Rugal/Orochi Saga
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
NESTS Chronicles
The King of Fighters '99 | The King of Fighters 2000 | The King of Fighters 2001 | The King of Fighters 2002
Tales of Ash Saga
The King of Fighters 2003 | The King of Fighters XI | The King of Fighters XII | The King of Fighters XIII
Shun'ei Saga
The King of Fighters XIV | The King of Fighters XV
- Awesome Music: Has its own page.
- Overshadowed by Controversy: It's practically impossible to discuss KOF 2001 without bringing up K9999, who was introduced as a rather plot-essential character in this game. Or more specifically, how much of a blatant knockoff of AKIRA's Tetsuo Shima he was to the point that SNK refused to even directly acknowledge him for two whole decades starting from KOF 2003 up until KOF XV. It also doesn't help that the draconian attempts to wipe all traces of his existence post-2002 only helped amplify rumors that there was actual legal furor over the character.
- Polished Port: The second PlayStation 2 port in The King of Fighters NESTS Collection has an arranged music (solely missed in the Dreamcast version and the initial PlayStation 2 version), and it sounds better than the Neo Geo version. Granted, it went from "mostly bad" to "generally inoffensive" and can't hold a candle to any KOF soundtrack preceding it, but it's still an improvement.
- Scrappy Mechanic: Tactical Order Select could have been an interesting gimmick if it weren't for how it affects the general player stats, particularly the Power Gauge. The more fighters you bring in, the longer its length gets, as well as reducing its maximum stock number. If you go with '4 Fighters-0 Striker', you can fill up only one Power Gauge stock, unable to use neither MAX Super or Super Cancel. If you go with '3 Fighters-1 Striker' (like previous Striker KOF games), you can fill up two stocks and get access to both of them; however, you still cannot perform Super Cancel in a Striker combo, which is absolutely required in the competitive scene because of death combos. Therefore, any serious player has no choice but to bring in at least 2 Strikers if they want to stand a chance. Although the original goal of Tactical Order Select was to give players more freedom, it manages to accomplish the exact opposite of that, not to mention that it exacerbates Striker balance issues criticized in KOF 2000.
- Sequelitis: While all NESTS games are subject to mixed reception, KOF 2001 is agreed to be the weakest out of them by a large margin, and indeed, one of the least popular in the main series. 2001 does not fix the death combo meta problem that started with the Striker system in '99 and 2000; the changes in 2001 actually make it worse, as you can now summon more than one Strikers, making those death combos even easier. To 2001's credit, bugs and balance issues are common in all Neo Geo KOF games because of their yearly release. However, most fans were able to excuse them because of the series' consistently high-quality music and graphics; everyone agrees KOF 2001 both looks and sounds worse than usual and thus could not overlook its problems. Combined with the behind-the-scene struggles within SNK, this game is blamed for starting an Audience-Alienating Era that SNK struggled to recover for years.
- Suspiciously Similar Song:
- The opening of Team Kim's theme
sounds incredibly similar to a part from Rumbling on the City, the Ikari Team's theme from The King of Fighters '96. - Igniz's theme sounds very similar to the second boss theme from Shock Troopers: 2nd Squad.
- The opening of Team Kim's theme
- That One Attack:
- Original Zero has Ron. His attack is unblockable and tracks your position to an extent, allowing for free damage from just about anywhere on the screen. It is fairly telegraphed, but Zero likes to deploy him shortly before using White Destroyer Spirit, so you're probably going to be too focused on blocking that to dodge it.
- Igniz has two:
- Cain Blade Transaxial Slice has incredibly long range, and launches you upwards, allowing for juggling. However, unlike most other Launcher Moves, it never stops being able to do so, giving Igniz an incredibly easy infinite.
- His SDM, Brutal God Project, shaves off roughly 80% of the player's life if it hits. That alone is bad enough, but Igniz's overall damage output is so high that the remaining 20% can disappear very quickly. And if he decides to combo into it...
