| Feature | Description | |---------|-------------| | | 400 character slots (organized in rows/columns) | | Engine | MUGEN 1.0 or 1.1 (most are 1.1 for HD/widescreen) | | Screenpack Style | Dark, tech/mercenary theme – high contrast, metal/cyber UI | | Lifebars | Custom KOF-style with mercenary/HUD elements | | Select Screen | Large portrait grid (often 20x20 or 25x16 layout) | | Portrait Format | 120x140 pixels (common), or 100x100 for some edits | | VS Screen | Animated vs text, character name + stats | | Intro/Ending | Custom Theory/Mercenary logo + credits | | System Def | Supports 6-button layout (light/strong punch/kick) | | Extra | Includes stage select, win quotes, and often a training mode tweak |

This handbook gives you the practical tools, architectural patterns, and creative direction to build, run, and maintain a rich 400-slot mercenary-themed KOF screenpack with a resilient downlink workflow. Use the manifest-driven approach for scalability, sign and checksum everything for integrity, and keep UX snappy with on-demand streaming and prefetching. If you want, I can generate example manifest files, a sample installer script, or a mock UI layout next. Which would you like?