KOF98 Ultimate Match Online is now here, courtesy of PlayHit Southeast Asia, and it’s available for Android and iOS devices alike. So what is this game about, and what can you expect out of it? Well, if you played the original The King of Fighters back in the day, you’ll discern that this game is indeed a reimagining of the classic game, with the same fighters and their likenesses available for you to play on your iPhone or Android handset. As you go along, you can collect different fighters, strengthen your lineup, and play in actual 3 vs. 3 team battles, beyond the traditional card battle mode. There’s also a multiple promotion system, different fighter arrangements, and more importantly, the chance to play alongside, and against real players – as many a mobile gamer will tell you, multiplayer is where the fun really is.
As this is a game based on a classic title from almost two decades ago, you can imagine that there are a lot of things for you to learn and figure out. But the whole process doesn’t have to be a daunting one, even if you’re a complete KOF newbie. Read on, and check out our KOF98 Ultimate Match Online strategy guide, where we tell you everything there is to know about playing this game and winning more fights against those ever-changing human opponents.
1. Enhance Your Skills Before Anything Else
One of the first things you should learn in this game is how skill points work. They max out at 20, and when you’ve just started playing the game, you’ll be forced to spend your fair share of resources in order to improve, and if possible, max out your fighters’ stats. Upgrade your fighters’ skills from the get-go – you’ll want to do this the moment you log in to the game. Once you’ve completed the other things you have to do in this game, you’ll have more skill points, and more of them to spend to make your fighters better. In particular, your Heroes, or the main fighters in your team, need to have their stats enhanced as much as possible to keep them stronger than everyone ele and formidable in battle.
2. Collect As Many Bonuses As Possible
We’ve noticed that KOF98 Ultimate Match Online is generous – VERY generous, in fact – in giving out free stuff to players. This may be the case because this is a very new game that just got released in the App Store and Play Store, but even with that in mind, there’s an unreal amount of freebies to be won here. The game often holds events which you shouldn’t hesitate to take part in, so that’s something to keep in mind as well. Take advantage of these events, and redeem as much free stuff as you could to keep yourself competitive.
How do you redeem freebies in the game? It’s just as simple as tapping on the icons that have a red dot. But what if you don’t seen any icons with a red dot? Chances are you may have unwittingly hidden the icons; tap on the yellow arrows underneath your player avatar, and start redeeming the freebies. Additionally, some of the rewards can be refilled and collected several times in a day, and some rewards can be unlocked organically, meaning in the process of natural game play. If you see a red dot, tap on it by all means.
3. To Unlock Or Not To Unlock?
When it comes to games like this that have a collection mechanic, we often advise players to focus on the characters they have, as it could oftentimes be impractical to splurge on a new character with base stats, not to mention gamble on something (or someone, to be exact) you haven’t tested. But in KOF98 Ultimate Match Online, which is a fighting game, it might actually be better, and more fun, to unlock as many fighters as possible. That’s especially true if you played the original game, but even if you didn’t, you won’t have to deal with as many characters as you would in your average RPG with a collection mechanic.
4. Unlocking More Fighters – What To Do?
There are multiple ways to unlock new fighters in the game, so for this tip, we shall be enumerating some of the more popular and effective methods to do so.
First of all, you can buy fighter pieces at the game’s multiple stores – you can use them to unlock new ones or upgrade the existing ones you have. This will all be based on how well you perform in the Arena, Club, or Challenges modes of the game. We would recommend saving up on your tokens and not spending them on anything else but buying new Fighter pieces/shards. Although tokens aren’t free in the truest sense of the word, they don’t amount to real money, and this is arguably the best way to unlock fighters without spending a cent of your actual cash.
Secondly, you can take part in events – as we explained above, the game isn’t skimping when it comes to rewards, and a lot can be had if you take part in the special events. Different events may offer different fighter shards, so always keep an eye out for these limited-time events!
