The King of Fighters '98: Ultimate Match HERO 【Longplay】【 ARCADE PGM2 Real Hardware】

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The King of Fighters '98: Ultimate Match HERO【Playthrounh/Longplay】【 PGM2 Arcade Real Hardware】

Developer/Publisher: SNK Playmore / New Channel
Plataform: Pgm2
Release Date: 2009

The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match (ザ・キング・オブ・ファイターズ '98ナインティエイト アルティメットマッチ) is a standalone upgrade of The King of Fighters '98: Dream Match Never Ends which includes all characters that were present up to The King of Fighters '97 (making it the second Dream Match game with the most complete roster of characters based to date within the KOF series as a whole, with 64 characters).

Additionally, new alternate versions of characters were added (such as EX Blue Mary and EX Yamazaki). Meanwhile, other alternate versions of characters (barring the Orochi/New Faces Team and Omega Rugal) gain brand new portraits from their original versions (both on the order select and, on the character, select/HP-bar mugshot), first seen in the console versions of the original KOF '98.

New adjustments to stages (as well as new stages themselves) come along with adjustments to gameplay via re-balancing and new moves. Extra Mode in particular, has many new revisions which makes it more on-par with Advanced Mode:

It now has a manual MAX Mode of its own and having a stock at full charge, thus no longer entering MAX Mode automatically via this method.
Also added is Quick Max Mode, which only in Extra Mode can be accessed on any connecting hit that does not count as a true grab/throw, cancelling the attack into a Max Mode activation without the power-up-pose startup (albeit with less hitstop frames for the hit that triggers it). This can effectively be used to extend various combos or push an offensive advantage in general.
The gauge charge is now much faster, along with the recovery from the charging animation.
Sidesteps/dodges are also faster on recovery.
The advantage carry-over for later members of a player's team no longer involves the power bar's length, but instead increases the threshold for the critical HP range (from low HP to near-half HP) to use normal DMs with no cost and/or to allow for SDMs/MAX DMs.
The HP bar will no longer flash for a while via a cooldown period if a free DM is used in critical HP range, preventing the player from spamming free DM's.
To make up for the stationary dodge's drawbacks compared to rolling in Advanced Mode, walking movement speed is slightly increased in Extra Mode.
A new and notable mode of play for this game is known as Ultimate Mode, where similar to the EX Grooves of Capcom vs. SNK 2, players are able to customize their gauge systems and the mechanics that go along with them, with it being able to select between Advanced or Extra (the gauge style, the method of dodging, and method of quick forward movement).

The game was released in Japanese arcades on March 18th, 2008, and later on the PlayStation 2. Ultimate Match is also available on Xbox 360 Live Arcade. The American port was released by Ignition Entertainment March 3rd, 2009 and packaged with an extra DVD containing trailers and wallpapers for the game and The King of Fighters XII. In 2009, a Chinese version of the arcade game also was released and was titled The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match HERO. It's published by New Channel instead of SNK, and runs on the significantly less powerful PolyGame Master 2 hardware (developed by Taiwanese company IGS) instead of the Taito Type X hardware, used by the company.[1]


The home version of the game, similar to The King of Fighters Neowave for its home version, uses full 3D-rendered versions of its backgrounds (though an option exists to convert them back into the classic-styled backgrounds in the original '98). The home version also comes with its own arranged soundtrack of the original '98 and most of the game's new soundtracks for UM, as well as a new Neo Geo mode, which allows for a demo of the original Neo Geo-port perfect version of the classic KOF '98. An animated intro included with the Dreamcast port of the original can be accessed as an unlockable extra in Ultimate Match.