The reason for that is the animations for KOF XIII ate too much time and dev costs, that they had to split the game into a buggy KOFXII and the actual game, KOFXIII. They couldn't implement the whole special intros they always had with previous KOF games.
I absolutely couldn't get enough of the pre-match banter between everyone and how they have been following each other's stories over the past 20 years, like how Athena ask Kuo if he finally graduated high school and he let her down by stating he dropped out.
The first KOF game I have ever played was KOF 97 and when I beat the game with the sacred treasures team I was blown away by the ending the emotions I felt when I finished it are living forever in my memories
The thing that raises KoF from GREAT to LEGENDARY is that 'no story' can be considered a major point against the games. To this day, you still get people wanting storylines resolved that are years old. How many fans have been asking for a big showdown with the Flying Pirates since the end of the NESTS saga? How many people want to see Leona's reaction to a revived Gaidel?
i've always enjoyed your videos. being a long time kof fan since 97, from being a teenager to now teaching my kids how to play kof. kof has been a big part of life and there arent many channels out there as dedicated as you, bringing justice and lore to fans out there. i have been binge watching your videos these few days and really enjoy your work. seeing a new video today really brightened up my day. keep doing what you do and hope good things come to you. thank you for the great content.
The thing that annoys the most is the fact that they still don't make the story of Kyo and Iori's rivalry evolve. We still don't know why Iori hates Kyo so much even through he already knows the Kusanagis are not responsible for his family's curse plus he says himself it is not the reason for his anger. Plus they often have these endgame fights and we never know what were the outcomes of all these fights. It becomes a running gag at this point.
That's the only thing I don't like about KOF. I wish this whole rivalry end, I hope that ends in KOF XVI. If Ryu & Ken from Street Fighter ended their rivalry, than Kyo & Iori can.
The Verse saga also downplayed the Fatal Fury special moves. Geese’s Raging Storm super became the climax super, along with Mary’s, Yamazaki’s, Andy’s, and Mai’s normal supers becoming climax supers, leaving them with weaker supers. Terry temporarily had it worse when his simple Power Dunk was his climax super in XIV until XV turned it back to a normal special move (likely because Super Smash Bros Ultimate brought Terry into the spotlight and people would notice the difference).
I disagree about Rugal being the worst part of 94. I think the worst part about 94 is the fact that you had to choose preset teams and couldn't mix and match characters like later games. Also the reason the SFX in 2003 sound the way they do is because the sfx were reused from SVC Chaos which don't sound great in the first place.
I think my favorite thing about the KOF series is how they make the world feel lived in through the promotional material. CD dramas, Shinkiro’s artwork of the characters in their everyday lives, custom team endings, etc. All of these things make it feel like people live in this world outside of the tournament.
My perfect kof : - 98/02 UM gameplay, - a strong story - a 70+ character roster - animated special intros - banger OST - anime style graphics like arcsys does and on the top of it all : the choice beetween 3on3, striker and tag system matches ( dreamin'...)
You know you found your passion when you just keep getting ideas from it. Shoryugame never stops to suprise us. In kof 2002 there is a version in wich King is playable.
@@wolfgangkrauser9735she appears in the Dreamcast and PS2 versions of original 2002. You have to unlock her and Shingo. As they are not available right away. And unlocking them is quite a pain.
11:39 An unlicensed Dreamcast port of KOF XI exists, but it's a direct port of the arcade version given the similar architecture between the Atomiswave and the Dreamcast.
The best thing about KOF: it pioneered a lot of new techniques that became standards in fighting games, like short hop and super jumps The worst thing about KOF: most people dont know they pioneered those techniques due to SNK's bad business decisions that left them trailing behind Capcom and newer game devs.
4:17 Since the 1996 Summer Olympics happened the year before, SNK decided to give it the Olympics aesthetic by giving each stage some ambience whenever certain characters or teams aren't fighting.
Its not a cameo appearance if they play full parts, have their own special moves and endings. They have the same amount of screentime as everyone else.
@@DontKnowDontCare6.9 with all due respect, that’s just a lie They barely have any relevance to the main plot despite being heavy hitters canonically and they take part in the tournament SOLELY for the love of the game, they have no actual desire to win they are there because of “tradition” Terry is the same as he was in 94, no development whatsoever, Yamazaki has more relevance to the plot than him And don’t get me started on Ryo 😭🙏🏿
Great content, as usual. I can think of more positive and negative aspects of some of the entries. Kof 96 has gorgeous backgrounds and introduced Chizuru, but the controls are hard to make special moves. 97 has an amazing story (not just the canonical ending) but is full of bugs. Also, the fact that there were 2 colors for character's clothes in Advanced and other 2 in Extra was something limiting. As for the artwork, I think that 2000, 2003 and XI had the best.
I actually agree with everything you said in this video. Anyway, I love the new video idea, you keep surprising me with many fun video ideas related to KOF. Thank you, Yassin.
Shoryu, I LOVE this video! The attention to detail and explanations were amazing. Anyone new to KOF would find this really useful! If not too much to ask, could you make a video on your ultimate KOF? Like an overview of roster and mechanics? Knowing your views would be fantastic! My two cents on the KOF installments I’ve played: KOF ‘96 Pro: great roster and iconic music. Con: CD and some moves feel stiff KOF ‘97 Pro: amazing story Con: some important characters like Chizuru, Ryo or Kim having no theme. KOF ‘98 Pro: great mechanics Con: Chris’ CD, LOL KOF ‘99 Pro: the character art (the best one I’ve seen) and the introduction of strikers Con: the weird AB command and the fact supers come out way too slowly KOF 2000 Pro: amazing striker system Con: Joe as a striker made the game too boring and predictable KOF 2001 Pro: the NESTS team theme is so unique and it feels as dark as the Orochi team’s Con: no Kasumi. Side note: I actually like the character art. The designs feel human-like. KOF 2002 Pro: bringing back the 3on3 matches Con: the overemphasis on Orochi Saga characters and the absence of NESTS characters. KOF 2003 Pro: the tag system and the soundtrack Con: the tag system could have been better developed and designed in a MVC2-like manner. KOF XI Pro: unexpected yet great roster Con: the consoles you can play it on KOF XII Pro: the graphics Con: poor gameplay KOF XIII Pro: the introduction of the hyper drive meter Con; long combos that ruined the game KOF XIV:m Pro: nice roster and new characters Con: constant updates and rebalance. I feel characters should remain the way they are and only repair glitches without taking away any properties they were first given. KOF XV Pro: improved gameplay from XIV Con: Krohnen and paying for characters you shouldn’t have because they’re not DLC-worthy KOF ‘98 UM Pro: introduction of the ultimate mode Con: the extra mode feels OP KOF 2002 UM Pro: best roster ever! Con: only flaws are some characters only having one DM (Hinako and Yuri come to mind) and giving some characters buffs (King and Chris’ slides being cancellable) that not everyone has (Vanessa not being able to cancel hers). I LOVE this video, Shoryu!
