"Fight and die, or just die!" "We choose the latter!" ....

"Excuse me good sir, but do you by any chance have the time to speak about our lord and savior, Orochi?"

"Wow, 1996 that's crazy! The future!" Yeah, no kidding. Quite a bit of time since October 16, 1919.

SNK on Kof 02 um: So how many bosses do you want in this? Kof fanbase: Si

Max: Oh my god, this is the King of the Hill Stage! Hank Hill: Buster Wolf I tell you what.

"Oh my God, this is, uh... King of the Hill stage!" "God dang it, Terry!"

16:26 The King Of Fighters '96: The Musical

I lost it when Gonuts said, “ Fight and die or just die” and they said we choose the latter 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

"Mai is in fine form" Yeah she is.

"Save that man, Terry! You're a super hero!" "GET SERIOUS!"

Holy hell! I was not notified of this video! DX I was sitting here waiting for the video to upoad and yet I was never notified! Geez! Uhhh, King of Fighters '96! The game that changed how KOF games played forever! Umm, everyone usually loves it and it's referenced a gazillion times throughout the KOF series! Even KOF 14 references it! (Honestly, I think the Final Boss Stage is a callback to the Final Boss Stage in this game.) The sprite quality got a HUGE overhaul and the music is even better than ever! SNK were true artists back then (seriously, have you seen Metal Slug 1-3's sprite quality~?) The game is HUGE both gameplay wise and story wise. This is where the plot REALLY picks up (KOF '95 started it, but '96 got you invested big time!) So... Uh... Facts! Yes facts! I'm so damn late! What do I have to say here? - Team Fatal Fury's theme song is a remix to Big Shot from Fatal Fury 3. It's pretty chill, don'tcha think? - For some baffling reason, Terry's Power Wave has much shorter range. This is usually called "Round Wave" in the Real Bout games because it took up all 3 / 2 planes which meant it was difficult to dodge. I know some KOF games in the future actually bring back the standard Power Wave and reserve it for the "Low Punch" motion and give the Round Wave for the "High Punch" motion... Fighting Game terminology. ^^; - I'm going to talk about Andy for a sec. Similar to Athena Asamiya, Andy tends to get a new outfit in each KOF installment he appears in... sorta. It's usually just a different variation of his old outfit. KOF 2001 gave him a drastically different outfit and the next time he would have something that drastic is in KOF 14. Admittedly, my favorite outfits are his original (seen in KOF 13 as well if I'm not mistaken), the one seen in KOF '98 to 2000, and the KOF 14 one. - Robert's outfit is based on his appearance in Art of Fighting 3 where he's, surprisingly, the main character in that game since the plot revolves around him. In that game, Robert goes to Mexico in hopes of finding and helping his childhood friend, Freia Lawrence . Ryo and Yuri give chase, worried about their ol' pal, but none of them are aware of the presence of Wyler who Freia is looking for and trying to help... Honestly, I don't feel like talking about AOF3, the plot's kinda weird. >.> Just know that Wyler pulls a Jekyll and Hyde situation and becomes a weird version of the Hulk as the final boss. Yup. ^^; - KOF '96 is beloved every where for how much it changed the fighting scene and KOF entirely. It's referenced a LOT in KOF. In fact, The Japan Team's (and Psycho Soldier Team) Stage is brought back in KOF 13. The Fatal Fury Team's (and AOF Team) Stage is rearranged in KOF 14 and is exclusively the Fatal Fury Team stage. - Goenitz. Goenitz. Goenitz. Why must you be so hated by many? XD Yeah, this guy is hated by everyone; by players and even by characters in the story! And he deserves it! He's caused a lot of stuff prior to KOF '96! He caused Leona Heidern to lose herself to the Orochi Blood at a young age and kill everyone in her village, including her father Gaidel (she lost her memory of the carnage she caused), killed Chizuru Kagura's twin sister, took Rugal's eye and gave him some Orochi power which led to Rugal killing Heidern's wife and child, do