The King of Fighters


The King of Fighters is a series of fighting games by SNK. It is a crossover featuring characters from various video game series created by the company, as well as original characters created specifically for the series. The series began with the release of The King of Fighters '94 in 1994, which was initially developed for SNK's Neo Geo MVS arcade hardware and received yearly installments up until its tenth entry, The King of Fighters 2003 — thereafter, SNK moved away from annual The King of Fighters releases and games adopted a Roman numbered format, while simultaneously retiring the use of Neo Geo. The first major installment after this change was The King of Fighters XI on the Atomiswave arcade board. The series' most recent arcade hardware is the Taito Type X2, first used with the release of The King of Fighters XII and continues with the latest entry in the series, The King of Fighters XV.
The games' story focuses on the title tournament involving fighters from multiple SNK games. SNK also created original characters to serve as protagonists starting with newcomer Kyo Kusanagi heir of a clan destined to save the world from the Yamata no Orochi demon and fighting characters from Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting, among other titles. Later arcs focused on other characters such as K' who can wield fire like Kyo following experiments by the NESTS terrorist organization, Ash Crimson, a trickster interested in obtaining the Three Sacred Treasures and Shun'ei, a young fighter whose powers open the world to other dimensions.
Multiple spin-off games, such as the R duology for the Neo Geo Pocket and Maximum Impact for the PlayStation 2, for example, have also been released. Ports of the arcade games have been released for several video game consoles. There have been multiple cross-over games in which the SNK cast interacted with characters created by Capcom, while some characters have been present as guest characters in other games, such as Mai Shiranui in the Dead or Alive games and Street Fighter 6, Geese Howard in Tekken 7, Kula Diamond in Dead or Alive 6, and Terry Bogard in Fighting EX Layer, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and Street Fighter 6.
Critical reception of the video games have been generally positive with their use of teams and balanced gameplay often cited.

Games

Main series

  • SNK released the first game in the series, The King of Fighters '94, on August 25, 1994. It featured characters from SNK's previous fighting game series Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting, as well as original characters. The game's success led SNK to release yearly installments for the series numbering the games for the year they were released.
  • The King of Fighters '95, as well as adding new characters, began the series' first story arc titled "The Orochi Saga". It was also the first game in the series that allowed players to create their own three-member teams with any character in the game.
  • The King of Fighters '96 established the second part of "The Orochi Saga". Depending on the playable characters on a team, an exclusive ending would be played.
  • "The Orochi Saga" story arc concluded in The King of Fighters '97.
  • Unlike the series' previous games, The King of Fighters '98 did not feature a story. Instead, it was promoted as a "Dream Match" game that allowed players to choose most of the characters available from the previous titles, including ones that were supposedly dead. SNK refitted the Dreamcast version and renamed it The King of Fighters: Dream Match 1999 with an extended cel animated introduction and 3D backgrounds.
  • The King of Fighters '99 introduced "The NESTS Chronicles" story arc. In a new tactic, a specific person from a team would be an assistant called a "Striker". This person would be able to aid the team for a few seconds in combat. The Dreamcast version was titled The King of Fighters: Evolution, with several improvements in the game such as new Strikers and better animation.
  • The King of Fighters 2000 is the second part of "The NESTS Saga" as well as the last KOF game produced by SNK before its bankruptcy. It adds a few new playable characters and a couple of Strikers—most from earlier KOF titles and other SNK franchises such as Metal Slug, Robo Army, Burning Fight, Buriki One, The Last Blade, Savage Reign and Kizuna Encounter.
  • The King of Fighters 2001 ends the second story arc. The Korean company Eolith helped develop the game after SNK was declared bankrupt.
  • The King of Fighters 2002 was created to reunite old characters from previous KOF games and featured no story, similar to KOF '98. It was also developed by Eolith.
  • A new KOF story arc titled the "Tales of Ash" began in The King of Fighters 2003, the last KOF game to be released for the Neo Geo system. It allowed players to change characters while playing, but the number of team members was reduced to three. SNK returned to develop the franchise with this entry. By 2004, SNK abandoned the series' yearly releases and numbered future games in a more conventional manner.
  • The first main series' game released as such was The King of Fighters XI in 2005.
  • In 2009, The King of Fighters XII was released. It used high-resolution, hand-drawn 2D sprites on detailed 2D backgrounds. It is a storyless gathering of fighters, similar to KOF '98 and 2002.
  • The story arc ends with The King of Fighters XIII. Released during the summer of 2010, which features the entire roster from The King of Fighters XII as well as additional characters.
  • The King of Fighters XIV, featuring 3D graphics and a large roster of characters while also establishing a new story arc was released for the PlayStation 4 on August 23, 2016.
  • In December 2018, SNK revealed it was working on The King of Fighters XV, and was released on February 17, 2022.