I can respect your pros and cons for each KOF game and I can agree especially with kofxi the reason why despite i never played but love it the game was not just because of the team stages and music but how aside from the roster being pretty good they brought back hotaru as a playable character for a kof game and gave her adjustments to her moveset making her a standout to her ff counterpart just like how they brought rock howard back in kof xiv and xv but gave him great adjustments making him insanely good in xv. I'm also glad they brought jenet back as well but i'm still leaning towards hotaru for xv since i know she didn't had a story in xi but she did had a special intro against gato because of her narrative in her quest to search for him and i do want that to continue in xv aside from her continuing that quest in cotw
I only realized the lack of music in KOF97 when I bought the cartridge about 15 years ago. Back when I played it in arcades, the noise in those places was so loud that it was almost unnoticeable. Somehow Dhalsim's elephants (from the ever-popular SFII machines) managed to stand out from the rest, but overall it was a cacophony of indiscernible sounds.
Actually, I also would like to see some characters in KOF game: Chonrei & Chonshu from Fatal Fury, Mikoto from Samurai Shodown, Mars People from Metal Slug, Kaede & Kagami from Last Blade, Sinclair from Art of Fighting, Freeman from Garou, Nicola & Carol from Savage Reign, some fighters from Buriki One, Joe Kusanagi from Aggressors of Dark Kombat, Hanzo & Ryoko from World Heroes, and many other characters from old SNK games and series. Let them join KOF, at least in a spinoff title!
Best part on some games for me are some of the mechanics added, like being able to cancel special moves into special moves in 2002 and super into another super in XI, it's just fun
The biggest problem in '96 is the controls. The moves had to be too precise and that ruined the grapplers. And you can finish the game using only Mature's C+D attack.
I always loved KoF. 2002 is my favourite. As much as i love KoF i simply cannot play the new ones due to that auto combo bullshit. Very good video. Best thing for me in any KoF game is Athena. I love her
Great list, as always Shoryu! KoF XII nearly killed the franchise and I think KoF has yet to recover its reputation. Nothing killed KoF XVs momentum more than auto combos. My friends and I returned to the series because of the returning characters and all stopped playing it because auto combos destroyed any fun to be found. Why SNK won't make this optional after two games is beyond me. We're all excited about City of Wolves but are waiting for reviews to see if auto combos will be included again. If SNK thinks auto combos will bring newbies to their games they are wrong. Fighting game players are competitive by nature. Sure we'll use a glitch but that's part of the game. Button-mashing loses more players than extreme difficulty.
Hot take: The sprites in KoF XII/XIII are aesthetically unappealing. And their cost eventually caused SNK'S second bankruptcy. Not dissimilar how the commercial failure of SFIII had a hand in Capcom briefly abandoning the fighting game genre for a good chunk of the 2000's.
Well, the commercial failure of SFIII is a result of many questionable decisions (just check the original arcade cabinet), however, this game was fixed, and now SFIII Third Strike is one of the GOAT fighting games.
I recently started playing 13, and while the roster is bit in the abysmal side, it has it's pro and cons: *Pros* - Color Customizing - The Soundtrack Imo slaps! *Cons* - Some characters revert to their previous version or outright lose some of their moves (like why SNK made Terry lose his Power Dunk Or EX Kyo is basically just post '95-onwards Kyo). - some Desperation/Neo Max/NM Cancels (if you somehow are an input god) are impossible on controller, as they seem hard to perform (especially if it's Double Half circle) under pressure. - Oh, and let's not forget about True Saiki since he is an *infamous* mid-boss, because of his dumb grab that makes you lose a chunk of your health.
Yeah! Makoto Mizoguchi from the Fighter's History series! 👍 "TAKE A LOOK AT THAT!!!" THESPIO!! THESPIO!! THESPIO!!" He is so cool! 😄 I wanted to see more FH characters in KOF like Ryoko, Jean, Clown and Yungmie Sad fact Samchay was going to appear in the cancelled sequel of Regulation A 😔
You know, the arcade version of KOF 2002, is the only version where King is not playable. They immediately put her in the Dreamcast and PS2 version. That kind of implies that SNK was doing some damage control. Which implies that Eotith might have forced them to choose between King and May Lee for the Women Team. At least, that's what I think. How does it sound to you?
I'm surprised you didn't say "Yamazaki is the best thing of 97". Honestly, pretty disappointed in the story aspects in 15 overall. Like it felt 14 set it up to have a crazy story with dead characters being revived but ended up kind of flat, with the bosses being DLC and having little story impact.
kof 13 paired down so many movesets to just 4 moves. Andy and Ryo would never recover. I absolutely hated that about 13, it also suffered from over used top tiers but that's kind of how older fighting games go. The best part about 2000 and XI were the home ports, so many added extras! I really hope we get proper ports soon like we have with the UM games and 13.
What you said about 2003s weak spot, is somehow I like a lot about it xD But for me the best thing about 2003 is similar to 96-- the music and the voice acting.
Great work my friend the best video about Every KOF ❤❤❤ need a KOF with : KOF 97 Story and OST/Sound Effects KOF 2002 UM screen select character KOF 13 HD graphcs Done
KOF '98 is my favorite entry, but I HATE air blocking. I just feel it's unnecessary in KOF. The auto combos in modern KOF are probably the worst thing the franchise have ever introduced. Especially considering how easy they made the combos to do. There is literally NO excuse to not learn a simple bnb!
11:36 Yup, I agree, it's a damn shame KOF XI has never been re-released, it's BY FAR the best game in the series, it's like if KOF met Marvel vs Capcom.
SNK could've released the KOF Collection: Tales of Ash Saga (2003, XI, XII & XIII in one disc), but instead they just simply and solely gave us KOF XIII Global Match in 2023 which is disappointing.
I hated the Back Dash /Roll so much in KOF 99. I didn't use it at all in the end, great that i'm not the only one... I loved all the soundtrack you can still feel SNK vibes in it before the Eolith /SNK Playmore Era... For King was added in the Dreamcast and PS2 version but true it was a sin to not add her in the original game. Your review is really accurate though i can't complain about it.😎
You bring up KOF 02 UM, but don't bring KOF 98UMFE. Kind of surprising, as I felt it brought enough to the table to have its own slot, if not at least a mention.
I think KOF12 is also the only mainline entry with English voice acting right? I would label that as a positive….if it weren’t half n’ half. KOF12 is a prime example of how good graphics does not make for a good game. Great list as usual, mate!
Here are my list of Worst things about every kof game : The games in Orochi Saga had overpowered bosses that should be nerfed (especially kof 95) kof 97 lacks more soundtracks for other characters (Mai , Robert , Clark , Choi should have gotten some too) Kof 2000 and XI had mediocre Stages Kof 2001 had mediocre soundtrack and horrible artwork kof 2002 had mediocre soundtrack kof 2002 um would have been perfect if not for outdated graphics / stages and some characters should be nerfed kof 2003 had annoying combat audio-feedback kof xii (the less said the better) kof xiii had lacking roster and the Worst last bosses kof xiv had questionable graphics (for ps4) kof xv lacks more single-player content and more characters (let 's hope there are still more coming in the future) kof Max Impact 2 : gameplay is mostly unbalanced
KOF 2002 UM is a deservingly highly rated KOF entry, but ngl one of if not the best game in our franchise essentially be a Orochi vs NESTs saga galore with 0 representation of Tales of Ash (I am not gonna count New Age in cuz it wasnt even a thought at the time) pains me as a Tales of Ash baby (I started with 2003). I still wished to this day that we had a mainline/spinoff "98 3.0" that covers almost everyone up till 13, just like 2002 did with Orochi + NESTs. I am still happy with what we got in 14 and 15 (in fact, 15 does feel a bit like what I wanted a modern Dream Match game to be), but it would have been nice if we had a proper Tales of Ash or even New Age Dream Match game that updates from 2002 UM and makes it even better than 2002 UM alr is. This actually feels like the CVS2 prob where we never get to see newly introduced characters post 2001 fight the Capcom cast.
