Last updated The new The King of Fighters characters created for the NESTS arc
The second story arc of The King of Fighters fighting game series takes three installments: The King of Fighters '99, The King of Fighters 2000 and The King of Fighters 2001. The King of Fighters 2002 and its remake Unlimited Match do not have a story but reunite the entire cast. The story focuses on a terrorist organization who kidnap the martial artist Kyo Kusanagi after he goes missing when defeating the demon Orochi in The King of Fighters '97. NESTS experiment with Kyo's DNA to create soldiers capable of creating flames like him with the rebellious teenager K' becoming the new protagonist of the series. He is accompanied by the cyborg Maxima and both are constantly seen on the run in fights against NESTS alongside returning characters from the Orochi arc.
SNK had originally planned to remove main characters Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami, who had previously appeared in earlier installments of the series, from The King of Fighters '99, but they ended up as hidden characters instead due to negative feedback. The popularity of Kyo's previous incarnations resulted in him being given "clones" that wear his original clothes and perform his moves. SNK also added new characters to other returning teams in an attempt to balance the cast's age properly. While The King of Fighters 2000 was developed by SNK, the group's bankrupt resulted in Eolith making the next two installment with a Korean audience aimed to.
Critical response to the NESTS characters has been generally positive for manitaining both outstanding new characters and the iconic returnings including guests from other SNK IPs. However, both Krizalid and Igniz were often criticized for being highly difficult enemy bosses.
Creation and influences
With the NESTS arc, SNK wanted to a new storyline different from the Orochi arc used in previous installments and be more accessible to newcomers. As now every team has one additional character, the developer wanted to expand on the lore, establishing new relationships. The story of the new protagonist K' in The King of Fighters '99 set to be the beginning, Kono already planned the narrative to be further explored in at least two installment and exceed the fans' expectations.[1] The designs in general were retouched to give a cooler emphasis, most notably in K' as his sophisticated style is meant to breathe new life into the series.[2] Eiji, one of the game's designers, commented that he thought K' would be more popular than he turned out to be, noting that K' was too plain.[3] As the game was developed at the same time as SNK's Garou: Mark of the Wolves, the protagonist's designer was fearing he was too similar to Rock Howard which made him nervous.[4] The character Whip was originally meant to appear in KOF '96, but due to Leona Heidern's introduction in that game, the staff decided to wait until KOF '99.[5]
With the introduction of K', SNK had originally planned to remove main characters Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami, who had previously appeared in earlier installments of the series, from The King of Fighters '99. Instead, they ended up as unlockable hidden characters after fans responded negatively to their removal at location tests.[6] Kyo and Iori were supposed to disappear due to business reasons or the requests of enthusiastic fans, but in the end they have continued to appear ever since. Kyo was involved in the story to some extent, but not Iori, in terms of the connections with the new protagonist.[7] Kyo was redesigned for this game for the first time in the entire series replacing his school uniform with more casual clothing that were well received by the staff and fans.[2] However, developers still liked his school uniform. As a result, based on the practice of adding earlier versions of various characters to games, the staff created the Kyo clones that featured him with classic movesets: Kyo-1 uses Kyo's movesets from the first two games, while Kyo-2 uses his movesets from KOF '96 and KOF '97.[6][8]
The large number of young characters appearing in the game represented a problem for the developers; as a result, the staff introduced older characters such as Seth and Vanessa to balance the game.[9][10] Bao was added to reduce the average age of the Psycho Soldiers Team from 42 to 34.[11] The boss character, Krizalid, was designed "with a straight, stylish appearance and earnest strength"; however, the designer in charge mentioned he "overdid it". Due to the large number of unused graphics accumulated on the Neo Geo version, some of Krizalid's graphics were removed. With the release of the Dreamcast port, the staff could add Krizalid's graphics because of the console's capacity.[12]
