Three fighters, one team, and an arcade holding its breath on the final round.

This is the profile of a pure execution game. Gameplay flattens everything: ahead of 98% of games. No surprise, KOF '97 is one of the high points of precision in 2D versus fighting, and you feel it in the stick. The soundtrack follows very high, ahead of roughly 80% of titles. Rediscovery holds above average, desert island lands right in the middle. Then the paradox: fun collapses, ahead of fewer than one game in five, and connection sinks too. That is a huge split. The best feel on the board, but not the game you fire up to unwind on a random evening. On few votes, so treat it as a first reading, but the gap is too wide to be noise.

It is the old curse of the demanding fighter: it rewards practice, not improvisation. Against games you open and understand in five minutes, KOF '97 asks for investment, and a solo session never does justice to what it really is.

So, who is it for? For you if you like drilling combos, feeling a timing land, and playing against someone sitting across from you. Much less if you want a welcoming game that pays you back immediately.