SNK's bread-and-butter has been fighting games for the longest time, with King of Fighters being the most famous among the bunch. What made the series stand out early on was the inclusion of three-on-three team battles. Players no longer had to stick with one character for the duration of a fight, but could use their favorite team in a best-of-three round match. It was really innovative for its time, but over the years fighting games have ripped off, spun off, and turned the concept completely on its head. So could SNK keep up with the times and come up with something fresh and new?

Well, yes . . . sort of. In King of Fighters 99, strikers were introduced in the series. Simply put, a striker would be a fourth character in your team exclusively used for a one-attack assist. Some KoF purists spouted fire and brimstone and slathered forums everywhere with their contempt for this sacrilege whereas others thought it was a spiffy idea.

Depending on who you are, King of Fighters 2000/2001 will either be a further insult to your purist heart, a wicked compilation of the latest in SNK's longest fighting franchise, or just a really tight fighting game overall. And if you don't like fighting games, why are you even reading this?

King of Fighters: 2000

Both games are similar in many ways yet different enough to mark each as a full-fledged game in its own right. King of Fighters 2000 is the dream match of striker-esque proportions. Players choose a team of four characters and when you set team order the last becomes the striker. Now what makes things so dreamy is the fact that every character on the roster has at least one alternate character for a Striker. Meaning picking Ryo for a striker also gives you a chance to use Kaede from Last Blade 2; choosing Benimaru gives a cross-dressing alternate of the pretty boy; and the list goes on and on. Granted, such a compilation of characters purely as strikers will only seem appealing if you're a fan of the assisting concept.

So when you've found a team to call your own and head out to break some faces, how is it going to play, you ask? A lot . . . well, a lot like every other fighter out there. The motions for specials, supers, throws, reversals, and such are standard fare, as is the KoF invention of rolling through attacks. Then there's running, small jumps . . . to be honest, if you're looking for a fighter today, and never heard of these concepts, do yourself a favor and get out from under that rock.

Which brings things back to the fact that not much has changed in the series. Outside of strikers, the series has kept a great deal of its core gameplay. Then there are the graphics, which have to be seen in motion to be truly appreciated. The level of detail in animation is remarkable. From every punch to win pose, it's obvious that SNK put great care into making the characters a delicious sight to behold. Though, that level of animation has been recycled for a good majority of the series' lifetime, along with the sprites, sounds, music, and whatnot. This is mainly due to SNK's insistence on using decades-old hardware when developing, and to see 2000 right beside a fighting game like Guilty Gear X2 makes the former feel dated, even though what's going into it is a great amount of consideration to detail, just lacking hi-resolution sprites and full-instrumental theme songs. As a matter of craft, 2000 is excellence, even though the tools used to achieve it feel dated, especially on the PS2. For what its worth, SNK did add a rearranged soundtrack, a survival mode, and in-game command lists (finally!) for this console release, all of which give it that little extra kick while not evolving the game into something completely fresh and new.

To be blunt, King of Fighters 2000 is a solid, fun fighter with enough tried-and-true gameplay running through its veins to give it a lasting shelf-life. Much like its appearance, the experience found will age well with time, and while it feels like a "been there, done that" affair, it's one of those games you can play even decades after its release. (As long as you don't mind the strikers.)

Please note that the ratings below are only for King of Fighters 2000.