Because previous regulars from The King of Fighters games were not playable, SNK took advantage of the striker system and give players the choice of using Goro Daimon among others as alternative assisting characters.[13] Both the debuting Lin and the unplayable Ron generated a major surprise to the SNK staff because their addition to the story was not overlooked.[14] Kula Diamond was created to give a major expansion to the NESTS cartel, while Zero was made to contrast with the NESTS agent Krizalid, the boss from The King of Fighters '99, who had a darker personality.[15][16]
SNK was disappointed with Zero's traits and created a new stronger Zero for The King of Fighters 2001.[17] Eolith took interest in developing The King of Fighters due to the franchise's popularity in Korea and wanted to please the fans of the series worldwide. While performing a popularity poll based on the characters, Eolith still aimed to make the least popular teams featured in the game. The high popularity of Kyo and Iori led to their immediate inclusion in the game.[18] In creating new characters, Eolith wanted an Athena Asamiya-like Korean fighter, leading to the creation of May Lee.[19] In preparing the boss characters, the real Zero, retconning the former boss as a clone. Glaugan was originally going to be used in the prequel but was instead used as an assist character. SNK faced struggles with making Zero, as they wanted to create a boss that surpassed Krizalid from The King of Fighters '99.[20] The final boss, Igniz, was conceptualized as a sexually appealing character in order to generate a contrast with other members of the cast. Nevertheless, the development team stated they felt Igniz fit well in the game.[21]
Returning characters
Returning characters include the Fatal Fury Team involving Terry Bogard, Andy Bogard, Joe Higashi, Mai Shiranui and Blue Mary. For the Art of Fighting Team, Ryo Sakazaki, Yuri Sakazaki, Robert Garcia and Takuma Sakazaki. Benimaru Nikaido and Shingo Yabuki are K' and Maxima's allies in KOF '99. The Women Fighters Team include King, Kasumi Todoh, and Li Xiangfei. Athena Asamiya, Sie Kensou, Chin Gentsai are part of the Psycho Soldiers Team and Ralf Jones, Clark Still, and Leona Heidern are playable as the Ikari alongside Whip. Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami are unlockable characters without teams. The Korea Team involving Kim, Chang and Choi are playable in the entire trilogy. Some would change into teams in following installments.
For The King of Fighters 2001 and 2002, Heidern makes his return to Ikari, Goro Daimon returns to the Esaka Team with Kyo and Benimaru. The King of Fighters 2002 also features the return of the New Faces Team involving Chris, Shermie and Yashiro in both their regular forms and Orochi forms, Vice and Mature for Iori Yagami's Team, Geese Howard and his undead form Nightmare Geese as ported character, the original 97 team composed of Ryuji Yamazaki, Blue Mary and Billy Kane and Orochi Iori.
Voiced by: Katsuyuki Konishi,[citation needed] Yui Shimodaya (New Maxima; KOFAS)(Japanese); Michael Jarmus (KOF: MI2, KOF: AD) (English)
Maxima (マキシマ, Makishima) debuts as a member of the Hero Team in The King of Fighters '99. He was added to the cast with the desire to add a "somber and reliable middle-aged character" to counteract the introduction of multiple teenage characters.[22] Both he and his former deceased partner Rocky are inspired by two characters of the same names from the 1991 SNK beat 'em up arcade game Robo Army.
Maxima was a Canadian soldier who led a normal life until he found out that his comrade-in-arms Rocky was killed in an incident involving NESTS.[23] To avenge Rocky's death, he abandons his ordinary life. In order to infiltrate the NESTS cartel without being recognized, Maxima was transformed into a cyborg, with his strength and reaction time increased to superhuman levels, built-in weapons, and the ability to conduct instant data analysis. He also has some degree of cyberpathy. He infiltrates NESTS and is assigned to be the partner of K′. They both defect from the cartel after K' encounters his clone, Krizalid, and grows sickened by the organization. Since then, he has become K's steadfast companion and he is often the one who enters both of them into the following tournaments.