I'd also want it a tag fighter, considering Capcom removing the 3v3 format from Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite. A tag team dream match would be a first for the series, and I can see each non-canonical mainline KOF game use this format moving forward.
KOF XIV roster >>>>> KOF XIII roster I am not a fan of the roster of KOF XIII Not only because it is small but also because, it is pretty much the Orochi Saga teams/characters all over again! It hurts even more after the good roster of KOF 2003 and the excellent roster of KOF XI 😔 Those games tried something different with the formation of the classic teams. The best example is the Fatal Fury Team It was good to see Terry alongside other friends instead of Andy and Joe every time. Sadly, these days the fans don't want to see classic characters being remove and replace with new ones which is a shame. Seeing the same characters/teams all the time is boring One of the best things about KOF teams is seeing characters working together despite their differences and seeing their interactions, like with the Outlaw Team composed by Yamazaki, Billy and Blue Mary
Well, KOFXIII did have some unexpected picks for Kim's team, like Raiden and Hwa Jai, who were never playable in any KOF before. I think KOF XII's roster is much worse than XIII, since it was a lot smaller and it has no Mai Shiranui.
Yeah, that’s why I love KOF XI roaster so much. KOF XIV and XV are trying to make something similar, but FF and AoF teams are still unchanged. One more disappointing thing in modern games are DLC characters - in XIV it was forgivable, because SNK were trying the format, but in XV, after four DLC teams, another single DLC character pass is stupid and unacceptable! Besides, many of XIV characters didn’t return in XV. KOF XV is a garbage. KOF XI was a peak. The roster is still matters.
I don't think K'/Hero Team's Theme in KOF 99 is the best thing about the game. I think the ENTIRE soundtrack of 99 is the best thing about it 🎵 Seriously, I think it is better than KOF 96's music Another thing I like about KOF 99 is the aesthetic and atmosphere It is clear the game has a more cyberpunk style. Just look at the Continue? and Game Over screens, those are just *'chef kiss'* perfect! Now the thing I don't like about KOF 99 is the gameplay. It is one of the worst games in terms of gameplay 😅 I am not talking about the weird back roll (in fact, the 'backdash' is actually very usefu,l now the dash forward is the problem) First of all most of the Supers/ Desperation Moves came up very slow The striker system only works as a counter/defensive tool And finally the two new modes introduced (Counter and Armor mode) both are terrible. Counter mode is busted Armor mode hardly lasts at all Again, I like how KOF 99 looks and sounds but the gameplay is not good 😅
Having played 99 I can agree that core gameplay while still being good but the roll mechanic was implemented poorly and striker system was stiff when u called them in. Evertime u rolled the character would step forward which results into u getting clipped by your opponent. Thankfully KOF 2000 rectify those issues and made the striker system a little more better as well as including alternate strikers with characters from many SNK titles since it was supposedly their last title. The artstyle of the series peaked with 2000 they had the anime look to a T and the atmosphere and aesthitic felt vibrant and capturing that cyberpunk Y2K feeling like what 99 did but grittier and more grim,sinister and somber especially with how it ended wit Clone Zero destroying South Town and symbolizing SNKs unfortunate circumstances at the time. I also like the stage tho I do agree that some are bland due to must be due to the aging of the Neo Geo hardware and they're eventual fall into bankruptcy. But their are some standout stages tho. Coupled with what I mentioned about the atmosphere and tone certain arcade endings play into such as K' and Kulas ending. Kulas who destroyed the Zero Cannon and Candy sacrificing her life to save Kula and the other NESTS subjects finding out who they are and gaining they're memories back especially after being subjected to many types of horrific experiments. KOF 2001 would wrap up nicely by them unting together to take down NESTS for good and the introduction of the NESTS Team. Especially K9999 who was to be the perfect clone but was so unhinged and unstable he couldn't be tamed and his animosity towards Kyo and K' because suffers from mental trauma and a complex. After taking down Igniz K' and others with Kula Diana and Foxy decided to be allies and Whip deciding to adopt Kula and eventually taking her along with the other back to the Ikari base was a nice way to wrap things up. Gameplay wise it further refined the striker system by being able to choose the balance of any amount of Chatacters or Strikers u want whether if it's 3 characters 1 striker, 2 chatacters 2 strikers, or 1 character 3 strikers to significantly give yourself a disadvantage 😆 I enjoy KOF 2001 a lot more because the striker system is a whole lot snappier compared to 99 and 2000 and with mastering the system it can deliver some of the most dramatic and hypest matches ever tho it can be very broken and unfair at times and infamously having infinite combos that can be easily exploitable, but then again its the nature of the game just like ppl doing Magneto's Infinite Storm's Super and Sentinel's drones in MVC2 and most of the assist characters in MVC1 prior and Dante and Vergil in MVC3/UMVC3. The Soundtrack, me personally after been playing 2000 back then on the PS2 and playing it again and listening to the entire ST and listening to other tracks in ther series 2000s ST is just as stellar as 99s. I have my favorites like 94 96 99 2000 11 and 13. Themes in 2000 like KD-0084, Inner Shade, Beauty and the Beast, Terry 115, the Trooper, Will, Ice Place, Goodbye Esaka,and Slasher Zero are some of the best themes in the game. Wild Party is pretty ok after listening to The Way to Rebirth from 99 then listening to Wild Party its like an altered version of The Way to Rebirth.
I really like 2001 because it’s fun to fight vs original zero and vs lord igniz but the thing about it that is 👎 is the music 😂sounds like thrown together beats
Personally, I think K' music in 99 is forgettable. My favorite theme from that game is the Psycho Soldiers team's theme music. I believe it's called "Psycho Sonic Trip" or something like that.
KOF 2000 is known for its countless glitches, especially when using strikers and the roster is poor. KOF02UM's biggest flaw is the absence of K9999. In KOF94, the most annoying thing is the supers, they are hell hard to pull out. From KOF12 and on, the story just goes berserk in a complete nonsense (not to mention the forgettable bosses with zero charisma). Otherwise you nailed it for the others, notably the 2003's hit sound effect and 2001's art style (PS2 version is even worse XD). PS: I think SNK should return to darken KOF a little bit, it gives more depth to the story and characters.
