The King of Fighters: Difference between revisions
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''The King of Fighters'' tells the story of a large number of fighting tournaments that occur every year. Each of these tournaments would have a deep and intricate [[story arc]] that would at least follow through a three-year tournament run (Orochi Saga 1994-1997, The NESTS Chronicles 1999-2001, Tales of Ash 2003-?). Games such as [[The King of Fighters '98]] and [[The King of Fighters 2002]] are not accounted for in the storyline, due to the fact that both of them are 'dream match' titles (in which missing or killed-off characters are brought back just for battling and not for storytelling). |
''The King of Fighters'' tells the story of a large number of fighting tournaments that occur every year. Each of these tournaments would have a deep and intricate [[story arc]] that would at least follow through a three-year tournament run (Orochi Saga 1994-1997, The NESTS Chronicles 1999-2001, Tales of Ash 2003-?). Games such as [[The King of Fighters '98]] and [[The King of Fighters 2002]] are not accounted for in the storyline, due to the fact that both of them are 'dream match' titles (in which missing or killed-off characters are brought back just for battling and not for storytelling). |
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The first game introduces the initial main character from the series: [[Kyo Kusanagi]], a young [[Japanese]] fighter who is the heir of the ancient Kusanagi clan: a powerful group of martial artists who have pyrokinetic powers. Kyo represents the Japanese team with his best friend/rival, a Japanese Shootboxer named [[Benimaru Nikaido]] and a strong [[Judo]] master named [[Goro Daimon]]. The trio goes into the 1994 KOF tournament and find themselves facing off against many strong and well-known opponents, which includes [[Terry Bogard]], [[Ryo Sakazaki]], and [[Athena |
The first game introduces the initial main character from the series: [[Kyo Kusanagi]], a young [[Japanese]] fighter who is the heir of the ancient Kusanagi clan: a powerful group of martial artists who have pyrokinetic powers. Kyo represents the Japanese team with his best friend/rival, a Japanese Shootboxer named [[Benimaru Nikaido]] and a strong [[Judo]] master named [[Goro Daimon]]. The trio goes into the 1994 KOF tournament and find themselves facing off against many strong and well-known opponents, which includes [[Terry Bogard]], [[Ryo Sakazaki]], and [[Athena Asamiya]]. Kyo and his friends win the tournament and find themsleves meeting the host of the event: a powerful criminal named [[Rugal Bernstein]], who wants to find worthy opponents to kill so that he can turn them into statues in order to remember his ruthless and grisly victories. However...he is defeated by Kyo and his friends, forcing him to self-destruct his ship in attempt to take them down with him, but the team escapes unharmed. The 1995 KOF tournament would begin the first story arc in the series, known as the Orochi Saga, and that it would introduce many elements that would follow until [[The King of Fighters '97]]. In the 1995 KOF tournament, Rugal reappears alive and attempts to kill Kyo and his friends by using a deadly power from an entity known as [[Orochi]]: an ancient eight-headed demon who was sealed by the three [[Imperial Regalia of Japan|three ancient artifacts]]. However, Rugal is unable to control the power from within his body and dies through a horrible implosion. In this game, a new character appears aiming to kill Kyo and destroy the entire Kusanagi bloodline. His name is [[Iori Yagami]]: the last member of his clan who's able to use pyrokinetic flames as well, but instead of the flame's color being red...it's purple instead. This comes from the fact that the Yagami clan had strucked a deal with Orochi many centuries ago, asking for more power after being defeated by the Kusanagis in a failed battle, but doing so had cursed the entire bloodline of the Yagami clan, causing those who use the purple flames to shorten their lifespan and die at earlier, unexpected ages. |