Whip
Whip (ウィップ, Wippu) appears in The King of Fighters '99 as the new member to the Ikari Team. She is a clone of K′s sister[24] and once worked for NESTS as an assassin. She is eventually assigned to Heidern's mercenary unit for The King of Fighters tournament to investigate NESTS and the mysterious fighter known only as K'.[25] Once she realizes who K' is, she reveals their relation to him and joins him in his objective to destroy the NESTS cartel. After NESTS' downfall, she returns to her duties under Heidern's command. One of her moves depicts her shooting her opponents with a Desert Eagle-like handgun. The firearm is edited from the American release of the games in arcades, but is uncensored in the home release versions.[26]
Bao
A Chinese boy named Bao (包; ch: Bāo; ja: Pao) trains with the Psycho Soldier Team since King of Fighters '99.[27]
Jhun Hoon
Jhun Hoon (Korean: 전훈Jeon Hoon, Japanese: ジョン・フーンJon Fūn) is a childhood friend of Kim and rival, took noticed of Kim's rehabilitation project and after seeing the ethics and methods of training towards Chang and Choi, he decides that he would show Kim a more efficient way of management for the criminals and joins the team as the fourth member for the '99 and 2000 tournaments.[28]
Kyo 1 and Kyo 2
The two Kyo Kusanagi clones are taken from an army created by NESTS following multiple experiments with the kidnapped Kyo. They were given school uniform due to the original's iconic popularity as well as different fighting style with Kyo-1 acting like classic one from The King of Fighters '94 who relied on projectiles while Kyo-2 instead used mixed kenpo arts alongside his flame like the original did starting The King of Fighters 96 . Both of these characters return in The King of Fighters 2002: Unlimited Match.[6][8] Despite being able to create fire like Kyo, their bodies are unable to properly imitate Kyo's fighting style in The King of Fighters '99 due to their lack of training.[29]
Krizalid (クリザリッド, Kurizariddo) acts as the mid and final boss of The King of Fighters '99. He was designed to be a stylish and earnestly strong boss, though the supervising designer at the time admits, "I think I overdid it a little."[30]
He is made to be the ultimate Kyo clone, outfitted with a special suit to feed the data of fighters into his body during battle. He also happens to be a clone of K′. As a side effect, he gained some of K's memories and believed that Whip was his sister. He is ordered to activate the thousands of Kyo clones around the world so that they can attack in a simultaneous strike. After his defeat against K', his superior, Zero, neutralizes the Kyo clones and kills Krizalid by throwing a boulder to crush him. He is later revived by the original Zero and fights alongside him in the 2001 tournament.
Kula Diamond (クーラ・ダイアモンド, Kūra Daiamondo) is a teenage girl who was experimented on by NESTS in order to exterminate the cartel's traitor, K'. Despite the fact their subject was a mindless puppet with no sign of emotions, the NESTS cartel created an android called Candy Diamond to monitor Kula's behavior and to ensure that she would accomplish her missions. During KOF 2000, Kula can be fought as a mid-boss during her debut.[31] Shortly afterwards, Kula destroys the main Zero Cannon from its titular creator who is betraying NESTS. Candy shields Kula's descent from space by sacrificing her body in the process, as it is badly burned by Earth's atmosphere.[32] While recovering from the trauma of Candy's destruction, in the following game, The King of Fighters 2001, Kula enters into the fighting tournament with fellow NESTS' agents Foxy, K9999 and Ángel to capture K'.[33] During the story, Kula and Foxy are betrayed by K9999 and Ángel.[34] However, in K''s Team ending among others, she is seen as being safe and forms a friendship with her original target and allies.[35][36] In the story-less game, KOF 2002, Kula appears as member of a team with Ángel and K9999.[37]
