The King of Fighters 2000

The King of Fighters 2000 was released right in the middle of the acquisition of the SNK brand by pachinko manufacturer Aruze. Thus, it is the last 100% Classic SNK produced game. It is also the last SNK game to use Shinkiro artwork in marketing material and box art as he left SNK to work for Capcom when development of the game wrapped up. Like many of these games, sales data is sparse. We do know it was the second highest grossing arcade game in Japan in September of 2000 - so KOF was still quite popular in its home country. I am unable to locate any sales data for the AES version, but this release has its own legacy worth mentioning. 

Up until this point, AES versions of Neo games were released within 2-3 months of their arcade debut. In the curious case of King of Fighters 2000 though, the AES version was released toward the end of December that year despite coming out in the middle of summer. Given the buyout and bankruptcy going on at SNK during this time, it's a miracle it was released on AES at all. Despite overall dwindling interest in the 2D fighting game genre at this time, SNK produced a decent number of AES carts that have kept prices relatively low even 22 years later. King of Fighters 2000 is also the first King of Fighters game to be a Japanese exclusive release on AES. 

"Wait! I've seen an 'official' US style release on eBay!," I hear you say. While you may see these from time to time, they are less than official. Let me explain. 

Disclaimer: The account you're about to read isn't just something I read about on the internet, it is a first-hand account. I was there for this occurrence, and have been an active part of Neo-Geo.com since October of 2000 - two months after its inception. Prior to Neo-Geo.com's launch in mid-2000 I was a part of the same community dating back to 1998 and a DHP mailing list set up on the now-defunct America Online service. I've had personal dealings with the perpetrator of the following story prior to the release of KOF 2000 and can personally attest to his deplorable business practices. I've been a respected member of the community and collector of Neo-Geo games for over 25 years and have been around for the vast majority of drama created by Neo Geo Freak and others trying to take advantage of the then early high-end collector video game market.

You may or may not have heard of Dion Dakis and Neo Geo Freak. I'm not talking about the classic official Neo-Geo magazine in Japan. No, Neo Geo Freak (NGF) was a shill company set up by Dion Dakis in the early aughts that purchased large amounts of unsold stock from SNK US and Japan during their buyout, defaced these authentic SNK releases by destroying their inserts, cartridge stickers, and manuals and reprinting them in English with the NGF logo attached instead of the SNK logo. Dion also converted many, many games from MVS to AES destroying even more authentic AES and MVS games in the process and calling them "special edition NGF releases."  Basically, the point of NGF was to create a secondary collector market of AES games dressed up as "special edition" releases that would lead to their own market segment and make Dion some money in the burgeoning high-end collector market - which was still in its infancy at this time. So, where does King of Fighters 2000 fit into all of this?

Neo Geo Freak purchased 100 copies from SNK during their buyout from Aruze, and SNK even gave them a limited license to distribute these copies in the US. The problem comes in when Dion purported to be the "exclusive" distributor and that he had "exclusive rights." That's not entirely true, and respected Japanese gaming news site Mad Man's Cafe confirmed this in early 2001. NGF was the only distributor in the US, but they did not have exclusive rights. Additionally, SNK did not give them the right to rebrand the packaging. That's the sticking point most collectors have with this version of the game. The NGF packaging removed the SNK logo from the game's insert and manual and replaced it with the gaudy NGF logo, among other changes. This caused quite a stir in the community, and there are archived arguments and forum posts on Neo-Geo.com still around if you'd like to dig in and read actual accounts of this drama. 

Moral of the story - that US copy of King of Fighters 2000 you saw on eBay? There is nothing official about it except the original manufactured material. The insert, manual, and cartridge sticker are all reproductions and are not official SNK artworks. The certificate of authenticity is relevant only to these copies of the game and SNK nor SNK Playmore ever had any sort of certification or special edition of an AES game, nor did they ever license their products to boutique retailers to create their own bespoke special edition copies to be sold as officially sanctioned releases. Now - On with the review.

The story of King of Fighters 2000 picks up where 99 left off: Krizalid and the Kyo clones were wiped out by their creator, but NESTS is still at large. Zero, the mysterious new KOF sponsor, sent out invitations to the yearly event. Working as a double agent, Zero eventually reveals himself to be part of NESTS and has been developing a super weapon called the Zero cannon. No matter who you use to make it to the final match of the game, the cinematic leading up to that battle shows Zero using the Zero cannon to essentially wipe an entire city (SouthTown?) off of the map. 

Gameplay is a mash up of King of Fighters 98's Advanced mode and the Striker system found in the prior year's entry. Strikers are extra characters the player can call in each round to assist in battle, much like the assists in Capcom’s Vs. series of games. Players only have a few Striker stocks to use per match, so these assists should be used wisely. SNK also added additoinal ways to use strikers for new mix-ups and juggles off of throws. King of Fighters 2000 also includes two new MAX modes: one that allows super cancels, and the other is focused on defensive options.