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In the year of 1996, a new tournament is organized by the heir of the Yata clan, [[Chizuru Kagura]], who wants to gather Kyo and Iori in her team so that they can combat the rising Orochi threat, as their ancient clans did in the past. As Chizuru meets both Kyo and Iori, they are attacked by one of the Four Heralds of Orochi, named [[Leopold Goenitz]], who tries to kill them and the rest of the fighters, but is defeated when Iori and Kyo join their flames together in a sucessful final attack, causing Goenitz to transform into a tornado and commite suicide. During the 1997 tournament, it is revealed that a few of the fighters ([[Leona Heidern]], [[Ryuji Yamazaki]]) are connected to Orochi through their own cursed blood, but do not follow him in an instant. Instead...they start suffering from a dark curse that turns them into psychotic killers who'll attack anybody that's near them. Iori suffers from this curse, causing him to kill several people accidently when he least expects it (including his '96 teammates [[Vice (King of Fighters)|Vice]] and [[Mature (King of Fighters)|Mature]]) and that he decides to enter into the tournament by himself in order to find a way to stop it. During the '97 tournament, a music group known as the New Faces team ([[Yashiro Nanakase]], [[Shermie]], and [[Chris (King of Fighters)|Chris]]) learn of their dark past as being three of Orochi's Four Heralds and that they decide to continue his strong will, preparing to sacrifice the fighters in order to awaken Orochi from his slumber. Kyo and Iori decide to join Chizuru in order to stop the New Faces team from completing their malevolent plan and although they succeded in protecting the fighters, Orochi is able to return back to life through the use of his Heralds' sacrifice and that he prepares to eradicate all of humanity. Joining their forces in one final fight, Kyo, Iori, and Chizuru succeed in defeating and sealing Orochi back up once again, but in the process, Kyo and Iori disappears from within the aftermath of the battle, leaving their fate unknown for the next two years. |
In the year of 1996, a new tournament is organized by the heir of the Yata clan, [[Chizuru Kagura]], who wants to gather Kyo and Iori in her team so that they can combat the rising Orochi threat, as their ancient clans did in the past. As Chizuru meets both Kyo and Iori, they are attacked by one of the Four Heralds of Orochi, named [[Leopold Goenitz]], who tries to kill them and the rest of the fighters, but is defeated when Iori and Kyo join their flames together in a sucessful final attack, causing Goenitz to transform into a tornado and commite suicide. During the 1997 tournament, it is revealed that a few of the fighters ([[Leona Heidern]], [[Ryuji Yamazaki]]) are connected to Orochi through their own cursed blood, but do not follow him in an instant. Instead...they start suffering from a dark curse that turns them into psychotic killers who'll attack anybody that's near them. Iori suffers from this curse, causing him to kill several people accidently when he least expects it (including his '96 teammates [[Vice (King of Fighters)|Vice]] and [[Mature (King of Fighters)|Mature]]) and that he decides to enter into the tournament by himself in order to find a way to stop it. During the '97 tournament, a music group known as the New Faces team ([[Yashiro Nanakase]], [[Shermie]], and [[Chris (King of Fighters)|Chris]]) learn of their dark past as being three of Orochi's Four Heralds and that they decide to continue his strong will, preparing to sacrifice the fighters in order to awaken Orochi from his slumber. Kyo and Iori decide to join Chizuru in order to stop the New Faces team from completing their malevolent plan and although they succeded in protecting the fighters, Orochi is able to return back to life through the use of his Heralds' sacrifice and that he prepares to eradicate all of humanity. Joining their forces in one final fight, Kyo, Iori, and Chizuru succeed in defeating and sealing Orochi back up once again, but in the process, Kyo and Iori disappears from within the aftermath of the battle, leaving their fate unknown for the next two years. |
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The story would later continue in [[The King of Fighters '99]], which would introduce a new story arc known as the NESTS Chronicles. A syndicate called the NESTS cartel organizes a new tournament so that they can obtain energy from the fighters to use for their data and weapons. The syndicate also kidnaps Kyo Kusanagi right after his battle against Orochi so that they could use his [[DNA]] to create a large number of clones to use as agents, though Kyo manages to escape during the process. One of the agents, [[K']], becomes the new main character from the story arc as he betrays the NESTS cartel so that he can seek his own stolen past. Other notable characters introduced in the story arc includes [[Maxima]] (A half-man, half-cyborg who helps K' out), [[Whip (King of |
