The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match

''The MENACE lives... and stands in the way again of the fighters.''

-Intro

The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match is a remake of The King of Fighters '98 which includes all characters that were present up to The King of Fighters '97 (making it the only dream match game with the most complete roster of characters based to date within the KOF series as a whole).

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 KOF98.

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 a MAX Mode automatically via this method.
 * On the flipside, Quick Max 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 which can effectively be used to extend various combos.
 * Charging the 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.
 * 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 18, 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 3, 2009 and packaged with an extra DVD containing trailers and wallpapers for the game and King of Fighters XII. Also released in 2009 was the Chinese version of the arcade game, 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.

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.

A new version of the game named The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match Final Edition has been released as well (containing various tweaks to the characters and game mechanics), initially for the arcades, and has been released to the PC through Steam in December 16, 2014. Also was released a version for Humble Bundle, in January 9, 2016, and a GOG version in June 1, 2018. This version also features the arranged versions of the BGMs by default during gameplay.

An animated intro included with the Dreamcast port of the original can be accessed as an unlockable extra in Ultimate Match.

=Characters= The roster consists of not only everyone from the original KOF '98, but also every character who was playable at least once in KOF '94, KOF '95, KOF '96 and KOF '97 (all canonical chapters of the Orochi Saga).

Hard Punch Team
=New & Exclusive Stages= In addition to the original stages in a reimagined version in 3D (only in PS2 and PS4 versions), SNK Playmore also added the scenarios of the finals of KOF '96 ('96 Bosses Team and Goenitz) and KOF '97 (Awakened Orochi Team and Orochi), along with some new stages:


 * China Wall: The Great Wall of China. The fight takes in one of the pillars, where can be seen a flag with words in Chinese and ruins of the wall, in the right, besides a vegetation all over the stage.
 * Changes: In the 1st round, it's empty and it's morning; in 2nd and 3rd rounds, people are watching the fight in the background; and in the last rounds, it's sunset.
 * Hong Kong: A commercial center in the Central District, with various vehicles people cheering and advertising outdoors. Similar to Lee Pai Long's stage in AOF 2 and the Hong Kong Stage in RBFFS.
 * Changes: In the 1st and 2nd rounds, it's morning, with few people watching the fight, inside and outside the train; in the 3rd and 4th rounds, a crowd in the background starts to gather and it's in the afternoon; and in the last round, it's already night, and people can be seen only inside the train next to the characters. The battle takes next to the train tracks.
 * Taiwan: The entrance of the National Palace Museum, in Taipei. The fight takes in the middle of the square and next to some statues, beside some flags.
 * Changes: In the 1st round, people are cheering and holding a flag with words in Chinese, besides a woman sitting at a table with a sun umbrella under sunny weather; in the 2nd round, the stage is empty and cloudy; from the 3rd round, the stage gets full again, with the same people from the 1st round and in the light of the sunset.
 * Saudi Arabia: The fight takes in front of the Masmak Fort, in Riyadh. Can be seen palm trees, sheikhs and Burkina women.
 * Changes: In the 1st round, the weather is sunny; in the 2nd round, can be seen a sunset, and more sheikhs on the left and the right; from the 3rd round, it's already night and more sheikhs can be seen in the background, and bonfires on both sides.
 * China Village: The village of Xitang. Can be seen two bridges on both sides, and some houses in the background.
 * Changes: In the 1st round, people and pandas are cheering with the fight, holding posters with the game's name, and the weather is sunny; in 2nd round, the stage is empty and the sky is cloudy; from the 3rd round, it's already night and few people are in the stage.
 * China Temple: The Famen Temple, in Xi'an. Can be seen some leafless trees, on both sides, a stone with Chinese writings, mountains and some ancient buildings, in the background.
 * Changes: in the 1st round, can be seen some people next to the river, and the weather is sunny; in the 2nd round, can be seen a sunset; from the 3rd round, the stage is empty and it's already night; also can be seen some lights coming from the temple.
 * Bousou — Orochi Iori & Orochi Leona: The bloody version of China Village and Saudi Arabia, like in the stages of KOF '97.
 * Note 1: All the new stages, with exception of Sub-Boss Stages, Bosses Stages and Bousou Stages, don't appear in Team Play and Single Play, but appear in Versus Play and Practice Mode.
 * Note 2: In this remake, a new version of the famous cameo of the bicycle can be seen in the Japan Street stage, with a backpacking man in a lab coat and slippers carrying a mascot of SNK, Neo-Poke-Kun.
 * Note 3: All the stages have the 2D and 3D versions, which can be changed in the game settings (only in PS2 and PS4 versions).

=Trivia=


 * In this game, EX Kyo has all of his sound effects and voice clips reused from the original KOF '95 (this did not apply to the original KOF '98).
 * Due to Eiji being a selectable character in this version, he no longer has a cameo in Billy's unique intro towards Iori.
 * Orochi's battle intro no longer has Chris transforming into it, nor does it have any dialogue.
 * There was initially an issue with EX Geese's Raging Storm that caused it not to hit at all if a character continuously ran into him during the animation, likely due to a hitbox/hurtbox displacement. So far, the only characters whose hurtboxes are big enough to still be hit by it while running are Benimaru, Daimon, Yuri, Kensou, Chizuru, King, Chang, Chris, Yamazaki, Heidern, Heavy-D!, Brian, Goenitz, Krauser and Mr. Big.
 * Characters introduced in KOF98UM has their character themes directly lifted from their source material, instead of being rearranged for the game as per previous custom in its NeoGeo incarnation. The obvious exception to this is Krauser's, whose digitally sampled theme (and not sequenced like other character themes) dates back to Fatal Fury 2.
 * Several hacks of the NeoGeo version of KOF98 are well-inspired by KOF98UM, adding characters introduced in this game, including portraits found exclusively in this game, but riddled with various glitches particularly in sound effect and voice playback.
 * Most notably with normal Geese, Mr. Big, Krauser, Eiji, Goenitz, and Kasumi, their character select icons are recycled from their source debut games and are not brand new. The exception is EX Geese, who gets all-new icons and portraits distinct from his regular form.
 * The Awakened Orochi Team is the only team that is not chosen in Random Team.
 * The 96 Boss Team stage does not have the floor physics correctly implemented (floating up and down with respect to water and boat physics), compared to its original incarnation in KOF96 and the China stage.