Game Breaker / The King of Fighters

The King of Fighters series originally started as an annual celebration as SNK kept renovating the game with new and exciting mechanics. Unfortunately, a combination of tight schedule between games and SNK's ambition meant that KOF games were often shipped with Game-Breaker unchecked by QA.

And being that this is SNK we're talking about (y'know... a company notorious for bosses so difficult they've got their own trope named after them), don't be surprised if much of these entries wind up being bosses.

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The King of Fighters '94

• Command grabs have infinite. If you do a crouching normal and finish with a command grab, a bug allows performing another command grab to the opponent even before they can stand up, trapping them in an endless loop of command grabs. This is one of the easiest infinites in the game, and makes Daimon and the entire Team Brazil the best characters. House rules usually ban this.
• Heidern has two bugs involving his Moon Slasher:
  • If you perform a Moon Slasher without hitting your opponent and connect a Grapple Move (Storm Bringer or Final Bringer), its damage increases to absurd levels. In the MAX Made, this is nearly an One-Hit Kill. Other Special Moves also work, but Moon Slasher is the most effective. This became an Ascended Glitch, as his playable appearances in later KOF have this bonus damage gimmick, just not this extreme.
  • His Moon Slasher will do absurd amount of damage in the MAX Mode if you takes hit from the opponent and connect Moon Slasher on them at the same time.

The King of Fighters '95

• Kyo's 75 Shiki Kai is a Launcher Move that is meant to be followed by other Special Moves. But its pushback is small enough to be chained into itself, and with some effort, it can create a simple infinite. While it's easier to do in a corner, this infinite works even in midscreen. Kyo already has a great kit with good anti-air and combo starters, and this infinite makes him broken to the point he gets an entire tier to himself. This infinite is almost always banned in tournaments.
• Omega Rugal is playable by entering a code in the character select screen, and unlike later KOF games, his playable version does damage as much as when he is a boss. Special mention goes to his Genocide Cutter, which has a backward circle command input in KOF '95. This allows the player to block an attack and Guard Cancel into Genocide Cutter quickly, making any attack on Omega Rugal unsafe in the MAX Mode. This is only degraded by his terrible kit against cross-ups becaues of his tall hurtbox.
• Iori can infinitely juggle the opponent by repeating the first two hits of his light Aoihana with a specific timing. It's even worse on the Italy stage, where an oversight allows him to do this to some characters before they can even move.

The King of Fighters '96

The King of Fighters '96 can be described as a war of Game-Breaker where you balance the metagame with the abundance of unblanced moves. It's that bad.