The story would later continue in [[The King of Fighters '99]], which would introduce a new story arc known as the NESTS Chronicles. A syndicate called the NESTS cartel organizes a new tournament so that they can obtain energy from the fighters to use for their data and weapons. The syndicate also kidnaps Kyo Kusanagi right after his battle against Orochi so that they could use his [[DNA]] to create a large number of clones to use as agents, though Kyo manages to escape during the process. One of the agents, [[K']], becomes the new main character from the story arc as he betrays the NESTS cartel so that he can seek his own stolen past. Other notable characters introduced in the story arc includes [[Maxima]] (A half-man, half-cyborg who helps K' out), [[Whip (King of Fighters)|Whip]] (A military mercenary who helps the [[Ikari Warriors]] investigate the syndicate), and [[Kula Diamond]] (A female agent of NESTS who is known only as the Anti-K' device). |
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Throughout the NESTS Chronicles story arc, K' and the rest of the fighters battle against many enemies, which includes a clone of K' named [[Krizalid]], NESTS' second-in-command named [[Original Zero (King of Fighters)|Original Zero]], and the leader of NESTS named [[Igniz]], who sought to gain the power of the fighters so that he could be a new god to the people of Earth. |
Throughout the NESTS Chronicles story arc, K' and the rest of the fighters battle against many enemies, which includes a clone of K' named [[Krizalid]], NESTS' second-in-command named [[Original Zero (King of Fighters)|Original Zero]], and the leader of NESTS named [[Igniz]], who sought to gain the power of the fighters so that he could be a new god to the people of Earth. |
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Revision as of 18:03, 6 September 2008
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2008) |
The King of Fighters (ザ・キング・オブ・ファイターズ, Za Kingu obu Faitāzu), officially abbreviated KOF, is a series of fighting games by SNK Playmore, formerly SNK. The series was originally developed for SNK's Neo-Geo MVS arcade hardware, which served as the main platform for the series until 2004, when SNK retired the MVS in favor of the Atomiswave arcade board and will move the series to the Taito Type X2 with the release of The King of Fighters XII. Ports of the arcade games and original The King of Fighters games have been released for the Neo Geo CD, Neo Geo Pocket, Game Boy and Game Boy Advance, N-Gage, Sega Saturn and Sega Dreamcast, PlayStation and PlayStation 2, and Xbox. One of the most recent games in the series are The King of Fighters: Maximum Impact series.
Gameplay
The King of Fighters '94 introduces the series' signature 3-man team system. A player chooses a team of three characters, then determines the order to play them in. Each fight consists of up to 5 rounds, and each round ends when one of the two fighters is knocked out; the remaining fighter stays and faces the opponent's next character. The gameplay of King of Fighters '95 was left largely intact from 94. The major change SNK was to allow players to select any combination of characters to fight with, as opposed to the concrete teams that players were confined to in the previous game.
In the The King of Fighters '99, a new addition was added to the game. It introduces the striker system which allows the team to have fourth member that is able to help his teammates in the middle of the fight and attack the opponent. The King of Fighters 2001 kept the Striker assist system from the previous two KOF games, but added a new twist to it - the ability to adjust how many Strikers a team could have. While teams in 1999 and 2000 are limited to selecting one teammate as an assist, now teams could have up to 3 assist characters, or none at all.
Since The King of Fighters 2003, the striker system is eliminated and the teams only have three members. Since this game, the players can change the characters in the middle of the fight, turning the matches into only one round-long.
Story
The King of Fighters tells the story of a large number of fighting tournaments that occur every year. Each of these tournaments would have a deep and intricate story arc that would at least follow through a three-year tournament run (Orochi Saga 1994-1997, The NESTS Chronicles 1999-2001, Tales of Ash 2003-?). Games such as The King of Fighters '98 and The King of Fighters 2002 are not accounted for in the storyline, due to the fact that both of them are 'dream match' titles (in which missing or killed-off characters are brought back just for battling and not for storytelling).