we need anymore reasons to hate him?! Well, on the "bright" side, prior to KOF '96, Kyo fought Goenitz and lost which inspired Kyo to invent some new moves. That's the reason Kyo has a new moveset in this game. Pretty cool, huh? But no, Goenitz did all of this to weaken Orochi's seal which would come to play in KOF '97 when he's finally returned after over 1000 years of sleep. As one of the Hakesshu and the leader of the Four Heavenly Kings (the other three being Yashiro, Shermie, and Chris from 97), Goenitz is devoted to making sure Orochi makes his return... Also, screw that "Koko desu ka" move. T_T Screw Goenitz entirely. lmao - Goenitz is named after a character from the anime Space Battleship Yamato. In fact, Rugal and Heidern are also names taken from the anime. - Goenitz actually had fellow Hakesshu members, Mature and Vice, keep watch of Rugal as his secretaries. Mature is seen in '94 and Vice is seen in '95. The two of them team up with Iori, forming the classic Yagami Team. Even though they canonically die in this game as seen in their team ending (caused by Iori though not by his own will), they made more appearances as his teammates in the Dream Match games... before canonically returning in KOF 13 and 14...somehow. - Canonically, Goenitz is defeated by Chizuru, Kyo, and Iori, which is possible by playing as the three in this game (The Sacred Treasures Team, referencing the Orochi Legend loosely... The entire Orochi saga clearly references the mythology). Regardless of who defeats him, Goenitz takes his own life with his wind powers as demonstrated at the ending of this video. However, like many souls, he may have returned after KOF 14 thanks to Verse's demise. - This game is the last time in the KOF series where you have to fight every single team in order to progress. In KOF '97 and onward, you only have to fight a few randomly selected teams before proceeding to the final stages. - Kasumi Todoh from Art of Fighting 3 appears in this game (debuting here too), taking the place of Yuri on the Women Fighters Team. The Team Story shows that Yuri decided to join the AOF Team since Takuma's taking a step back. Mai was highly upset about possibly not appearing in KOF this year until King presented Kasumi. Story-wise, Kasumi is the daughter of AOF1 boss, Ryuhaku Todoh... and Kasumi HATES Ryo for humiliating her father so much that he refused to come back to his family. It's a running joke that Ryuhaku is watching his daughter from the shadows (as he does in this game in fact!...But, to my knowledge, only in the Women Fighters Team's Stage and when Kasumi is the opponent.) and even appears randomly to assist her in a Super Attack. Kasumi gets a minor redesign in the form of a ponytail when she reappears in KOF '99. - Here's a weird one: Apparently in SvC Chaos, Chun-Li is actually jealous of Kasumi's legs...??? Apparently, Kasumi's legs are nice enough to get Chun-Li envious. I suppose that _can_ be possible, especially since Kasumi is much younger than Chun-Li, being 16 and all. But then again, SVC's dialogue is weird as all hell. Take that with a grain of salt, will ya? ^^; - The Boss Team is spectacular! It consists of Fatal Fury baddies, Geese Howard and Wolfgang Krauser, and AOF baddie, Mr. Big! And from their Team Story, they all don't like each other! XD Unlike other teams in this game, each of these characters in the Boss Team have their own themes dedicated to them: Geese has a remix of his Kiss for Geese / Soy Sauce for Geese theme, Krauser just...reuses the Dies Irae theme from Fatal Fury 2 / FFSpecial, and Mr. Big has a whole new theme for KOF only! Well, that's all I got for now! I won't lie, because I was never notified of this video's release, I was a little scattered. ^^; Stupid KZfaq... But then again, I didn't have much to say about KOF '96 anyway. I don't know if I'll have much to say about KOF '97 either! To be honest, I was actually expecting Real Bout to be next, but I forgot he played '96 after '94. lol I think he played '97 following the stream's ending with '96, but we'll see. See you next video!

