I really love weird messy gaming history like this. I'd always known about the anecdote about Angel's creation but to learn it was actually between Evoga & Eolith during the messy post-bankruptcy era adds a whole new layer to it. Really happy SNK has stayed alive to this day given their multiple bankruptcies.
I really really liked KOF2001. I Played it a lot in one of those arcade boards with losta games in them..fun times. And it has wakamoto as the final boss. Cant complain about that voice. Even if lovable Ignis was busted AF.
You gotta love how SNK has such a bad luck to go bankrupt and a good luck to stay alive at the same time... Is technically s miracle they still exists to this day
*a little bit more trivia 11:10 Not only K-9999 heavily resemble Shima Tetsuo, but he also *VOICED* by Shima Tetsuo VA himself, Sasaki Nozomu. Simply because SNK staff are Tetsuo fans, until they forgot they literally make Tetsuo in the game rather than make a character homage to Tetsuo
Also very interesting to see who voices KUSANAGI, and how they have special interactions with K9999 in KOF2002. Definitely not a coincidence that K9999 is like Tetsuo.
Small correction. Kof 2001 didn’t come out right before kof2002UM. 2002UM came out in 2009 years after kof 11 and months before kof 12. The original kof 2002 was not received that well so things didn’t get better for them after 2001. Not immediately. Other than that great research and video. Oh and I don’t know the real story but sadly apparently the angel origin story is a myth. It’s not true. Her and k9999 make a good pair in that regard.
While i agree that players can still pick this game up and have fun, it's a huge step back in quality especially when you compare it to KOF 2000, which perfected the Striker mechanics imo (and is more similar to MVC in that regard), which is off since KOF games that built off foundations of others are meant to be improvements so this really stood out like a sore thumb. Great video, love the documentary on it's development cycle
That new striker system isn't bad, that's an interesting innovation even... but it needed a kind of polishing that you can't expect from less skilled or less experienced staff, and over that short time since the game still followed the annual sequel format. But even so the biggest problem is in the own core gameplay, balance, visuals and music... That's what brought the game down.
My opinion is that all those striker systems in 99-01 are poorly made and needed more time to be polished. But that wasn't possible because the sequels were forced to be annual releases. The devs weren't prepared for that change, that actually resulted in breaking all those games horribly. There are few franchises that managed to get a very competent annual sequel that changes the system... The best is probably Marvel, that turned to 2v2 tag team in XvSF. And in 2nd place Garou MOTW. But most sequels with big gameplay changes like Vampire Savior, Fatal Fury 3, AOF3, MK3 and MvC2 had a 1 year break in releases. That's what was needed for KOF striker games and tag games in my opinion.
@@carlosaugusto9821 Say all you want about Eolith but they actually make the best take on the striker system. Not as broken as they were in KOF 2000 and not 'only to counter' like in 99 The new mechanics of 2001 were well thought out but as you said it needed a bit more polished, something that sadly the devs couldn't make it because of time constraints and the behind the scenes situations I sometimes wonder what would have happened if KOF 2002 had kept the striker system from 2001 (and the 4 member teams). Maybe Eolith could have created the perfect striker system 🤔 KOF 2003 made SNK finally realized that making annual releases for KOF games was a mistake (and that they needed a new powerful system instead of the obsolete MVS)
2001 was the first KOF I played. I really liked it and it got me into the series. Make sure to pour one out for lovable Igniz the next time you're hanging with your fellow snoop dogs.
I like how Athena and Andy look in KOF 2001 Short hair Athena is underrated 😊 (Also, she got Psychic 9, easily her best Desperation Move) While I am not a fan of Andy- I have to admit he looks cool in 2001 About K9999 I actually like his design He looks like a fusion between Tetsuo Shima (AKIRA) and Chirico Cuvie (Armored Troopers VOTOMS) Nothing against Krohnen but I do miss his short hair and seeing his face. Something interesting is that Krohnen's official nickname is 'The Exceptional Esper' Esper was the name for those kids with psychic powers in AKIRA SNK REALLY LOVES AKIRA And I am not talking about K9999, Kyo's prototype design was Kaneda The Japan Stage in KOF 94 is Neo Tokyo the music for one of the stages in KOF 97 sounds similar to a track from AKIRA The prototype design for Chris was based on Akira (the character) in one of the covers of the manga where Akira wears an uniform with a cape The Zero Cannon from KOF 2000 is a reference to the SOL cannon from AKIRA Syo Kirishima, a striker in KOF 2000 (and the prototype design for Kyo) is voiced by Mitsuo Iwata, the same man who voiced Kaneda The more I think of it, the more I believe K9999 was not something Eolith ordened Brezzasoft to make. Instead, I think Brezzasoft made K9999 the way he is on purpose.
Hate to say that this is 2nd favorite KOF game for the Neo-Geo despite its graphics and music. I like the gameplay mechanics alot and yes I found Angel an appealing character just like how Iori was in KOF 95. Plus my Dreamcast port KOF 01 is my cherished Dreamcast fighter.
