The King of Fighters 2000

"Not the worst of the series, but not the best either. (duh)"

First of all, let's give a ''Yay'' for SNK in continuing the KOF series. Anyway, let's get on with the review.

KOF2K (as I call it) is much like KOF 99. 4 on 4 battles, the last guy on the team is the striker. The SDMs can only be pulled off when you get 3 stocks of power, unlike in 99 where your lifebar is flashing in red you can pull it off with only one stock. Counter and Armor mode remains from 99. A bunch o' new characters as well.

Graphics: 7.5
This is somewhat of a minor disappointment after KOF 99. Some things aren't right in the game graphics. Say Robert's fireball, the 99 version is okay, but this one is like...a boomerang. The background is okay, but some has wrong colors at certain parts. The SDM palette swap is...weird. Some animations are lost (like Mai's bouncy (tm)), maybe to save some cart space. The game also lost a few special intros as well, but the special win poses against certain characters are welcome (like Shingo winning Kyo).

Sound: 7
Most KOF has nice BGMs. But this KOF seems to lack in this department. Not a lot of memorable tunes, maybe except Kyo's Goodbye Esaka, K' team's KD 0084 and Beni team's Inner Shade. The BGM volume of the MVS I'm playing is low (I don't know if it's the same as in others...last time I played KOF2K in somewhere else is like 4 months ago), thus making the gamer feel less attached to the game. But the voices are done pretty well. Overall, it isn't so bad, but it could've been better.

Gameplay: 7
STRIKERS!!! The Active Striker System kinda screwed up the game in a way. Gives me a feeling of MvC2's assists. What is the Active Striker System? Well it means that in almost anytime (except DM/SDM) you can call a striker. Unlike in 99 you can only call a striker if you aren't doing any moves.
Now the game kinda lost it's ''KOF feeling.'' Joe strikers (if used 'correctly') would make you wanna quit the game, and Seth strikers are more common than oxygen (no kidding). Some strikers add nostalgic values (GEESE!!!), but the likes of Geese and Rugal as strikers makes people wonder if they're alive or not (since they don't disappear after executing their striker moves).
Counter and Armor modes are fine with me, even though Chang in Armor mode is nearly unstoppable. Seems to me that both modes has a similar time limit, I think Armor mode should stay as it was in 99 anyway.
Zero is cheesey as other KOF bosses, and he looks...weird. He uses his cape to attack others. And his ''I suck'' (literally) DM. Grrrrr. He's a pain in the butt sometimes, and he can be fustrating unless you're a good KOFer.
Now if the game is played WITHOUT strikers, or left at the stage of 99, it would deserve something like an 8 or 8.5 out of me.

New characters: 7
There's a total of 6 new characters. Vanessa, a female boxer; Seth, a self-defense character; Lin, a Chinese ninja; Ramon, a Mexican wrestler; Hinako, a female sumo wrestler (!!) and Kula, the anti-K'.
Vanessa and Seth were introduced in KOF 99 Evolution, they were spies sent by Zero (read above) to check out on K' and Maxima. Vanessa as a female (sexy) boxer is cool, she's interesting as a character in gameplay. Seth is more used as a striker, but as a character he's good too. Ramon has a weird look and some weird moves, but he's an okay character overall. Hinako has weird design, she looks like more of an air-hostess. And she's playing sumo. Ugh. Lin is one of the highlights of the new characters. Basically he has combined others' move into his (kinda). He has his own version of Zan Retsu Ken, RED Kick and Kyo's chain punches. He's damn good to use, but please, don't abuse his infinity. I haven't played as Kula yet (tried to), so no comment on her.

Story: 6.5
The story's okay, but the NESTS storyline isn't anywhere near the Orochi storyline's quality. But seeing NESTS agents keep on betraying/leaving NESTS is quite fun. (K', Maxima, Whip, even Zero) Average story.

Overall: 7
If you wanna play good KOF, I suggest that you play KOF 98 or 99 when there's one. Otherwise, this isn't too bad. All KOF games aren't bad. Just that this may belong to the lower tier of KOF games if ranked by me. I know some of you may disagree, but hey, I'm entitled to my own opinion. Let's hope Eolith won't screw up KOF 2001.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 05/02/01, Updated 05/02/01