King of Fighters '96 [Arcade] - play as Chizuru Kagura

This is a playthrough using Chizuru Kagura in the Arcade (NeoGeo MVS) version of King of Fighters '96. Read on below for more information...

Chizuru is the penultimate boss of the game, and she is a non-selectable character in both the MVS and AES versions of this game.

===== ABOUT CHIZURU =====

Chizuru Kagura is an integral character of the KOF storyline because she is the head of the Yata clan. The clan possesses the Yata Mirror, which is one of the three sacred artifacts that originally sealed the Orochi 1,800 years ago. The other two artifacts are in possession of the Kusanagi and Yagami clans. Kagura is generally a powerful character by storyline, and significant events involving her (up to the events of KOF'97) include:

---- Her sister Maki, the then-head of the Yata clan, died as a result of a confrontation with Goenitz.

---- She is given the duty of keeping the diligent seal on Orochi intact.

---- Despite the Kusanagi and Yagami clans being at odds with each other, Chizuru is the one that keeps them together.

---- She has been keeping track with the events of each KOF tournament since the very first one organised by Geese Howard.

---- She, along with Kyo and Iori, succeeded in defeating Orochi at the KOF'97 tournament.

===== GAMEPLAY =====

In Arcade KOF96 she inflicts generally very high damage. She is a fairly fast character with good ranges in her strikes, and her special moves involve the use of her mirror image abilities which are used to confuse the opponent. Her anti-air "Dragon Punch" special move hits multiple times if connected and is one of her best moves.

===== EXTRA STUFF =====

At the end of this video I have demonstrated Chizuru's assist move. You can see this starting around 30:22.

===== ADDITIONAL INFORMATION / TRIVIA =====

---- When playing through the game as part of the Three Sacred Treasures team, when she reaches her mirror match, the game's story dialogue implements the CPU Chizuru as her sister Maki. (it's clever that they did it this way)

---- Along with Kyo and Iori, she forms the Three Sacred Treasures Team. These team endings often entail the canon events of any parties involved.

---- When Chizuru is queued on the sidelines (not defeated), if she is used as an Assist, it works properly.

---- She actually has a 2nd colour palette, despite being an unplayable character.

---- She has proper "background inactive" character sprites for undefeated and defeated. Animations for these are also there.

---- She has a perfect team icon image.

---- She has his own ending in the game, as part of the Three Sacred Treasures team with Kyo and Iori.

---- In the early stages of development, she was referred to as the "Bell Girl," but before soon she received the nickname of "Yuna". Eventually and finally, the developers settled on the name she is of now.

---- Her real full name is Chizuru Yata.

---- Her design is inspired by and created in the image of anime and manga character Yohko Shiraki, from the manga series Tomorrow's Joe.

---- Her and Goenitz can be unofficially "unlocked" through specialist BIOS debug dipswitch settings on the NeoGeo MVS and AES versions of the game.

===== ABOUT KOF96 =====

KOF96 improves on the prequel in most aspects, and the Fixed Team Select feature from 94 and 95 has been discarded. In gameplay, the general damage infliction level has been lowered as well. The game sees the debut of Leona Heidern, Mature and Vice (the latter two as playable characters), as well as the conversion of Geese, Krauser, Mr.Big and Kasumi Todoh into KOF characters.