• Mature's Blow Back has good hitbox and decent damage, but the real devil is its startup. With only 5 frames startup, her Blow Back is the fastest in the entire main series. Even on block, Mature can cancel it into Metal Massacre for extra chip damage and get enough pushback to avoid any punish. It's a good thing Mature has a terrible kit otherwise, notably lacking her Ebony Tears projectile that wouldn't be introduced until '98, so with enough observation, you might still win against her. However, the fact that her Blow Back alone rescued her from bottom-tier to a decent character is an indication how broken this move is.
• Chin got a Stance System move called Mochizukiyoi, which makes him fall onto his back. This makes him avoid any projectile that travels above ground, but it's his next moves that are broken beyond belief. Rigyo Hanpen makes him perform a backrolling kick from the Mochizukiyoi stance, which works as both anti-air and Normal punishing move. Rigyo Hanpen has much bigger hitbox than his hurtbox, to the point there is virtually no counching Heavy Kick or Air Normals that can win against it (highlighted by this video). The opponent then may want to counter him with ground projectiles like Iori's, but there's Ryuuda Hanpen, his other move that launches Chin toward the opponent to punish just that. This is unsafe on block, but its command input is simple enough to confirm it easily. Thus, many characters become nearly helpless in a matchup against Chin because there's no way to counter his Mochizukiyoi; the only characters with reliable methods are command grab characters like Daimon and Clark.
• Krauser becomes a monster when his health meter starts flashing and gains access to his Desperation Move, Kaiser Wave. Because '96 greatly shortened the recovery of DMs, he can spam the slower version of Kaiser Wave (used with Light Punch) all day. You can't punish this with Evasion Roll, as its invincibility frames in '96 are too short to roll through it consistently. Unless you can dodge it without blocking (Daimon and Clark) or have a move that erases or deflects projectiles (Chang and Athena), you can call it a wrap and give up that round.
• Iori has many bugs in '96 that made him a High-Tier Scrappy, but the best of all is his command grab introduced in this game, Kuzukaze, which has an infinite. Once you connect Kuzukaze, you can walk toward the opponent, do a close Heavy Punch, and perform Kuzukaze again, because its hitstun is long enough to do all of this.
• Chang's Tekkyuu Daikaiten, his spinning ball move, was changed in '96 into a zoning tool with dangerous chip damage and it's at its prime in this game. Tekkyuu Daikaiten's hitbox in '96 covers ground to great extent, so unlike later KOF games, it's difficult to punish it with crounching Heavy Kick. Tekkyuu Daikaiten also has a bug where you can use his command grab, Dai Hakai Nage, while still spinning his steel ball. Once Chang pushes his opponent to a corner, it becomes nearly impossible to escape: Chang can use Tekkyuu Daikaiten all day to chip his opponent and if they try to Evasion Roll out of it, he can use Dai Hakai Nage on them for extra damage and put them back in the corner again.
• Daimon and Clark can perform Evasive Dodge from '95, in addition to Evasion Roll added in this game. This is important for both of them as it can counter Game-Breaker. Furthermore, their command grabs have not only great damage (Clark's Super Argentine Backbreaker got the elbow finisher in this game that, unlike later KOF games, deals a lot on its own) but quite long reach, grabbing the opponents at their Light Normal range. Because of their versatility in matchups, competitive '96 scene (if such exists) likes to include at least one of them in the team.
• Yuri got a running command grab called Hyakuretsu Binta in this game. However, unlike later games, both its startup and recovery is unusually short, and Yuri recovers faster than the opponent's blockstun. Thus, even if the opponent blocks the move, you can spam this move to the opponent over and over without giving them a chance to escape, until Guard Crush happens and the opponent eats its damage. Hyakuretsu Binta in '96 has small damage when it connects and no chip damage at all, so it's not as devastating as most others, but it is still broken enough to make Yuri viable in the metagame.
• Geese's jumping Heavy Punch is a multi-hit Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs move, which is not notable in itself. However, when Geese enters the MAX Mode and does this with short hops, its hitstun becomes long enough to chain a jumping Heavy Punch into another jumping Heavy Punch, creating an easy infinite.
• Mr. Big's jumping Heavy Punch has a similar issue with Geese's. The MAX Mode boosts its damage significantly, and while it can't technically create an infinite, it fills up the opponent's stun meter considerably. Therefore, in the MAX Mode, performing a simple combo of short hop Heavy Punch, another short hop Heavy Punch, and a ground Heavy Punch stuns the opponent by 100% chance, in addition to depleting around 50% of a full health. Do the same combo again against the stunned opponent, and Mr. Big can finish the round in seconds.

The King of Fighters '97

• Terry can infinitely juggle the opponent with Power Charge. All you have to do is to start a crouching light punch then cancel it into Power Charge each time. While it takes practices to pull off, as you have to do it fast enough that the light punch is almost impossible to see, this doesn't requires any resources whatsoever and can set up for chaining Crack Shoot in the corner afterward, which has a high chance of stunning the opponent and starts the infinite again.
• Orochi is playable in the PlayStation version. Without Artificial Stupidity holding him back, his Genocide Cutter-esque normal attacks, powerful projectiles, and screen-filling DM become much more threatening.

The King of Fighters '98

• KOF '98 is the first game to have a "fail" recovery motion for every command grab, but this also introduces a bug that makes a projectile unblockable, giving you a free hit for any opponent recovering from knockdown. You just need to throw a projectile that passes the opponent just when they're getting on their feet, and perform a failed command grab on purpose. If successful, the opponent will take the hit even if they're holding joystick backward. This also works with any teleport move. Ultimate Match removed this bug, naturally, but for those playing the original '98, this is a real pain to deal with, as anyone who has both command grab/teleport move and projectile can use this bug (including Iori, yet another reason he is a High-Tier Scrappy). A few stand out:
  • Takuma's Shourankyaku works with this bug because that counts as a command grab. However, performing Shourankyaku makes you move to the opponent, and if it connects, it sends the opponent into hard knockdown state again. Therefore, you can repeat the same process for another free hit.
  • Athena's Psychic Teleport works with this bug. However, Athena also has Super Psychic Throw, a unique command grab that allows a set-up that puts the opponent into hard knockdown, throws a projectile onto them, and uses Psychic Teleport for another unblockable projectile. Like Takuma, you can repeat the process again and again if possible.
• Daimon's Jiraishin was already infamous for becoming unblockable under unique circumstances in '96 and '97, but it became worse in '98, which made it easier to use. There're two occasions when you can use unblockable Jiraishin. The first one is when you successfully hit the opponent with anti-air Zujou Barai, cancel it into other Special Moves (usually Chou Ukemi), and perform Jiraishin while the opponent is hitting the ground. This makes Jiraishin work as a combo finisher even though it's not supposed to. The second one is when you time Jiraishin correctly while the opponent is getting on their feet in one-frame window when the opponent cannot block Jiraishin. The second one is much more difficult than the first one, but with right set-ups via cancelling Special Moves, it's still possible. In both cases, this Jiraishin combo bug does enormous damage, depleting at least 30% of a full health, and even more with the MAX Mode. This bug was removed in Ultimate Match.
• Chizuru's Sanrai no Fujin is a Super Move that sends out her illusory projection that continues attacking for limited period. However, Chizuru herself is completely free to move around while the Super Move is still being performed. Therefore, Chizuru can use Sanrai no Fujin on the opponent, quickly approach them, and use mix-up tools on them to break their guard and take the Super Move in full. Chizuru can even jump over her opponent and switches side while performing Sanrai no Fujin, which has a high chance of making the move unblockable. Furthermore, since Chizuru can keep using Heavy Attack Normals on the oppoent taking Sanrai no Fujin, she can also stun the opponent after the combo which, considering how much damage Sanrai no Fujin already does, is an easy recipe for death combo. Sanrai no Fujin was so despised that every single appearance after '98 nerfed it: Chizuru herself can no longer move starting in KOF 2003, and the remake Ultimate Match, while Chizuru herself can still move, made its duration much shorter.