The first game introduces the initial main character from the series: Kyo Kusanagi, a young Japanese fighter who is the heir of the ancient Kusanagi clan: a powerful group of martial artists who have pyrokinetic powers. Kyo represents the Japanese team with his best friend/rival, a Japanese Shootboxer named Benimaru Nikaido and a strong Judo master named Goro Daimon. The trio goes into the 1994 KOF tournament and find themselves facing off against many strong and well-known opponents, which includes Terry Bogard, Ryo Sakazaki, and Athena Asamiya. Kyo and his friends win the tournament and find themsleves meeting the host of the event: a powerful criminal named Rugal Bernstein, who wants to find worthy opponents to kill so that he can turn them into statues in order to remember his ruthless and grisly victories. However...he is defeated by Kyo and his friends, forcing him to self-destruct his ship in attempt to take them down with him, but the team escapes unharmed. The 1995 KOF tournament would begin the first story arc in the series, known as the Orochi Saga, and that it would introduce many elements that would follow until The King of Fighters '97. In the 1995 KOF tournament, Rugal reappears alive and attempts to kill Kyo and his friends by using a deadly power from an entity known as Orochi: an ancient eight-headed demon who was sealed by the three three ancient artifacts. However, Rugal is unable to control the power from within his body and dies through a horrible implosion. In this game, a new character appears aiming to kill Kyo and destroy the entire Kusanagi bloodline. His name is Iori Yagami: the last member of his clan who's able to use pyrokinetic flames as well, but instead of the flame's color being red...it's purple instead. This comes from the fact that the Yagami clan had strucked a deal with Orochi many centuries ago, asking for more power after being defeated by the Kusanagis in a failed battle, but doing so had cursed the entire bloodline of the Yagami clan, causing those who use the purple flames to shorten their lifespan and die at earlier, unexpected ages.
In the year of 1996, a new tournament is organized by the heir of the Yata clan, Chizuru Kagura, who wants to gather Kyo and Iori in her team so that they can combat the rising Orochi threat, as their ancient clans did in the past. As Chizuru meets both Kyo and Iori, they are attacked by one of the Four Heralds of Orochi, named Leopold Goenitz, who tries to kill them and the rest of the fighters, but is defeated when Iori and Kyo join their flames together in a sucessful final attack, causing Goenitz to transform into a tornado and commite suicide. During the 1997 tournament, it is revealed that a few of the fighters (Leona Heidern, Ryuji Yamazaki) are connected to Orochi through their own cursed blood, but do not follow him in an instant. Instead...they start suffering from a dark curse that turns them into psychotic killers who'll attack anybody that's near them. Iori suffers from this curse, causing him to kill several people accidently when he least expects it (including his '96 teammates Vice and Mature) and that he decides to enter into the tournament by himself in order to find a way to stop it. During the '97 tournament, a music group known as the New Faces team (Yashiro Nanakase, Shermie, and Chris) learn of their dark past as being three of Orochi's Four Heralds and that they decide to continue his strong will, preparing to sacrifice the fighters in order to awaken Orochi from his slumber. Kyo and Iori decide to join Chizuru in order to stop the New Faces team from completing their malevolent plan and although they succeded in protecting the fighters, Orochi is able to return back to life through the use of his Heralds' sacrifice and that he prepares to eradicate all of humanity. Joining their forces in one final fight, Kyo, Iori, and Chizuru succeed in defeating and sealing Orochi back up once again, but in the process, Kyo and Iori disappears from within the aftermath of the battle, leaving their fate unknown for the next two years.
The story would later continue in The King of Fighters '99, which would introduce a new story arc known as the NESTS Chronicles. A syndicate called the NESTS cartel organizes a new tournament so that they can obtain energy from the fighters to use for their data and weapons. The syndicate also kidnaps Kyo Kusanagi right after his battle against Orochi so that they could use his DNA to create a large number of clones to use as agents, though Kyo manages to escape during the process. One of the agents, K', becomes the new main character from the story arc as he betrays the NESTS cartel so that he can seek his own stolen past. Other notable characters introduced in the story arc includes Maxima (A half-man, half-cyborg who helps K' out), Whip (A military mercenary who helps the Ikari Warriors investigate the syndicate), and Kula Diamond (A female agent of NESTS who is known only as the Anti-K' device).
