After weeks of football and shmup action, Hamster is set to go back to Neo Geo's most familiar genre next week, with The King of Fighters 2000 arriving on the Switch eShop on 10th August. Following up the previous game the Striker system makes a return, now featuring alternate Striker-only characters from several SNK franchises such as Metal Slug, The Last Blade and even Burning Fight, adding chaotic variety to keep your opponent guessing.
The team's rosters have been updated with some interesting choices. Blue Mary replaces Mai Shiraniu in the Fatal Fury Team (don't worry, Mai is still present), while K' and Maxima split up their team leaving Benimaru and Shingo to make their own four man band of brawlers. Franchise poster boys Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami also show up as lonesome warriors with no team, joined by mysterious newcomer Kula Diamond. We have a bit of a soft spot for newcomer Vanessa, a much prettier and hard hitting female version of Balrog, if you will.
This seventh entry of the King of Fighters series brings us some bittersweet memories, since it was soon after its release that SNK filed for bankruptcy, making fans fear that as advertised this truly was "The last battle of the century". Fortunately, and despite the bumps along the road, we are happy that the fate of SNK's games eventually turned 180º so we can still enjoy them on Nintendo's latest hardware.
Will you be giving your Joy-Cons a workout for The King of Fighters 2000, or are you already waiting in line to grab yourself one of those brand new arcade sticks heading to the Switch? Tell us in the comments who you think is the true King of Fighters.
PS: Before any NL readers point it out, yes we are well aware the latest millennium officially began on January 1st, 2001. But that title pun was too sweet to ruin.
Comments 41
Probably one of the fighters I've wanted to get into the most but never had the time.
YEEEEEEES! Could really use that HRAP right about now...
I got either 93 or 94, whichever came out on switch first.
Is this a lot more of an upgrade?
Geez, the Neo Geo really was glutted with fighting games, wasn't it?
@Ralizah That's a good thing ^^
@Roam85 I consider this one superior to KOF '99 but nothing ever truly beats KOF '98 roster.
@Roam85 There's no such game as KOF 93. The series started with KOF 94.
@Ralizah Fighting games dominated the arcade scene from the mid-90's to early 00's. That's where the money was.
Think of it like how everything feels like it has to be an open-world game, FPS, or GTA nowadays.
Oh, I can finally try out Sumo-crazy Hinako.
@Ralizah And that is why it was such a glorious system. Arcade bliss. The dreamcast and NAOMI board carried on the torch.
I know these games are old. Is there any particular reason why the graphics aren't sharp like, say, the retro visuals of Ultra Street Fighter II? Every Neo Geo game I have on Switch is a little blurry.
@Roam85 KoF 94 is the game at its most basic. The graphics stay fairly similar though the animation does improve over time. 95 and later let you build your own team unlike 94. If you're new to the series, 98 is the best starting point. 2000 is one of the few titles in the series with strikers - characters you can call in to help extend combos or disrupt your opponent's character. I do find 99 and 2000 a lot of fun but not really indicative of the series.
@audiobrainiac Try adding scanlines in the settings. Even the most subtle scanlines improve the visual quality exponentially. I think the blurriness comes from the system filling in the blank spaces left by the scanlines. I'm not sure what Capcom did to clean up the retro USFII graphics.
To answer the question in the article, I plan to use my HRAP 4 with a Brooks adapter (PS3/4 > Switch).
@nilcam I'll try that. Thanks.
Looks pretty cool. Some great sprite work, as per usual on Neo Geo.
@audiobrainiac I have a lot of Neo Geo games and I always add scanlines upon the initial start up. I prefer the 2nd lightest scanline option. It reminds me of the arcade days.
Those Millennials with their selfies and their avocado toast and their FaceBox and their Neo Geo fighting games and Neo Geo fighting games and their Neo Geo fighting games and their... grumbles away incoherently into the horizon
@Maxz How old are you? I always figured you were an older millennial (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennials)...
@Ryu_Niiyama I admit it, I am a millennial - you've caught me red handed. I've just seen so many articles having a grump about all the things Millenials have killed/ruined/destroyed that the genre has started to rub off on me.
And it's fun to blame things on avocado toast.
Ah, KOF 2000. The game where "Shinkiro Face" truly came into form.
Seriously. Look at all the faces in the image above. They're all eerily the same, no?
Is there any kind of story mode at all in this one?
@Mando44646
It continues the NEST saga from KOF'99, which concludes in KOF2001.
But said story is rather poorly translated as most SNK games are. :/
People like to knock Street Fighter for having a ton of different versions of the same game... Yet King of Fighters gets a pass.
@Biff_ARMStrong you couldnt be any more wrong, each annual iteration of KOF is it's own game with different mechanics, story, roster, etc.
I've been wanting to try KOF ever since i saw it being played at EVO. I just need to figure out which one to try first.
@AJ_Lethal I've played them, they add one new feature and pointless story and a new cheap boss at the end. No different then what a revised version of Street Fighter. If Street Fighter put what year each version was made you'd never know the difference
@audiobrainiac The ACA NEOGEO games start with a blur filter by default. In the filter settings, you can try none, which should equal USFII's retro settings. Like @nilcam I also prefer some scanlines. However, the picture will be blur + scanlines, which is great for smaller 'arcade sized' screens from 19"-27" and handheld mode, IMO. Anything bigger, especially if you're sitting at a distance from the TV, I'd say no filter looks better.
The first king of fighters games I played. It was back on PS2. I'll probably get this.
@Fooligan I'd say start with either '98 or '97. Maybe even 2002. Those are considered some of the hallmarks of the series.
Does anyone find it odd that so many ACA titles are released out of order? Metal Slug 3, Aerofighters 2, KoF insert year?
@Biff_ARMStrong please tell me how '96 is just "one more feature" compared to '95 or how '99 is the same game as '97/'98 in the same way SSF2 is to SF2.
Heck, your argument would fall flat even with Capcom's SF Alpha and SF3 series.
@SmaMan Thanks! It looks like '98 is the only one on the Switch between those three and from what I saw it is critically well received. I'll go with '98.
@AJ_Lethal I'm not defending Street Fighter. I'm just saying both series are guilty of the same thing. Nobody needs a KOF game every year. Adding a new special meter and a couple uninteresting characters isn't a different game
More kof the better
Love the snk games
@Biff_ARMStrong It's not wise to speak for everybody, especially when you lack the enthusiasm of someone who actually does enjoy yearly KoF games. So many franchises have yearly / biyearly iterations. If they make money and keep fans happy, then why moan?
This whole trailer and they did not pick the only one that matters...(if you know what I'm talking about wink wink)
@N8tiveT3ch Sorry, the ladies were never my mains at this.
Dang millineals again!!!
@nilcam turned off the screen filter completely and that did it. Makes it look really crisp. Thanks again.
That title/tagline. Just kill me. Please.
@Ryu_Niiyama Out of curiosity, what brought you to that (ultimately accurate) conclusion? I'm curious to know what my millennialistic features are...
by the title, i thought whitehead turned them all hipster or something.
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