![the king of fighters the king of fighters](https://www.arcadequartermaster.com/kof96/intro.png)
Newcomers include Leona, a frontline soldier of the Ikari Warriors with a mysterious past, and Iori's new teammates Mature and Vice (both of which served as Rugal's secretaries and serve a mysterious purpose).
![the king of fighters the king of fighters](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/328AAOSw00JeQb1u/s-l640.jpg)
The character roster underwent some changes, with 7 new playable fighters and 4 removed fighters. This host is later revealed to be Chizuru Kagura, a priestess who hopes to recruit both Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami (as the last of their respective clans) to seal an ancient power (the same power Rugal could not withstand). As it no longer being held by Rugal Bernstein (due to his demise after the last tournament), this tournament becomes an major international event hosted by a mysterious benefactor.
![the king of fighters the king of fighters](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bHzELeR2tho/XXR6gt0APMI/AAAAAAAAAHg/UlybfytEiUY6D3FZR8Zonbx6eqIHCHmUACLcBGAs/w700/20190301_074758.png)
The second of the three-part "Orochi Saga" arc, the game's story takes place with a new King of Fighters tournament. Some characters also received revamped movelists, drastically changing their playstyles.
The king of fighters '96 series#
The third installment of the King of Fighters series (and the sequel to The King of Fighters '95), The King of Fighters '96 further improves the gameplay mechanics (introducing a revamped dodge roll mechanic) while redrawing all character graphics (bringing a revamped art style used for every mainline entry prior to The King of Fighters XII). It was subsequently released for the Neo Geo AES and Neo Geo CD later that year. The King of Fighters '96 is a 2D tag-team fighting game developed and released by SNK for arcades (running Neo Geo MVS hardware) on July 30, 1996.