The King of Fighters '99

• Kensou's Senkyuu-tai is a Launcher Move, usually a follow-up move to his useful Ryuu Renda (which is safe on block). Senkyuu-tai's recovery is short enough to be chained into another Senkyuu-tai when in the corner, creating an easy infinite. This was fixed in the enhanced port, KOF: Evolution.
• Jhun's Ryuurou Shuu is a unique Launcher Move that can be used in the air. This means after Ryuurou Shuu connects, Jhun is usually still in vicinity of his opponent, so he can use Ryuurou Shuu repeatedly until the opponent gets stunned or Jhun finishes the combo with Houou Tenbu Kyaku. Both can end the round quickly. It's made even better with the Striker system introduced in KOF '99, as Strikers can send his opponent to Jhun so that he can start his infinite easily. He carried this quirk in 2000, and it wasn't until 2002 UM that it got a huge nerf on damage department (although it still remains a great combo in 2002 UM).

The King of Fighters 2000

• KOF 2000 implements Active Striker system, where you can summon a Striker in a more unrestricted fashion than '99. This created a side effect of buffing other KOF systems to an absurd extent:
  • You can summon a Striker while Tech Grabbing. Your opponent becomes defenseless while recovering from Tech Grab, so your Striker can register a free hit on them for a Striker combo. Picking combo-friendly Strikers like Seth can set up Striker combos that do at least 50% of a full health, making Tech Grab extremely dangerous. House rules usually ban summoning Strikers in a Tech Grab because it makes Normal Grab too risky.
  • You can also summon a Striker after Blow Back Guard Cancel. Like Tech Grab, your opponent is defenseless during it and picking Strikers like Seth can set up easy death combos in this situation. House rules like to ban this for the same reason.
  • Due to an oversight in Active Striker, your character often doesn't hold their guard up when the opponent's Striker is summoned in certain situations, making Strikers' attack unblockable. Examples are plenty, but an easy one is to perform a purposely failed counter move or command grab while summoning a Striker. Because you can't block either counter move or command grab, the opponent does not put their guard up even if they're holding the joystick backward, taking Striker's attack in full.
• Jhun's Ryuurou Shuu infinite is still in full force in this game. The new Strikers made it even easier, as Seth can put Jhun into the position where he can do his infinite, and Another Iori's long hitstun kick allows him to do another chain of Ryuurou Shuus before the opponent hit the ground.
• Lin's Hizoku Ougi Yougou is a mechanically unremarkable Super Move. However, this Super Move has two strange bugs in KOF 2000. Both were fixed in later KOF games immediately.
  • When you input its command without any Power Gauge stock, it doesn't do anything, of course, but from this on Lin's Normal Attacks become completely unblockable, until he gets hit or uses Special Moves. In a game where a single clean hit can make a deadly Striker combo, this is a meta-breaking advantage.
  • When you connect a Normal to the opponent and try to cancel it into Hizoku Ougi Yougou without any Power Gauge stock, it still doesn't do anything, but the opponent takes much more damage than they should from Lin's Normals. The extra damage from this bug decreases by each use, but it is still an outrageous technique that can be pulled off so easily.

