A good starting point for any newbie to the series.
The mad men at SNK did it here. Fighting feels smoother, the graphics show a considerable improvement, the soundtrack is more memorable. Hell, the AI is much friendlier here than in the previous two games. It can still be a bitch to deal with when it comes to the bosses, but hey, that's part of the SNK formula.
You have a playable roster of 27 characters here, with some debuts like Leona, Mature, Kasumi and Vice. Some movesets were changed, which is mostly fine by me, barring Robert. Come on, SNK, you took his projectile away? At least Kyo got a combo oriented moveset after losing his projectile. There's also a boss team made up of Geese Howard, Wolfgang Krauser and Mr. Big - can't go wrong with names like those.
The sub-boss is Chizuru and the main boss is Goenitz. They are both a pain in the ass, but there are ways to cheese past them. If there are tricks like that for Rugal in the previous games, I never found them, so make what you will of that. Anyways, just look at those damn graphics. SNK truly went all out on some of these stages. While you are getting pounded by Chizuru, take a look at the stage you fight her in. There's so much going on there. Sadly, it all gets destroyed when you face Goenitz.
Let's get down to brass tacks, though. The gameplay additions are actually useful. Instead of just side-stepping, you can do a rolling dodge. Forward dashing was okay before, but that's replaced with running, which you can follow up with a big jump if you want. Throws can be stopped now, and I never made use of this, but taunts can be cancelled. Air blocking was introduced as well.
As I mentioned earlier, the AI is friendlier than in previous games, so all of this can actually be useful. Isn't that nice?
Overall, this would be the first great KOF game for me. It really helps that attacks don't do as much damage as before, fights feel less stiff, and there's a better flow to the game. This adds some much needed sense of replayability. Anyone new to the series should start here and enjoy the ride with the sequels.