In KOF 2003, she appears in the ending of the K' Team where the group go to recruit her following an apparent threat.[38] She participates in KOF XI and KOF XIII with K' and Maxima as her allies, having also joined forces with the Ikari Team. They are assigned to investigate a group known as "Those From the Past".[39][40] In KOF XIV, she once again participates in the tournament following the Ikari's orders to investigate NESTS' agents.[41] During these games, the K' Team becomes allied with the Ikari Team to help them on missions though they tend to avoid them.[42] Prior to The King of Fighters XV, Kula and K' end up having a falling out each other because he and Maxima are too busy over capturing remaining NESTS’ remnants instead of taking vacation for a while with her, causing her to join a team consisting former NESTS Agents, Angel and a mysterious agent who is in fact K9999's current identity, Krohnen McDougall, unbeknownst to Kula.[43][44]
Kula is also present in the spin-off games, Neowave which does not feature a story and KOF: Maximum Impact 2 where looks for a doctor to repair Maxima's cybernetic body.[45][46] She also appears in The King of Fighters '98: Unlimited Match Online and The King of Fighters Online.[47][48] She is also present KOF: Sky Stage, Neo Geo Heroes: Ultimate Shooting and SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy.[49][50][51] In SNK Heroines, the female fighters must fight their way home but are confronted by Kukri and defeat him before he can initiate his grand plan on the kidnapped female fighters. She also makes a cameo appearance alongside Maxima in the ending of K' from NeoGeo Battle Coliseum.[52] She is playable in the mobile phone game Kimi wa Hero (as an adult) and Brave Frontier,[53][54] while also making a cameo in the dating sim Days of Memories should the player interact with K'.[55] She has since made guest appearances in more games, including the role-playing game Valkyrie Connect.[56] She also appears as a downloadable character in Koei Tecmo's fighting game Dead or Alive 6.[57] In her story chapter, NiCO pulls her into the Dead or Alive dimension while experimenting with subspace portals. Kula and NiCO briefly spar, and NiCO later thanks her for providing "interesting data" while swearing her to secrecy.
The printed adaptations of The King of Fighters retell Kula's role in the NESTS' story arc where she constantly clashes with K', having a more antagonistic characterization until the events of 2001 and 2002.[58] She also appears in the CD dramas from KOF 2000, in which she attacks K' before the events of her the story. However, this ends when K' is knocked out by Maxima for fighting with his wounded arm and the fugitive escapes with the unconscious K' from Kula.[59] A cyborg named Rugal Bernstein kidnaps Kula during the 2002 storyline to absorb her powers. Using this, Rugal manages to defeat the fighters Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami, but in the end he is stopped by K' and Maxima who rescue their former enemy. In the comic of The King of Fighters XII, Kula engages the mysterious Magaki alongside K' and former NESTS' agent Nameless.[60]
SNK created Kula Diamond to bring more complexity to the NESTS' story arc in the series. Her character added another dimension to the villainous NESTS organization in the NESTS Chronicles. She was to add excitement to the story as an enemy and a foil of K'. Newly hired female staff designed her to depict a "14-year-old girl" with "appropriately girlish" gestures. The unnamed character designer was pleased with Kula's design saying: "Kula had an easy delivery. She didn't give me any pain."[61] Despite being K''s foil, Kula's was designed to closely resemble her rival as both fighters wear similar leather outfits with contrasting colors.[62] According to artist Hiroaki, Kula does not look like a 14-year-old girl in the illustrations.[63] Nevertheless, he claims he grew attached to drawing her alongside K'.[64]
Yumi Kakazu has voiced Kula in all of her appearances.[65] In KOF: Maximum Impact 2, Falcoon gave her a color palette that makes her look like fighter Ash Crimson as well as the robot Candy. Her alternative costume is that of a coquettish ice skater.[66] Falcoon also once envisioned an adult version of Kula for the game Kimi wa Hero.[67]
For The King of Fighters XIII, the staff decided to make Kula similar to her original incarnation in The King of Fighters 2000. The team had no problems in designing her gameplay and added taunts where the character becomes boring. Similar to K''s moves, the developers wanted Kula's trademarks, most notably her ice moves, to be appealing to see. A move that exemplifies this was the "Crow Bites". Kula's "Diamond Breath" move was recommended for new players, while the "Reispin" was designed to make the gameplay more complex and challenging as Kula becomes stronger when executing it. Kula's strongest technique in the game involves the appearance of Foxy and Diana who attack the enemy alongside her. This technique went through numerous trials before it was added to the game.[68]
