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
- Americans Hate Tingle: Sylvie Paula Paula is effectively SNK's answer to Tekken's Lucky Chloe, seemingly being designed as over-the-top as she is on purpose, and just like Chloe she is hated by a sizable portion of the western fanbase. By contrast, out of all the newcomers from this game, she proved to be very popular in Japan and other Asian territories, to the point that not long after Season 2 of XV was announced, she ended up revealed as the 3rd DLC character in that Season Pass, alongside fan-favorites Shingo Yabuki and Kim Kaphwan, much to the charign of westerners.
- Anti-Climax Boss: Verse. Not only does it exist as a living plot device to bring back deceased characters from the dead (e.g., Ash, Chris, Rugal, Shermie, Yashiro, etc.), but as far as being an actual challenge is concerned, there's really nothing to be had here. Besides maybe absurd damage output, it otherwise averts SNK Boss Syndrome entirely, being the easiest Final Boss in the series since maybe Clone Zero back in 2000.
- Awesome Music: Has its own page.
- Contested Sequel: As a direct follow-up to XIII (from a gameplay perspective), KOF XIV restores a lot of things that were missing in XIII. Normal Attacks have a proper "close" and "far" variation, and a lot of characters got their moves back. The roster has a healthy amount of long-requested characters, like Oswald, Vanessa and Blue Mary (who all make a return from XI after their curious absence in XIII), and new characters like Nakoruru and Najd were also generally well-received. However, despite being considered a step up in gameplay department, KOF XIV had one huge thing going against it: the 3D graphics. They're not very good. Both critics and fans alike decried the launch version for looking dated compared to its competition like Guilty Gear Xrd, Street Fighter V and Fighting EX Layer. It got progressively better after post-launch patches, but some KOF players still could not get over the series' shift to 3D and would rather play the 2D KOF games instead. The question of if XIV is a better game than its prequel comes down to whether you prefer the gameplay over the graphics.
- Ensemble Dark Horse: Shares a page with the rest of the franchise here, especially considering this game has no shortage of them for every Base-Breaking Character introduced otherwise.
- It Was His Sled: Yeah all those characters that were brought back for KOF XV? They were a pretty big bombshell here. At least they were.
- Ash is back from his Cosmic Retcon at the end of XIII.
- As of SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy, Shermie - alongside her teammates Chris and Yashiro - are also back from the dead.
- Omega Rugal is also back! The Trope Codifier of the SNK Boss himself! Goenitz, too!
- Kyo and Iori decide to team up with Chizuru to seal away Orochi while it's still in a weakened state. And if that wasn't enough, they also do the same in the next tournament to prevent said seal from being broken.
- It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: Although the gameplay in KOF XIV is generally less controversial part of the game, some players dislike that despite the shift to the 3D graphics allowed SNK to restore many character moveset missing in XIII, some characters still didn't get their moves back. Some of the biggest offenders are Ralf's Super Argentine Backbreaker (a move he had since '94) and Maxima's Bunker Buster and Maxima Revenge (part of his moveset since his debut '99). Damn You, Muscle Memory! is definitely played here, as detractors feel the characters just don't feel right without their original moves.
- Low-Tier Letdown: Vanessa is supposed to be Difficult, but Awesome but leans far too much on difficult to be viable. She was typically used as an anchor as her drive combos did good damage. The problem is she has to use a lot of Power Gauge stocks if she wants to do any significant damage and is pathetic when she has none. Vanessa is also bad at building Power Gauge meter, meaning if she has more than one opponent to face she'll have problems making a comeback. The general consensus on her was that her combos were fun and flashy, but she took much effort when other characters can do more damage for less effort.
- They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: This installment takes a Video Game 3D Leap for the first time in the main series. In a series like KOF that is known for its excellent 2D pixel graphics, it's natural this received much objection from fans, not helped by that the 3D graphics in XIV look dated next to other fighting games like Guilty Gear Xrd.
- Unintentional Uncanny Valley: The character models in this game set a notorious first impression with audiences. The models have oddly realistic details despite the faces being quite stylized, and yet the realism isn't very high-fidelity, resulting in characters looking very plastic and uncanny. The next game went for a more stylized 2D-inspired look that averts the issues this game had.
- Unexpected Character: Nakoruru not only officially appears in the main KOF (after teases as a secret character in '95's Game Boy port and a Striker cameo in 2000), but is the same one from the Samurai Shodown home series instead of being alternative universe self. Her teammates, Mui Mui and Love Heart, are from SNK's Pachislot (Dragon Gal and Sky Love) games that had little fanfare in Japan and practically unknown in the other countries.
- Vindicated by History: To an extent. On release, the game garnered a mixed reaction almost entirely due to its subpar visuals. But the gameplay was otherwise praised for being a nice composite of classic KOF's, having the largest roster since 2002 UM, bringing back classic characters that were sorely missed back in XIII (notably Angel, Geese, Heidern, Oswald, Whip, Vanessa, and so on) on top of introducing some very strong newcomers into the mix (e.g., Rock Howard, who made his mainline series debut here, but also Antonov, Luong, and King of Dinosaurs, the latter three of whom returned in XV), and simply for bringing the series back after a six-year hiatus after its future looked uncertain after KOF XIII.
