Video and it was super cool to see the many stages and their round forms for KOF 97!

We love BabeRuthless!

Oh, you know my man Jarvis, cool! - For HK stage, it looks like they're in an area facing the Victoria Bay as you can see the HK Island. I know HK by heart so definitely the area is fictional but certainly has the HK vibes in and there. - For the Korea stage at first I thought it was the same place as Kim stage in Fatal Fury Special, which is the Dongdaemun Gate right in the heart of Seoul, but it seems it's a different place. - Monaco is my all-time favorite, the place is named after the La Rascasse corner (it was misspelled in the game card), which is a famous restaurant in the city. However, the place IRL it's in another famous corner called The Hairpin Curve, exactly next to the Fairmont Hotel. I sent you in Twitter the real place of the stage, which it's called Buddha Bar.

Love the Bali stage, they even had the Kecak dance in the background on the far right & yes they are worshippers in a way since Kecak is used for ceremonies like hyping up the Barongsai as the sounds from the people doing Kecak reflects the sounds of intense battle. The "Hindu Monks" are actually musicians that play Angklung which is a set of musical instruments, and when played together u can hear a distinctive melody coming from it. Kof 97 did impress me with the diversity it portrayed in terms of stages and I guess its a soft spot since that one particular stage struck home for me.

the immersion of an actual fighting tournament rather than random street fights is off the walls in this game. i love almost every stage.

i love the Disneyland stage for this game!! although the mascots do look a bit off i think the stage is charming 😊

Another excellent video! Is there any chance you could take a look The Shrine of Eurydice from the Soulcalibur series? It’s a beautiful stage that’s shown up in every main entry except IV and V.

Another great video! I really appreciate the effort you put into the research for these videos. Keep em coming!

So many details I missed through the years! I really love the Bali stage music! Give's me so much nostalgia. Thanks for such an amazing video!!!

Simply amazing work you provide to us. Thank you. You put so much effort in each video. 🤩

I am literally in love with your channel. Being walked through these legendary works of art is such an incredible asmr. Subbed.

KZfaq just recommended your channel and now I'm binging watching through your content! Amazing analysis on fighting game stages, but this one is really special - SNK really outdid themselves with the "big international tournament" in KOF 97. They tried to replicate the same feeling in later games, but the stakes were higher than ever here. Glad to see 97 getting some love!

Great video!

the indirect disneyland stage 😂 kof is something else with their locations but the crowds on the other stages gives off the world tournament vibe

Sick. Kof97 has always had a special place in my 💓. Not only because it was my second fighting game, but also, because it was my into to the series. I gave myself 5 years to dedicate to the game, and the stages were still a suprise to me. Thanks for pointing out details, such as the Bali stage changing between rounds, along with the Orochi, it really made me see the game differently. Congrats on being the first ever female content creator I ever subscribed to. Anyway, my request for the next video is for the kof 2002 stages.

KOF 97 I feel is a sleeper game for the series, much like XI and 2001 are. A lot of people focus on the dream matches, which is a shame. It would be neat to have KOF games that span the whole saga and contain all of the stages and music from every game in that saga, with the option to change the UI to which version you want. As for gameplay, they could do it Hyper SF2 style, except for the whole team. Anyway, again, great job on this video! I like to see SNK getting more love than from other typical FGC content creators. That's why I love Thorgi so much, and he led me to your channel, which I now love too! And if I had to choose a KOF that has my favorite stages, I would choose 95 and 2003. Oh, and I did wanna point out that the centerpiece on the USA stage looks like a reference to the cogs and machinery of the "It's A Small World" ride.

Omg great cosplay at the beginning!!! And nice narration!

Hey, I justs tumbled on your channel last night and ahve been watching and elighting so far. I have been a huge fan of exploring fighting stages and you ahve done a remarkable work covering down to the minutiae. I am glad you covered KoF 97 as I really love how the whole tone of the game was to showcase that this tournament was the largest yet in universe and bordering on stuff like the world cup, etc; only probably lñarger as it covered a fair amuount of unconventional locations too. They didnt want to play it safe and it paid off IMO. I Loved how they went with ambience sounds instead of actual music as it really gave a sense of place and gosh, how I love the Bali stage. Great work all around.

Really impressive work. Love the Bellamy intro

Lol, wow, I have no idea how you were able to find all this information for all these stages but well done! I love KOF, but never gave much thought to the backgrounds. I love your theory about the pillars for the Orochi team being the seals breaking. I had never thought of that before. Thanks for putting in the work!