Love your list videos. Here's mine: 94 BEST: iconic cast of characters. The way they integrated Athena, Kensou, the sports team and the Ikari warriors in a fighting game was genius. Kyo is another amazing design. 94 WORST: Terrible hitboxes and command input made some characters unplayable 95 BEST: gameplay improvements and team edit 95 WORST: overrated. Street Fighter Alpha 2 came out a few months after and was such a huge upgrade from the first game that it makes 95 seem like an amateur mod of 94. 96 BEST: improved in every single way compared to 95 96 WORST: too much discarded content made it clear SNK's hardware limitations. 97 BEST: most iconic roster of the franchise 97 WORST: hardware limitations made the game slow and bugged 98 BEST: the blueprint 98 WORST: terrible balance. Kyo, Iori, O-Chris and Daimon are ridiculous. 99 BEST: new cast is amazing, K' is still the best KoF protagonist so far 99 WORST: strikers are terrible compared to Marvel vs Capcom 00 BEST: Kula is one of the greatest SNK masterpieces from design to the execution of her animations 00 WORST: strikers are way more fluid, however some are completely broken so there's little variety 01 BEST: every new character has sort of become a fan favorite. 01 WORST: infinites are ridiculous 02 BEST: best KoF game since 98 02 WORST: once again the balance is terrible. Billy, Kim, Choi, Angél and Athena are revolting, with some characters like Chin, Shermie and Kyo being worthless. 02 UM BEST: best artwork and soundtrack of the franchise, not to mention the size of the roster 02 UM WORST: again balance. May Lee, Vanessa and Leona were destroyed while easy to play characters like K', Kasumi and Takuma were overly buffed. 03 BEST: most interesting arc story-wise 03 WORST: worst protagonist yet. Nobody asked for an even more effeminate Cool with green flames and a terrible personality. 11 BEST: aesthetic 11 WORST: roster is all over the place. It seems like they wanted to finally integrate Garou into the KoF lore, but the way it's done was a wasted opportunity. 12 BEST: the hype. We really thought this would've been the KoF rebirth, and at least it served as a backbone for XIII. 12 WORST: it's shameful how it isn't available anymore, as if SNK is ashamed of it. 13 BEST: best story so far, with dialogues and actual character development 13 WORST: rather than creating new characters, most of the roster was reworked/rebooted and it didn't really work. 14 BEST: stages 14 WORST: wasted potential. Rather than creating forgettable new characters, they could've used the story premise to bring in iconic characters from The Last Blade, SamSho, World Heroes and possibly collabs with other companies (like what's happening now). 15 BEST: arguably the best fanservice of the series so far, with every character having a decent movelist and good combo potential. The balance isn't perfect but with the constant updates everyone has received a bit of love. 15 WORST: the story sucks, it feels like a rushed ending to a failed arc.
I prefer the cartoony artstyle of KOF 2001 over the generic anime style of KOF 2003 The best thing about KOF 2001 is giving us Angel, one of the $€×¡$t gals in gaming! 🥰 Another great thing about KOF 2001 is the logo One of the coolest looking logos in the series! What is interesting, is that the colors of the logo are the same as K9999's He is pretty much the face of that game The NESTS Team was a great addition, they really gave you cyberpunk vibes which was the mood/style of that saga in general What a better reference to cyberpunk than a character who was inspired by the main antagonist of the movie/manga that popularized cyberpunk (AKIRA) 😁 K9999 ROCKS!! And finally, KOF 2001 was the first time the Super Cancels were added and working as we known today
A roster that doesn't include Yamazaki can never be great. But in all seriousness, the roster was lacking key figures from the Tales of Ash (Heidern, Adelhed, Oswald, ...)
Another great thing about KOF13. The per match dialogue. Loved it.
I agree. That's one of the things I loved about it too.
The reason for that is the animations for KOF XIII ate too much time and dev costs, that they had to split the game into a buggy KOFXII and the actual game, KOFXIII.
They couldn't implement the whole special intros they always had with previous KOF games.
@DontKnowDontCare6.9 It took 6 months just to do 1 character
I absolutely couldn't get enough of the pre-match banter between everyone and how they have been following each other's stories over the past 20 years, like how Athena ask Kuo if he finally graduated high school and he let her down by stating he dropped out.
I think due to the development issue they decided to use it second or third time. Prior to this the dialogues were in Last Blade games and SV chaos.
The first KOF game I have ever played was KOF 97 and when I beat the game with the sacred treasures team I was blown away by the ending the emotions I felt when I finished it are living forever in my memories
The thing that raises KoF from GREAT to LEGENDARY is that 'no story' can be considered a major point against the games. To this day, you still get people wanting storylines resolved that are years old. How many fans have been asking for a big showdown with the Flying Pirates since the end of the NESTS saga? How many people want to see Leona's reaction to a revived Gaidel?
And the dragon spirit and hizoku plotlines
Athena and crew already defeated Robo Ron.
No more reason to continue.
@@DontKnowDontCare6.9We didn’t get to see the original conflict take place though. They only hinted at it.
Yeah, I want to see a revived Gaidel and see him as a playable character.
@@cheburekislife8747 He’d also have a unique set of skills because he’d be a new character.
timestamp:
0:00 - Intro
0:45 - KOF 94 (best thing)
1:25 - KOF 94 (worst thing) (more like unfair final boss AI in arcade mode)
2:00 - KOF 95 (best thing)
2:28 - KOF 95 (worst thing)
2:56 - KOF 96 (best thing)
3:22 - KOF 96 (worst thing)
3:47 - KOF 97 (best thing) (oh yeaaaah, the sacred treasures's ending, l forgot about that.)
4:17 - KOF 97 (worst thing)
4:44 - KOF 98 (vanilla) / KOF 98: Ultimate Match (best thing)
5:14 - KOF 98 (vanilla) / KOF 98: Ultimate Match (worst thing)
5:40 - KOF 99 (best thing)
6:08 - KOF 99 (worst thing)
6:36 - KOF 2000 (best thing)
7:09 - KOF 2000 (worst thing)
7:28 - KOF 2001 (best thing)
7:52 - KOF 2001 (worst thing)
8:16 - KOF 2002 (vanilla) (best thing)
8:49 - KOF 2002 (vanilla) (worst thing) (plus, king is in only playable character in console version from vanilla KOF 2002.)
9:11 - KOF 2002: Unlimited Match (best thing)
9:41 - KOF 2002: Unlimited Match (worst thing)
10:07 - KOF 2003 (best thing) (yup, u can choose, which different endings for each paths: adelheid's path & mukai's path.)
10:35 - KOF 2003 (worst thing)
11:00 - KOF XI (best thing)
11:36 - KOF XI (worst thing)
11:55 - KOF XII (best thing)
12:19 - KOF XII (worst thing) (and don't forget that mentioned if u're missed: the bad online netcode.)
12:44 - KOF XIII (best thing)
13:13 - KOF XIII (worst thing)
13:38 - KOF XIV (best thing)
14:04 - KOF XIV (worst thing)
14:44 - KOF XV (best thing)
15:17 - KOF XV (worst thing)
15:57 - Ontro
Thanks
i've always enjoyed your videos. being a long time kof fan since 97, from being a teenager to now teaching my kids how to play kof. kof has been a big part of life and there arent many channels out there as dedicated as you, bringing justice and lore to fans out there. i have been binge watching your videos these few days and really enjoy your work. seeing a new video today really brightened up my day. keep doing what you do and hope good things come to you. thank you for the great content.
That's really kind of you to say. I'm glad you enjoy them!
The thing that annoys the most is the fact that they still don't make the story of Kyo and Iori's rivalry evolve. We still don't know why Iori hates Kyo so much even through he already knows the Kusanagis are not responsible for his family's curse plus he says himself it is not the reason for his anger. Plus they often have these endgame fights and we never know what were the outcomes of all these fights. It becomes a running gag at this point.
That's the only thing I don't like about KOF. I wish this whole rivalry end, I hope that ends in KOF XVI. If Ryu & Ken from Street Fighter ended their rivalry, than Kyo & Iori can.
The Verse saga also downplayed the Fatal Fury special moves. Geese’s Raging Storm super became the climax super, along with Mary’s, Yamazaki’s, Andy’s, and Mai’s normal supers becoming climax supers, leaving them with weaker supers. Terry temporarily had it worse when his simple Power Dunk was his climax super in XIV until XV turned it back to a normal special move (likely because Super Smash Bros Ultimate brought Terry into the spotlight and people would notice the difference).