As much as this game was a huge problem and a 1/2 from the ugly art style to the gameplay mixed up being very awkward and it feeling like a not good KOF game at least it gave us Angel and several years in the future, we got a cool version of the character who looked like a certain character from a certain movie but now he looks cool back so I guess there's something.
The only strong points were inventing Angel, Igniz, K9999, and introducing Foxy. And in 2nd place creating real super cancels, and Kyo's "hsdm" super and Iori's follow up super. Still too little to be a solid game, mainly because of the big quality drop in other areas like stage graphics, and audio/music.
The game was ported to the Dreamcast and PS2. The PS2 version of the game had a redrawn artstyle and had 3D Backgrounds in their stages. It was released in 2003 and was apart of a 2 in 1 compilation it was this and 2000 called KOF 2000/2001 or KOF The Saga Continues in JP and Europe.
There was a King Of Fighters 2001 port for the Playstation 2. I'm not 100% sure but I wanna say I had a 2001/2002 combo for ps2 but that might have been a Japanese exclusive.
Your not wrong. A PS2 version did exist for the USA and it was bundled with KOF 2000 as a fantastic selling point. (they did the same with 2002/2003.) I know this because I got my copy years ago when it was new at a local Toys R Us.
Yes, there was the 2000/2001 bundle and a 2002/2003 bundle. The 2001 port had new artwork for the character selection screen as the original art was notorious for being awful. 2k1 is an odd duck in the series and a broken mess, but fortunately it came out and help the series survive.
Man, this is a great video!!! Fast, concise, and bloody interesting, this is outstanding! Bonus points for Pop Team Epic. I lived just north of Mexico for about 13 years, but I had no idea that KOF was so popular there. It makes sense though from a cultural perspective. Between this and your last video on Amingo, I guess you're on a southwestern kick. Follow it up with a screening of Guillermo Del Toro's Cronos. It's an extremely unique take on a vampire movie. Keep up the good work man. This was a great one. 😃👍
The second biggest regional KOF community outside Asia is in Brazil, where I'm from. SNK as a whole was very influential since the beginning with FF, AOF and SS, but KOF reached a special place of popularity, litterally surpassing Capcom games after 97 and 98. Those KOFs also overshadowed all other SNK releases at the same time like LB2 and Garou MOTW, and that's why I said a special place of popularity. Then KOF02 became the biggest thing ever like in Mexico. Overall all Latin America just had a different arcade scene history compared to the US, where SNK was more or less disregarded except Metal Slug. Even the hardcore community wasn't into the games, and that's why Evo was created in 02 but it had no single SNK game until KOF 13 almost 10 years later, only in the period the event became more commercial.
@@carlosaugusto9821 I have a soft spot in my heart for gamers in Brazil, because I grew up with a Sega Master System and Brazil kept that thing alive! In America, people are always ready to throw out their old consoles because they want something new. In Brazil, they showed the Master System love for decades. Much respect.
I can't hate KOF 2001 Especially after knowing the development and behind the scenes stories One thing KOF 2001 did great, was balancing the strikers thanks to the bars In KOF 2000, the strikers broke the game (especially Joe) to the point that some countries made in house rules to play 2000 at competitive level Another thing I like about KOF 2001 is that you can choose how many characters you want to play and how many strikers you want Depending of how many strikers you have, the characters make more or less damage I usually play with 2 characters and 2 strikers If only KOF 2001 had an update version to fix all the other issues And this is something that SNK (and Eolith) should have realised, annual releases was not a good idea Sure it worked in the 90s but most of those games were rushed and suffered because of that especially in the NESTS Saga games KOF 2003 was the last game with a year in the title because SNK Playmore finally realised that annual releases were no longer ideal (and also the fact that the MVS system was very obsolete to make new games)
Hey :) Well said. If SNK had invested in their non fighters more and invested in 3D heavily at the time and produced quality titles then and marketed and promoted their games in more clever ways they could've gotten the potential success similar to Capcom. The other things they didn't even upgrade to a separate hardware they stuck with same hardware for over a decade steadily updating the graphics and visuals each time. Also when KOF 2001 came out ppl were playing CVS2 at that time as well way more than latter. During the 90s every year or so, there was a new fighter or and updated version of said fighter being released, whether if it was from an established franchise or new devs releasing their own original titles or clones. Leading to the market being oversaturated.
KoF 2001 absolutely was released here in the states after its worldwide arcade debut, well before the aforementioned Switch release. It was eventually packaged alongside KoF 2000 for the PS2. The release was actually kinda of a BIG deal at the time here in the west since it was their first US published product after SNK Playmore reformed a US publishing arm under the new name SNK Neo Geo USA Consumer Corporation after the closure of the old SNK USA branch. The US arm would eventually rebrand to simply SNK Playmore USA before quietly dissolving once again after the end of the 6th console gen. I still have my KoF 2001 trading cards that were available thru mail order upon the games purchase 😅
2001 is a mess of a game and pales in comparison to the other NESTS titles however it’s still a fun SNK fighting game in that 90s unbalanced ¥100 munching arcade way. The story behind it too makes it worth playing. Thanks for giving 01 a bit of love.