Great to see the series return. Weird to me that you picked ‘97 because me and my friends always felt its backgrounds were a huge quality drop compared to the first three games, but the "real life" elements are indeed interesting.

What a great run down and showing off all the fun of those stages! The lack of music always got to me about this game, especially in contrast to people clearly playing music in the background.

Nice video. I never paid so much attention to these details before. Thanks for pointing them out. Regarding your question about the structure in the Monaco stage, this is most likely an advertising tower also called Colonne Morris. You can google image to see what they look like in real life.

KOF 97 on the PS1 introduced me to KOF, so it holds a special place in my heart. I was blown away by the size of the cast (only recognizing the AOF and FF teams from their respective games at first), and how cool the game's aesthetics were (music, stages & how lively & dynamic they were, and the in-game bonus artwork!). I'm so glad I learned to appreciate the game's backgrounds even more today thanks to you! This video defnitely deserves to be seen by way more people, so I'm sharing it with my SNK circle!

Menina... Que video maravilhoso!! O problema é que agora vou querer ver voce falando dos estagios de TODOS os outros kofs!!

interesting video, kof97 holds a place in my heart especially since i took half my online name from it a long time ago haha. the music thing did confuse me for the stages since i thought my ps1 disc was stuffed or something with the glitch compared to the other titles.

Another great vid! I don't mean to be nitpicky, but I'd like to make a few corrections/observations: -The music can change depending on not what team you're facing, but which specific fighter you're facing. -Where did East Farmingdale, NY come from? The globe on the intro pinpoints the location to southern California on the west coast. -ToonTown in Disneyland closed in early 2022 for a lengthy refurbishment and literally just reopened to the public this month! -The mountain in the center of the USA stage could be a reference to Splash Mountain (soon to be reimagined into Tiana's Bayou Adventure in 2024) -Fav part was your deep dive into the different forms of the Orochi stage. Overall another great vid! Can't wait to see what you'll talk about next! I have plenty of suggestions...

bali stage sound is absolutely exploding 🔥

Thank you for this nostalgic video. Really entertaining! Do you think you will cover the Fatal Fury 95 stage ? I don't know why, but as a kid, this stage (+ the music) made me fall in love with the series... I'd love to know its details ! Anyway, thanks again for this work ! ❤

I see this and I'm thinking about CvS 1 and 2. Capcom did the game play and art style but SNK DEFINITELY did the stages in both games. Keep up the great work!

Watching this video really made me realize how busy the kof 97 stages are in fact considering how much is going on in alot of these stages I'm actually surprised the neogeo didn't catch on fire cause of how much strain was probably being put on the cpu and ram board

Very cool video, although little bit correction "Tuban" in this game is indeed in the Bali Island and not another "Tuban" that you explain in the which was in different island in Java AFAIK

the orochi team stages are my favorites the elemental changes reflects their abilities and shows the threat of their clan can be

You forgot to mention that the USA stage has an easter egg - If you play as the Ikari Warriors, the "crashed" rocket gets replaced with a helicopter.

24:57 my favorite stage. The manifestation of raw rage and magmatic surroundings. It was also lively than previous ones

I like the Bali stage & music!

Oh this cool

I can't believe I just noticed that in the Bali stage they're doing the monkey chant. I first saw that in the Baraka film

Korea has a little bit of interaction, drummers can do a little fall if the ground is hit hard. One example is Daimon's slam.

didn't know american sports team was there(probably them before chris,yashiro & shermie beat them up for their invitations.),the koshien stadium(happy 100th birthday to it.:3) i always thought was a club or outside it,absolutely love the buildup to orochi in his stage(next kof should be about all the teams taking him on.) & interesting seeing rugal's panther with sally/elizabeth(with how his other option was getting blown up to smithereens when rugal rage quit would choose being with king's tbh.).

