The King of Fighters 2000/2001 Impressions

SNK's venerable King of Fighters franchise has become as much a staple of the fighting genre as Capcom's Street Fighter games. While the series has always been viewed as SNK's answer to Street Fighter, the King of Fighters series has always managed to offer its own distinct style of gameplay. In fact, the series, which features characters from various SNK games, can definitely be seen as a precursor to Capcom's own versus games from the late '90s. However, despite the popularity of the series in Japan and in arcades, it's never quite taken off in the US. Thankfully, the newly revived SNK is giving one of its premier franchises a strong push in the form of a two-disc set that features King of Fighters 2000 and 2001 for the PlayStation 2. We tried out a preview version of the set and are pleased by the offering.

For all its differences from the Street Fighter series, the KOF franchise has stuck to the same aesthetics that have influenced the development of Capcom's series. The basic structure and gameplay mechanics have evolved since the series began in 1994. You still have a meaty roster of fighters to choose from, and you're still able to select a team of three to battle your way up a tournament ladder. Each character has his or her own unique set of attacks that include special moves and superattacks. However, thanks to the regular entries in the series, there has been a great deal of refinement made to the classic formula. While the tweaks and additions have varied in popularity with fans, the entries in the series have always managed to be interesting. The pairing of KOF 2000 and 2001 serves as a good example of the tweaks the series has undergone, thanks to the obvious gameplay differences between the two.

King of Fighters 2000 featured several "love 'em or hate 'em" gameplay elements that built on concepts from KOF '99. The most significant element was the "striker" system that let you call in a character from your team to perform one of several actions. Depending on the character you chose, strikers could be used to attack or break up an opponent's combo, or they could be used to fill your fighter's health or special bar. KOF 2000 also featured armor and counter-power-ups you could trigger during a fight to temporarily break through your opponent's attacks, or to cancel special attacks into superattacks.

King of Fighters 2001 presented a distinct change of pace from 2000's offering, thanks to a number of implementations that were made to the game mechanics, in addition to the incorporation of a greater number of customization options. The armor and counter-power-ups were nixed, as was the required number of members on your team. You were given the option to mix and match playable fighters and strikers for up to a total of four characters at once, which offered a considerable amount of variety to the experience. The abilities of your selected characters varied according to the number of fighters on your team, which helped balance the fights. KOF 2001 also introduced two new attacks--"wire damage" and an even more-powerful version of superattacks The new mix of attacks and gameplay balance worked pretty well. KOF 2001 added strategic aspects to the character selection process, and the pace of battles also became considerably faster.

While the core of both games are true to their arcade counterparts, SNK and developer Eolith have gone ahead and tossed in some extras to ensure that you won't be playing ports. King of Fighters 2000 includes new PlayStation 2-exclusive strikers, as well as two new game modes--party and memory. Party is a new twist on the standard survival mode, and, in it, your health is restored if you manage to execute an uninterrupted string of hits on an opponent. Memory mode is essentially a theater-mode that lets you view the attraction cinemas from previous KOF games. SNK also includes collectible trading cards that are emblazoned with characters from the series.

The graphics in both games have made the leap to the PlayStation 2 pretty well, although King of Fighters 2001 fares a bit better than 2000. The blessing and curse of the franchise has been its arcade roots, which have been tightly bound to SNK's arcade hardware. While the MVS board was once a force to be reckoned with, it just doesn't pump out cutting edge visuals anymore. As a result, the series has plateaued in terms of its visuals, although the inclusion of polygonal elements and a polishing-up of the character sprites help to freshen things up a bit. Still, the games are faithful to the well known look of the series, which has always had its own charm.

The same retro appeal holds true for the game's audio, which offers up an old-school assortment of cries and assorted effects to underscore the combat and to lend the characters personalities. The music in both games includes collections of tunes that are on par with the well known SNK songs and melodies fans love.

Overall, King of Fighters 2000/2001 looks to be a solid collection that should please fans--even those who imported the Japanese versions of them. If you're new to the series, this is as good a chance as any to find out what all the fuss is about. Both games offer a good sampling of what's made the series so popular. SNK's King of Fighters 2000/2001 two-disc set is slated to ship this month for the PlayStation 2.