8:35 Well, Idk if this a true mechanic in the game but depending on how much playable characters you have on your team, your character's strength also changes. A 1 playable with 3 strikers has more health and does more damage than 4 playable, zero strikers. I don't know if this true however
KOF 2001 gave us Angel 🥰 That is enough reason to not hating it 😁 I do also like K9999, May Lee, Original Zero and Igniz I like the electric techno soundtrack 🎵 Queen of Fighters, NESTS Ruler of the Dark, Psychic Guys, All OK!, 0, I am the Strongest, My Whip are great tracks About the in game arts, I am a fan of Nona I like the cartoony/anime artstyle Xiangfei and K9999's winner arts are excellent Sure, some characters look weird but still, I prefer 2001 arts over 2003's generic anime art style
Their has tb a re-release of this game alongside 11 and the MI games if they can do so through whether through a standalone release or a part of a collection. They can do a KOF Neo-Geo Collection or a KOF Anthology Collection that includes the spin off including MI. If SNK does at the end of the 30th Anniversary celebration.
After SNK went bankrupt, outsourced titles like KOF 2001-2002 and Samurai Shodown V/V Special were made without the dev kits and instead used ROM hack-like development on decompiled ROMs.
Regardin' the start bit, 2002 Unlimited Match wasn't right after 2001, that'd be a crazy huge glow-up if it were, haha. 2002 UM came out in 2009. Not tryin' to sound rude, you did make it clear you were a casual fan which is chill, but was just a little bit I wanted to point out. 2002/2002 UM are different games
The original 02 is still one of the most popular games of all time in the franchise, a bit above 02UM because of its cultural impact and nostalgia. The statistics of fightcade and other online emulators give a good idea. But he messed up for mixing things up. He made it look like 02UM was like those instant sequels made to fix a problematic release. Like UMK3 came in the same year of MK3, SF3 2nd Impact also came in the same year of SF3 NG... But no, 02UM came a long time later.
I personally recommend watching Persona Cafe's combo video of 2001 to understand what the game really plays like and how it should be done, the cmv with TM Revolution is another good one To anyone who didn't end up enjoying it, hopefully it can help change your perception of the game. 😊
Combos don't actually look bad, but that's not enough to save this game's problems. All KOFs have balance issues, broken combos, and many have cool looking combo videos as well, but this one goes much further and even has the problem of the cheaper graphics and audio/music. Some parts can be forgiven, sure, but not to be point of getting many people into the game. People might forgive it but stick to other titles that are much better.
From my totally anecdotal experience in my city Rio de Janeiro, KOF 2001 was very successful around here (as any new KoF was back in the day, but still). It was totally totally eclipsed by 2002 when it came out though, as expected. The overall feeling about it is that it is bugged and unbalanced. The people who like the striker mechanic prefer to play KoF 2000.
probably one of the most interesting games in the series, up there with 2000 (for similar, though more depressing bankruptcy reasons). honestly don't think the game deserves the wrap it had for a while.
2001 was very peculiar in my experience. The arcade version was quite populated by a lot of strong players. It wasn't as popular as the other fighters, but it was fairly crowded with people pulling off a lot of fun combos. We also had 2000 and that's the one I stuck with since everyone moved on to the newer game. Personally I wasn't a fan of the art nor the music, but you're right in that at least, it does feel pretty KOF (if a good bit weird. Like making charge characters have motions the way Chang and Heidern did for example). I wanna also say Maxima's counter wire Vapor Cannon here involves you having to activate his Guard Point/Autoguard off the heavy punch Vapor Cannon? I'm not entirely sure at this point, has been a while but that's how they implement it in the newer games (it's still a thing in XV but more consistent in a sense heh) Also Nona, the artist of that game, I don't think his style is *that* bad but it was definitely mad weird for this entry. While I feel he got better in SVC Chaos, we still see his art nowadays in the ending cutscenes since XI (as well as doing art for that indie TMNT x Justice League game). Fun video!
Others have already said what I'm gonna say but it needs addressing: Kof 2001 on PS2 did get a western release, bundled with kof 2000 the US and the UK. I had it. Also the games before KOF 2002 "unlimited match" would have been Kof Neowave, kofXI or maximum impact 2, NOT 2001. KOF 2002UM was many years after 2001, 2002, and 2003. I know you said you were casual, so I get the confusion but facts are facts.
this kof is underrated due to its bad presentation but the mechanics make it still great even better nowadays with our better understanding of fg mechanics , you should have covered the console port which was refresehd with new graphics to see the love this game was given by devs
2001 was released in the west on the PS2 in the form of the 2000/2001 double pack. It had extra strikers for 2000, but it lacked the arranged music for 2001, and both were laggy as fuck. K9999 has the same voice actor as Tetsuo, so it's def not a coincidence. Also, CvS2 was NOT successful. It was one of the main reasons Capcom largely wrapped up it's fighting game production by the next year.
