King Of Fighters History

History Of... The King of Fighters, SNK's classic team-based 2D fighting series.

"Violent fighting to come again!"

And it always has, every year, from 1994 until now and counting. SNK's King of Fighters series has almost as consistent a track record as EA's Madden football, and Madden didn't have to survive the protracted buyout and collapse of its owners. You could argue that KOF has kept up a more consistent track record of quality through more continuous extracurricular weirdness than any gaming franchise around.

What is it about King of Fighters that's kept it going through so much? With the series coming back to American consoles for the first time in a couple of years (and even that release, the PlayStation version of '99, saw only a very limited print run), it helps, perhaps, to look back at what made it a hit in the first place. Set the wayback machine for 1994, back when Newt Gingrich ran Washington and arcade games still cost a quarter, and let's have a look...

King of Fighters '94 Who's In?: Almost everybody. Who's Out?: Duck King, sadly. Who's Boss?: Rugal Bernstein. Best Pose: Kyo's debuting "Moetaro?" Best Win Quote: "I'm stronger when I'm drunk!" -- Chin Gentsai

Two dozen characters in a fighting game doesn't sound like much nowadays, but it was a hell of a cast in 1994. So big, of course, that SNK had to create its team fighting system to handle it, and so the KOF series' signature gimmick was born.

The team combat concept was a good idea for the time, in terms of both gameplay and economics. Gameplay-wise, it settled the question of whether to pick the big fast guy, the little quick guy, or the all-around effective guy -- the way the teams were balanced in '94, each team offered a little bit of everything. And it also offered as much as 60% more gameplay per credit, since the three-on-three matches guaranteed at least three rounds (and as many as five rounds) of fighting.

King of Fighters '94 is, in retrospect, clearly a first effort, but at the same time you can see the creativity that would eventually polish the series' best games. Controls born in the Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting series tightened up into something sharp and playable, while SNK's character design talents created new fighters and revived some fun past concepts. After all, who'd have thought the cast of Psycho Soldier would ever amount to anything?

On the other hand, it doesn't look like anybody's yet managed to solve the mystery of the USA Sports Heroes team. Since their debut in 1994, they've almost never been seen again...

King of Fighters '95 Who's In?: Billy Kane, Eiji Kisaragi, and Iori Yagami. Who's Out?: The USA Sports Heroes. Who's Boss?: Saisyu Kusanagi and Omega Rugal. Best Pose: Omega Rugal's chest claw. Best Win Quote: "Life is only training. Training and bowling." -- Goro Daimon

This, as the saying goes, is more like it. The 1995 edition of KOF left the original in the dust, and stacked up in pretty impressive fashion against the fighting competition of the time. Street Fighter Alpha had just hit arcades with all of 13 characters, (including Dan). KOF '95 doubled that, and the Team Edit feature mixed and matched those fighters into a multitude of possible teams.

Two dozen fighters was a big cast for the time, and SNK's design talents came into full flower in the mid-'90s. Iori Yagami began eight years of breaking heads and looking sharp doing it in 1995, while the Sports Heroes team bugged out for less fashionable fighting tournaments. Omega Rugal topped off the package with one of the most stylish boss designs in fighting history, although more than a few gamers grew to hate the sight of him.

King of Fighters '96 Who's In?: Vice, Mature, Leona, Kasumi Todo, the Fatal Fury Boss Team. Who's Out?: Eiji Kisaragi, Billy Kane, Rugal (thankfully). Who's Boss?: Chizuru Kagura and Goenitz. Best Pose: Mature's Marilyn Monroe win pose. Best Win Quote: "You guys were as tough as noodles. What a bore!" -- Robert Garcia

King of Fighters '96 is a blend of successful and failed experiments. Some of its ideas are good ones -- the Deadly Secretaries, for instance, and the absence of Rugal. Some of its ideas didn't work out so well, though. SNK's attempt to de-emphasize projectile attacks didn't come together as effectively as it did in 1997, and '96 in general wasn't as well-balanced as the slick and versatile '95.

From seven years' distance, though, the things '96 did well stand out more and more. The wonderfully bizarre backstory that would come to a head in '97 started here, as well as some other fun traditions -- custom team endings, custom win poses, and the first in a long succession of cute intro poses between Andy Bogard and Mai Shiranui.