The King Of Fighters '99 Evolution (US) for Sega Dreamcast
Complete Extra Striker/Secrets FAQ
By Scott Miller (pac4051-at-hotmail.com)
Version 2.75

This FAQ is copyright 2001 by Scott Miller and is protected under all 
international copyright laws.  You have my permission to reproduce this 
FAQ without written consent as long as the following conditions are 
observed:

1:  All content, including this copyright notice, and notice of 
authorship, remains intact.

2:  This FAQ may NOT be used for ANY commercial purposes whatsoever.  
This includes, but is not limited to the following:

--posting it with web banners
--selling it, giving it away as a free bonus, or reprinting it in a 
commercial FOR-PROFIT publication, on any storage medium now known or 
later to be invented (for example:  Magazines, pay web sites, floppy 
disk, CD- or DVD-ROMs, etc.) 

Users are permitted to make copies and distribute them freely, provided 
that NO PROFIT is involved (for example, printing it or photocopying it 
for a friend) and the content remains intact.  Users are NOT permitted 
to copy this work and post it, with or without alterations, as their 
own work.  Those who do this will be considered pirates and appropriate 
action will be taken.

To put it bluntly:  Don't steal it and don't sell it.  S'alright?  
S'alright.

Agetec is a trademark of the Agetec company.  SNK, King Of Fighters, 
King Of Fighters Evolution, and all characters therein are the 
trademarked property of SNK Corporation of Japan and are used herein 
without permission.

The current version of this FAQ will always be found at gamefaqs.com.

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Contents:
I.  Version History
II.  Comments
III.  Getting The Extra Strikers
IV.  Fio and Alfred and Syo and Gai
V.  Striker Cost
VI.  Acknowledgements

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I.  Version History

0.1--6/7/01--Started FAQ
0.5--6/10/01--Confirmed existence of Syo and Gai
1.0--6/13/01--Release version (more updates to come)
Final--6/15/01--Fixed several mistakes, added "Rankings" section, 
finished point chart for Level 3 EX Strikers, amended copyright 
statement
2.5--6/15/01--spoke too soon!  Fixed more errors, added info on Syo and 
Gai, changed heading to reflect listing on gamefaqs.com
2.75--6/20/01--corrected more mistakes, added new info on Syo and Gai 
unlock trick
3.0--7/8/01--eliminated "Rankings" section, corrected minor errors; FAQ 
is nearly complete

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II.  Comments

The King Of Fighters Evolution is basically the same sort of game that 
King Of Fighters '99 Dream Match was--a port of an already good 2-D 
fighting game to the Dreamcast, with the nice old 2-D backdrops 
replaced by 3-D backdrops, some of which are nice, some of which are 
not.  The enhanced resolution also has a way of making the sprites 
unflattering by showing off their jagged, pixelly edges.

On the other hand, it's otherwise perfect, has no loading times, 
several extras (and the most annoying secret in video game history, at 
least in the US version), Krizalid is immediately selectable and usable 
in all game modes, and it controls very tightly, especially with the 
good old ASCII six-button fighting pad, which, for whatever boneheaded 
reason, was never licensed by any American companies, despite the 
obvious inferiority of all the American six-button pads.

The "Rankings" section that once comprised part 6 has now been removed 
from the FAQ.  It didn't really belong and nobody was interested in it 
anyway.  The rest of my dumb mistakes have now been corrected (most of 
them sprang up in the first place only because I had to borrow the game 
and wasn't too eager to let it run for all those hours more than once--
note to all aspiring FAQ writers, make sure you test *everything* 
before you release your FAQ).

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III.  Getting The Extra Strikers

In KOF Evolution, just as in every other version of KOF '99, you get 
Battle Ability points, which is this game's equivalent of a running 
score.  However, unlike the other versions, in this version you can use 
the points you earn to buy Extra Strikers.  (No comment on the "get 
points to unlock secrets" craze that has obsessed Japan since Soul 
Calibur came out and forced us all to spend dozens of hours obsessively 
trying to earn points to get secrets that aren't necessarily worth the 
time it took to unlock them.)