CvS2 was absolutely a success. It sold well as an Arcade Kit, and why it continued receiving ports on other platforms (GCU, XBX) outside of the initial PS2 exclusive release in North America. And they continued making fighting games beyond CvS2 with other devs like Sengoku Basara X, Fate Unlimited Codes, the Canceled CF All-Stars and Capcom Fighting Jam. It was only AFTER CFJ when they threw in the towel until they commissioned Dimps to work on SF4.
@@CDages CvS2 failed commercially. It came out for the Dreamcast first, which nobody in 2001/2002 was actually paying for games anymore. The game failed on the Ps2 as well because nobody wanted to play a slightly uglier version of a game they could already play(for free) on Dreamcast. The arcade game wasn't played much until 2003, when people knew Capcom wasn't making fighting games anymore sans CFE. It's a harsh truth, but it's the truth nonetheless.
@@shishiohit came out on the Naomi Arcade first before the Dreamcast. For those that were still playing competitively, it was certainly being played and available at nearly every arcade center at the time both in the west and east coast. I was there during its popularity. The game sold well in Japan. Its why it kept getting reprinted on the PS2 as a best seller well after its initial print runs. Hideaki Itsuno, the game's director has already stated on the record that CvS2 was a success. So much in fact that Capcom began fast tracking a sequel. Unfortunately it was halted by the demise of SNK.
@@CDages Nobody (of normal means) could afford a Naomi back in the late 90's/early 2000's for home use, son. You're obviously talking about arcade operators, which by that logic, means no arcade ever failed. CvS2 wasn't being played seriously until 2003 because people thought it was just going to be another bump on the road of the Capcom fighting game yearly churn out. Same thing with 3rd Strike. Both of those games began to take on an artificial legendary status within the community. The decline of mainstream fighting games was well into swing by then, as was documented by numerous sources. When it came to home consoles, like I said before, CvS2 wasn't going to sell on the Dreamcast due to pirating, and didn't sell well enough on PS2 to warrant a sequel. People really need to get over the fact that some of their favorite games failed financially. It happens.
The quality drop in stage graphics, audio and music, and messy gameplay and balance, didn't give much reason to quit KOF 98 for this game. And after KOF 02's release there was truly very little reason to ever go back to it. Maybe only for Igniz.
Psychic Guys, Queen of Fighters, NESTS Ruler of the Dark, 0, I am the Strongest, My Whip, All OK! are great tracks The artstyle is not terrible just different I like the cartoony/anime style At least it is more memorable than 2003's generic anime style Now the stages I have to agree with you Only the Italy and China stages are the great The rest are decent, meh or boring (looking at you Brazil)
3 місяці тому
@@meganinten0078 yeah sure wtf is that Moyai Clark Still on the artworks bruhhh
Never understood why it took them so much money to develop such a simple 2d fighting game. When western gaming studios can easily churn out 3d triple A titles yearly. Most of its core system mechanics and existing character sprites are recycled every year. What's really so hard in designing a few new sprites, frame animations, music, stage graphics and character portraits? A hardcore enthusiast can probably even solo dev a new entry in a couple of months all by himself. The japanese are simply unproductive and inept in optimizing resources and efficiency. I can imagine an entire studio pretending to work overtime just to look like they're hard at work.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
I really love weird messy gaming history like this. I'd always known about the anecdote about Angel's creation but to learn it was actually between Evoga & Eolith during the messy post-bankruptcy era adds a whole new layer to it. Really happy SNK has stayed alive to this day given their multiple bankruptcies.
I really really liked KOF2001. I Played it a lot in one of those arcade boards with losta games in them..fun times.
And it has wakamoto as the final boss. Cant complain about that voice. Even if lovable Ignis was busted AF.
Because of kof 2001 ralf jones move set is one of the best.😊
You gotta love how SNK has such a bad luck to go bankrupt and a good luck to stay alive at the same time... Is technically s miracle they still exists to this day
*a little bit more trivia
11:10
Not only K-9999 heavily resemble Shima Tetsuo, but he also *VOICED* by Shima Tetsuo VA himself, Sasaki Nozomu. Simply because SNK staff are Tetsuo fans, until they forgot they literally make Tetsuo in the game rather than make a character homage to Tetsuo
Also very interesting to see who voices KUSANAGI, and how they have special interactions with K9999 in KOF2002. Definitely not a coincidence that K9999 is like Tetsuo.
Small correction. Kof 2001 didn’t come out right before kof2002UM. 2002UM came out in 2009 years after kof 11 and months before kof 12.
The original kof 2002 was not received that well so things didn’t get better for them after 2001. Not immediately.
