"Like fine wine."

When Eolith took helm of the KOF series from SNK, many felt pessimistic about the future of the series. They needn't to; KOF 2001 was the biggest leap in terms of gameplay the series have ever reached, with its ratio system and and chain mechanics. Now it's 2002, and Eolith hopes to make lightning strikes twice.. this time by returning the series to its roots.

What that means is that the system is back to ''3-on-3, no strikers allowed''. Some would disagree, but old-schoolers should relish the nostalgia while newcomers would be challenged to adapt. What they probably wouldn't like are the additions to the cast: Zero new faces. While this is an all star game, even '98 featured Shingo Yabuki. Characters who were absent for the last few years (Mature, Vice, Billy Kane, Yamazaki, Chris, Shermie, Yashiro) are back, replacing King, Bao, Lin, Hinako, Xiangfei, Heidern, and Foxy. The NESTS team from 2001 are now the mid-bosses, and even Rugal is back as the ultimate baddie. While their exclusion is understandable, noting memory and team restrictions, it would have been nice to see other one-hit wonders like Jhun('99), Kasumi('00) and Eiji('95) return.

Graphics: 8/10
Technically, the Neo couldn't get much better than this. Fluid and quick animation with few missing frames, the game looks great. Those who hated the new art of 2001 would be pleased to now that it has been greatly improved - but the new style makes all the characters appear younger. It's not a problem most of the time, but a few looks weird as a result (Blue Mary). Effects-wise, the SDM ''background color inverse'' from 2001 is gone, making them less impressive. The backgrounds are still solid, with cute details (cameo from past characters and the return of the ''dawn to dusk'' effect between rounds). And as usual, Athena appears in a new costume.

Sound: 8/10
Some re-hashes, new title music.. It's always hard to say something about KOF music unless they're awful. In this case, they're not. Ditto for the voices, which are still intelligible.

Gameplay: 9/10
The series is a combo lover's dream, so much so that a newcomer would get slaughtered by the AI, much less by veterans. But in a game otherwise, dare I say it, perfect, there's very little to be fixed. A few tweaks in the balance between characters, some new moves, and that's about it. The only drastic changes are in the return of MAX mode and near-death SDMs (which can now only be performed with a power stock while in MAX mode to make them less abusive). As a side note, May Lee and Angel have their move list completely revamped, a disarming change but one that works out for the best. The AI is still sharp, but the bosses - weak point of last year's game - are still unbalanced. The mid-bosses are too weak, while Rugal, although not as cheap as Ignis' infinite chain and power stick, is as deadly with a high defense ratio, super-quick special moves, and a very, very deadly Genocide Cutter.

This is the ninth game in the series, and unlike Street Fighter, it's not showing any signs of slowing down or getting old, even running on the same hardware for nine years. Who needs all those 32-bit graphics anyway?

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/20/02, Updated 10/20/02