I disagree about Rugal being the worst part of 94. I think the worst part about 94 is the fact that you had to choose preset teams and couldn't mix and match characters like later games.
Also the reason the SFX in 2003 sound the way they do is because the sfx were reused from SVC Chaos which don't sound great in the first place.
I think my favorite thing about the KOF series is how they make the world feel lived in through the promotional material. CD dramas, Shinkiro’s artwork of the characters in their everyday lives, custom team endings, etc. All of these things make it feel like people live in this world outside of the tournament.
My perfect kof :
- 98/02 UM gameplay,
- a strong story
- a 70+ character roster
- animated special intros
- banger OST
- anime style graphics like arcsys does
and on the top of it all : the choice beetween 3on3, striker and tag system matches ( dreamin'...)
You know you found your passion when you just keep getting ideas from it. Shoryugame never stops to suprise us.
In kof 2002 there is a version in wich King is playable.
That would be KOF 2002 UM
@ModelK-8904 Besides that. She appears in the original as a single fighter (Wikipedia).
@@wolfgangkrauser9735she appears in the Dreamcast and PS2 versions of original 2002. You have to unlock her and Shingo. As they are not available right away. And unlocking them is quite a pain.
@@RevengerPhoenix Yes.
11:39 An unlicensed Dreamcast port of KOF XI exists, but it's a direct port of the arcade version given the similar architecture between the Atomiswave and the Dreamcast.
The best thing about KOF: it pioneered a lot of new techniques that became standards in fighting games, like short hop and super jumps
The worst thing about KOF: most people dont know they pioneered those techniques due to SNK's bad business decisions that left them trailing behind Capcom and newer game devs.
4:17 Since the 1996 Summer Olympics happened the year before, SNK decided to give it the Olympics aesthetic by giving each stage some ambience whenever certain characters or teams aren't fighting.
KOF = LIFE
Hell yeah
Only if you dont have a GF, a job, family and offline friends.
I loooved the Striker System. I wish Kof 2002 kept it since it was supposed to be the dream match game of the Nests Saga
2002 should've at least make you choose if you want Strikers or not kinda like Advanced and Extra in previous games.
Fun Fact: Billy's Chou Kan Senpuuken in 95, has the chance to Instakill if at full meter.
Beni's Raikouken and Robert's Ranbu as well
My issue with the franchise as a whole is that the AOT and FF characters are basically glorified cameos
(Still love the series tho)
Its not a cameo appearance if they play full parts, have their own special moves and endings.
They have the same amount of screentime as everyone else.
@@DontKnowDontCare6.9 with all due respect, that’s just a lie
They barely have any relevance to the main plot despite being heavy hitters canonically and they take part in the tournament SOLELY for the love of the game, they have no actual desire to win they are there because of “tradition”
Terry is the same as he was in 94, no development whatsoever, Yamazaki has more relevance to the plot than him
And don’t get me started on Ryo 😭🙏🏿
Yall can never make hate maximum impact ❤❤
The practice mode was a godsend!
Interesting video, good to see that even as a SNK super fan you're able to look at all these games with a critical eye!
DJ Station was an amazing add for KOF
Great content, as usual. I can think of more positive and negative aspects of some of the entries. Kof 96 has gorgeous backgrounds and introduced Chizuru, but the controls are hard to make special moves. 97 has an amazing story (not just the canonical ending) but is full of bugs. Also, the fact that there were 2 colors for character's clothes in Advanced and other 2 in Extra was something limiting. As for the artwork, I think that 2000, 2003 and XI had the best.
In KOF97, The New Faces Team is the only team that has a collective theme.
6:16 I really want to know what was the evasion mechanic supposed to be this time. It sort of felt like incomplete
I actually agree with everything you said in this video.
Anyway, I love the new video idea, you keep surprising me with many fun video ideas related to KOF.
Thank you, Yassin.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.
KOF XIII, 2002 and 98 *were the best* periooood.
Shoryu, I LOVE this video! The attention to detail and explanations were amazing. Anyone new to KOF would find this really useful!
If not too much to ask, could you make a video on your ultimate KOF? Like an overview of roster and mechanics? Knowing your views would be fantastic!
My two cents on the KOF installments I’ve played:
KOF ‘96
Pro: great roster and iconic music.
Con: CD and some moves feel stiff
KOF ‘97
Pro: amazing story
Con: some important characters like Chizuru, Ryo or Kim having no theme.
KOF ‘98
Pro: great mechanics
Con: Chris’ CD, LOL
KOF ‘99
Pro: the character art (the best one I’ve seen) and the introduction of strikers
Con: the weird AB command and the fact supers come out way too slowly
KOF 2000
Pro: amazing striker system
Con: Joe as a striker made the game too boring and predictable
KOF 2001
Pro: the NESTS team theme is so unique and it feels as dark as the Orochi team’s
Con: no Kasumi.
Side note: I actually like the character art. The designs feel human-like.
KOF 2002
Pro: bringing back the 3on3 matches
Con: the overemphasis on Orochi Saga characters and the absence of NESTS characters.
KOF 2003
Pro: the tag system and the soundtrack
Con: the tag system could have been better developed and designed in a MVC2-like manner.
KOF XI
Pro: unexpected yet great roster
Con: the consoles you can play it on
KOF XII
Pro: the graphics
Con: poor gameplay
KOF XIII
Pro: the introduction of the hyper drive meter
Con; long combos that ruined the game
KOF XIV:m
Pro: nice roster and new characters
Con: constant updates and rebalance. I feel characters should remain the way they are and only repair glitches without taking away any properties they were first given.
KOF XV
Pro: improved gameplay from XIV
Con: Krohnen and paying for characters you shouldn’t have because they’re not DLC-worthy
KOF ‘98 UM
Pro: introduction of the ultimate mode
Con: the extra mode feels OP
KOF 2002 UM
Pro: best roster ever!
Con: only flaws are some characters only having one DM (Hinako and Yuri come to mind) and giving some characters buffs (King and Chris’ slides being cancellable) that not everyone has (Vanessa not being able to cancel hers).
I LOVE this video, Shoryu!
Glad you do and thanks for the suggestion!
I can respect your pros and cons for each KOF game and I can agree especially with kofxi the reason why despite i never played but love it the game was not just because of the team stages and music but how aside from the roster being pretty good they brought back hotaru as a playable character for a kof game and gave her adjustments to her moveset making her a standout to her ff counterpart just like how they brought rock howard back in kof xiv and xv but gave him great adjustments making him insanely good in xv. I'm also glad they brought jenet back as well but i'm still leaning towards hotaru for xv since i know she didn't had a story in xi but she did had a special intro against gato because of her narrative in her quest to search for him and i do want that to continue in xv aside from her continuing that quest in cotw
I only realized the lack of music in KOF97 when I bought the cartridge about 15 years ago.
Back when I played it in arcades, the noise in those places was so loud that it was almost unnoticeable.
Somehow Dhalsim's elephants (from the ever-popular SFII machines) managed to stand out from the rest, but overall it was a cacophony of indiscernible sounds.