Other than that great research and video.
Oh and I don’t know the real story but sadly apparently the angel origin story is a myth. It’s not true. Her and k9999 make a good pair in that regard.
While i agree that players can still pick this game up and have fun, it's a huge step back in quality especially when you compare it to KOF 2000, which perfected the Striker mechanics imo (and is more similar to MVC in that regard), which is off since KOF games that built off foundations of others are meant to be improvements so this really stood out like a sore thumb. Great video, love the documentary on it's development cycle
That new striker system isn't bad, that's an interesting innovation even... but it needed a kind of polishing that you can't expect from less skilled or less experienced staff, and over that short time since the game still followed the annual sequel format. But even so the biggest problem is in the own core gameplay, balance, visuals and music... That's what brought the game down.
My opinion is that all those striker systems in 99-01 are poorly made and needed more time to be polished. But that wasn't possible because the sequels were forced to be annual releases. The devs weren't prepared for that change, that actually resulted in breaking all those games horribly.
There are few franchises that managed to get a very competent annual sequel that changes the system... The best is probably Marvel, that turned to 2v2 tag team in XvSF. And in 2nd place Garou MOTW. But most sequels with big gameplay changes like Vampire Savior, Fatal Fury 3, AOF3, MK3 and MvC2 had a 1 year break in releases. That's what was needed for KOF striker games and tag games in my opinion.
@@carlosaugusto9821 Say all you want about Eolith but they actually make the best take on the striker system.
Not as broken as they were in KOF 2000 and not 'only to counter' like in 99
The new mechanics of 2001 were well thought out but as you said it needed a bit more polished, something that sadly the devs couldn't make it because of time constraints and the behind the scenes situations
I sometimes wonder what would have happened if KOF 2002 had kept the striker system from 2001 (and the 4 member teams).
Maybe Eolith could have created the perfect striker system 🤔
KOF 2003 made SNK finally realized that making annual releases for KOF games was a mistake (and that they needed a new powerful system instead of the obsolete MVS)
@@meganinten0078 Agree to disagree, I suppose.
Great video, funny tho this was uploaded on KOF's 30th anniversary
10:27 KOF 2001's PS2 port made it overseas, but through a combo pack with KOF 2000.
Your absoluately right. I got my copy years ago when it was new at "Toys R Us".
2001 was the first KOF I played. I really liked it and it got me into the series. Make sure to pour one out for lovable Igniz the next time you're hanging with your fellow snoop dogs.
I like how Athena and Andy look in KOF 2001
Short hair Athena is underrated 😊
(Also, she got Psychic 9, easily her best Desperation Move)
While I am not a fan of Andy- I have to admit he looks cool in 2001
About K9999
I actually like his design
He looks like a fusion between Tetsuo Shima (AKIRA) and Chirico Cuvie (Armored Troopers VOTOMS)
Nothing against Krohnen but I do miss his short hair and seeing his face. Something interesting is that Krohnen's official nickname is 'The Exceptional Esper'
Esper was the name for those kids with psychic powers in AKIRA
SNK REALLY LOVES AKIRA
And I am not talking about K9999, Kyo's prototype design was Kaneda
The Japan Stage in KOF 94 is Neo Tokyo
the music for one of the stages in KOF 97 sounds similar to a track from AKIRA
The prototype design for Chris was based on Akira (the character) in one of the covers of the manga where Akira wears an uniform with a cape
The Zero Cannon from KOF 2000 is a reference to the SOL cannon from AKIRA
Syo Kirishima, a striker in KOF 2000 (and the prototype design for Kyo) is voiced by Mitsuo Iwata, the same man who voiced Kaneda
The more I think of it, the more I believe K9999 was not something Eolith ordened Brezzasoft to make.
Instead, I think Brezzasoft made K9999 the way he is on purpose.
Hate to say that this is 2nd favorite KOF game for the Neo-Geo despite its graphics and music. I like the gameplay mechanics alot and yes I found Angel an appealing character just like how Iori was in KOF 95. Plus my Dreamcast port KOF 01 is my cherished Dreamcast fighter.
Why hate to say it? This game deserves its flowers
Not one of my favorites, but i'm glad that this game came out, kof was still alive and kickin'.
Kof 2000 for me was the peak SNK before it's downfall. The drawing is the best, the music is the best. And then come kof 2001
As much as this game was a huge problem and a 1/2 from the ugly art style to the gameplay mixed up being very awkward and it feeling like a not good KOF game at least it gave us Angel and several years in the future, we got a cool version of the character who looked like a certain character from a certain movie but now he looks cool back so I guess there's something.
The only strong points were inventing Angel, Igniz, K9999, and introducing Foxy. And in 2nd place creating real super cancels, and Kyo's "hsdm" super and Iori's follow up super. Still too little to be a solid game, mainly because of the big quality drop in other areas like stage graphics, and audio/music.
