A return to greatness, as Eolith takes SNK’s flagship franchise to new heights and delivers a knockout!

The King of Fighters 2002 was released on December 18th of that same year, to much expectation and hype. If you are familiar with the series at all, then you know that 2002 is only the second “Dream Match”, a greatest hits if you will, in the franchise’s history. While the other KOFs, 94-97, 99-2001, and 2003 actually involve strong storylines that the franchise is known for, 2002 (as well as KOF ’98) do not.

Any storylines that are running in the franchise are completely disregarded for these “Dream Match” releases, and all characters in the SNK universe are fair game for inclusion. This is one of the things that makes this release so special in my opinion. Characters such as the Orochi New Faces Team (Yashiro, Chris, Shermie) have returned to the series here, even though they are dead in the actual storyline of the KOF series. While there are no new characters added for ’02, many fan favourites return, and the roster is a hefty 44 characters.

This year the rosters for each team represented in the King of Fighters tournament have changed a bit; with the absence of some old characters such as Shingo, Xiang-Fei, King, and others, and the changing of the format from 4-on-4 battles back to the classic 3-on-3 style that the series is famous for. With the change back to 3-on-3 battles, the striker system was also dropped from KOF. The striker system allowed characters on your team that were not in the match to jump in and “assist” your fighters.

Here is a quick rundown of the teams for KOF 2002 so you can see if your favourites made the cut.

Japan Team ~ Kyo Kusanagi, Benimaru Nikaido, Goro Daimon

Fatal Fury Team ~ Terry Bogard, Andy Bogard, Joe Higashi

Art of Fighting Team ~ Ryo Sakazaki, Robert Garcia, Takuma Sakazaki

Ikari Team ~ Leona Heidern, Ralph Jones, Clarke Steele

Psycho Soldier Team ~ Athena Asamiya, Sie Kensou, Chin Gentsai

Ladies Team ~ Yuri Sakazaki, Mai Shiranui, May Lee

Korea Team ~ Kim Kaphwan, Choi Bounge, Chang Koehan

KOF ’96 Team ~ Iori Yagami, Mature, Vice

KOF ’97 Team ~ Ryuji Yamazaki, Blue Mary Ryan, Billy Kane

Orochi Team ~ Yashiro Nanakase, Shermie, Chris

KOF ’99 Team ~ K’, Maxima, Whip

KOF 2000 Team ~ Vanessa, Seth, Ramon

NESTS Team ~ Kula Diamond, K9999, Angel

Secret KOF ’98 (Orochi) Team ~ Orochi Yashiro Nanakase, Orochi Shermie, Orochi Chris

Secret Characters ~ Kusanagi (Clone Kyo) and Omega Rugal (Rugal Bernstein)

Now that you know who is available in this years KOF, lets talk about the game!

Graphics: 8.0

Considering that the Neo Geo was 13 years old at the time of KOF 2002s release, the graphics are pretty good. The backgrounds are particularly well done, in typical KOF fashion. The series gained recognition originally in part for the detailed and changing backgrounds in the games, and ’02 is no different. After Korean developer Eolith took over the series with KOF 2001, there was much backlash as to the lackluster and boring backgrounds in that particular year’s KOF. Well, apparently Eolith was paying attention to fan-feedback and remedied the previous year’s problem by returning the series’ backgrounds to their previous glory. 02’s backgrounds are very well detailed, and most of them change from day to night and/or have moving scenery such as partitions that open to reveal more detailed backgrounds than the first stage originally gave players. A rather unique aspect

of 02’s backgrounds are the inclusion of a very large amount of cameo appearances from characters that have previously appeared in the KOF series or in other SNK games. At any given time you might get that nostalgic feeling that you have seen that guy or girl standing in the background before, and you would be right. Eiji Kisaragi (Art of Fighting), Geese Howard (Fatal Fury), Li Xiang-Fei (Real Bout Fatal Fury 2), and Tizoc (Garou: Mark of the Wolves) are just a few of the characters that you will see watching the fights from the background.

The character sprites in the KOF series have gone through very little change from year to year, and this would probably be my only complaint graphically. Some of the newer characters look amazing, such as Angel, Kula, and K9999, but the characters that have been around in the series since the beginning are showing some signs of age. Terry Bogard, for example, has been in the series since KOF ’94, and it shows. While characters such as Athena Asamiya and Kyo Kusanagi have received new outfits, the characters that have not have obviously not been redrawn from year to year. This somewhat affects the overall look of the game, as seeing K9999 facing off against Sie Kensou just doesn’t look right, at least from a consistency standpoint.

The meters and lifebars have been redone for KOF ’02, as well as new DM/SDM/HSDM flashes instituted into the game. These look great and really help ’02 feel more recent than the hardware it was designed for. Eolith continues to prove that the Neo has so much to offer gamers, even in the 21st Century.

Sound: 7.5

If the King of Fighters series is known for one thing above all, I would have to say that it is it’s music. While other fighting games of the time were rehashing uninspired, boring video game music, SNK was pushing it’s systems limits with amazing tunes that have become known and respected throughout the fighting game community. Songs such as Esaka (Kyo’s music) and Dust Man (Mr. Big’s theme) have helped to make KOF soundtracks almost as sought after as the games themselves.
Unfortunately 2002 doesn’t bring anything too special to the table here. The music is suitable, and decent enough, but it doesn’t have that wow-factor that some of the previous years have had. With the exception of KOF 2001 and KOF ’97, I would say that ’02 has the worst music in the franchise. While there are some cool renditions of past songs that have been remade for the game, the new material is nothing impressive, and sometimes verges on irritating with a tinny, hollow sounding nature to them. KOF just isn’t the appropriate series for hard-rock sounding guitar riffs, as they don’t mesh with the feel and history of the games. Although the music isn’t tops in the series, it is still much better than you will find in most fighting games.