The King of Fighters 2001

• Foxy's crouching Light Kick is the ultimate Game-Breaker. The reason is simple: it's unblockable. If you do a crouching Light Kick and input Heavy Punch or Heavy Kick after it, this crouching Normal becomes 2-hit move, and the second one is unblockable. It's worse when used on the opponent recovering from knockdown in a corner, as the first hit becomes unblockable when used on the correct timing, not even giving the opponent a chance to Gaurd Cancel out of it. This crouching Light Kick can work as a combo starter for any of her combos for huge amount of damage, and with the help of Strikers, this can end the round instantly. Foxy has other great moves in her kit, but this bug is the reason she's banned even in the official tournaments. This bug and her other Game Breakers are fixed in 2002 UM, which brought her down to just a decent character.
• In KOF 2001, Heidern is not a charge character, but his projectile move Cross Cutter keeps all of the properties before: huge hitbox, short startup, short recovery, and generally covering every good department of zoning. While Heidern might not be the best character (see Foxy), his Cross Cutter is the best projectile move that has an universal use for both combo and zoning. Naturally, this was deemed too broken and 2002 UM changed Heidern back to the charge character he's known for.

The King of Fighters 2002

2002

• Angel in 2002, who was supposed to be a Mechanically Unusual Fighter. She is meant to be played by players with experience in string-system combos. Since this system would be considered hard to use properly, the game rewards Angel with long invincibility periods while doing her moves. This translates to the opponent having to guess what Angel will do and attack in the hopes that her next move won't have invincibility, which leads to many frame-trap shenanigans. Unfortunately for SNK, modern custom controllers allow the players to take advantage of Angel's string combos without having to deal with their difficulty. She also has an infinite combo with a variety of setups, which requires no Power Gauge stocks and works from just about anywhere on the stage. 2002 UM had to rework her kit to get rid of her infinites, and nerf her by removing invincibility frames from her moves and giving them longer recovery.

Unlimited Match

• To no one's surprise, all of the boss characters are pretty much disgustingly broken and overpowered in their own ways. Let's list them off now, shall we?
  • Krizalid. Yes, he might be a SNK Boss, but the Typhoon Rage gives Rugal's Genocide Cutter a run for its money with its omni-priority, high damage output, juggling ability, and the ability to fill his super meter at the speed of sound IF YOU BLOCK IT. In 2002: Ultimate Match, this fact alone makes Krizalid more broken than Clone Zero, Original Zero, "lovable" Igniz, and Omega Rugal himself. Only Nightmare Geese can outdo him. And none of this is counting the rest of Krizalid's devastating moveset, chief amongst them Lethal Impact, an attack throw which triples as an anti-air, an overhead, and a counter. The supervising designer of Krizalid even noted, "I think I overdid it a little."
  • Igniz is pretty much unchanged from his 2001 appearance, with the only addition being that... he has a crouching animation now. As such, if you hated being juggled infinitely by his Cain Blade, take solace in the fact that you can cheese the AI with it, too. Oh, and of course, he has range and priority like no tomorrow, damage for days, and moves faster than a horse high on coke and amphetamines.
  • Nightmare Geese has faster Reppuukens, and non-negateable Shippuukens (meaning they pass through all projectiles and CAN'T BE CANCELLED BY ANOTHER NIGHTMARE GEESE'S SHIPPUUKENS) and that he can fire FOUR of them at once, a powerful multi-hitting OTG version of his Raging Storm, a throw much like Iori's where he can toss you aside and leave you open to a free combo (one of his throws in past Fatal Fury games) AND even has an infinite combo involving one of his old command normals chained into his x4 Shippuuken. Averted in XIV where Nightmare Geese is simply a skin for Geese (as well as being balanced beforehand in MI2 and Regulation A).