In a switch from King of Fighters 99, 2000 brings back the dodge rolls rather than the forward dodge and backward hop - which makes the game play faster overall than the its predecessor. Given the backward hop in 99 was not well received by fans, many King of Fighters players prefer 2000 over 99 due to this reason alone. All other mechanics are as they have been since King of Fighters 96 with runs, hops, super hops, super jumps, CD attacks, and CD cancels.

King of Fighters 2000 has 36 characters, all of which can be used as a Striker, and 44 extra Strikers that include cameos from the entire history of SNK. There are a handful of extra Strikers that have to be accessed via the input of a code, like "Another Iori" which sees our favorite sullen anti-hero in a stylish new outfit. King of Fighters 2000 also includes one of the largest cast expansions in the series with many older characters returning, and many new faces like Vanessa, Ramon, Kula, Lin, Hinako, and more. Due to the huge roster, and having roughly the same rom size as the prior two entries, overall sprite work and animation is similar to 99 albeit with a few frames of animation missing here and there and only one or two win poses for each character instead of three or four. 

Graphics and overall presentation are also up to par, with a super stylized intro sequence, and one of the best character select screens in fighting game history. Great pixel art adorns every corner of the game, and character portraits use flatter, brighter colors that give it a look more in line with later Neo-Geo releases rather than the super shaded, detailed look of earlier KOF games. The only part of the presentation that leaves a bit to be desired is the background art. They're fine, but not the most imaginative backgrounds SNK has ever put together. This is especially noticeable as the prior game in the series has some of the best backgrounds in the franchise. 

Like most classic King of Fighters games, the soundtrack here is phenomenal weather it's the OST or the AST. Each team's theme is new, but stylistically harkens back to prior games for their inspiration. The character select theme is a bass pounding, upbeat, electronic anthem that is very similar to the theme in Real Bout 2 and is just wonderful. While all the music is great, Kula's theme, Ice Palace, is the standout track. 

Overall, the gameplay and meta in King of Fighters 2000 is well understood by the community at this point. It's a game more known for the crazy, broken combos you can do than being a balanced and competitive tournament fighter. That's not a bad thing, though, as many games of this era were full of jank, but it's the jank that makes them truely worth exploring. While it's not terribly popular today in the competitive scene, it still gets a healthy amount of play on Fightcade where you can jump in and play (and loose quickly) against some of the world's best players any time of day. 

The King of Fighters 2000 is a wonderful fighting game and an excellent swansong for classic SNK. I think it's fitting that the final game by one of the most innovative and forward thinking development studios and publisher of the 90's arcade era is a celebration of everything that had come before. There's so much SNK goodness jam packed into this release with its all-star cast and huge host of cameos that I feel all serious SNK fans and collectors should have a copy of this game in their library even if the gameplay doesn't jive with you. While some subsequent King of Fighters games released after 2000 were quite good, none have the tone, flavor, or feel of it. Classic SNK had a magic that was completely lost when they went under and I firmly believe that the industry became a darker place because of it. 

While not as expensive in the current market as other Neo-Geo AES games released around the turn of the century, King of Fighters 2000 still holds its value well at $250 USD on the low end for a good conditioned complete copy, to upwards of $350. Be prepared to pay at least $250 unless you find a very good deal. As the Neo-Geo CD was all but dead by this point, it never saw release on that platform. The MVS release is climbing in price, but is still a good bit cheaper than AES (as is tradition).

Ports of King of Fighters 2000 were released for the Sega Dreamcast and Playstation 2 almost two years after its initial release in the arcade. Both consoles handled the ports well due to the dramatic increase in processing power from the prior console generation, so few concessions had to be made (despite odd censorship in the US). The Dreamcast and PS2 ports can still be found relatively cheap. Hamster’s Arcade Archives series is the most accessible way to play this game as it is available for $8 on just about all modern platforms in 2022. The Playstation 2 version can also be found on the Playstation 4/5's PS Store. If you have a PS4 or PS5 this is your way to go as it has a full suite of options missing from the Arcade Archive release (which locks the game in MVS arcade mode with no real in-game options or training modes) and it is also bundled with the interesting but somewhat maligned King of Fighters 2001.

If you're getting into AES collecting, I believe there are some King of Fighters games you should get first, like 95 and 98. That said, if you want a game from the NESTS saga, you can't go wrong with it. It's every bit as good as King of Fighters 99, but some like it better due to the expanded striker system, roster, and reintroduction of the roll mechanic. It's also SNK's swansong release. So, for SNK die-hard fans it holds a special place in most collections as the last hurrah of an era and legacy all but lost to time.