I like your video and all but I think you maybe missing the point-- before that... To address King's friend and Rugal's panther, it was apart of a sub plot with King that SNK ended up dropping around KOF'00. King for some reason [I am NOT saying is or even was but just something they were teasing] had an Orochi sub plot that mirrored Geese's Orochi sub plot. Her younger brother had an unnamed illness that strangely only popped up around Orochi revival. After Geese's "Death" her sick brother plot was dropped until '96 and '97. And the last we hear of it was in CVS2. She also have a few official art pieces placing her with Orochi (or Orochi adjacent) members. The idea seemed to be her "friends" where actually Orochi spies, much in the same case as Mature and Vice to Rugal. Lastly to express, this idea seemingly is dropped since Playmore never brought it up again. I like your analysis but I think you are messing the story of KOF '97. It is a fighting game and most of the story is usually in the details of the game. Have it occurred to you that the numbers aren't a stage progression but a possible countdown? When I was younger I thought the ambiance music was a cheap way to hurry the game out since it had one of the smallest development time of a non dream match game [7 - 9 months], but it actually could have a literature reason to it. The sounds aren't what the fighters and people hear, but is what Orochi hears. According to Orochi he's not sealed; he's sleep. The Bali stage is suppose to set the metaphor; as the dance can be mirrored of what is about to occur. Bali's theme, New Face team, Rhythmic Hallucination, Mad Fantasy, and Origin of Mind all have the same melody-- it is being played at different times; as to express it's the same "language" but interrupted differently. The "Woman" of the "Underworld" can be seen as Chizaru since Orochi (within the KOF mythos) is the "King of Heaven". The game shows a different tale; The seal isn't being broken, but the people are welcoming Orochi. One key detail you missed in the Japanese stage is that the two KOF signs make the outlet of an alter protruding from the audience, as if their cheers are being offered (or in this case energy) [P.S. the lights mimic the lighting of the final matches with Orochi clan]. The Symbol in Seoul is representative of the final fight as Humanity, Heaven and Earth comes together on both sides [Fire as Man, Lighting as Heaven, and Ground as Earth]. The falling on the Lunar year of the Chinese isn't a coincidence since Athena and the other Psychics has been placed against Orochi (in subsequent media of KOF). But oddly enough the people guiding the Dragon are holding "Heaven/ Sky" signs, so this can be seen as not a ward against Orochi but against those trying to stop it. I say this 'cause the show up and never leave P1 side-- the "side" that the "canonically" are trying to stop Orochi's revival. There have been several links of Ororchi to Christianity within KOF from then, to Playmore, to even now still. You could be right with "GENZ" being a shorten form of "Goenitz", and remember the New Face team picked up where he left off; meaning the companies may still think he is behind the tournament. OR depending on how you look at it, with America being considered a Christian nation and Orochi comparisons with Christianity within the KOF mythos, the American stage is like an welcoming of Orochi. This is where the numbers can shape the story. If they are counting up then he erupts suddenly and at the same time reenacting the Christian creation story (as on the seventh stage the "ritual" is complete), but if it is a countdown then he is either ushered in from the "American" point of view, or is awaited from the "Bali" point of view. Both "views" tells an opposing looks of the same story. You did a good job and I like your voice. Would you be my waifu?

Interesting to see all these details, to tell the truth, I always play this game and never had a look in all the details like this, in example the China Stage with the random crowd on the back with some characters is very interesting, now is inevitable to don`t pay attention to it, very good content.

K.O.F. 97 was so great. Its something unforgetable

Excellent video. One nitpick, though: Orochi's theme has a proper title, "The Origin of Mind."

Don't know if someone else did response to this, but in the Monaco stage, the blue pillar is an ad display, wich seems to be replaced by a more modern one in 14, with Antonov on it. My 2 cents !

you should review the stages in art of fighting 3,its a welcome relief from the dreary,edgy vibe of south town and fits the south american dynamic Some say aof3 feels like a road trip to find robert garcia Plus it uses motion capture

omg !! can u do the nest saga plz!!

the korea is my favorite stage of this kof since it feels like being in a real martial arts tournament

In my mind Satella was always a reference to the Satellaview for super famicom

20:23 Reminds me the Smile-Bit logo

A little correction, Tuban in 1st stage reference to Tuban village in Badung regency near Ngurah rai airport, not Tuban city in Java island So, i think not only USA who have similiar city name in different states, even in same state 😅😅😅

Generation Z is commonly defined as starting in 1997. Probably not why they're holding a GENZ sign in the USA stage but I thought it was neat since obviously it is '97 in this game lol.

I thought the title of the video was "All 97 King of Fighters Stages" and was confused why the video wasn't like 3 hours long.

Some characters have their own soundtrack : athena, Mary, yamazaki

Was this the game when Kyo lost his projectile ability? 🤔 I know he's had the legacy version in other games, but It's all a blur at this point with how many KOF games there were by the mid 2000s.

The game isn't very good, but I would recommend checking out the stages, especially for the music, of Justice League champ fighters on SNES

Ermmm.... this should be kof 2001 stages... those stages are breathtaking artistic wise....