"King of Fighters 98, version 2 (wow!)"

So what's better to celebrate the end of a story arc in KOF? A dream match of course! And dream matches are always good. So after the messed-up ending of the NESTS saga, we turn to KOF 2002, the newest KOF to date. Is it good? Yes, but it lacks a certain something.

Graphics: 8.5
The graphics are better this time around, not only the background feels more professional, they also vary each round (Holland and China stage for example). All in all a nice improvement for the background.
For the sprites, they have new animations for Vice, Yashiro, Athena and Kim, especially Kim and which looks so well-animated that it feels out of place. Kim now has a totally new look and animations for every move and normals. It does look cool, but again it's out of place. Athena's new sprite and animations look quite cute and it's nice to see her with long hair again (I thought she's going bald in 2k2...seriously).
There's also varying new animations like Choi's far C (which looks reaaally weird) and Yashiro's far C.
You might want to think that the HSDMs will have new cool animations, but most of them are actually combining old animations or maybe used sometime before. Billy's counter HSDM does look pretty cool if it hits though.
Oh yeah, Nona's drawing the out-game arts, and they are definately better than 2k1. The in-game art looks really good (mostly...Athena's huge eyes scare me in her portrait during character selection), they're drawn by the Buriki One artist, and I hope that he's getting more involved with the artwork section for KOF (I think he's drawing the in-game arts for SvC too).
The palette choice goes back to 4 as well, but some look really weird (Kula K', zombie Ryo and Billy are...umm...)

Sound: 8
The music is better than 2k1 (of course)...but the sound quality is still midi-ish. I dunno why they're still doing the midi music especially that the sound quality before 2k1 is much better than this.
The tunes are mostly remixes of old themes, but there are new stage themes for 2k2, most of them are average but some of them are quite good, IMHO the Japan and Italy stage themes are quite nice. BUT there's one big letdown which I personally don't like, and it's that the theme switches if another character shows up in another round. If the game is fast, the last theme will most likely end before it gets to its chorus, which quite...sucked.
I personally like Kim's theme which sounded better than the rest (2k2 must be Kim's year...), and the usual greats like Tears and Arashi no Sax #2. There are a few disappointing ones like Jungle Bouncer (if listened outside of the game it sounds HORRIBLE) and the 97 special team's theme.
The hit sounds (dunno how to describe) were changed as well, and longtime KOF players might need to get used to it when the first play it. But it isn't too much of a problem.
The characters' voices are fine, most of them are just same old same old but some of the returning characters sport totally new speech like Chris, Vice and Mature. Overall a nice change for returning characters.