When developing The King of Fighters XIV with the Unreal Engine, the original game had more realistic visuals but they clashed with character designs of Kula and Athena Asamiya. The designs looked like those in an anime series so the designers opted for the current look.[69] A programmer with the alias of "Ando" designed the blades on Kula's boots during special attacks. Kula was the first character in KOF XIV to be given this type of design, requiring multiple attempts to work with her 3D character model. Ando further believed Kula could wield other type of weapons based on the variety used by the cast but in the end felt using blades could prove to be more challenging.[70] An extra outfit for Kula was released for The King of Fighters XIV as downloadable content.[71]
In SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy, Kula appears wearing Ángel's skimpy clothing. Director Kaito Soranaka said during an interview that Kula was his favorite character in the game.[72] Ogura said that having Kula wear Ángel's outfit brought up the fact that Kula hates Ángel, so the game's villain, Kukri, gave her that appearance to humiliate her.[73]
Lin (Chinese:麟; Pinyin: Lín; Japanese: 麟 Rin) is one of the new characters introduced in The King of Fighters 2000 as a member of the Benimaru Team. He, along with the Flying Brigands subplot, was created without the entire staff's knowledge, leading to some developers being surprised by his team's ending.[74]
Though he is no longer an active member in King of Fighters, his story and character have not been abandoned.[75] He is a member of the assassination group, The Flying Brigands—or Hizoku (飛賊, Hizoku) Clan in Japanese—which is apparently on the brink of ruin. The agent Seth entices him to enter the King of Fighters tournament in order to find their clan's missing leader, Ron.[76] After learning that Ron had defected to NESTS for his personal greed, Lin tracks the activities of NESTS' renegades, K′ and his teammates, in hopes of finding his traitorous leader. He joins up with K', Maxima, and Whip in the 2001 tournament. He continues to search for Ron even after NESTS' destruction.[77] For an unexplained reason, he appears next to Ron in the Psycho Soldier Team's ending in The King of Fighters XI.[citation needed] He is a master of the Poison Hand technique, which enables the user to turn their own blood into venom.
Ron
Ron (Chinese: 龍; Pinyin: Lóng; Japanese: 龍(ロン) Ron) is first introduced as a sub-plot character in The King of Fighters 2000. He later appears as a Striker for Zero in The King of Fighters 2001. Though he is not playable in the series, he serves as an important side-story character. According to his official profile, his main objective is to gain the ability to manipulate the dead. He is the former leader to an elite assassination group known as the Flying Brigands—Hizoku (飛賊, Hizoku) Clan in Japanese—and the father to a number of their members, including Duo Lon and Xiao Lon. He betrayed the Flying Brigands by joining NESTS for personal gain, labeling himself as a traitor by many of the group's members, including Lin, his former pupil. After NESTS' destruction, he reveals his great interest in a mysterious power shared by Sie Kensou and Bao known as the Dragon Spirit.
Ramón (ラモン) makes his first appearance in The King of Fighters 2000 as a member of the game's Hero Team. Ramón is the only character to speak Spanish in the game, and was created to appeal to the Latin American fanbase. He has a fighting style primarily based on lucha libre.[78]
Ramón is a famous luchador known as "El Diablo Amarillo" (The Yellow Devil), who is loved by his fans in the wrestling circle. He is approached by an agent named Vanessa, who requests in his cooperation in forming a team for The King of Fighters 2000 tournament. Since then, he has had a one-sided infatuation with Vanessa.[79] After King of Fighters 2000, he continues to team with Vanessa at her request, often along with Seth.
