King of Fighters '98, The

If you were into SNK's flagship fighting series back in the day, you might remember the Dream Match, that's The King of Fighters '98 on Neo Geo. This particular Genesis cartridge is an unlicensed port of that game, and it's a curious piece of hardware. It appeared sometime after the original 1998 release, probably made by a third party without official approval, so don't expect an exact copy of the Neo Geo version. It's a fighting game, sure, but running on Sega's 16-bit hardware means compromises were inevitable. You pick a team of three fighters and battle the CPU or a friend in a series of one-on-one matches. Each round you control one character, and when you lose that fighter, the next one steps in. The goal is to knock out all three of the opponent's fighters. The game uses the standard four-button layout for punches, kicks, and special moves, and there's a short combo system similar to the arcade original, though not as fluid. You can also use the team edit feature to choose your own trio from the roster, but the character selection might differ from the official game. As an unlicensed Genesis title, it's a rough diamond. It won't match the Neo Geo version in graphics or sound, but it's a novelty for collectors and fans who want to see how a third party tried to cram that big SNK engine into a Sega cartridge. If you're a KOF purist, you'll probably spot the missing frames and weird music, but if you're curious about bootleg history on the Genesis, it's a fascinating artifact. It's more of a conversation piece than a daily driver for serious fighting game players.