The way it works is this:  You go into the Extra Striker menu, and, if 
you've got enough points, you can buy one.  Two are selectable from the 
start of the game; six can be bought as soon as you have enough points; 
two more will be unlocked when the first six appear; and so on and so 
on and etc. until you've got twenty-two new friends.  Aww.  Isn't that 
cute?  Er, sorry.

Anyway, Extra Strikers are the equivalent of the helpers in the first 
Marvel Vs. Capcom--they sit around at the bottom of your team, unable 
to join in the fun, until they are summoned, at which point they 
perform a special attack for you (unless they miss, then they'll taunt 
your opponent instead, wasting one of your striker uses--of course, 
this can be fun, and style counts, too).  The damage ranges from 
"barely adequate" to "equivalent of weak super move," so, yes, they can 
be helpful in battle, and they add a little strategy to already intense 
fights.

In addition, there are two different types for each striker, other than 
Seth and Vanessa.

Everything in this FAQ pertains to the North American version published 
by Agetec.

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IV.  Fio and Alfred and Syo and Gai

The first sixteen strikers can all be bought with Ability points, but 
there are others.  Specifically, four others--one from the Metal Slug 
universe, one from the Fatal Fury series, and two from a NGPC game, 
KOF:  Battle de Paradise (Gai is a character from a wrestling game, 
called Buriki One, and Syo is the original design of Kyo Kusanagi--
thanks to Jess Ragan for the info).

Fio and Alfred--Easy part.  Buying the first six Justice Strikers will 
automatically make the Level One Justice versions of Fio and Alfred 
available, and buying the six Dark Strikers will make Level One Dark 
versions of Fio and Alfred available.

Syo and Gai--Hard.  Harder than anything else in the entire universe.  
Harder than beating the original NES Castlevania without dying (well, 
nothing's that hard).  Actually, it's pretty easy--if you don't mind 
playing for fifty to one-hundred-ten hours.

This is the thing that makes me want to hurl rotten vegetables and 
compost at Agetec.  See, in the American version, they thought it would 
be fun to make Syo and Gai time-released characters, and to add an 
absurdly long button press code to that, to enable them.  To unlock the 
most powerful versions of Syo and Gai, it takes, yes, a whopping 110 
hours.

Here's the trick, which I first saw at www.orochinagi.com (where it was 
contributed by hebretto):

1)  When the time limit is up, go into any play mode.  I personally 
have found Practice mode to be the best, but I assume it'll work 
anywhere.  It didn't work in the one-player modes, anyway.  Your 
mileage may vary; consult dealer for details.

2)  Highlight Kyo (the real version) and press the Y button 30 times.  
(You have to be fairly quick or it won't work, but go too fast and you 
won't be able to count; I time mine to the beats of the music, as if I 
were playing a dance game.)

3)  Without stopping or slowing down, press up, right x 3, up, left x 
3, up x 2, right x 3, up x 2, left x 3, up, right x 3, up x 2 (this 
should lead you all over the character select menu and up to the Extra 
Striker option), A.

4)  You should now be in the Extra Striker select screen, and, if it 
worked, Syo and Gai will have appeared underneath Alfred.

You can do this trick repeatedly, until you get the versions you want.

50 hours--
Level One Justice versions only.  That's it.  Oh, well.

60 hours--
Level One Justice and Dark versions.  (This was contributed by 
striderhiryu1982.)

70-80 hours--(Unsure of exact trigger)
Level 2 Justice, Level 1 Dark.

80-90 hours--(Unsure of exact trigger)
Level 2 Justice, Level 2 Dark.

100 hours--
Level 3 Justice, Level 2 Dark.

110 hours--
Level 3 Justice, Level 3 Dark.