和多志がKOFに対して良くないと思っている点は、新しく作ったキャラクターを一回、二回でリストラして使い捨てにしている事でしょうか。アメリカン・スポーツチームやKOF14の南米チームなどの事です。
そもそも、KOFはそれまでに発表したゲームのキャラクターを一堂に集める。…と言う、言わば「オールスターのお祭り大会」だったはずなのですから、これ以上いちいち新しいオリジナルキャラクターを多数作らずとも、他にも魅力的なキャラクターが多く存在したはず。なので、「何故、あのキャラクターが登場しない!?」「あのキャラクターの再登場はいつなんだ!?」といった不満もあろうかと思います。
KOF、と言うか今のSNKがそれまでのブランド作品のキャラクターに、もう少し目を向けて欲しい…。それが、和多志の希望なのですが、昇龍（しょうりゅう）さんや皆さんはどう思われますでしょうか？
長々失礼しました。
I totally agree with you. I talked about this times before, about legacy characters that should join KOF roster.
あと、書き忘れましたが、今後のKOFに望むことと言えば、ナンバリング作品だけでも、ストーリーを既出のキャラクターのみで構成して欲しい…と言う事でしょうか。
Actually, I also would like to see some characters in KOF game: Chonrei & Chonshu from Fatal Fury, Mikoto from Samurai Shodown, Mars People from Metal Slug, Kaede & Kagami from Last Blade, Sinclair from Art of Fighting, Freeman from Garou, Nicola & Carol from Savage Reign, some fighters from Buriki One, Joe Kusanagi from Aggressors of Dark Kombat, Hanzo & Ryoko from World Heroes, and many other characters from old SNK games and series.
Let them join KOF, at least in a spinoff title!
Couple of errata to point out. Used a thumbs up pic for 98's downside, and wrote kof 2000 for 99's section.
Oops! Sorry about that!
Forgot about maximum impact
screw that garbage
He said mainline games
Best part on some games for me are some of the mechanics added, like being able to cancel special moves into special moves in 2002 and super into another super in XI, it's just fun
Why didn't you cover the spin off games too?
The biggest problem in '96 is the controls. The moves had to be too precise and that ruined the grapplers. And you can finish the game using only Mature's C+D attack.
I always loved KoF. 2002 is my favourite. As much as i love KoF i simply cannot play the new ones due to that auto combo bullshit. Very good video.
Best thing for me in any KoF game is Athena. I love her
I totally agree regarding kof 15, I felt very disappointed to learn that Rugal didn't even have a special intro with Kyo, Heidern
KOF 15 is garbage
I'd add that KOF '99 and '01 just felt clunky to play IMO, and 2000 felt the most fun and tight to play out of the 3 in the Nests Saga.
In 95 fully charged low health chang can erase your bar with chip damage, that is truly a testament to 95's imbalance
'97 gave us Rythmic Hallucination so I'm willing to let the overall lack of music slide
97 the soundtrack and for 2003 the sound effects here we go
Great list, as always Shoryu! KoF XII nearly killed the franchise and I think KoF has yet to recover its reputation. Nothing killed KoF XVs momentum more than auto combos. My friends and I returned to the series because of the returning characters and all stopped playing it because auto combos destroyed any fun to be found. Why SNK won't make this optional after two games is beyond me. We're all excited about City of Wolves but are waiting for reviews to see if auto combos will be included again. If SNK thinks auto combos will bring newbies to their games they are wrong. Fighting game players are competitive by nature. Sure we'll use a glitch but that's part of the game. Button-mashing loses more players than extreme difficulty.
I agree wholeheartedly.
the newer kofs where the background doesn't go black on supers kind of underwhelming, it felt so good putting supers on spotlight
Hot take: The sprites in KoF XII/XIII are aesthetically unappealing. And their cost eventually caused SNK'S second bankruptcy. Not dissimilar how the commercial failure of SFIII had a hand in Capcom briefly abandoning the fighting game genre for a good chunk of the 2000's.
Well, the commercial failure of SFIII is a result of many questionable decisions (just check the original arcade cabinet), however, this game was fixed, and now SFIII Third Strike is one of the GOAT fighting games.
Nice! Some more KOF content
I recently started playing 13, and while the roster is bit in the abysmal side, it has it's pro and cons:
*Pros*
- Color Customizing
- The Soundtrack Imo slaps!
*Cons*
- Some characters revert to their previous version or outright lose some of their moves (like why SNK made Terry lose his Power Dunk Or EX Kyo is basically just post '95-onwards Kyo).
- some Desperation/Neo Max/NM Cancels (if you somehow are an input god) are impossible on controller, as they seem hard to perform (especially if it's Double Half circle) under pressure.
- Oh, and let's not forget about True Saiki since he is an *infamous* mid-boss, because of his dumb grab that makes you lose a chunk of your health.
And its animation takes forever!
Best thing about Maximum Impact Regulation A: Mizoguchi
Yeah!
Makoto Mizoguchi from the Fighter's History series! 👍
"TAKE A LOOK AT THAT!!!"
THESPIO!! THESPIO!! THESPIO!!"
He is so cool! 😄
I wanted to see more FH characters in KOF like Ryoko, Jean, Clown and Yungmie
Sad fact
Samchay was going to appear in the cancelled sequel of Regulation A 😔
You know, the arcade version of KOF 2002, is the only version where King is not playable.
They immediately put her in the Dreamcast and PS2 version.
That kind of implies that SNK was doing some damage control.
Which implies that Eotith might have forced them to choose between King and May Lee for the Women Team.
At least, that's what I think.
How does it sound to you?
I agree with all the pros and cons mentioned in the video. Thank you for sharing your opinions!
I'm surprised you didn't say "Yamazaki is the best thing of 97".
Honestly, pretty disappointed in the story aspects in 15 overall. Like it felt 14 set it up to have a crazy story with dead characters being revived but ended up kind of flat, with the bosses being DLC and having little story impact.
Next, top 3 characters in every kof game
kof 13 paired down so many movesets to just 4 moves. Andy and Ryo would never recover. I absolutely hated that about 13, it also suffered from over used top tiers but that's kind of how older fighting games go.
The best part about 2000 and XI were the home ports, so many added extras! I really hope we get proper ports soon like we have with the UM games and 13.
What you said about 2003s weak spot, is somehow I like a lot about it xD But for me the best thing about 2003 is similar to 96-- the music and the voice acting.
maybe kof 97 is the darkest but the kof 99 is the saddest between all the franchise a every body seen lost or depressed in that game
Kula Diamond is missing from K.O.F '03. Why didn't you mention that?
It's a bad thing, sure. But not the worst thing in 03.
Kof might be my fav fight series i got the 1st till the last game
Maaaan
I LOVE KOF
Even the downs in every KOF are enterraining
to use kof 99's backroll, you had to backroll and do a special or move instantly
Great work my friend the best video about Every KOF ❤❤❤
need a KOF with :
KOF 97 Story and OST/Sound Effects
KOF 2002 UM screen select character
KOF 13 HD graphcs
Done
KOF '98 is my favorite entry, but I HATE air blocking. I just feel it's unnecessary in KOF. The auto combos in modern KOF are probably the worst thing the franchise have ever introduced. Especially considering how easy they made the combos to do. There is literally NO excuse to not learn a simple bnb!
I actually think air blocking is fine, but auto combos are just the worse.
11:36 Yup, I agree, it's a damn shame KOF XI has never been re-released, it's BY FAR the best game in the series, it's like if KOF met Marvel vs Capcom.
SNK could've released the KOF Collection: Tales of Ash Saga (2003, XI, XII & XIII in one disc),
but instead they just simply and solely gave us KOF XIII Global Match in 2023 which is disappointing.