NAH...KOREANS N JAPANS LOVE THIS GAME...SO MANY TOURNAMENT HELD FOR IT
The game was ported to the Dreamcast and PS2. The PS2 version of the game had a redrawn artstyle and had 3D Backgrounds in their stages. It was released in 2003 and was apart of a 2 in 1 compilation it was this and 2000 called KOF 2000/2001 or KOF The Saga Continues in JP and Europe.
2001 will always be my favourite entry of the series
There was a King Of Fighters 2001 port for the Playstation 2. I'm not 100% sure but I wanna say I had a 2001/2002 combo for ps2 but that might have been a Japanese exclusive.
You're not dreaming, the game did get released here in the States.
Your not wrong. A PS2 version did exist for the USA and it was bundled with KOF 2000 as a fantastic selling point. (they did the same with 2002/2003.) I know this because I got my copy years ago when it was new at a local Toys R Us.
Yes, there was the 2000/2001 bundle and a 2002/2003 bundle. The 2001 port had new artwork for the character selection screen as the original art was notorious for being awful.
2k1 is an odd duck in the series and a broken mess, but fortunately it came out and help the series survive.
Man, this is a great video!!! Fast, concise, and bloody interesting, this is outstanding! Bonus points for Pop Team Epic.
I lived just north of Mexico for about 13 years, but I had no idea that KOF was so popular there. It makes sense though from a cultural perspective. Between this and your last video on Amingo, I guess you're on a southwestern kick. Follow it up with a screening of Guillermo Del Toro's Cronos. It's an extremely unique take on a vampire movie.
Keep up the good work man. This was a great one.
😃👍
The second biggest regional KOF community outside Asia is in Brazil, where I'm from.
SNK as a whole was very influential since the beginning with FF, AOF and SS, but KOF reached a special place of popularity, litterally surpassing Capcom games after 97 and 98. Those KOFs also overshadowed all other SNK releases at the same time like LB2 and Garou MOTW, and that's why I said a special place of popularity. Then KOF02 became the biggest thing ever like in Mexico.
Overall all Latin America just had a different arcade scene history compared to the US, where SNK was more or less disregarded except Metal Slug. Even the hardcore community wasn't into the games, and that's why Evo was created in 02 but it had no single SNK game until KOF 13 almost 10 years later, only in the period the event became more commercial.
@@carlosaugusto9821 I have a soft spot in my heart for gamers in Brazil, because I grew up with a Sega Master System and Brazil kept that thing alive! In America, people are always ready to throw out their old consoles because they want something new. In Brazil, they showed the Master System love for decades. Much respect.
I can't hate KOF 2001
Especially after knowing the development and behind the scenes stories
One thing KOF 2001 did great, was balancing the strikers thanks to the bars
In KOF 2000, the strikers broke the game (especially Joe) to the point that some countries made in house rules to play 2000 at competitive level
Another thing I like about KOF 2001 is that you can choose how many characters you want to play and how many strikers you want
Depending of how many strikers you have, the characters make more or less damage
I usually play with 2 characters and 2 strikers
If only KOF 2001 had an update version to fix all the other issues
And this is something that SNK (and Eolith) should have realised, annual releases was not a good idea
Sure it worked in the 90s but most of those games were rushed and suffered because of that especially in the NESTS Saga games
KOF 2003 was the last game with a year in the title because SNK Playmore finally realised that annual releases were no longer ideal (and also the fact that the MVS system was very obsolete to make new games)
Hey :) Well said. If SNK had invested in their non fighters more and invested in 3D heavily at the time and produced quality titles then and marketed and promoted their games in more clever ways they could've gotten the potential success similar to Capcom. The other things they didn't even upgrade to a separate hardware they stuck with same hardware for over a decade steadily updating the graphics and visuals each time. Also when KOF 2001 came out ppl were playing CVS2 at that time as well way more than latter.
During the 90s every year or so, there was a new fighter or and updated version of said fighter being released, whether if it was from an established franchise or new devs releasing their own original titles or clones. Leading to the market being oversaturated.
KoF 2001 absolutely was released here in the states after its worldwide arcade debut, well before the aforementioned Switch release. It was eventually packaged alongside KoF 2000 for the PS2. The release was actually kinda of a BIG deal at the time here in the west since it was their first US published product after SNK Playmore reformed a US publishing arm under the new name SNK Neo Geo USA Consumer Corporation after the closure of the old SNK USA branch. The US arm would eventually rebrand to simply SNK Playmore USA before quietly dissolving once again after the end of the 6th console gen. I still have my KoF 2001 trading cards that were available thru mail order upon the games purchase 😅
2001 is a mess of a game and pales in comparison to the other NESTS titles however it’s still a fun SNK fighting game in that 90s unbalanced ¥100 munching arcade way. The story behind it too makes it worth playing. Thanks for giving 01 a bit of love.
