The King of Fighters '97 (Neo Geo)

To do: Is that a bit of Morse code in the Orochi Team's stage theme?

It came to the end in 97.

Unused Graphics#

Kyo Kusanagi#

Sprites from the unused '96 version of Kyo's Mushiki DM. The implemented move in this game has different animations that don't use these sprites.

Terry Bogard#

Terry's intro animation vs. Geese Howard from the previous game. Naturally goes unused given that Geese isn't in this game. Though the sprite appears to be unchanged at first glance, it has curiously been altered slightly; the shadows around Terry's jacket have been changed a bit.

Yuri Sakazaki#

An unused attack for Yuri. It is clear from the initial two sprites that it is derived from the unused grounded kick move that was present in the previous game, but it has since been altered to instead have Yuri vault herself up on one arm to perform a sweep-like move. The altered sprites would later be repurposed into Yuri's jumping CD attack from KOF '99 onward.

Yuri's unused Hadoken-esque from from the previous game. Has been altered slightly since then with a different facial expression on the first sprite.

Shermie#

An unused animation for Shermie where she hangs her arms over her head. They are listed right before the sprites for her Orochi form's electric kiss special move and seem to transition seamlessly into them. Hence they may have been intended for a special intro animation of sorts.

Variations of Orochi Shermie's win pose sprite which has her pointing in different directions. Purpose unknown.

An unused animation where Shermie laughs at the opponent. These would later be used for her striker animation in KOF 2000, albeit altered to reflect her design in that game.

Blue Mary#

An alternate intro animation for Blue Mary, showing her riding a motorcycle. Based on the same intro animation from Real Bout Fatal Fury Special.

It can be found in the game's sprite viewer at 0078.

Mary's used intro has a few frames that go unused as well. These would continue to go unused in later games.

Mary's idle animation also has some unused frames. These would later be implemented in future installments, as well as this game's Neo Geo CD port.

An additional unused frame for Mary of dubious purpose. It's grouped with her background/assist frames so it may have been intended to display during her assist attack. She instead goes into her idle animation in-game, as all other characters do.

Orochi#

Orochi has unused graphics that would come to be used in the PS1 version, where he is playable. To see them in-game, enable him by changing address 10A84B (for P1) or 10A84C (for P2) to 1E; he will not appear in the player select screen, but the first character you select will be changed to him.

Orochi's battle queue portrait. Since he is a single character in the boss fight, this is not seen in regular gameplay.

Orochi's animation used when charging up in Extra Mode. Since he is not playable, and all CPUs use Advanced Mode, this is not seen in regular gameplay. This animation is not used in the PS1 version.

A win screen portrait for when he is the team member who wins the match. Since the CPU does not use win screens, this is not seen in regular gameplay.

A win screen portrait for when he is not the team member who wins the match. Also shown in the player select screen (PS1 only) and in the post-credits "All Clear" screen.

Unused Portrait#

A crudely drawn face (apparently for Kim) can be seen while exploring character portraits using the debug animation viewer. This may have been used as a dummy graphic.

Regional Differences#

Endings#

The game's Special Team, consisting of Ryuji Yamazaki, Blue Mary and Billy Kane, were all picked for the game from popularity contests that three Japanese magazines held. In commemoration of this, there are three special endings, one for each character, featuring unique artwork of them plus two other characters that performed well in their respective contests. They can be accessing only by playing the game in Japanese using certain team combinations:

'...But does it make sense?' The translations on this page need to be proofread. If you are fluent enough in this language, please make any corrections necessary!

Terry, Mary, and Joe - Gamest magazine

Ending	Japanese	Translation
	遥かなる欲望チーム やあ、みんな、マリー、テリー、東３人のゲーメストチームこと 「遥かなる欲望！チーム」を使ってくれてありがとう。 来年もぜひマリーを ゲーメスト代表として選んでくれよな。 舞もOKだよ。じゃ！	Distant Desire Team Hey, everyone. Mary, Terry and Higashi together are the Gamest Team. Thank you for using the Distant Desire Team. Next year be sure to choose Mary as the Gamest representative! Mai is okay as well. Bye!

Yamazaki, Chang, and Choi - Weekly Famitsu magazine

Ending	Japanese	Translation
	悪い子ちゃんチーム 週刊ファミ通の読者人気投票でナンバー１の座に輝いた 山崎竜二がついに「KOF」に登場！！ キムの修業に耐えかねたチャン・チョイを引き連れ、 悪（ギャグ？）の限りを尽くします。 イラストは柴田亜美先生だ！！	Bad Boys Team Shining at the number 1 spot in Weekly Famitsu's Reader Poll, Yamazaki Ryuji finally appears in KOF!! Joining Chang and Choi, who can no longer bear Kim's training, he is devoted to evil (or at least mischief?) until the end. Illustration provided by Ms. Ami Shibata!!

Billy, Kyo, and Mai - Neo-Geo Freak magazine

Ending	Japanese	Translation
	火気元気チーム Yah！勝利おめでとう！ ま、オレたちがついてるんだから当然だよな！ ネオジオフリーク・火気元気チーム、 イカシてただろ？ オレたちも結構楽しかったぜ！ じゃあな、ほかのチームに浮気すんなよな！	Fiery Vigor Team Yah! Congratulations on your victory! Well, since we make up the team, it was expected! The Neo Geo Freak Fiery Vigor Team, you made good use of us, eh? It was pretty fun for us too! Well, see you, and don't cheat on us with some other team!