Ramón later becomes the leader of Team Mexico/Mexican Wrestler, the first Team Wrestler, consisting of himself, the former NESTS agent Ángel, and Tizoc (from Garou: Mark of the Wolves). He forms the team during a vacation, where he helps Ángel out in reforming her life and also helps Tizoc out in convincing and disguising him as a heel wrestler known as "King of Dinosaurs" due to Tizoc's humiliating loss at the hands of the Argentine boxer Nelson. In KOF XV, Antonov replaces Ángel in joining up with both Ramón and King of Dinosaurs, with Antonov himself leading a second wrestler team known as Team G.A.W. (Galaxy Anton Wrestling).
Seth (セス, Sesu) makes his first appearance in the series as a "Striker" in The King of Fighters '99 Evolution. He debuts as a playable character in The King of Fighters 2000 as a member of the Benimaru Team. He was created along with Vanessa, though Seth became the visual model for her. Developers wished to have a character with "the powerful image of a big, dark, middle-aged man with a Mohawk haircut".[80]
Seth was ordered by his superior Ling to enter the King of Fighters tournament in order to capture the Flying Brigands leader, Ron. To do this, he arranges to work with the Benimaru Team.[76] During the tournament, he learns that Ling is really Zero in disguise, and that Ron had joined with NESTS. He continues to investigate Ron's activities as the series progresses.[81]
Vanessa
Voiced by: Kaori Minami (KOF 2000–KOF XI), Mayumi Hata (KOF XIV onwards)
Vanessa (ヴァネッサ, Vanessa) first debuts as a Striker in The King of Fighters '99 Evolution, and becomes playable in The King of Fighters 2000. Like Maxima, she was created as a middle-aged female to contrast the multiple teenage characters in the roster.[10] Vanessa is a normal housewife who discreetly serves as a mercenary agent. Working under the orders of Commander Ling, Vanessa and fellow agent Seth are commissioned with the job of joining Ling's King of Fighters tournament to follow the footsteps of the NESTS cartel. The two agents part from one another, with Vanessa recruiting prime suspects K′, Maxima, and Ramón to complete their team. Her objective from then on is to observe the activities of the NESTS defectors, based on Ling's orders.[82] In The King of Fighters XI, Vanessa enters the tournament together with Blue Mary and Ramón under orders to receive information concerning the broken Orochi seal and the mysterious members of Those From the Past.[83]
Zero (ゼロ) is one of the higher-ranked agents of NESTS. The designer, C.A.C. Yamasaki, admits basing Zero off a certain character from the manga Fist of the North Star.[84] Zero begins to secretly build his own weapon from NESTS' technology called the "Zero Cannon". He sets his plans into motion in The King of Fighters 2000. There, he impersonates a military commander named Ling and uses his persona as a decoy to stop the military resistance against him. Depending on whether or not the player defeats Kula, his plans are foiled by either Heidern or Kula, who is sent to execute him for his treacherous acts. While dying, he tells Whip of who she really was, angering her to shoot him dead.
Introduced in The King of Fighters 2001
May Lee
In The King of Fighters 2001, the young May Lee joins the Korea Team replacing Jhun who broke his right arm while chasing an image of Athena Asamiya, of whom he is a fan of. May Lee is a perky teenager and a student of Kim who have always admired the team.[85]
K9999 (pronounced K Four-Nine), the 9999th clone of Kyo Kusanagi-based entirely on Tetsuo Shima from Akira, being able to transform his arm into a long deformed flesh tentacle much like Tetsuo's own. Due to copyright issues, for The King of Fighters 2002: Unlimited Match remake, he was replaced with a similar character. The character is called "Nameless", a clone from both Kyo and K' (whose hair, reflecting this, is half brown like that of Kyo, and half white like that of K') who uses two types of flames to fight, while equipped with an Anti-K glove to keep his flame power in check, created from the DNA of his deceased lover who looks like Kula, Isolde.[86] K9999 would later be re-introduced in KOF XV as Krohnen McDougall (クローネン・マクドガル, Kurōnen Makudogaru).