Thirdly, you can complete Elite battles – only a limited number of these battles are available for you to take part in each day, and when opening the game for the first time in a day, you should focus on these ones first, due to the fighter pieces you could end up winning. We would recommend raiding for best results, and working on your top heroes whom you are looking to upgrade; unlocking a new hero could come secondary if you’ve got a tried-and-tested hero you’re focusing on.
5. Join A Club, And Make Sure It’s Active
Clubs are KOF98 Ultimate Match Online’s equivalent of guilds or clans in RPGs, and since this is a multiplayer game with a guild/clan feature, it should go without saying that you should be joining a club, while also making sure the club is active. If there’s a social element, why ignore it? Aside from the auxiliary benefit of socializing with random people from around the world, you can win more goodies if your club has a lot of items unlocked. And as a bonus tip, you can use your tokens to buy items in the Club Store, and get some nice stuff, such as pieces for Fighters that you already have on your roster, or are hoping to unlock.
6. How To Build The Perfect Team
When playing KOF98 Ultimate Match Online for the first time, you really won’t have too many options to work with as far as your team is concerned. But that’s another reason why we said unlocking new fighters is a good thing in this game; as you unlock more of them, you’ll have more choices for your team, and that’s when you’ll need to employ some strategy in coming up with the right lineup. Just what is the right strategy to use?
First of all, you want to unlock Fighter’s Fate – this is a bonus that you can get for having certain fighters on your team, and while the type of bonus may vary depending on the fighters, it’s always a good thing to have such a bonus to give yourself the edge over your opposition.
Next up, you need to consider the types of fighters on your team. You can’t field a team where nobody has any healing skills if you’re up against tougher opponents. And you can’t field an all-damage dealer team either, because chances are you’ll be too squishy for comfort. Conversely, having an all-tank team isn’t a good idea either, because tanks traditionally specialize in soaking up damage, not dealing it out. Normally, it’s good to have at least one healer, two tanks, and three offensive/damage-dealing characters on your team.
Talking about fighter rarity, that’s another thing to keep in mind when building your team. Of course, rarer fighters have better stats and are more useful in battle. So if you’ve got some higher-rarity fighters on your roster, make sure to use them most, if not all of the time, and to max them out as quickly as possible. But don’t neglect each fighter’s skills and abilities either, especially their Ultimate Move. You want characters that have the most effective and definitive Ultimate Move, making it imperative to compare these moves before deciding on your final team composition.
7. Is Auto-Battle A Good Idea?
KOF98 Ultimate Match Online, like most other fighting games, comes with an Auto option that allows you to let the AI do the fighting for you. Fortunately, you need not worry about the AI always going for the obvious; in most cases, auto-battle is a good idea if you just want to sit back and relax. But you will definitely need to micro-manage things and do your own fighting if you’ve got a tough or tricky opponent; stock strategies won’t do you any good if your’e against a formidable foe.
8. When To Use Skill And Ultimate Attacks
Your first attack, ideally, should be a skill attack, because that ensures that your first attack is, at the very least, a skill attack against a specific target. That’s going to deal more damage in most cases, though there may be some other effects, depending on the special skill that gets used.
However, if you already have an Ultimate Attack unlocked, you should go for that most of the time if you’re down to the choice of using a skill or an Ultimate Attack. With these attacks, your fighters will still be able to perform regular attacks, though it bears mentioning that the opposite is NOT the case. When you’re playing tougher battles or in Challenge mode, you have to micro-manage your Ultimate Attacks to make sure you’re using them at the right time! Using them too early or too late in these harder battles won’t do you any favors.
9. The Rage Meter Needs To Be Managed Too
Of course, just like a lot of other fighting games, KOF98 Ultimate Match Online comes with a Rage mechanic, and when you kill an opponent, the character who deals out the death blow will be rewarded with some bonus Rage. It’s also very important that you keep a close eye on the Rage meter when fighting the more difficult battles, so with this extra Rage reward in mind, you should make sure that your best or favorite fighters always have their meters full, or at least close to it.
That’s all you need to know to succeed in KOF98 Ultimate Match Online. However, if you know additional tips or tricks, don’t hesitate to drop us a line in the comment section!