The Time: Mid November 2003
The Place: Your House

It’s late fall and there are two discs staring at you. One reads "King of Fighters 2000". The other, "King of Fighters 2001". Upon closer inspection, you notice a somewhat familiar logo that somehow looks... different. "SNK NEOGEO". And beneath that it reads, in smaller type, "USA CONSUMER CORPORATION". Hmmm. And then you see another logo, the omnipresent PlayStation 2. Now it becomes clearer that these are both on the same disc and you haven’t even had a drink yet. Yes, King of Fighters is coming on the Playstation 2. The U.S. Playstation 2. Have that drink now, and have a read.

SNK has a long history of producing great fighting games. It can be effectively argued that they almost forgot about developing anything else relevant for their MVS and AES hardware and continually worked on a multitude of what are now household names for the 2D fighting fan. Samurai Shodown, Fatal Fury, The Last Blade, and what most consider to be their best effort of all, The King of Fighters. I was introduced to King of Fighters (hereafter, simply "KOF") with KOF ’94, and I can still make an argument that it stands among the best in the series. Along the way, however, while the Japanese market was enthusiastically embracing each annual KOF release, the American market seemed to have lost touch and many a fan were forced to feed their KOF habits with either expensive AES carts, buying MVS hardware and software, or buying a Dreamcast and importing the latest conversion for that system.

Apparently, the new Playmore/SNK animal wants to change all that. They have multiple releases planned and the King of Fighters 2000/2001 pack is making a strong statement about what they feel the U.S. market will bear. It’s about damned time.

King of Fighters 2000

KOF2K is based on the same fighting engine as that of ’94 and it "feels" more like the same KOF’s of lore. The Striker system from ’99 was retained (wherein you can call upon another fighter to aid you via the R1 button) and this sets it apart from the later Eolith offering of 2001. Odds are that most of you perusing this are more than likely strongly versed in what to expect from this game, so you won’t get bored with the fine details here. The game includes additional features that are exclusive to the U.S. revision, namely you’ll be rewarded with Strikers like Krauser, Heavy D!, and Mr. Big. Also, there’s a Party Mode (essentially a survival mode that replenishes your health meter based on combos) and a Memory Mode. The Party Mode is where you’ll be able to unlock the new characters available to use as Strikers, so it’s essential that you play this. Not to mention, it’s one of the better play modes in the game. Visually, the game is colorful and very strong. Obviously, this is based on a system with the venerable 68000 processor; so don’t expect all that much more than you would from any other SNK game. That’s not a bad thing, however, and the PS2 rev stands up well next to its Dreamcast or Neo Geo counterparts.

King of Fighters 2001

Eolith took over the reigns for the KOF series with this installment that marked the biggest single change in the history of the franchise. Instead of the blasé 3 on 3 fighting mode being the standard, you can now mix and match fighters and Strikers however you see fit. If you want, you can have one fighter and three strikers or the reverse. The more fighters that you use, the lower your Power Stock will be and it rewards those that use fewer fighters. Obviously, there is more risk involved if you only have one character to be defeated before you lose, but the power of your strikers and their number can help you put an instant butt whooping on your opponent. Also added is the "Wire" attacks, which can stun your opponents and set them up for a combo while they are momentarily defenseless. The pace of KOF 2001 feels hastened and much less deliberate than its predecessors, which doesn’t make it better, just different. The Party Mode is also present on this disc and it wasn’t completed on our preview build. If it ends up being like KOF2K, which we’re sure it will, it’s going to be a blast. Memory Mode allows you to see previous introduction cinemas from prior installments of KOF via a reward system.

Visually, the game departs and evolves in many ways from its predecessors. The character portraits are markedly more stylishly rendered and one can feel the attitude that they ooze. The polygonal backgrounds attempt to bring KOF2K1 to the 21st century in appearance and, while this has been decried by some, this is largely effective. The character animations are much the same as their predecessors and lack the fluidity that the backgrounds display. They almost seem out of place. Again, you’re dealing with software created for a platform that thrived a decade ago and the whole package is more than the sum of its parts. Thankfully, in both KOF2K and KOF2K1, all of the original Japanese voices have been preserved instead of some hack job inserting English there for the sake of the U.S. consumer.

All Hail the Revived SNK

It’s absolutely refreshing to see this being released in this country at an attractive price point. I’m all for the evolution of gaming into new realms and pushing the envelope and all that jazz. But, it’s always a pleasure to see Terry, Mai, Ryo, Robert, Joe Higashi, and the multitudes of others that have made this one of the longest running franchises around. The phoenix has arisen and it’s a welcome addition to the PS2’s sorely deprived library of 2D fighting games. Welcome back, old friend.

· · · haohmaru