Gameplay: 9
I'll just make it short and simple: The 2k2 system is KOF 98's Advance mode plus move canceling and roll canceling (you can roll when you're attacking) and HSDMs. And that's pretty much it, really.
While it's a sure-fire way to have a nice, playable, fun game, going the safe route of KOF 98 is IMHO, a step back. KOF 2K2 should be a dream match for KOF 99 thru 2K1, not KOF 94 thru 98 with updated rosters (sounds like a sports game...). And the system should represent the 99 thru 2K1 era, which means the striker system even though most old players don't like it.
I believe there's nothing truely innovative in 2K2.
The BC mode (or MAX mode) is basically 98's Advance mode, with move cancellation. It's the same old, same old. But if I'm not mistaken, getting into BC mode actually weakens your character's damage instead of strengthening him/her. Which is pretty good. In BC mode you can also execute SDMs and, when your life is low, you can execute HSDMs. I don't see much difference from 98's Advance mode here...
Okay, you can say about the roll cancel, but from what I saw, it actually pisses more people off than helping them. Some players press the buttons so fast that they somehow pressed AB together during an attack and they go ''huh?'' Maybe it's me, but I don't find roll canceling really useful.
The move canceling thing is like custom combos, except that it's more restricted and doesn't look boring. For every time you cancel a certain move (only certain moves can be cancelled into another in BC mode) for another, the BC mode timer decrease by a certain amount. I think it's a great implementation by Playmore/Eolith, and I applaud that.
HSDMs. Ah, they are the new fad of KOF. Yes, yes, they are cool, they look sexy with the blue background, but hey, a good number of them are pretty useless and don't even look halfway impressive. And there's no indication on where in your lifebar you can execute the HSDMs (a flashing lifebar is used for the guard gauge). Depending on the character, some HSDMs aren't just worth using at all, like Seth's. Or maybe a really useful one like Terry's. Some of them also have really weird motions which require practice.
CD guard counters are back to 98 style, which means that you deal a little damage when you execute a CD guard counter while blocking. It promotes turtling, and I'm not sure why they would want to include this in the game. In addition, dizzy (not the GGX/XX character!) is gone, or at least I don't see it at all. Which is a welcome addition. Why would you want to get hit by a damaging move or combo when you just had another one which made you dizzy? It's a bit weird, but it's a welcome subtraction and I hope that Playmore will keep it. And the usual Super Canceling of course, which like 2k1, only works with certain moves (in addition, the move canceling/custom combo only works with certain moves).
So while it's okay to play it safe, and it has a few nice innovations here and there, AND it works well, I don't approve of it.
Alright, enough system bashing. Now let's bash the boss Rugal, because he's totally unfair. His Reppuken is so quick; Kaiser Wave so quick; uppercut so quick; and a new move which can be a juggle...and you can find yourself totally overpowered by this crazy dude who's in his...4th KOF appearance. I would've preferred that NESTS old dude with the big sword in 2K1 (the one who got his head sucked by the loveable Igniz), but hey, Rugal is authentic KOF. He is really hard to beat though, and even if you deal some damage to him, it's pretty minimal and he recovers most of it in the next round. Mmm...turtling paradise!
Character balance is told to be the best in KOF so far, and I agree...KOF 2k2 is a well-balanced game where nobody has no chance against another character (okay, except Athena when she decides to play zoning). Some require more effort to be good, some require less. Even though I still think Chris is still way too fast and K9999 is the same annoying guy from 2K1, at least you can hold your own if your skill is up to par.
There's also notably MUCH less infinites and bugs in 2k2 when compared to 2k1, which is of course good news, at least to Angel players. =P

Characters: 8
As said before, it's KOF 98 with updated rosters. There are notable omissions, eg. Shingo, King, Jhun, Lin and Bao (actually Bao is a welcome omission). But that's really it, KOF 98 with an updated roster. But the cast should keep a lot of people happy. And hey, if you're not happy, just don't play KOF 2k2. The character list is vast, and there's alternate/secret characters like Kusanagi, Orochi Yashiro, Shermie and Chris. Hate to be the bearer of boredom, but overall it's a nice cast that most KOF players will agree on.

Misc (used to be story): 6
There's notable omissions in the soul department for 2k2. Where's the intro between Chang and Choi? Andy and Mai? And the most notable omission, Kyo and Iori (okay, they have special winposes)? It's inexcusable for Playmore/Eolith to omit these things which make KOF alive and interesting. They can just use the ones in 2k1 and it's better than just taking them off. Where's the life in this? Is this a MUGEN game? No, it's KOF, and I mean, KOF 98 is also a dream match and has more special intros that aren't reused animations. See what I mean? 2k2 has no soul...that's what disappointed me.

Overall: 7.9
Per usual, no fractions so it's an 8. But it's not a good 8 because there's obvious flaws which make this game feels un-KOF for some reasons. It's a good, fun and enjoyable game, and by all means you should try it out whenever you have the chance to. It's just so much like KOF 98 that I decided to Initial D: Arcade Stage (my latest obsession, excuse me...) it and name KOF 2k2 ''The King of Fighters 98 Version 2.''

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/18/03, Updated 07/18/03