The older brother to KOF94. A twin brother.
Let's jump right into the differences that this game has from KOF94 - mechanically, this game doesn't feel very different to its prequel.
You can make your custom teams instead of being locked into whatever default teams the game offers. Team USA is replaced by the Rivals team. Saisyu is the sub-boss instead of a weaker Rugal, and at full strength, Rugal looks different. There are new stages and soundtracks. The pixel art improved slightly as far as the character portraits go, as well as the art for post-match victory screens.
Those are the main differences I noticed. On the other hand, you can also attack while doing the side-step, you can do a higher jump, but really, these additions to aren't really useful. They could be, but the AI is still very, very similar to what it was in the previous game. This means that the challenges you face are mostly the same as in KOF94. You will have to be patient. You might not even get to use your desperation moves, or any of the new gameplay mechanics (except the higher jump, perhaps).
With all that being said, is this a bad game? No.
Is it a great step forward for KOF? Not really, no. This game is a step sideways. There are some good soundtracks, and I would dare say that this game improved in that department when compared to KOF94. The stages...it's a glass half full for me. Half the stages are cool, half of them make me wish there was something more interesting going on in the background.
Ultimately, this is another chapter in the KOF series that you may want to skip. Don't get me wrong, the bells and whistles are still neat, but the essentials of the gameplay haven't changed enough. That said, if you liked KOF94, you will probably like this game as well.