The King of Fighters (series)

*For the tournament, check The King of Fighters (tournament).*

**The King of Fighters**, officially abbreviated ***KOF***, is the most prominent series of fighting games by SNK. Its claim to fame is the large cast of characters and the innovative "team" system, with both original designs and characters from other SNK games.

The series was originally developed for SNK's Neo Geo video game systems, which would continue until SNK retired the Neo Geo completely in 2004. For the next few games, the Atomiswave would be used, and later the Taito Type X2. Aside from this, ports of the arcade games and original *The King of Fighters* games have been released for the various consoles of then and now, such as SNK's own Neo Geo Pocket, the Game Boy and Game Boy Advance, the Sega Saturn and the Dreamcast, the PlayStation and Xbox series of consoles, and even the N-Gage, among others.

The latest main game in the series, *The King of Fighters XIV*, was released on August 23, 2016 for PlayStation 4, and on June 15, 2017 for Steam. The next main game in the series, *The King of Fighters XV*, was announced in EVO 2019.

## Overview

The first game in the series, *The King of Fighters '94*, was released by SNK in 1994. The game was 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 success of the game lead to SNK to release yearly installments of the series and numbered the games for the year they were released. With yearly sports games, each new version is meant to be an "update"; SNK did differently, making each year unique with new rules and a constantly changing character rosters even to this day. By 2004, SNK abandoned yearly releases of the series and usually numbered future games in a more traditional manner: the first main series game released as such was *The King of Fighters XI*.

In 2004, SNK produced the first 3D installment of the series, *KOF: Maximum Impact*. The game and its two sequels use an alternate story for characters and settings from previous game of the series, leaning more towards the South Town-based series like *FF* and *AOF*. 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.

The King of Fighters tournament, the namesake of this series, actually originated in *Fatal Fury*, a classic SNK fighting game that predated the *KOF* series. The later *Art of Fighting* was centered around an earlier iteration, featuring typical sponsor Geese Howard in a younger self.

*The King of Fighters* games have had a number of villains as their individual end bosses. The first of these was Rugal Bernstein in '*94* who had a tendency to submerge his defeated foes in liquid metal, turning them into grisly trophies commemorating his victories. During the Orochi saga, Orochi is introduced as an ominous force from ancient times bent on revenge on those who imprisoned it and was aided by his four heralds. In later games, a mysterious organization called NESTS attempts to kidnap and succeeds in cloning Kyo Kusanagi in hopes of using his power to take over the world. The leader of NESTS, who called himself Igniz, hoped to amass enough power to become a god. Other villains in later games include Mukai and "Those from the Past" that he affiliates himself with, including Magaki, as well as the Mephistopheles group (*Maximum Impact* series).

   In order to preserve their characters' images, SNK ceased to age their characters since *The King of Fighters '95* and they have remained the same ages since then. This means that characters introduced in *The King of Fighters '94* have only aged one year in the series. To stay true to this theme, newer characters following this year also keep the same age they have when introduced. Some concessions to age and the passing of time exist, though, such as Terry's switch to his *Garou* outfit, or Kyo no longer being in high school since 1998. Ages have stopped being officially listed since *KOF XI*, likely to avoid confusion amongst fans.

## Games

* Main titles
* Remakes & Dream Matches
* Others
* Mobile
* Cancelled
* Pachinko

* The King of Fighters '94
* The King of Fighters '95
* The King of Fighters '96
* The King of Fighters '97
* The King of Fighters '98: Dream Match Never Ends
* The King of Fighters '99
* The King of Fighters 2000
* The King of Fighters 2001
* The King of Fighters 2002: Challenge to Ultimate Battle
* The King of Fighters 2003
* The King of Fighters XI
* The King of Fighters XII
* The King of Fighters XIII
* The King of Fighters XIV
* The King of Fighters XV

- The King of Fighters '95 (Game Boy)

- The King of Fighters '96 (Game Boy)

- The King of Fighters R-1: Pocket Fighting Series

- The King of Fighters R-2: Pocket Fighting Series

- The King of Fighters EX: Neo Blood

- The King of Fighters EX2: Howling Blood

- The King of Fighters: Dream Match 1999

- The King of Fighters '99: Evolution

- The King of Fighters '94 Rebout

- The King of Fighters Neowave

- KOF: Maximum Impact Maniax

- KOF: Maximum Impact Regulation "A"

- The King of Fighters '98: Ultimate Match

- The King of Fighters 2002: Unlimited Match

- The King of Fighters XIII: CLIMAX

- The King of Fighters '98: Ultimate Match Final Edition

- The King of Fighters '97: Global Match

- Quiz King of Fighters

- The King of Fighters '96: NEO-GEO Collection

- The King of Fighters: Kyo

- KOF: Maximum Impact

- KOF: Maximum Impact 2

- The King of Fighters: Battle de Paradise

- KOF: Sky Stage

- The King of Fighters Online (DragonFly)

- The King of Fighters '98: Ultimate Match Web

- SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy - It's a canonical tie-in sequel to The King of Fighters XIV

- The King of Fighters: Extreme

- The King of Fighters Mobile

- The King of Fighters: Volleyball

- KOF: Gals Mahjong

- The King of Millionare

- The King of Reversi

- The King of Fighters Mobile R-2

- The King of Fighters: Mahjong

- KOF: Kentei ~Mezase Cult Quiz Ou!~

- Moeyo! KOF: Daiundokai

- The King of Fighters: Chapter of NESTS ~SNK Slot Panic~

- KOF x Garou Densetsu

- The King of Fighters: Battle Festa

- The King of Fighters-i

- The King of Fighters Android

- The King of Fighters: Encounter

- The King of Fighters-i 2012

- The King of Fighters-A 2012

- The Rhythm of Fighters: SNK Original Sound Collection

- The King of Fighters M for Kakao

- BEAST BUSTERS featuring KOF

- The King of Fighters '98: Ultimate Match Online

- BEAST BUSTERS featuring KOF: DELUXE

- The King of Fighters '97 OL

- The King of Fighters '97: HD ver.

- The King of Fighters D ~DyDo Smile STAND~

- The King of Fighters: World

- The King of Fighters: Destiny (Game)

- The King of Fighters: All Star

- The King of Fighters: Orochi Go

- The King of Fighters M: Fighting Star Assembly

- KOF: Chronicle

- The King of Fighters for Girls

- The King of Fighters Online (UnoTechnology)

- The King of Fighters Online

- KOF: Maximum Impact 3

- KOF: Maximum Impact 360

- KOF: Maximum Impact Regulation "A"2

- The King of Fighters' World

- The King of Fighters (Pachinko) - It follows the Orochi Saga

- The King of Fighters: Chapter of NESTS - It follows the NESTS Saga

- The King of Fighters: Maximum Impact (Pachinko) - It follows the Maximum Impact Saga

- The King of Fighters III - It follows the Ash Saga

- CR The King of Fighters