The King of Fighters '98 - The Slugfest (c) 1998 SNK.
A special edition of the KoF series taking place outside of the established storyline with a whopping 38 selectable KoF alumni.

>>> TECHNICAL DETAILS
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SNK Neo-Geo MVS hardware
Game ID : 0242
Main CPU : 68000 (@ 12 Mhz)
Sound CPU : Z80 (@ 4 Mhz)
Sound Chips : YM2610 (@ 8 Mhz)
Screen orientation : Horizontal
Video resolution : 320 x 224 pixels
Screen refresh : 59.19 Hz
Palette colors : 4096
Players : 2
Control : 8-way joystick
Buttons : 4
=> [A] Weak punch, [B] Weak kick, [C] Strong punch, [D] Strong kick

>>> TRIVIA
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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 :
Esaka? (Japan Team) : KOF 96 (Japan Team's theme music).
Esaka (95-style Kyo Kusanagi) : KOF 94 (Japan Team's theme music).
Kurikinton (Fatal Fury Team) : Fatal Fury 2 (Terry Bogard's theme music).
Art of Fight (Art of Fighting Team) : Art of Fighting (Ryo Sakazaki's and Ryuhaku Todo's theme music).
Rumbling in the City (Ikari Team) : KOF 96 (Ikari Team's theme music).
Shin! Senritsu no Dora (Psycho Soldier Team) : KOF95 (Psycho Soldier Team's theme music).
Fairy (Gals Fighters Team) : KOF 96 (Chizuru Kagura's theme music).
Seoul Town (Korea Team) : Real Bout Fatal Fury (Kim Kaphwan's theme music).
Bloody (New Face Team) : KOF 97 (New Face Team's theme music).
Rhythmic Hallucination (Orochi Yashiro) : KOF 97 (Orochi New Face Team's theme music).
C62 (Ryuji Yamazaki) : Real Bout Fatal Fury Special (Ryuji Yamazaki's theme music).
Blue Mary's Blues (Blue Mary) : Real Bout Fatal Fury Special (Blue Mary's theme music).
London March (Billy Kane) : Real Bout Fatal Fury Special (Billy Kane's theme music).
Arashi no Saxophone (Iori Yagami) : KOF 95 (Revenge Team's theme music).
Arashi no Saxophone 2 (Mature, Vice) : KOF 96 (Iori Team's theme music).
Slum No. 5 (USA Sports Team) : KOF 94 (USA Sports Team's theme music).
Still Green (Shingo Yabuki) : KOF 97 (Shingo Yabuki's theme music).
Ketchaku R&D (Omega Rugal) : first half from KOF 94 (Rugal Bernstein's theme music), second half from KOF 95 (Omega Rugal's theme music).
Ne! ('94 Gals Fighters Team) : KOF 94 (Gals Fighters Team's theme music).
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.

>>> GAME UPDATES
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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.

>>> TRICKS AND TIPS
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* 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.
* Finish the game using one of these combinations to see the special endings :
1) Kyo, Shingo, Saisyu
2) Kyo, Iori, Chizuru
3) Kyo, Iori, Shingo
4) Kyo, Saisyu, Chris
5) Kyo, Terry, Ryo
6) Benimaru, Andy, Robert
7) Goro, Joe, Yuri
8) Terry, Clark, Lucky
9) Ryo, Yuri, Takuma
10) Yuri, Mai, Athena
11) Heidern, Ralf, Leona
12) Yashiro, Chris, Yamazaki
13) Rugal, Vice, Mature
14) Shermie, Vice, Mature
15) Shingo, Chris, Kensou
16) Kim, Saisyu, Takuma
17) Billy, Joe, Chang
18) Chin, Chang, Choi

>>> GAME 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)

>>> DESIGNERS / PROGRAMMERS / STAFF
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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

>>> GAME PORTS TO OTHER SYSTEMS
-------------------------------
* 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 ('King of Fighters 98' Ultimate Match')
Nintendo Wii (Oct.2008, 'The King of Fighters Collection: The Orochi Saga')
Sony PlayStation 2 (Oct.2008, 'The King of Fighters Collection: The Orochi Saga')
Sony PSP (Oct.2008, 'The King of Fighters Collection: The Orochi Saga')

>>> OTHER GAME RESOURCES
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Game's rom.
Machine's picture.