Thats hella hype, i didn't know that about Angel 😂 👏 a desperate ass-pull created a freakin' icon 🤣
8:35 Well, Idk if this a true mechanic in the game but depending on how much playable characters you have on your team, your character's strength also changes. A 1 playable with 3 strikers has more health and does more damage than 4 playable, zero strikers. I don't know if this true however
Very inteeresting read. Thank you for this.
I literally have KoF 2k1 on my western PS2. Europe is west. Poland is west! BTW PS2 version has remade backgrounds and character's artworks!
Oh snk, i hope they dont go bankrupt another time
Won't happen again because of the Chinese money, and recently the Arab money.
@@carlosaugusto9821 im sure in the 2000s people on message boards said it wouldnt happen again due to korean and pachinko money…
KOF 2001 gave us Angel 🥰
That is enough reason to not hating it 😁
I do also like K9999, May Lee, Original Zero and Igniz
I like the electric techno soundtrack 🎵
Queen of Fighters, NESTS Ruler of the Dark, Psychic Guys, All OK!, 0, I am the Strongest, My Whip are great tracks
About the in game arts, I am a fan of Nona
I like the cartoony/anime artstyle
Xiangfei and K9999's winner arts are excellent
Sure, some characters look weird but still, I prefer 2001 arts over 2003's generic anime art style
Their has tb a re-release of this game alongside 11 and the MI games if they can do so through whether through a standalone release or a part of a collection. They can do a KOF Neo-Geo Collection or a KOF Anthology Collection that includes the spin off including MI. If SNK does at the end of the 30th Anniversary celebration.
After SNK went bankrupt, outsourced titles like KOF 2001-2002 and Samurai Shodown V/V Special were made without the dev kits and instead used ROM hack-like development on decompiled ROMs.
And outside of fgs, Metal Slug 4 was sent to other dev team too, after the bankruptcy. I just don't remember if it was Eolith as well.
@@carlosaugusto9821it was Mega ent.
Regardin' the start bit, 2002 Unlimited Match wasn't right after 2001, that'd be a crazy huge glow-up if it were, haha. 2002 UM came out in 2009. Not tryin' to sound rude, you did make it clear you were a casual fan which is chill, but was just a little bit I wanted to point out.
2002/2002 UM are different games
The original 02 is still one of the most popular games of all time in the franchise, a bit above 02UM because of its cultural impact and nostalgia. The statistics of fightcade and other online emulators give a good idea. But he messed up for mixing things up.
He made it look like 02UM was like those instant sequels made to fix a problematic release. Like UMK3 came in the same year of MK3, SF3 2nd Impact also came in the same year of SF3 NG... But no, 02UM came a long time later.
I personally recommend watching Persona Cafe's combo video of 2001 to understand what the game really plays like and how it should be done, the cmv with TM Revolution is another good one
To anyone who didn't end up enjoying it, hopefully it can help change your perception of the game. 😊
Combos don't actually look bad, but that's not enough to save this game's problems. All KOFs have balance issues, broken combos, and many have cool looking combo videos as well, but this one goes much further and even has the problem of the cheaper graphics and audio/music. Some parts can be forgiven, sure, but not to be point of getting many people into the game. People might forgive it but stick to other titles that are much better.
From my totally anecdotal experience in my city Rio de Janeiro, KOF 2001 was very successful around here (as any new KoF was back in the day, but still). It was totally totally eclipsed by 2002 when it came out though, as expected. The overall feeling about it is that it is bugged and unbalanced. The people who like the striker mechanic prefer to play KoF 2000.
You need to make a video about the great spinoffs. KOF: Maximum impact series
probably one of the most interesting games in the series, up there with 2000 (for similar, though more depressing bankruptcy reasons). honestly don't think the game deserves the wrap it had for a while.
Great video!!!
2001 was very peculiar in my experience. The arcade version was quite populated by a lot of strong players. It wasn't as popular as the other fighters, but it was fairly crowded with people pulling off a lot of fun combos. We also had 2000 and that's the one I stuck with since everyone moved on to the newer game. Personally I wasn't a fan of the art nor the music, but you're right in that at least, it does feel pretty KOF (if a good bit weird. Like making charge characters have motions the way Chang and Heidern did for example).
I wanna also say Maxima's counter wire Vapor Cannon here involves you having to activate his Guard Point/Autoguard off the heavy punch Vapor Cannon? I'm not entirely sure at this point, has been a while but that's how they implement it in the newer games (it's still a thing in XV but more consistent in a sense heh)
Also Nona, the artist of that game, I don't think his style is *that* bad but it was definitely mad weird for this entry. While I feel he got better in SVC Chaos, we still see his art nowadays in the ending cutscenes since XI (as well as doing art for that indie TMNT x Justice League game).
Fun video!
Not really into Nona like that but he can sure make characters expressive, he also did the sprites for KOF 12 and 13.
Anyone know where i can find that footage featuring capcoms offices
Others have already said what I'm gonna say but it needs addressing:
Kof 2001 on PS2 did get a western release, bundled with kof 2000 the US and the UK. I had it.
