Just gotta tape the sides down... Trim the bow, and... There! Finished!
Your early Christmas present is here! The major update for KOF '98 UMFE is ready to be downloaded!
A warm thank you to everyone who participated in our Community Beta tests. Your feedback really helped make this something very special!
From everyone at SNK and Code Mystics, Thank You and Happy Holidays!

Hello everyone!
First, let us start by thanking the thousands of players who came out to participate in the 2 beta tests we had over the past couple months! Over 4,000 unique users logged on to slug some face, which thankfully went pretty smoothly due to the awesome rollback netcode Code Mystics has provided.

Just to throw some stats at you real quick, roughly 120,000 matches were played in just the 4 days the beta was up for. 4,326 of which were played by the top 10 most active users. So overall, the game saw a very healthy average of 7.5 matches per day, per user. You guys really came out to support the game you love, and everyone at SNK and Code Mystics deeply appreciates it.

Though this is the end of the Community Beta Test, SNK is always looking to better improve their games. As for the release of the final build, perhaps Christmas may come earlier this year.

Anyway, that’s it! Now we’re off to patch in the juicy updates for the game and get it ready for release. Thanks again, everyone!

THE KOF '98 UM FE COMMUNITY BETA TEST #2 IS COMING!

Some astute readers picked up on our hints last time but we’re proud to announce that it’s official!

Get ready because in addition to Rollback Netcode, KOF '98 UM FE will now include ONLINE LOBBIES and SPECTATOR MODE!
That’s right! Nine player lobbies with spectating modes are coming your way!
The community has been there every step of the way, and we hope this update will help foster an even bigger KOF '98 UM FE family.

Here is the dates and times for CBT2:

Starts on:
November 29th 5pm PST
November 30th 2am CET
November 30th 10am JST

Ends on:
December 3rd 5pm PST
December 4th 2am CET
December 4th 10am JST

We’re looking forward for your participation, and feedback! 😊

Hey KOF fans!

SNK and Code Mystics would like to take a moment to thank the community for coming in and helping out with the netcode beta test. Over 230K matches were played over the course of one week, all of which became essential in tweaking and bug fixing the game.

Overall, it was a massive success and it’s thanks to the dedication of many in the community who diligently reported whatever bugs/issues came their way.

This isn’t it for KOF '98 UM FE, so stay tuned for further updates.

KOF ’98 ULTIMATE MATCH FINAL EDITION ROLLBACK BETA TEST!

IT ALL BEGAN IN ‘94.
KEPT ON ROLLIN’ IN ‘95.
PIECES FELL IN PLACE IN ‘96.
IT CAME TO THE END IN ‘97.
AND NOW IT COMES AND HERE WE GO.
THE KOF IS HERE AGAIN.

NOTHING’S GONNA STOP IT’S 1998.

"From KOF ’98 UM FE opening demo"

Ah, 1998. Many argue it was the golden age. And right there amongst all the legendary titles released during that period, SNK launched what became to be known as the KOF of all KOFs. Then, 10 years later in 2008, SNK built upon this already-massive game with THE KING OF FIGHTERS ’98 ULTIMATE MATCH which added more characters, refined graphics and game balances, and added the new “Ultimate Mode” combat style. Finally, in 2014, SNK launched THE KING OF FIGHTERS ’98 ULTIMATE MATCH FINAL EDITION, which featured more balance changes, new game modes, and a PC port. Fans thought that was it for updates, but SNK wasn’t done just yet…

We are proud to announce a community beta test for THE KING OF FIGHTERS ’98 ULTIMATE MATCH FINAL EDITION. That’s right, your favorite game is getting that rollback treatment, but important, vigorous testing is necessary before we release it to the public. Just like past tests for other SNK ports (KOF2002UM, The Last Blade 2, etc.) this test will also be exclusive to 64 bit systems.

The beta test period will start from:
OCT 19th at 6PM PDT
and ends at
OCT 29th at 6PM PDT

You can access the beta (64-bit machines only) by going to Properties > Beta Files and select "64-bit rollback beta" from the dropdown. (64-bit processor required.) You may need to RESTART STEAM to see this. No private beta key is required.

Please help us in giving KOF98UMFE the best netcode it deserves.

…

…You still here?

Yeah, you knew better than to think that was it. There’s one last thing we forgot to mention.

We've spectated that many have been lobbying for more updates, and so we have another test prepared in the future. Thank you for your continued support and get ready for a real slugfest.