No, it's not a hoax, as I originally assumed; it does work and works 
consistently and well.  Whether or not it's a reasonable unlocking 
trick is a whole other matter, which I won't go into again.

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V.  Striker Cost

Here's a handy and dependable chart to the costs of the other Extra 
Strikers, including Fio and Alfred, for each level of experience.  It 
may be ugly, due to my non-mastery of ASCII text, but it should be 
easily readable.

Level One
Chara              Cost/Justice version    Cost/Dark version
------------------------------------------------------------
Kyo (SP)           800 points              1000 points
Goro Daimon            "                        "
Chizuru Kagura         "                        "
Athena (SP)            "                        "
Billy Kane             "                        "
Ryuji Yamazaki         "                        "
Fio*               2000 points             2200 points
Alfred*            2000 points             2200 points
*--only available after first six characters have been purchased for 
both Justice and Dark versions
-------------------------------------------------------------
Total cost:  19,200 Battle Ability points

Level Two
Chara              Cost/Justice ver.       Cost/Dark ver.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Kyo (SP)           1200 points             1500 points
Daimon                  "                       "
Chizuru                 "                       "
Athena (SP)             "                       "
Billy                   "                       "
Yamazaki                "                       "
Fio                2500 points             2700 points
Alfred             2500 points             2700 points
-------------------------------------------------------------
Total cost:  26,600 Battle Ability points

Level Three
Chara              Cost/Justice            Cost/Dark
-------------------------------------------------------------
Kyo (SP)           1600 points             2000 points
Daimon                  "                      "
Chizuru                 "                      "
Athena (SP)             "                      "
Billy                   "                      "
Yamazaki                "                      "
Fio                 3000 points            3200 points    
Alfred                  "                      "
-------------------------------------------------------------
Total cost:  34,000 Battle Ability points
Total cost of all strikers:  79,800 Battle Ability points (eek!)

--Earning points the quick and dirty way
Set the difficulty to 8 and strikers and power meter to max.  Go into 
either single play mode or team play mode.  Repeatedly use supers to 
destroy your opponents easily.

In your second match, lose without continuing; you should have at least 
800 points.  I saw this trick on Gamewinners.com (credit where credit 
is due), and it's much easier than going through an entire game.  Best 
high score so far, with a team of Joe, Athena, Takuma, and Shingo:  
1152 points for one match.

Remember:
--Supers are worth a goodly amount of points.
--So are combos.
--Defeating multiple opponents with one character, especially your 
first or last on a team, earns extra points.
--Cheating does you absolutely no good at all.  So much for that 
theory.  ("Cheaters never prosper," blah blah blah.)

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VI.  Acknowledgements

Gamefaqs.com and CJayC--the best FAQ site on the Internet, so obviously 
the man running it has something to do with it.  Take another vacation.

Striderhiryu1982--for letting me correct the "75 hour" trick with the 
correct time limit.

Jess Ragan (grblitz.overclocked.org)--for more help than any FAQ writer 
deserves!  He's the man behind "The Gameroom Blitz."  Go there and 
check out some of the articles (including my favorite, "Fighter's 
Misery," which discusses some of the godawfulest fighting games ever 
made).

Gamewinners.com--For the point-earning trick, which helped me cut way 
down on the time needed to earn all those points.  However, someone 
should tell them that the "EX Character" trick comes from Dream Match 
'99.

Agetec (www.agetec.com)--For releasing the game, but not for the 
mistakes in the manual, or the most irritating unlock trick of all 
time, just ahead of the random Thailand stage in Capcom Vs. SNK, or 
that damn baseball bat that never appeared when I played Earthbound.  
Waiting impatiently for Last Blade 2.

Orochinagi.com (now hosted by PlanetDreamcast.com)--For being a great 
site for KOF goodness, and for posting the Syo and Gai trick on their 
front page in the first place.

My brother Mark--for lending me KOF Evolution in the first place, along 
with the ASCII fighting pad.  

Everyone else--for putting up with me for the last six months.