Also the games before KOF 2002 "unlimited match" would have been Kof Neowave, kofXI or maximum impact 2, NOT 2001.
KOF 2002UM was many years after 2001, 2002, and 2003.
I know you said you were casual, so I get the confusion but facts are facts.
this kof is underrated due to its bad presentation but the mechanics make it still great even better nowadays with our better understanding of fg mechanics , you should have covered the console port which was refresehd with new graphics to see the love this game was given by devs
2001 was released in the west on the PS2 in the form of the 2000/2001 double pack. It had extra strikers for 2000, but it lacked the arranged music for 2001, and both were laggy as fuck.
K9999 has the same voice actor as Tetsuo, so it's def not a coincidence.
Also, CvS2 was NOT successful. It was one of the main reasons Capcom largely wrapped up it's fighting game production by the next year.
CvS2 was absolutely a success. It sold well as an Arcade Kit, and why it continued receiving ports on other platforms (GCU, XBX) outside of the initial PS2 exclusive release in North America. And they continued making fighting games beyond CvS2 with other devs like Sengoku Basara X, Fate Unlimited Codes, the Canceled CF All-Stars and Capcom Fighting Jam. It was only AFTER CFJ when they threw in the towel until they commissioned Dimps to work on SF4.
@@CDages CvS2 failed commercially. It came out for the Dreamcast first, which nobody in 2001/2002 was actually paying for games anymore.
The game failed on the Ps2 as well because nobody wanted to play a slightly uglier version of a game they could already play(for free) on Dreamcast.
The arcade game wasn't played much until 2003, when people knew Capcom wasn't making fighting games anymore sans CFE.
It's a harsh truth, but it's the truth nonetheless.
@@shishiohit came out on the Naomi Arcade first before the Dreamcast. For those that were still playing competitively, it was certainly being played and available at nearly every arcade center at the time both in the west and east coast. I was there during its popularity.
The game sold well in Japan. Its why it kept getting reprinted on the PS2 as a best seller well after its initial print runs.
Hideaki Itsuno, the game's director has already stated on the record that CvS2 was a success. So much in fact that Capcom began fast tracking a sequel. Unfortunately it was halted by the demise of SNK.
@@CDages Nobody (of normal means) could afford a Naomi back in the late 90's/early 2000's for home use, son.
You're obviously talking about arcade operators, which by that logic, means no arcade ever failed.
CvS2 wasn't being played seriously until 2003 because people thought it was just going to be another bump on the road of the Capcom fighting game yearly churn out. Same thing with 3rd Strike. Both of those games began to take on an artificial legendary status within the community. The decline of mainstream fighting games was well into swing by then, as was documented by numerous sources.
When it came to home consoles, like I said before, CvS2 wasn't going to sell on the Dreamcast due to pirating, and didn't sell well enough on PS2 to warrant a sequel.
People really need to get over the fact that some of their favorite games failed financially. It happens.
Who the hell was buying an AES in 2001?
Being mexican of course they won lol so true
KoF 2002 Unlimited* Match
This game is extremely ugly and the soundtrack is a collection of noises in succession
The quality drop in stage graphics, audio and music, and messy gameplay and balance, didn't give much reason to quit KOF 98 for this game. And after KOF 02's release there was truly very little reason to ever go back to it. Maybe only for Igniz.
Psychic Guys, Queen of Fighters, NESTS Ruler of the Dark, 0, I am the Strongest, My Whip, All OK! are great tracks
The artstyle is not terrible just different
I like the cartoony/anime style
At least it is more memorable than 2003's generic anime style
Now the stages I have to agree with you
Only the Italy and China stages are the great
The rest are decent, meh or boring (looking at you Brazil)
@@meganinten0078 yeah sure wtf is that Moyai Clark Still on the artworks bruhhh
I hate 2001 with every bone in my body from the portraits to the music just 100% trash worst kof game
Never understood why it took them so much money to develop such a simple 2d fighting game. When western gaming studios can easily churn out 3d triple A titles yearly.
Most of its core system mechanics and existing character sprites are recycled every year.
What's really so hard in designing a few new sprites, frame animations, music, stage graphics and character portraits? A hardcore enthusiast can probably even solo dev a new entry in a couple of months all by himself.
The japanese are simply unproductive and inept in optimizing resources and efficiency. I can imagine an entire studio pretending to work overtime just to look like they're hard at work.
this games soundtrack is terrible, almost as bad as alpha 3's, gameplay is pretty good tho, and it has may lee
Comparing 2001's soundtrack to Alpha 3 is crazy work lol
Stay off the substances if you think Alpha 3's soundtrack is bad
Alpha 3 had some good tracks it was different compared to alpha 2 but not terrible
@@aceattorneygeneral3922 I disagree, Alpha 3's OST was bland & boring AF.
Those two osts are in a very different level. KOF 01 is really bad, but SFA3 is just not among the great ones (still more consistent than SF6).