The sound effects and voices however are excellent in this year’s KOF. The activation sounds for moves, the hits being delivered, the flames and electricity, the ambient sounds in the background, and the character voices all deliver the feeling of being there. Voices in the past that were really quite annoying have been re-recorded (Athena ’98), and there are great intro and outro sequences revolving around character specific relations where the speech really adds true depth to the

games feel. A side note that some of you might find interesting is that the character of K9999 is modeled after Tetsuo Shima from the Katsuhiro Otomo film “Akira”. Not only does he look like a dead ringer for Tetsuo, but his moves mimic the onscreen character’s as well, and his voice in KOF ‘01/’02 is done by the actual seiyuu (voice actor), Nozomu Sasaki, who did Tetsuo’s voice in the film! May Lee’s voice is done by another famous seiyuu, Mina Tominaga, of Patlabor fame.

So while the music in KOF ’02 is not the best of the series, the voice acting and sound effects really do pick up some of the slack, making it an overall presentable package from an aural standpoint.

Roster: 9.0

I would give this a 10, but there is always going to be characters that you miss in any fighting game franchise from year to year. The roster in ’02 is surprisingly similar to the other “Dream Match” game in the series, KOF ’98. The omission of some of my personal favourite characters such as Shingo, Kasumi, Xiang-Fei, and others leaves me wishing for more at times, but I realize that there is only room for so many in the game. Thankfully some of the newer characters without many KOF appearances such as Angel (personal fav) and Ramon made the cut though; also, some old favourites received nice costume changes or new move sets, such as Athena Asamiya and Takuma Sakazaki. Personally I wish that Eolith had used some of the memory space to omit Kusanagi (who is really just Kyo from ‘94/’95), and Rugal (who we have seen plenty of previously), to give us two characters that we haven’t seen in years…say…Eiji Kisaragi and Geese Howard, or others that haven’t had many KOF appearances. Maybe some original characters or other characters from the extensive SNK universe such as Duck King or Elta (the main character from Magician Lord).

Overall though the roster has more than enough characters that every player should be able to find someone that they enjoy using.

Game play: 10.0

A very emphatic 10.0 too! As far as playability and enjoyment go, this game is tops. The game is not only friendly to beginners, but deep enough for veterans of the series that there are years worth of enjoyment stored in this tiny (well, huge) cart.

The system uses a hybrid of old styles in the series and a bit of new changes as well. Characters can use features present in previous games; such as running, back dashing, small jumping (or hopping), guard crushing, counter rolling, counter attacking, CD attacking, taunting, move canceling, utilizing DMs/SDMs; as well as newly implemented changes such as HSDMs and the awesome BC canceling!

While the old abilities are probably familiar to you if you are taking the time to read this review, the newer ones may not be. Here’s a brief explanation of what they are and how they work.

In the KOF series “supers” are known as desperation moves and super desperation moves, DMs and SDMs. They are stocked in a bar at the lower corner of the screen, and can be used to punish your opponent. In KOF ’02 you can stock up to 3 DMs at once with your first character, and up to 5 with your final character. If you activate one of your stocks you go into a mode where you can utilize SDMs,

assuming you have meter for it of course, and unleash an even more powerful attack. While this is similar to how it has been in KOF for the last few years, you used to only be able to use SDMs when you had a full gauge and were in the last 15% of your life bar (Extra mode in KOF ‘97/’98, and in KOF ’94-’96). Well, in KOF 2002 Eolith chose to combine those two qualifications and give players something a little extra, the HSDM!

If you are in the last 15% of your life bar, AND you activate a stock, you can perform an HSDM, of which each character has one specific to their abilities. These moves are not always that useful, as some are better than others, but they are all tons of fun to watch, and a challenge to actually connect with. Sort of a bragging rights move if you will.

The other new feature that is important to the game is BC canceling. This happens when you are in the animation of a regular move, then you press B+C simultaneously to power your character up using one of your stocks, and continue the combo, finishing with an SDM/HSDM ideally. An example of this would be.

jumpD --> stand C --> BC cancel --> stand C --> HSDM

While that combo is not for a specific character, it gives you an idea of how this new implementation to the series works. A combo like this would otherwise be very difficult to connect with since your opponent would be guarding against your SDM/HSDM as they could see it coming if you powered up previous to the combo. Sneaky huh?

Other than the new features exclusive to ’02, all of the old game play that has made KOF such a powerhouse in fighting game circles is back and better than ever. Hit detection is spot on and the controls are as responsive as I have ever seen. As far as combo ability and depth of strategy is concerned, the possibilities are infinite. With 44 characters present and so many options for each of their different play styles available, the amount of unique matches you will experience is endless. Whether you enjoy grappling characters, hit-and-run type characters, combo-monsters, speed based fighters, power characters, or totally original fighting styles, you will find them all enjoyable and effective here.

Balance is also something that makes ’02 shine so bright. With the notable exception of Chin Gentsai (in my opinion) being so weak, almost all of the characters are fairly well balanced. You find that this is a large complaint about so many fighting games, unbalanced rosters, well, not in KOF 2002. On any given day, with players of similar ability, almost any character can beat another. That is a rarity to find in a fighter these days, and is something that makes this game so special.

Overall: 10.0+

This game is one of my favourite fighters ever developed, which is why I chose to write this review. While there are certainly more polished fighting games on the market visually, very few of them can even come close to the overall perfection of this game. While there are some weak points to the game, the overall package is perfect, especially taking into account the flawless game play.

If you are looking for a balanced, deep, replayable experience, then you should definitely pick up The King of Fighters 2002.