This is where KOF started getting good gameplay and mechanics wise. It wasn’t as stiff and clunky. First major improvement for the series. This was always one of my favorites simply because of the “Boss Team” with Geese, Krauser, and Mr. Big. Seeing them actually on a team together was pretty damn cool.

*K O K O D E S U K A ? intensifies*

The golden age of KOF music.

Me : Oh boy !! Max is gonna play King Of Fighters '95, one of my all time favs !!!! Max : *Skips '95 and plays kof '96* *

"i need your help. i feel him coming!" Lady we just had a fight what are you saying.

12:23 that Yuri victory celebration is one of my favorite things in the history of King of Fighters

21:04 "Gonuts". 😁

He suffered with Goenitz lvl ONE, imagine the standard lvl 4 or even lvl 8, it would be so painfully fun (for us)

Ahh, I love the arranged soundtrack for this game to death. That, and KOF96 introduced one of the most underrated but well-designed characters, Chizuru Kagura. Speaking of which, can we please get Chizuru for KOFXV?

Max presents: King of Fighters - The Musical!

1:50 "Is that Ken?" No. It's Terry.

This is the best series you've done in a long time! And yes, that was Omega Rugal. Final boss of KOF 95.

Andy : "I'm training everyday kicking 'butt' " Me : Literally ??

The theme when facing Mature ( _arashi no saxophone 2_ ) will be among the things that I have flash before me moments before I die.

"I need your help. I can feel him coming."

They changed rising tackle from a charge move into a dp motion in this game for the first time I believe. Effectively turned Terry into Ken Masters

KOF 96 is one of my favorite KOF's, the music is the best!

“I’ll give you a choice: Fight or die or just die”😂😂😂💀💀💀💀

I have to say: the music is outstanding in this one.

Terry's rising tackle was changed to ➡⬇↘+👊 in this instalment of KOF. It became a charge motion again in KOF99.

This is when shit got real for KOF, to this day, KOF '96 is one of my favorite SNK games.

I see Max is remembering the good ol times of Kokodesuka

21:41 Flashbacks to SNK vs. Capcom intensifies.

Did you ever see the anime movies? Terry's desperation move destroys the roof of a building.

"I'm dying you idiot!"

We must seal off the Orochi Power to stop him. Who?! The dreaded... Orochimaru.

Max giving Terry the respect he deserves.

They pumped one out once a year. And unlike Call of Duty, they kept getting better.

This musical really put me in tears... Downloaded/10.

you DMs become SDMs when on low health and full gauge.

Goenitz is infamous for being quite the odious character and an early exponent of SNK Boss Syndrome. Good stuff.

Max's singing voice brought me to tearsXD

I noticed that on the Ikari team's stage (where Max fight Leona) if you stand on the separate pieces of the road, it goes down. Just thought it was some nice detail to the stage.

6:43 "You brought out the wolf in me! *OW."* 😂😂😂

Seeing Max learn a little more about SNK history is a lovely and wholesome way for me to start my day. Thanks for these videos, sir

21:36 And the SVC Chaos Boss Rage flashbacks begin...

This is where the series really started to pick up. '94 and '95 were pretty much beta tests compared to '96.

19:38 "God Rugal"? No. It was Omega Rugal.

This game introduced to KOF games in 1996. Good times.

KOF 96 was when the series was starting to get it’s groove. It was smoother, responsive, faster paced, and overall fun to play. It felt like a complete game whereas 94 and 95 were like beta versions.

15:54 "Puh wtf is going on?!?" Can someone PLEASE remix that?! LOL

The first KoF I ever played, on my cousin's PS1. Still among my faves to this day, mostly because of the Boss Team.

26:18 Came for KOF '96... Stayed for Max singing

21:43 "I have seen this stupid shit before" Max having the akuma legacy flashbacks

Final Max song was so deep and emotional. It reached to very heart. Truly men singing.