Foxy (フォクシー, Fokushī), an expert fencer who works alongside Kula's second guardian and another expert fencer named Diana; Ángel, a ditzy yet deadly Mexican female fighter; and K9999 (pronounced K Four-Nine), the 9999th clone of Kyo Kusanagi-based entirely on Tetsuo Shima from Akira, being able to transform his arm into a long deformed flesh tentacle much like Tetsuo's own. Due to copyright issues, for The King of Fighters 2002: Unlimited Match remake, he was replaced with a similar character. The character is called "Nameless", a clone from both Kyo and K' (whose hair, reflecting this, is half brown like that of Kyo, and half white like that of K') who uses two types of flames to fight, while equipped with an Anti-K glove to keep his flame power in check, created from the DNA of his deceased lover who looks like Kula, Isolde.[86] K9999 would later be re-introduced in KOF XV as Krohnen McDougall (クローネン・マクドガル, Kurōnen Makudogaru).
The Zero in The King of Fighters 2000 is revealed to be a clone from the Original Zero (ゼロ(オリジナル), Zero (Orijinaru)), who appears as a sub-boss in The King of Fighters 2001. He was created because the supervising designer of his character claimed to be dissatisfied with Zero's design in 2000.[87] Unlike his clone, Zero is extremely loyal to the NESTS syndicate, and was disgusted to learn of his clone's attempted coup d'état. Willing to clear the reputation of his clone's actions, Zero is commanded to destroy the winners of The King of Fighters tournament. He traps the winning team in a space ship that was disguised as a blimp. When he is defeated, he urges the team to escape the collapsing ship and dies honorably on board the vessel. His true loyalty is toward Igniz's father, Nests, with Zero himself not knowing of Igniz's later betrayal towards his own father.
Igniz (イグニス, Igunisu) is the final boss in The King of Fighters 2001. His handsome and youthful appearance was specifically created at the sponsors' request.[88] Although Igniz had served his father, the previous leader of NESTS also named Nests with utmost loyalty, he had secretly sought to overthrow him and become the new leader of NESTS, seizing the opportunity to do so near the end of the 2001 tournament, to which NESTS was hosting. Upon succeeding in murdering his own father and becoming the new leader of NESTS, Igniz decides to test his newly acquired power against the finalists in the hopes of crushing them and becoming a new god. His ambition is short-lived, however, as he is defeated by the K' Team. Cursing his failure and declaring himself a demon instead, Igniz attempts to destroy the planet by plummeting NESTS' main headquarters out of orbit; his attempt fails, and Igniz dies in the process.
Kusanagi is a clone of Kyo Kusanagi. The series' protagonist Kyo Kusanagi remained popular within fans after the NESTS arc which resulted in the team's decision to create a clone of him, Kusanagi, wearing his highschool uniform which the original Kyo dropped in The King of Fighters '99. While the game gives Kusanagi no narrative like the other characters, Kusanagi would be given a backstory in The King of Fighters 2003, where he is revealed to be a creation of Chizuru Kagura meant to test participants from the new tournament.[89]
Retronaut claimed that Kyo and Iori being removed from The King of Fighters '99 was shocking upon release saying it would be the same as if the iconic Ryu and Ken Masters were removed from Street Fighter which led to their eventual return as hidden due to negative feedback. K' and Maxima came across as suitable newcomers even if K' was too similar to Kyo and had a confusing narrative about cloning.[90] Kyo being replaced by other new protagonists was found to be coherent according to Kotaku and Polygon, as noted by how future story arcs tend to use other leads in the games' covers.[91]Excite said that while Kyo stopped being the series' protagonist after the Orochi arc, he remains as a strong figure within the narrative, earning him the title of "honorary protagonist of the KOF series for life!"[92]Uvejuegos praised Kyo Kusanagi's redesign as well as K' and Krizalid.[93] In retrospect, 1UP.com said that while players were bothered by Kyo and Iori's exclusion from teams, and by the Striker system, K's inclusion was one of SNK's best decisions due to his fighting style.[94]