Throughout the NESTS Chronicles story arc, K' and the rest of the fighters battle against many enemies, which includes a clone of K' named Krizalid, NESTS' second-in-command named Original Zero, and the leader of NESTS named Igniz, who sought to gain the power of the fighters so that he could be a new god to the people of Earth.
The most recent story arc of The King of Fighters is the Tales of Ash story arc, which focuses on a strange and mysterious fighter named Ash Crimson. Though he's supposed to be the 'hero' of this story arc, Ash's true agenda is unknown and that his actions are often put in both question and suspicion.
Games
Main series
The first game in the series, The King of Fighters '94 was released by SNK in August 25, 1994.[1] The game was originally designed to be a dream match of characters from the company's various arcade titles, particularly Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting, Ikari Warriors and Psycho Soldier. The game was remade and released in 2004 for the Sony Playstation 2 as The King of Fighters '94 Re-Bout in Japan. This version has several new features like hi-res graphics, online play, team edit, a playable Rugal Bernstein, and the addition of Saisyu Kusanagi.[2] On January 7, 2008, the game was made available for download on the Wii's Virtual Console download service, for a price of 900 Wii Points.[3] The success of the game lead to SNK to release yearly installments of the series and numbered the games for the year they were released. By 2004, SNK abandoned yearly releases of the series and numbered future games in a more traditional manner; the first main series game released as such was The King of Fighters XI.
Other games
In 2004, SNK produced the first 3D installment of the series, KOF: Maximum Impact. The game and its two sequels revises much of the backstory for characters and settings from previous games. The producer of the Maximum Impact series, Falcoon, stated that the Maximum Impact games are in a different canon from the original series of games.[4] Another spin-off video game, The King of Fighters Neowave, was released for the X-Box, Play Station 2 and Arcade during 2005 and 2006. Like KOF '98 and KOF 2002, Neowave has no storyline and is considered a "dream match" game. The game is a gathering of numerous characters from previous installments, including dead characters like Mature and Vice from KOF '96 and the New Face Team from KOF '97. The character artwork was done by Tomokazu Nakano.
Several characters from the series appear also in cross-over video games. Neo Geo Battle Coliseum is a 2 on 2 tag team fighting game for the Atomiswave arcade board. Along with the KOF, chararacters from other SNK video games also star there. Capcom also produced a series of similar crossover fighting games with SNK. The SNK-produced fighting games of this crossover includes the Dimps-developed portable fighting game SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium for the Neo-Geo Pocket Color in Template:Vgy and SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos for the Neo-Geo in Template:Vgy The games produced by Capcom includes Capcom vs. SNK in Template:Vgy. It was followed by a minor upgrade, Capcom vs. SNK Pro ; and a sequel titled Capcom vs. SNK 2, both released in Template:Vgy. All three games were produced for the NAOMI hardware as well.