    Spin-offs and remakes

  • The King of Fighters '94 was remade and released in 2004 for the PlayStation 2 as The King of Fighters '94 Re-Bout in Japan. This version has several new features like hi-res graphics, online play, team edit, a playable Rugal Bernstein, and the addition of Saisyu Kusanagi.
  • An update of KOF '98 titled The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match was released in Japanese arcades in 2008 and later on some video game consoles expanding the character roster and improving the graphics.
  • A remake of KOF 2002, titled The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match was released for the PlayStation 2 in 2009 in Japan. SNK also produced a game titled The King of Fighters: Battle de Paradise which could be connected to the Japanese Dreamcast port of KOF '99. *Yumekobo also developed the visual novel game with strategy elements for fights known as The King of Fighters: Kyo. The game follows Kyo's daily life as he prepares to fight in the tournament in KOF '97 while interacting with other rivals.
  • For the Neo Geo Pocket, an adaptation of KOF '97 titled King of Fighters R-1 was released on October 28, 1998. A sequel for the Neo Geo Pocket Color, King of Fighters R-2 an adaptation of KOF '98, was released on March 19, 1999.
  • In 2004, SNK produced the first 3D installment of the series, The King of Fighters: Maximum Impact. The game and its sequel KOF: Maximum Impact 2, and its upgraded version Maximum Impact: Regulation A, revises much of the backstory for the characters and settings from previous games. A second update called Regulation A2 was planned but cancelled. The producer of the Maximum Impact series, Falcoon, stated that the Maximum Impact games are in a different continuity from the original series of games. Another spin-off video game, The King of Fighters Neowave, was released for the Xbox, PlayStation 2 and Arcade during 2005 and 2006. Neowave is essentially a remix of KOF 2002, with a new presentation and a few roster changes. Like KOF2002, Neowave has no storyline and is considered a "dream match". Tomokazu Nakano created the character artwork.
  • Two video games were released for the Game Boy Advance titled The King of Fighters EX: Neo-Blood and The King of Fighters EX2: Howling Blood featuring characters and backgrounds from KOF '99 and 2000, respectively. The GBA games featured some exclusive content such as new stages and exclusive characters such as Moe Habana, introduced in EX: Neo-Blood, while EX2: Howling Blood featured more exclusive characters, including a new end boss. The data was based on the DC version of The King of Fighters '99 and put into The King of Fighters 2000 system. However, the game's quality was terrible according to Akihiko Ureshino.
  • A role-playing video game was also created exclusively for the PlayStation under the title The King of Fighters: Kyo, adapting a manga with the same name. An N-Gage version of the second Game Boy Advance game was released in 2005 titled The King of Fighters Extreme, which added Bluetooth multiplayer capability.
  • By late 2000s, at least three pachislot games were developed for the series. The first, The King of Fighters, is based on the Orochi storyline; the second, The King of Fighters 2, is based on the fight of K' against the NESTS cartel; and the third, Maximum Impact focuses on the series' 3D titles. None of these was released outside Japan. At least six games for Japanese mobile phones have also been developed. While a few of them are fighting games, others are mini-games like volleyball and quizzes.