Trivia. Iori Yagami was based on Akira Fudo. The main protagonist of Devilman. Maybe that's the reasom why Iori is DevilMANly!

That ending song just puts a tear on my eye. Absolutely majestic.

Krauser has such an epic theme

I guess that's where they got the ideas for the introduction of the stages in Capcom vs SNK

I remember that Mozart song for the Krauser stage in FF and KOF. "Dies Irae" days of anger. Totally epic.

Most beautiful song I ever heard at the end😂

SNK was always THE GREATEST at art and character design, god damn!

26:18 Can't wait to add this to my gym playlist!

KoF 96 was the KoF in my neighborhood laundromat. Team Ikari, Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting were my favorite teams to play. Favorite music and stages too.

Max open his mouth and it looked like he was singing as Geoniz just grabbed him out of his super 23:23

Max was not ready for Omega Rugal :'(

Defensive counter moves started with Geese Howard, Max. Remember Geese? The Alpha games just made them easier and generic to everyone. KoF later one upped them by giving you the option to roll as well as counter attack.

9:40 Ahh yeah, the most memorable song from this entire series.

18:59 lol the exasperation in his tone just makes this for me.

This is one of the KOF that I played the most back in the day, but it was on level 8, lol. Geese and Krauser in the same team was so damn badass.

Art of Fighting stage and music has to be my favourite out of all the Neo Geo KOF's. Top notch presentation. It also still feels really new and fresh. Great memories playing it in Brighton, UK. We had a massive SNK arcade scene at the time.

I think '96 is when KoF finally felt good for me. Mature and Leona were great, mobility was there, and the music is absolutely amazing.

Max definetly had fun with this one.

I've really been enjoying the new Terry Legacy series. Thanks, Max!

That's a nice background element having that guy flying around on the final stage

Max just needed MOBILITY You look having much more fun, man

I like Max finally is going for level 1 difficulty. The amount of input reading in SNK games is difficult enough as it is

going back to these old videos, love KoF. listening to it while doing mundane tasks

Great stuff Max. The Terry Legacy has been awesome so far. Can't beat that singing ending lol.

And with that, people knew one of tge greatest SOABs in KOF. Leopold Goenitz. The Priest of Orochi!

The game that magically reinvented the gameplay in just one year after 95. Still kinda glitchy but a lot is fixed by the next entry

i'd like to see more edits like at the end, you had fun with this one

I was 10 years old when The King of Fighters 96 and Street Fighter Alpha arcades were installed inside my local hometown bowling alley what a time to be alive

A legacy a day keeps my depression away

When you get to kof98 listen out for the announcer saying "loud bum" before the first round of every fight

KOF ‘96 was my first SNK game. And it was the Gameboy version. It was so good... music and everything got my attention back then. Plus bonus secret characters like Mr. Karate and Blood lust versions... it was great. Made me a fan of Terry and the SNK franchise for life.

I love this Terry because it's when I first saw the Power Dunk! Combined with Rising Tackle, they change my fight style with Terry.

The KoF game I spent the most time with apart from KoF13... Memories. Boss based saltiness. Good Times.

God bless you for turning SNK Engrish into a musical, Max.

LOUND TWO! LEADY! God I love KOF 😍🔝

26:19 GODAMN. MOMENT. OF. THE. YEAR!

FINALLY, THE GOOD GAMES BEGIN

That ending was too hilarious. That pan to black and white was amazing.🤣🤣🤣

Max must play KOF 1995 or he will never UNDERSTAND THE CONCEPT OF LOVE!!!

Also, In the top 3 KOF’s as far as soundtracks are concerned.

Is a blasphemy play solo King Of Fighter.

I can’t wait for him to play KOF 2002 UM, but hate the chat for telling him to skip KOF 95.

I just got a King of Fighters All Star ad and was surprised that YOU were in it Max!

I didn't know the Osaka stage in XIII was a remake from '96! Sick!