The King of Fighters 2000/2001

"Great Game hampared by bad controls"

I just have to say, that this game is great. I have been a fan of the King of Fighters series since around 1996. I took a long hiatus from gaming, and Dreamcast brought me back up to date with 2-D fighting. When I found out that KOF 2000/2001 would be released domestically on the PS2 in a 2-in-1 pack, I was estatic. However, PS2's offering of this game leaves alot to be desired.

Graphics: 4/10

Of course I didn't expect the graphics to be great. Since the original KOF is based off of the very outdated and obsolete MVS hardware, I wasn't expecting much. However, I played KOF 1999 and KOF Dreamatch for the Dreamcast, and those graphics are far superior to these. KOF 2000 looks best of the two. However, the backgrounds are blurry and dark. However the animation is top notch. The effects for the super moves are pretty good as well, but aren't as great as Mark Of The Wolves. 2001 offers oringal high res 3-D backdrops like the Dreamcast did on many of its adaption of KOF. However, the 2-D fighters look insanely out of place in the foreground. My suggestion is to unlock the original arcade backgrounds ASAP.

Sound and Music: 6/10

Once again 2000 sounds alot better than 2001 in terms of music. Each team has their own unique music, and while some tones range from weird to down right hookey, they are alot more imaginative than their 2001 counterparts. Kyo's theme is great in 2000, but nothing will beat Tears from 1999. The theme music for the NEST team in 2001 is certainly the standout score of the whole game.
The sound is what you would expect from a 2-D fighter. You standard and generic thwacks, and moans. Female characters like May Lee and Angel are particulary annoying. Vanessa and Vanessa have great voice overs. I also like the goofy voice overs for Shingo.

Controls: 3/10

My god, one some of the worse controls I've ever seen for a fighting game. For some odd reason, Playmore don't package its 2-D games with the analog function enabled. While not desirable, it is infintely better than the PS2s directional pad. A huge thumbs down for this one.
While Supers aren't impossible to execute, they simply aren't as reliable as I would like them to be. I found that doing Kim's super is alot easier than doing a basic HQF x2 motion. And me being a huge Angel fan was greatly disapointed. The dual shock controller is simply unacceptable to do her UC combos, and her SDM. The same problem persist with K9999. His DP+ABCD move is nearly impossible to do.
Playmore did package this game with many control option either, which would have greatly helped with these stiff controls.

Gameplay: 8/10

While this is two games basically, both of them have solid gameplay. 2001 is of course my favorite of the two.
In 2000 you chose a team of 4 with one of the four being a striker. Each striker has a maniac striker. You can do insane combos when you combine the super canceling possiblities with strikers. 2000 also adopts the Counter and Armor modes from 1999. And to do a SDM, you simply must press two buttons simulataneously in additon to the command. 2000 has more flexible supers than 2001.
In 2001, the word is flexibility. Here you have to chose a team of 4, however you have a choice as to which members of your teams will be fighting and which ones will be strikers. Strikers now take an entire super guage, unlike the striker bombs in 2000. Here you can increase you combability (not a real word, I know) depending on which characters you choose. Each character has a SDM, however for some characters, the SDM is different. The conditions for doing a SDM depends on how you set up your team for the match. AS anyone familair with the Capcom vs. SNK series knows, this scheme is balanced out with a ratio system.
Despite these improvements, the chances for infinites is much greater in both of these games. There is also some resulting imbalance in boths systems, especially in 2001. However, one should not let these detail distract you from two very solid fighting games.

characters: 8/10

2000 has a good selection of chracters, but 2001 is defintely better. Many characters have new moves from 1999. And characters like Kenshou and Shingo have been completely revamped from 2000 to 2001. I really didn't like Seth much, but Vanessa is awesome. Plus in 2001 you get Angel and May Lee, two of my favorite characters to use. Ramon is also a great new addition to the KOF task. Between the two games, its is easy to see that 2001 has a much more well rounded cast. To be honest with you, I haven't even touch Terry since I purchased this game. Which goes to show you that there are more than enough characters in both disk to keep you occupied days, months, and possibly years on end.

The final verdict is a 6, partly because of the cumbersome controls. This game is definitely worth a rental for any fan not familiar with KOF. For diehard fans like myself, this is a purchase. Just make sure you have an arcade stick handy for this one.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 01/02/04