The King of Fighters '97



King of Fighters '97 is the fourth game in The King of Fighters series. This King of Fighters has the introduction of two special modes-Advance Mode (based on KOF '96) and Extra Mode (based on KOF '94 & '95). It concludes the three part 'Orochi Saga' story-line begun King of Fighters '95 (and continued in KOF '96).

Story
Despite the events at the end of The King of Fighters '96, the 1996 tournament was a huge commercial success and sparked a world-wide fighting craze. Within a few months of the tournament ending, various large corporations had held smaller KOF tournament qualifiers and constructed special King Of Fighters stadiums around the world, building the excitement up for the 1997 tournament. News of the tournament spread through every form of media and fans and new fighters from across the globe come to watch the preliminary matches. Determined to harness the secret power of the Orochi, Geese Howard has created and entered a new '97 Special Team', which consists of Ryuji Yamazaki, Blue Mary and Billy Kane. Also, a mysterious New Faces Team, composed of three band-members (Shermie, Yashiro Nanakase and Chris) enter the tournament with the terrible intentions of raising Orochi from his slumber (It turns out that in the backstory of KOF 97, the American Sports Team (Heavy D!, Lucky Glauber, and Brian Battler) were originally invited to compete in the tournament, but like the same incident with Iori Yagami's team in 1995, they had their invitations stolen by the New Faces Team).

Eventually, the Hero Team (Kyo Kusanagi, Benimaru Nikaido and Goro Daimon) wins the tournament and prepares to accept their hard-earned prize, but not before facing off against a psychotic Iori Yagami, who becomes possessed by the Orochi blood that flows through his body. After a tough battle, Kyo and his friends defeat Yagami but find themselves in another ordeal when the New Faces Team confronts them and tells them that they used the tournament as a way to gather the energy needed for the awakening of Orochi. Eventually, the two teams face off at the ritual site of the Orochi's revival and the clash between the fighters proves to be one of the most dangerous battles yet. Despite that the Hero Team is successful in defeating the New Faces Team, the ordeal wasn't finished just yet, as Chris reveals that he's the vessel for Orochi and that he goes through a radical metamorphosis, transforming his hair to white and gaining strange tattoos on his chest. Through this transformation, Chris becomes the ancient entity Orochi and that he tells the Hero Team his evil plan to wipe out all mankind. Despite the combined efforts of Kyo, Benimaru, and Daimon, their strength alone is no match against the unfathomable power of Orochi and that the evil entity uses his might to defeat both Benimaru and Daimon with ease, leaving Kyo to face the world's greatest threat alone.

Just when it seem that all hope is lost for Kyo, two unexpected faces appear from out of nowhere to give Kyo a helping hand in stopping Orochi's rampage. It turns out that both Iori Yagami and Chizuru Kagura are linked to Kyo through the fate of their clans' past and that all three of them are destined to stop Orochi when it rises from the depth of obscurity. Through their combined might and will of determination, the Sacred Force trio defeats Orochi and plans to finish him off once and for all, but Orochi pulls one last trick up his sleeve and tries to manipulate Iori (via Orochi blood) into killing Kyo and Chizuru. However, Orochi's last minute scheme backfires on him when Iori attacks him instead and grabs Orochi's neck in a harsh grip, causing a massive surge of energy to burst out of control from within their clash. Realizing that Iori cannot share the same tragic fate as his ancestors, Kyo summons the last of his inner strength and rushes towards Iori and Orochi from within the climax of the epic battle, thrusting his right fist towards Iori's back and causing a massive flash of explosive energy to occur in an instant, wiping out most of the land from within the sight of the huge explosion.

When the dust settles, Chizuru is shocked to see that Orochi is gone from the battlefield and out of the Earth's world, but at the same time, she's also shocked to see that neither Kyo nor Iori is anywhere from within her sight. When Benimaru and Daimon rendezvous with Chizuru, she tells them that the Orochi threat is over and that the evil entity has gone back to his dimensional sleep, but also...she tells them about the unknown fate of Kyo and Iori. Benimaru and Daimon assures Chizuru that Kyo will return one day to them and that he'll continue his love of fighting, especially for the KOF tournament. Chizuru reluctantly agrees with the two on their statement and now wonders on what the future holds for her and the rest of the KOF fighters.

Team Japan

 * Kyo Kusanagi
 * Benimaru Nikaido
 * Goro Daimon

Fatal Fury Team

 * Terry Bogard
 * Andy Bogard
 * Joe Higashi

Art of Fighting Team

 * Ryo Sakazaki
 * Robert Garcia
 * Yuri Sakazaki

Ikari Warriors Team

 * Leona Heidern
 * Ralf Jones
 * Clark Still

Psycho Soldier Team

 * Athena Asamiya
 * Sie Kensou
 * Chin Gentsai

Women Fighters Team

 * Chizuru Kagura
 * King
 * Mai Shiranui

Korea Team

 * Kim Kaphwan
 * Chang Koehan
 * Choi Bounge

New Faces Team

 * Yashiro Nanakase
 * Shermie
 * Chris

Special Team

 * Billy Kane
 * Blue Mary
 * Ryuji Yamazaki

Singles Entry

 * Iori Yagami
 * Shingo Yabuki

Sacred Team

 * Kyo Kusanagi
 * Iori Yagami
 * Chizuru Kagura

Mid-Boss Characters

 * Wild Iori
 * Wild Leona

Sub-Boss Characters

 * Orochi Yashiro
 * Orochi Shermie
 * Orochi Chris

Final Boss

 * Orochi

Alternate Character

 * Kyo Kusanagi '94 version