Development
In an interview with veteran developers of the series they claim that their prototype version for KOF was going to be a side-scrolling beat 'em up titled, Survivor. In this version, it would only use core characters from the Art of Fighting and Fatal Fury series, specifically allowing players to play Robert Garcia and Terry Bogard for location testing. However, the idea was quickly abandoned after the debut of Capcom's game with similar gameplay, Final Fight. Since they were attached to the idea of the two series cross-over, they eventually agreed to make their idea into a fighting game. Characters from Ikari Warriors and Psycho Soldier games were also added in spirit of other gaming genres considered for their final product. The concept of a three-man team was one of the ideas kept from the side-scrolling version.[5]
Flagship director, Toyohisa Tanabe, asserts that the Art of Fighting and Fatal Fury fighters were added specifically for adults. The newer KoF characters -especially for the first game- were aimed to appeal to younger and newer audiences. He adds that every original character for the series is added based on the developers' strong desire to make one. For example, he agreed to include characters such as Benimaru and Chang to add an off-beat variety to the cast, which he previously deemed to be too serious before. Later in the series, their approach to creating their characters altered slightly to also serve as a type of fan service, which he refers to as a collaborative effort between fans and the staff.[6]
Several characters that appear in the series are parodies or homages to either anime, manga, actors, films or television shows that the creators are interested in.[6] Noticeable examples are K9999 and Zero. Characters are sometimes added at the seiyū's convenience or to fill in gaps that occur for each installment's story; this happens with Duck King in The King of Fighters XI[7] and Ryuji Yamazaki in The King of Fighters '97.[8]
Merchandise
A manhua adaptation of KOF titled The King of Fighters: Zillion was created by Andy Seto. Hong Kong artists, Wing Yang and King Tung produced further manhua for the games, starting in The King of Fighters 2001 through 2003 along with the Maximum Impact series.[9]
During August 2005, a short anime series based upon KOF entitled The King of Fighters: Another Day was announced. It debuted at the year's Tokyo Game Show about a month later. Production I.G produced the title as an original net animation. There are a total of four episodes, each about 10 minutes in length (but considerably less, when accounting for the end credits). It has since been released as a bonus DVD, packaged with KOF: Maximum Impact 2 (The King of Fighters 2006 in the US). A live-action movie of The King of Fighters will begin shooting in the first quarter of 2008.[10][11] The movie will be directed by action director Gordan Chan (The Medallion, Fist of Legend). Production is by Axis Entertainment's Joseph Chou (currently producing upcoming Appleseed Ex Machina) and Tim Kwok of LA-based Convergence Entertainment (Wicked City) and will be jointly financed by Japanese production and rights management group Micott & Basara and Australian-U.S. sales agent Arclight/Easternlight. The screenplay is being written by Fearless scriptor Chris Chow.
In December 2006, Sabertooth Games released a King of Fighters 2006 collectable card game set along with Samurai Shodown V for it's Universal Fighting System (UFS) game. Other games like Street Fighter and Soulcalibur III are also included into the series. Character starter packs were released for Terry Bogard and Mai Shiranui.
See also
- List of characters in The King of Fighters series
- KOF: Maximum Impact and it's sequel
- SNK vs. Capcom series
- Days of Memories
References
- ^ "The King of Fighters '94 Official Profile". King of Fighters 10th Anniversary Official Website. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
- ^ "King of Fighters '94 Re-Bout". Game Spot. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
- ^ "King of Fighters '94 [Virtual Console]". IGN. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
- ^ "SNKプレイモア＆FALCOON氏 独占インタビュー記事". 格闘ゲーム総合サイト FFL ～Fighters Front Line (in Japanese).
{{cite web}}: External link in|work=|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ Akihiko Ureshino, ed. (September 20, 2005). The King of Fighters Perfect Reader (in Japanese). Nikkei Business Publications, Inc. pp. 136~137. ISBN 4-8222-1711-6.
- ^ a b Akihiko Ureshino, ed. (September 20, 2005). The King of Fighters Perfect Reader (in Japanese). Nikkei Business Publications, Inc. pp. 140~144. ISBN 4-8222-1711-6. Cite error: The named reference "kofperfectcast2" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ SNK Playmore. "Duck King's Official Character Bio". King of Fighters 10th Anniversary Official Website (in Japanese).
{{cite web}}: External link in|work=|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ SNK Playmore. "Ryuji Yamazaki's KOF 10th anniversary profile". King of Fighters 10th Anniversary Official Website.
{{cite web}}: External link in|work=|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ Shiroi, Eiji. "Remembrances of KOF: An Interview with Eiji". King of Fighters 10th Anniversary Official Website.
{{cite web}}: External link in|work=|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ Plunkett, Luke. "Nobody Ever Learns ~ Gordon Chan Directing King Of Fighters Flick". Kotaku, the Gamer's Guide.
{{cite web}}: External link in|work=|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ Frater, Patrick. "Chan takes on 'King of Fighters'". Cannes Film Festival by Variety.
{{cite web}}: External link in|work=|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help)