I hated the Back Dash /Roll so much in KOF 99. I didn't use it at all in the end, great that i'm not the only one... I loved all the soundtrack you can still feel SNK vibes in it before the Eolith /SNK Playmore Era... For King was added in the Dreamcast and PS2 version but true it was a sin to not add her in the original game. Your review is really accurate though i can't complain about it.😎
You bring up KOF 02 UM, but don't bring KOF 98UMFE. Kind of surprising, as I felt it brought enough to the table to have its own slot, if not at least a mention.
KOF 98 UM feels more like a definitive version than a remake, like 02 UM
The graphics in xiv are bad but that never bothered my like most people. 😂😂😂😂
I think KOF12 is also the only mainline entry with English voice acting right? I would label that as a positive….if it weren’t half n’ half. KOF12 is a prime example of how good graphics does not make for a good game. Great list as usual, mate!
Great KOF Games is 94,95,96,99,2000,2003,XI,XIII,XIV & XV Hands Down 😊
bro king she playable in kof 2002 with geese and shingo and goenitz in console versions
Here are my list of Worst things about every kof game :
The games in Orochi Saga had overpowered bosses that should be nerfed (especially kof 95)
kof 97 lacks more soundtracks for other characters (Mai , Robert , Clark , Choi should have gotten some too)
Kof 2000 and XI had mediocre Stages
Kof 2001 had mediocre soundtrack and horrible artwork
kof 2002 had mediocre soundtrack
kof 2002 um would have been perfect if not for outdated graphics / stages and some characters should be nerfed
kof 2003 had annoying combat audio-feedback
kof xii (the less said the better)
kof xiii had lacking roster and the Worst last bosses
kof xiv had questionable graphics (for ps4)
kof xv lacks more single-player content and more characters (let 's hope there are still more coming in the future)
kof Max Impact 2 : gameplay is mostly unbalanced
98 Story is Shingo knocked out and dreaming about it 😂
Thats why its called Dream Match.
And Omega Rugal is basically Nightmare Rugal (like FF Dream Match with Nightmare Geese).
Every KOF that has Bao in it...that's the worst thing about those KOF games.
KOF 2002 UM is a deservingly highly rated KOF entry, but ngl one of if not the best game in our franchise essentially be a Orochi vs NESTs saga galore with 0 representation of Tales of Ash (I am not gonna count New Age in cuz it wasnt even a thought at the time) pains me as a Tales of Ash baby (I started with 2003).
I still wished to this day that we had a mainline/spinoff "98 3.0" that covers almost everyone up till 13, just like 2002 did with Orochi + NESTs. I am still happy with what we got in 14 and 15 (in fact, 15 does feel a bit like what I wanted a modern Dream Match game to be), but it would have been nice if we had a proper Tales of Ash or even New Age Dream Match game that updates from 2002 UM and makes it even better than 2002 UM alr is. This actually feels like the CVS2 prob where we never get to see newly introduced characters post 2001 fight the Capcom cast.
I'd also want it a tag fighter, considering Capcom removing the 3v3 format from Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite. A tag team dream match would be a first for the series, and I can see each non-canonical mainline KOF game use this format moving forward.
Can we please get some PS2 KOF games on PlayStation +
KOF XIV roster >>>>> KOF XIII roster
I am not a fan of the roster of KOF XIII
Not only because it is small but also because, it is pretty much the Orochi Saga teams/characters all over again!
It hurts even more after the good roster of KOF 2003 and the excellent roster of KOF XI 😔
Those games tried something different with the formation of the classic teams.
The best example is the Fatal Fury Team
It was good to see Terry alongside other friends instead of Andy and Joe every time.
Sadly, these days the fans don't want to see classic characters being remove and replace with new ones which is a shame.
Seeing the same characters/teams all the time is boring
One of the best things about KOF teams is seeing characters working together despite their differences and seeing their interactions, like with the Outlaw Team composed by Yamazaki, Billy and Blue Mary
Well, KOFXIII did have some unexpected picks for Kim's team, like Raiden and Hwa Jai, who were never playable in any KOF before. I think KOF XII's roster is much worse than XIII, since it was a lot smaller and it has no Mai Shiranui.
Yeah, that’s why I love KOF XI roaster so much.
KOF XIV and XV are trying to make something similar, but FF and AoF teams are still unchanged.
One more disappointing thing in modern games are DLC characters - in XIV it was forgivable, because SNK were trying the format, but in XV, after four DLC teams, another single DLC character pass is stupid and unacceptable!
Besides, many of XIV characters didn’t return in XV.
KOF XV is a garbage.
KOF XI was a peak.
The roster is still matters.
@@jodyposey9558 screw that night butterfly!
And Benimaru.
I hate Benimaru!
He’s everywhere!!!
Top ten ninja and samurai in fighting games 🎌🇯🇵👹👺👺♨️♨️😎⛩️🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑😭😭😭😭😖🇺🇸🤟🤤
xd UA-cam glitched and it showed me that this video have 1200 dislikes, for a moment I was shoked, great that it was only a glitch)
Worst thing about 97 is Orochis design.
The word part of 14 is Easily the graphics
10:35 you get that right
I dislike original 2002 only beacuse King isn't in it 😭 she's my favorite, I'm glad it was mentioned
Top ten kof ships list
The worst thing about ‘94 to me is the special moves inputs. Everything is way too hard to execute.
I don't think K'/Hero Team's Theme in KOF 99 is the best thing about the game. I think the ENTIRE soundtrack of 99 is the best thing about it 🎵
Seriously, I think it is better than KOF 96's music
Another thing I like about KOF 99 is the aesthetic and atmosphere
It is clear the game has a more cyberpunk style.
Just look at the Continue? and Game Over screens, those are just *'chef kiss'* perfect!
Now the thing I don't like about KOF 99 is the gameplay. It is one of the worst games in terms of gameplay 😅
I am not talking about the weird back roll (in fact, the 'backdash' is actually very usefu,l now the dash forward is the problem)
First of all most of the Supers/ Desperation Moves came up very slow
The striker system only works as a counter/defensive tool
And finally the two new modes introduced (Counter and Armor mode) both are terrible.
Counter mode is busted
Armor mode hardly lasts at all
Again, I like how KOF 99 looks and sounds but the gameplay is not good 😅
Having played 99 I can agree that core gameplay while still being good but the roll mechanic was implemented poorly and striker system was stiff when u called them in. Evertime u rolled the character would step forward which results into u getting clipped by your opponent.
Thankfully KOF 2000 rectify those issues and made the striker system a little more better as well as including alternate strikers with characters from many SNK titles since it was supposedly their last title.
The artstyle of the series peaked with 2000 they had the anime look to a T and the atmosphere and aesthitic felt vibrant and capturing that cyberpunk Y2K feeling like what 99 did but grittier and more grim,sinister and somber especially with how it ended wit Clone Zero destroying South Town and symbolizing SNKs unfortunate circumstances at the time.
I also like the stage tho I do agree that some are bland due to must be due to the aging of the Neo Geo hardware and they're eventual fall into bankruptcy.
But their are some standout stages tho. Coupled with what I mentioned about the atmosphere and tone certain arcade endings play into such as K' and Kulas ending.
Kulas who destroyed the Zero Cannon and Candy sacrificing her life to save Kula and the other NESTS subjects finding out who they are and gaining they're memories back especially after being subjected to many types of horrific experiments.
