King Of Fighters '97 [PS1] - play as Orochi

Описание: This is a play-through using Orochi in Team Play mode in the PS1 version of King Of Fighters '97. Read on below for more information...

Orochi is the final boss of this game. He is an unlockable playable character, but he cannot be used in Team Play, Single Play and the Survival modes.

Additionally, I've also shown his flawed backup move (the move where one of your team mates on the sideline jumps in to help) at the very end of the video at 27:37.

===== Additional Information =====

---- Obviously, as an unplayable character in the arcade modes, he does not have an ending.

---- He actually has some new sprites and basic moves in the PS1 version of the game. For example he can crouch and have low basics, and he also has new jumping punch basics, etc. These were not in the arcade version.

---- Other new sprites/animations include when he is queued on the sidelines. It now shows Chris in a half-Orochi form, floating in the air. In the arcade version, it was a flawed sprite of Orochi instead.

---- In the game modes where he can be unlocked, his icon appears in the middle space between Iori and Shingo's icons. He even has his own full image portrait when you highlight him.

---- When you complete the game with him in Team Play mode, his portrait appears perfectly on the All Clear screen.

---- As mentioned earlier, he has a flawed team backup move. You can see this right at the end at 27:37.

===== About Orochi =====
Orochi is the most powerful character in the SNK fighting game storyline universe. As his name suggests, he is SNK's representation of the mythical eight-headed serpent of Japanese mythology. The whole of the KOF series storyline mainly revolves around him, as even after he is defeated, he still gets mentioned and related to in the post-97 canon KOF games.

As mentioned earlier, new sprites/animation frames were made for him in the PS1 version of the game. It definitely adds more variety and flexibility to him, and It came as a surprise to me.

As a player character, he is absurdly powerful... his Light Fireball projectiles cover a large vertical space and does high depletion if it hits, and his Shining Light DM is a full-screen super, which speaks for itself. His Energy Pillars can be awkward to use though, because it's one of those special moves where you have to place it in the right area for it to be effective. He is a tall character, so he's also a large target. His standing Strong Kick seems to be a throwback to Rugal's Genocide Cutter.

Design-wise it's certainly an interesting design, it's kind of funny seeing a deity in designer jeans and shoes. Personally, I think SNK could've done a far better job for Orochi in terms of his moves... despite most of his moves being powerful, they are actually pretty boring looking. You'd think that with such an important and powerful character, they would've given him more stylish and over-the-top moves. Also, Orochi himself is rather 'stiff' and lacks personality... but then he is a deity so I guess that makes sense. His music theme is really mediocre as well in my view... it's my least favorite KOF boss music. In fact, I don't think I like it at all.

===== About PS1 KOF'97 =====
A fair port of the arcade game. As the KOF series evolved, there are quite a lot of animation frame cuts that are quite noticeable for most of the characters... i.e. when Kyo walks backwards, he uses the forward-walking animation for it. This is due to lack of VRAM in the PS1 hardware (remember how Capcom did this in the SNES/Genesis versions of the Street Fighter 2 games).

Nevertheless, it's very playable much like the arcade version. One of the biggest criticisms I've always had about KOF'97 is the fact that during fights it plays a generic background noise when you're playing/fighting against most characters, as only a few characters had proper music themes. I think they should have had a continuous music theme for each team.

Loading times are a pain and cannot be avoided on the PS1 hardware obviously.