The King of Fighters 2003

• Duo Lon has many moves that snap the balance into two, which made him the best character in KOF 2003, second to none. KOF XI had to nerf him hard to bring him down to an average rush character.
  • Duo has a rekka string called Shaki Juryuu. This itself is standard, if easy to confirm and mix up the opponent. However, it can be looped into themselves (qcf+P, f+K, qcb+P, cr.B and repeat) when you perform it while his opponent is facing against him. In the corner, it also creates an easy infinite. Duo Lon has many moves that can switches sides quickly and get behind his opponent to start his backturn combos (as they'll be detailed below), making Shaki Juryuu the piece de resistance and extremely more dangerous than it should be.
  • Duo Lon's Himou Kyaku is a Flash Step style command dash, which can be used with Light Kick or Heavy Kick. Light Kick version travels across about half of the screen and can switch sides depending on the spacing between you and the opponent, and the Heavy Kick version will almost always switch sides. Duo Lon becomes completely invincible during Himou Kyaku (even throw doesn't work), and its recovery is short enough to be followed up with any Special Moves immediately. If the opponent failed to keep him in check and allowed him to get the drop on you behind, he can start his Shaki Juryuu rekka infinite. Himou Kyaku is also a good cross-up tool, as the Light Kick version can be followed up from one of Shaki Juryuu strings, and it becomes hard to tell which side the opponent'll land on when they touch the ground. If they failed to block, they have to play the cross-up game again.
  • Duo Lon's Suishu Makyakuho is a command grab similar to Iori's Kuzukaze, as the move itself doesn't do damage but works as a combo starter. Compared to Iori's, its range is longer and it can keep the opponent in place with a follow-up — which is especially dangerous to have in the corner. This move also benefits a lot from the strange Gameplay Derailment in the arcade version of KOF 2003, where throw invincibility frames from knockdown are too short. If you perform Suishu Makyakuho as your opponent gets on their feet, this command grab will connect unless they time reversals precisely to escape it.
  • Genma Kyaku is Duo Lon's projectile special, in which he summons his leg at distance on the ground. You can toss your opponent toward you for combo, and Genma Kyaku's recovery and startup is both short enough to be chained into and out of most combos. This makes Duo Lon's opponent unsafe to space away from him.
  • Duo Lon's Shift Attack is different from the others, as instead of moving in front of the opponent, he moves into back of his opponent. This means his teammate can trap the opponent in the corner, make a successful Shift Attack for Duo Lon, and let him do the Shaki Juryuu infinite to eliminate the opponent easily.
• The console ports make Mukai playable. His command grab leaves the opponent frozen and plops them right in front of him. Mukai can then do a close Hard Punch and cancel into another command grab. It's one of the easiest infinites in fighting game history.

The King of Fighters XI

• Sho Hayate can become invincible by disappearing from the screen with Quick Shifts. First, you throw a boomerang with Sho and Shift into other teammate before Sho catches it. Next, make your teammate perform a Quick Shift into Sho again. If successful, Sho jumps off-screen and won't come out for the rest of the match. For an extra point, he can still throw his boomerang into the screen and damage his opponent. This was fixed in the PlayStation 2 version.

Maximum Impact series

Maximum Impact

• Duke is unlocked after completing the game as Alba and Soiree, and he's just as powerful as you'd expect. While he doesn't have infinite meter like in his boss fight, other than that he wasn't toned down in any meaningful way. His combos can take away anywhere from a third to even half of your health, and his supers are still incredibly powerful, even when they actually cost meter to use.

Maximum Impact 2 / The King of Fighters 2006

• Armor Ralf in Maximum Impact 2. As the name implies, it's Ralf decked out in armor. This version of Ralf is a contender for the most broken non-boss fighting game character of all time. He has super armor, cannot be thrown normally, has infinite priority, does EVEN MORE DAMAGE THAN NORMAL RALF, and cannot be knocked down. He was so broken that he was actually removed from the Regulation A upgrade to the game, though his data and model are still on the disc. His only real disadvantage is a universal one: Sabaki reversals can't be used against projectiles.

Other/Multiple Titles

• Billy Kane fights with a stick that gives him an unfair advantage at zoning. He also has a incredibly fast 2-hit attack that can be abused and can combo with other way stronger moves, should it hit near the corner. His MI2 incarnation is far worse. The Tekken-esque dial-a combos only bolster his rushdown game, his specials come out far quicker with less recovery time, and he gains devastating new attacks revolving around his bo. In other words, he can do all sorts of wicked shit. This match from MI2 and this match from Regulation A are good examples of what you're up against.
  • Despite this, however, he's been getting progressively worse in later installments, often being considered to be on the lower end of low tier. In KOF XV in particular, he's actually in the bottom three, alongside Ramón and Antonov, unfortunately.
• Athena's Psycho Ball projectile possesses almost instant recovery, as well as having a teleport and a bug that makes her retreat at absurd speed when doing a backdash. Should you be at a lower health when the match time is about to finish, unless you're a very fast character yourself there's pretty much nothing you can do other than try and follow her while avoiding her projectiles and watching out for a DM that jolts you if you touch her.
• Ralf's Galatica Phantom in EX2: Howling Blood. This version has a much, much shorter charge time despite it still being an SDM. As a trade-off, it loses some of its power, but still eats about 50% off of an opponent's lifebar. Go buck wild with it, and watch the body count skyrocket.
• Chin in the early games, particularly due to his DM. It was easily spammable, had virtually no startup time, and the chip damage was ridiculous. Any time a Chin player saw themselves with a low lifebar, it was time to RUN AWAY. (Hence why it was made into his NEOMAX instead in newer titles.)

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