IGN stated that KOF 2000 offered many good new characters, particularly Lin.[95]MeriStation enjoyed the game's story as it builds up on The King of Fighters '99's story by exploring more the NESTS cartel as well as the experiments they created by using the Kyo Kusanagi's DNA, resulting into a notable cast with similar special moves including the Strikers.[96] K9999 became absent in later installment apparent copyright violation as most of his design, power and voice actors are borrowed from the character Tetsuo from the 1988 film Akira.[97]Atomix also felt the artwork was worse than previous installments as a result of longtime artist Shinkiro leaving SNK and being replaced with Nona and Styleos.[98] Despite criticizing the gameplay features of The King of Fighters 2001 as a result of SNK's bankruptcy, Destructoid praised the new cast, such as May Lee and Foxy, and panned the storyline of the NESTS arc for bringing several clone characters into the story.[99]
Gaming Age felt the graphic update was more noticeable than the Uvejuegos did but was critical of Krizalid as a result of how difficult he is to beat when compared to the famous previous Rugal Bernstein and Orochi.[100]MeriStation enjoyed the variety of the cast for bringing back classic characters like Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami, among other Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting guests, while praising the final boss, Igniz, for being nearly as difficult to defeat as Goenitz from The King of Fighters '96.[101]GameSpot criticized the high difficulty of the boss Igniz.[102] When it came to ranking KOF bosses, GameRant listed Krizalid and Igniz as the hardest enemies in the entire franchise Rugal's portrayal in The King of Fighters 2002 still being challlenging.[103]
↑ SNK Playmore. "Interview with Eiji". King of Fighters 10th Anniversary Official Website. Archived from the original on October 17, 2007. Retrieved November 12, 2010.
↑ "K'". KOF Anniversary. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
↑ "夕陽と月". SNK Playmore (in Japanese). Archived from the original on June 4, 2011. Retrieved September 9, 2024.
1 2 "95 Kyo Official Profile". King of Fighters 10th Anniversary Official Website. Archived from the original on April 10, 2008. Retrieved August 14, 2009.
↑ BrezzaSoft (2001-11-15). The King of Fighters 2001 (Neo Geo). Eolith & Sun Amusement. Scene: Hero Team ending. Maxima: I must go to report to a friend that I have taken revenge. /K': A visit to the grave, eh? I guess you can't turn back time.
↑ BrezzaSoft (2001-11-15). The King of Fighters 2001 (Neo Geo). Eolith & Sun Amusement. Scene: Hero Team ending. Whip: An innocent from a petrie dish, ignorant of existence's joys.
↑ Studio BentStuff, ed. (2000). A.A. Game History Series Vol. 2 All About SNK Head-To-Head Fighting Game 1991-2000 (in Japanese). Studio BentStuff. p.288. ISBN4-88554-677-X.
↑ "Krizalid Official Profile". King of Fighters 10th Anniversary Official Website. Archived from the original on June 18, 2009. Retrieved May 16, 2008.
↑ SNK. The King of Fighters 2000. SNK. Zero: So that's the anti-K'?
↑ SNK. The King of Fighters 2000. SNK. Level/area: Kula Diamond's ending.
↑ BrezzaSoft (2001-11-15). The King of Fighters 2001 (Neo Geo). Eolith & Sun Amusement. Scene: Hero Team ending. Lin: I can't believe he's dead. It's not over yet, Ron.
↑ SNK (2000-04-26). The King of Fighters 2000 (Neo Geo). SNK. Scene: Hero Team ending. Vanessa: The Zero Cannon's falling. How're you? Are you hurt?/Ramon: It's like I'm in heaven! I'm hot! I'm loose!/Vanessa: ...Give me a break.
↑ SNK (2000-04-26). The King of Fighters 2000 (Neo Geo). SNK. Scene: Benimaru Team ending. Shingo: ...Hey, what's wrong? You don't look so hot. Are you hurt?.../Seth: S...So quick! Developing faster than we planned...!!! If we don't hurry, we're all done for.
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