King of fighters 2002

By 2002 the gaming community had all but moved past the 90's fighting game craze. Despite some strong entries in the genre in the early years of the 21st century, 2D fighters were mostly seen as antiquated and passé. Journalists were especially harsh to the genre at the time as the fatigue from the fall-out of the arcade industry and over-abundance of 2D fighters from the prior decade were still relatively fresh in the hearts and minds of gamers. The downfall of classic SNK during the first few years of the century also didn't help to garner much enthusiasm toward the aging series.

Despite all odds, though, the King of Fighters 2002 saw generally positive reviews from critics when it was released in October of that year. Sadly, there is no available sales data for the AES or MVS versions of the game. That said, the game was immediately embraced by fans of the series for being the most mechanically solid entry since King of Fighters 98. Despite the overall presentation being a little rough around the edges, the solid gameplay and (mostly) balanced roster have helped to keep this game alive in the modern fighting game community.

With the Nests saga plotline ending with King of Fighters 2001, King of Fighters 2002 embraces the "dream match" format from 94 and 98. Because there is no plotline that dictates which characters should be alive or dead, King of Fighters 2002 brought back many popular characters from the Orochi saga like the New Faces team from 97 and Vice & Mature from 96. Many of the less popular characters from the Nests Saga, like Bao, Lin, and Juhn, were removed from the playable roster and are instead relegated to cameo appearances in the stage backgrounds. Strangely King and Shingo, two KOF staple characters, are also missing from the roster. That said, with a roster of 44 characters there is no lack of choice. Many characters received new animations, moves, or saw sweeping gameplay updates that changed the way you approach them. There are no "new" characters in the game except the evil version of Kyo known as Kusinagi - who plays similarly to King of Fighters 95 Kyo, just evil and faster. 

In a move to bring King of Fighters 2002 back to its 3v3 roots, the striker (tag assists) system was removed. This subtle but impactful change was welcomed by KOF die-hards who enjoyed the technical simplicity of King of Fighters 98. That isn't to say that King of Fighters 2002 didn't bring anything new to the table, though. The Max mode in this game works similar to stock breaks from 98, which allows the player to spend one bar (out of five possible) of their super meter to enter Max mode. Like a stock break in KOF 98, Max Mode is a temporary buff that is denoted by a slowly decreasing meter that appears above your super bar. While in Max Mode you have a few options: 

• You can cancel out of moves that normally don't have cancelable frames - leading to some big combos.

• You can spend one extra super stock to perform your super death move (SDM).

• You can spend two extra super stocks to perform a hyper death move (HDM). 

While the extra super moves are a nice touch, it is the cancel properties that really open up the game. You can cancel out of the last frame of just about any command normal or special move, two-in-one right into another, and then end the combo with a super or other finisher. This isn't a true custom combo, though, as you cannot chain together normal attacks. If you've played King of Fighters 13, that game's combo mechanics are like an evolution of what you find here. If I had to sum up the gameplay in King of Fighters 2002 I would describe it as a middle ground between King of Fighters 98 and King of Fighters 13. As with most King of Fighters games, 2002 follows the same four button attack set-up along with all the same movement and defensive options that have generally been in use since King of Fighters 96.

Many games from the "Playmore Era" of the Neo-Geo feel a bit rushed and unpolished compared to games produced by 90's SNK - and King of Fighters 2002 is no different. Despite having a solid roster and great mechanics, the presentation is functional if not a little drab. Colors are washed out compared to prior entries, and everything has a sort of "grey" look to it. Backgrounds are uninteresting, and background objects animate unnaturally. Basically, the overall presentation looks a little slapdash compared to the precision pixel art that came out of 90's era SNK. Despite hiccups in the overall presentation, though, the sprite work is on point. Many characters received generous reworked animation sets; most notably Athena and Kim Kaphwan (Kim's pants are a sight to behold). Eolith also added in a bevy of new custom before-fight intros between characters that share a common history, and these are all great fun to watch.

Similar to the presentation, the sound design is also a bit of a mixed bag. Sound effects are loud and impactful, so the player can easily telegraph when a move connects which lends to good player feedback. Voices are also of high quality, and many of the voice overs were redone from the ground up for a good chunk of the cast. Music, on the other hand, didn't fare as well. Sound sample quality is low, and the composition of newly composed music is better than the prior year's entry but no where near what fans were used to out of the series. Even key pieces of music that are reused from older entries were redone with these poorly produced samples, so these familiar tunes end up feeling flat compared to older entries. It's not the worst soundtrack, and my criticism here may sound harsh, but the King of Fighters series has a pedigree of amazing sound design. When compared to 90's King of Fighters games, the soundtrack here is seriously lacking. 

At the end of the day, King of Fighters 2002 really is an outstanding game if you're playing competitively. But when taken as a whole package, it's missing key elements in the presentation and sound design that brought a higher level of polish to 90's King of Fighters games. Still, King of Fighters 2002 plays masterfully and you can easily find pockets of the modern fighting community who still play this game feverishly. King of Fighters 2002 is 100% worth your time if you even remotely like fighting games. 

In 2009 SNK released the Unlimited Match update which ups the roster to an absurd 66 characters and changes many aspects of the presentation. Many modern gamers prefer this edition due to the expanded roster, but that expansive roster also comes with a healthy dose of imbalance. The presentation was also upgraded, but somehow looks worse? Like KOF 98 Ultimate Match, these "upgraded" editions I think loose sight of what made the original releases so endearing. That said, they are still solid and worth a look, especially if some of your favorite characters are missing from the vanilla release.

If you're looking for a copy of King of Fighters 2002 in the modern retro game market, you're going to be paying a pretty penny. This is the second most expensive King of Fighters game on AES and will run you right around $500 on the low end for a complete Japanese release to around $650 on the high end. The US edition is pretty rare and prices are all over the place, but expect to pay upwards of $5000 or more in 2023. The game is more affordable on MVS, but will still cost over $150. 

New AES collectors would do wise to grab King of Fighters 98 before this release, unless you have a fair amount of nostalgia for this game. That said, King of Fighters 2002 is still a worthy early purchase for your library, but I feel there are better games on the system you should get first - even if that opinion is unpopular in today's community. Younger players new to fighting games tend to gravitate toward this release, while older players in the community prefer 98. Thankfully, you can try both on emulator or any of the numerous digital download options that are often on sale for a few bucks each before you spend your Benjamins on an AES or MVS copy.