KOF 2001 would wrap up nicely by them unting together to take down NESTS for good and the introduction of the NESTS Team. Especially K9999 who was to be the perfect clone but was so unhinged and unstable he couldn't be tamed and his animosity towards Kyo and K' because suffers from mental trauma and a complex. After taking down Igniz K' and others with Kula Diana and Foxy decided to be allies and Whip deciding to adopt Kula and eventually taking her along with the other back to the Ikari base was a nice way to wrap things up.
Gameplay wise it further refined the striker system by being able to choose the balance of any amount of Chatacters or Strikers u want whether if it's 3 characters 1 striker, 2 chatacters 2 strikers, or 1 character 3 strikers to significantly give yourself a disadvantage 😆
I enjoy KOF 2001 a lot more because the striker system is a whole lot snappier compared to 99 and 2000 and with mastering the system it can deliver some of the most dramatic and hypest matches ever tho it can be very broken and unfair at times and infamously having infinite combos that can be easily exploitable, but then again its the nature of the game just like ppl doing Magneto's Infinite Storm's Super and Sentinel's drones in MVC2 and most of the assist characters in MVC1 prior and Dante and Vergil in MVC3/UMVC3.
The Soundtrack, me personally after been playing 2000 back then on the PS2 and playing it again and listening to the entire ST and listening to other tracks in ther series 2000s ST is just as stellar as 99s. I have my favorites like 94 96 99 2000 11 and 13.
Themes in 2000 like KD-0084, Inner Shade, Beauty and the Beast, Terry 115, the Trooper, Will, Ice Place, Goodbye Esaka,and Slasher Zero are some of the best themes in the game. Wild Party is pretty ok after listening to The Way to Rebirth from 99 then listening to Wild Party its like an altered version of The Way to Rebirth.
Kof13 has 33 characters and the roster is the problem? Lol... i think people just dont like the HD combos but dont want to admit it.
autocombos ruined KOF 14/15 for me, at least give us an option to turn them off
Funny I'm the only kof fan in my whole country
Where are you from?
@@ShoryuGame Iran
People hate kof here
They call it a weak copy of tekken
Imbeciles
Kof and Tekken, never thought I'd hear those two in the same conversation😀@@pico2568
I would point out all kof 94 98 and 2002 remakes you can play original version of there games the down side for kof 94 ps2 Only
KOF 2002 is the peak
I really like 2001 because it’s fun to fight vs original zero and vs lord igniz but the thing about it that is 👎 is the music 😂sounds like thrown together beats
Like how there's one female fighter on neo wave who fights you doing nonthing.😂
She just runs into you without moving.
My favorite character is Krizalid, but they killed the character
Personally, I think K' music in 99 is forgettable. My favorite theme from that game is the Psycho Soldiers team's theme music. I believe it's called "Psycho Sonic Trip" or something like that.
Not forgettable at all. One of the 1st themes that come into mind when getting into to 99
Hard to find something bad to say about kof 98 😉
The Crappy 3D KOFs are making me really mad.
KOF 2000 is known for its countless glitches, especially when using strikers and the roster is poor. KOF02UM's biggest flaw is the absence of K9999. In KOF94, the most annoying thing is the supers, they are hell hard to pull out. From KOF12 and on, the story just goes berserk in a complete nonsense (not to mention the forgettable bosses with zero charisma). Otherwise you nailed it for the others, notably the 2003's hit sound effect and 2001's art style (PS2 version is even worse XD).
PS: I think SNK should return to darken KOF a little bit, it gives more depth to the story and characters.
The best thing about every KOF game is KOF and the worst thing about every KOF is also KOF. 🤭❤️
Because rugel was just that goddamn unfair
KOF 15's worst thing was the matchmaking. practically killed the game completely.
Love your list videos. Here's mine:
94 BEST: iconic cast of characters. The way they integrated Athena, Kensou, the sports team and the Ikari warriors in a fighting game was genius. Kyo is another amazing design.
94 WORST: Terrible hitboxes and command input made some characters unplayable
95 BEST: gameplay improvements and team edit
95 WORST: overrated. Street Fighter Alpha 2 came out a few months after and was such a huge upgrade from the first game that it makes 95 seem like an amateur mod of 94.
96 BEST: improved in every single way compared to 95
96 WORST: too much discarded content made it clear SNK's hardware limitations.
97 BEST: most iconic roster of the franchise
97 WORST: hardware limitations made the game slow and bugged
98 BEST: the blueprint
98 WORST: terrible balance. Kyo, Iori, O-Chris and Daimon are ridiculous.
99 BEST: new cast is amazing, K' is still the best KoF protagonist so far
99 WORST: strikers are terrible compared to Marvel vs Capcom
00 BEST: Kula is one of the greatest SNK masterpieces from design to the execution of her animations
00 WORST: strikers are way more fluid, however some are completely broken so there's little variety
01 BEST: every new character has sort of become a fan favorite.
01 WORST: infinites are ridiculous
02 BEST: best KoF game since 98
02 WORST: once again the balance is terrible. Billy, Kim, Choi, Angél and Athena are revolting, with some characters like Chin, Shermie and Kyo being worthless.
02 UM BEST: best artwork and soundtrack of the franchise, not to mention the size of the roster
02 UM WORST: again balance. May Lee, Vanessa and Leona were destroyed while easy to play characters like K', Kasumi and Takuma were overly buffed.
03 BEST: most interesting arc story-wise
03 WORST: worst protagonist yet. Nobody asked for an even more effeminate Cool with green flames and a terrible personality.
11 BEST: aesthetic
11 WORST: roster is all over the place. It seems like they wanted to finally integrate Garou into the KoF lore, but the way it's done was a wasted opportunity.
12 BEST: the hype. We really thought this would've been the KoF rebirth, and at least it served as a backbone for XIII.
12 WORST: it's shameful how it isn't available anymore, as if SNK is ashamed of it.
13 BEST: best story so far, with dialogues and actual character development
13 WORST: rather than creating new characters, most of the roster was reworked/rebooted and it didn't really work.
14 BEST: stages
14 WORST: wasted potential. Rather than creating forgettable new characters, they could've used the story premise to bring in iconic characters from The Last Blade, SamSho, World Heroes and possibly collabs with other companies (like what's happening now).
15 BEST: arguably the best fanservice of the series so far, with every character having a decent movelist and good combo potential. The balance isn't perfect but with the constant updates everyone has received a bit of love.
15 WORST: the story sucks, it feels like a rushed ending to a failed arc.
KOF 12 did get Morden consoles
I prefer the cartoony artstyle of KOF 2001 over the generic anime style of KOF 2003
The best thing about KOF 2001 is giving us Angel, one of the $€×¡$t gals in gaming! 🥰
Another great thing about KOF 2001 is the logo
One of the coolest looking logos in the series!
What is interesting, is that the colors of the logo are the same as K9999's
He is pretty much the face of that game
The NESTS Team was a great addition, they really gave you cyberpunk vibes which was the mood/style of that saga in general
What a better reference to cyberpunk than a character who was inspired by the main antagonist of the movie/manga that popularized cyberpunk (AKIRA) 😁
K9999 ROCKS!!
And finally, KOF 2001 was the first time the Super Cancels were added and working as we known today
KOF XIII had a great roster, what are you talking about?
A roster that doesn't include Yamazaki can never be great. But in all seriousness, the roster was lacking key figures from the Tales of Ash (Heidern, Adelhed, Oswald, ...)