The King of Fighters '96 (Neo Geo)

The pieces were in place in '96.

Sub-Pages#

Unused GraphicsFor the various unused graphics pertaining to moves cut from the game. Unused MovesFor moves that are unused but do not utilize unused graphics as described above.

Debug Features#

The Neo Geo system contains a set of dip switches that can toggle different debug effects depending on the game. These dip switches can be easily found and toggled by using emulator systems like WinKawaks or by using certain Neo Geo Bios to access them. For The King of Fighters '96, the dip switches have the following effects as described below.

Note that for the effects to activate, the dip switches must be toggled on menu screens or the How To Play screen. They will not activate on any screen involving active gameplay. Also note that there is no limitation on what or how many dip switches can be activated at once besides the aforementioned, though the full extent of how dip switches can interact with each other has yet to be tested.

Sprite Viewer#

Toggling switch 1-1 enables a debug sprite viewer, or "DEBUG OBJE" as it is referred to in game. This takes the form of a character sprite that appears on top of the gameplay screen. Gameplay is not affected by this mode's presence at all, nor can the sprite be affected by whatever actions the player character makes.

The player can take control of the sprite viewer by pressing down the coin/select button. This works the same regardless of whether the console is set to AES or MVS, however for AES mode, the player will have to pause the game first, then hold down the button when unpausing to maintain control of the mode.

While in the sprite viewer mode, the player is free to move the sprite around screen, switch the character sprite is set to show, and cycle between the given character's animation IDs.

The controls of the sprite viewer are as follows:

Joystick - Moves the sprite around the screen. The sprite can be moved to any place or direction on the screen without limitation.

A - Cycles forward through animation IDs. The current ID is indicated by the number next to the "ACT CODE" line. The counter goes from 0000 all the way to FFFF, though characters will generally only have 100-200 IDs properly assigned. IDs after that will generally consist of repeats or dummy IDs.

B - Cycles in reverse through animation IDs. Same rules as A, just in reverse. One can go from FFFF back to the start if one desires.

C - Cycles forward through character IDs. The current character is indicated by the number next to the "CH CODE" line. The counter goes from 00 to 1F. 00 through to 1C comprises all the characters that appear in gameplay, including the playable characters and boss characters. ID to 1F contain IDs for additional graphics used throughout the game such as character select icons, background sprites etc. All character IDs will use the color palette of the currently selected player character, and thus will display incorrectly if set to an ID besides the current active character.

D - Cycles in reverse through animation IDs. Same rules as C, just in reverse.

Hitbox Viewer#

Toggling switch 1-2 enables a hitbox viewer. This will cause viewable hitboxes and hurtboxes to appear over the player characters. The boxes appear to be colour-coded depending on their function. Hitboxes are red, hurtboxes are yellow, and collision boxes are blue. This hitbox viewer seems to be somewhat hardware-intensive, as it disables the character nameplates from appearing at the top of the screen, and some sprite flickering can occur if there are many background sprites on screen at once.

Enable Boss Characters#

Toggling switch 1-3 causes a few effects to occur. The most immediately obvious change is that it enables the boss characters, Chizuru Kagura and Goenitz, to be selected as playable characters. Notably, this allows one to see the Three Sacred Treasures team arcade path and ending in the Neo Geo AES/MVS version of the game, which is not normally possible without cheats.

Besides that, two other changes can be seen. For one, the timer no longer ticks down from 60, meaning that matches effectively have infinite time. Second, two counters showing "67" each appear above the POW meter in gameplay. The top counter is a stun counter, while the bottom counter is a block counter. These counters tick down when characters are hit or block attacks respectively, and upon reaching 00 will stun or guard-crush the character.

Edit Menu#

Toggling switch 1-4 brings up a menu screen. This menu presents a very large list of options the player can alter to change various aspects of current gameplay. Similar to the sprite viewer, the player must hold down the coin/select button while unpaused to operate the menu.

The controls of the menu are as follows:

Joystick - Move up and down the menu screen.

A - Click on a given menu option and enter its submenu. While in a submenu, this causes the given counter to cycle forward, similar to the sprite viewer.

B - Controls whether the player's selections affect the player 1 or player 2 character, indicated by the menu reading "PLAYER1" or "PLAYER2" respectively. While in a submenu, this causes the given counter to cycle in reverse, similar to the sprite viewer.

C - Exit the current submenu, given that the player is in one.

The list of options available in the menu are as follows:

SPEED - Appears to control the player character's movement speed. Setting the counter to anything besides the default value seems to make the player character so fast they immediately traverse to either side of the screen.

JUMP - Appears to control the player character's jump height. Setting the counter to anything besides the default value seems to make the player character jump with so much force that they immediately disappear from the screen.

A_DIST - Purpose unknown.

CHOHATS - Purpose unknown.

Frame Data Hex Code#

Toggling switch 1-5 will display hex code that will display over the top part of the screen for each player character. The hex code is listed in 16 rows by 5 columns, some of which get cut off by the health bar graphics. They seem to display 0 or 1 depending on the relevant player character's current actions.

A.I. Editor#

Toggling switch 2-1 enables what the game refers to as the "KOF '96 SEQ TOOL", though said text referring to it as such will usually get cut off by the health bar graphics. The menu seems to allow the player to control the CPU's behaviour patterns.

Sound Test#

Toggling switch 2-6 enables a sound test menu. Inexplicably, player 2 is granted control over this menu instead of player 1. Otherwise, control over this menu functions similarly to the edit menu.

The options available in this menu include:

PLAY - Allows you to cycle through the game's sound IDs and play sounds.

CODE - Purpose unknown.

Additional Switches#

These DIP switches have less noteworthy functions or have yet to be understood.

1-6: Makes both characters invincible to all attacks.

1-7: Effect is currently unknown.

2-2: Gives the CPU control over both characters.

2-3: Makes the player character invincible to all attacks.

2-4: Effect is currently unknown.

2-7: Player 2 can override the CPU's control of characters in gameplay at any time.

2-8: Effect is currently unknown.

Unused Voice Clips#

For many of the characters that have unused super moves, they generally have accompanying voice clips meant for them that go unused.