Which of the KOF is the best that is available on Switch?

[_zoipi]

For some reasons i need a new fighting game for my Switch to casually play in the queue for wrestling events in Madrid since some of the friends i have there also enjoy fighting games. KoF would be ideal?

So, we have...

94
95
96
97
98
99
2000
2001
2002
2003

Which is the best of those to mostly casual play? I enjoyed XIV and i think i can jump into one of the classic ones. Preferably i want one of those that let you fully choose your roster instead of having preset teams.

 

[Mike Rambo]

The golden rule: 98 and 2002. Consider Garou: Mark of the Wolves as well. Not a team based game, but another shining star in terms of SNK fighters available on switch

 

[Hailinel]

98 is widely considered one of the best, if not the best.

 

[Lant_War]

98 is the perfect place to start.

 

[Neoxon]

Definitely go for KoF '98. Also, buy Garou, you'll thank me later.

 

[Xenosaga]

98 without a doubt.

 

[Deleted member 202]

You can't go wrong with 98. Then 02 if you want more.

 

[Deleted member 12790]

The Tournament in the Fatal Fury series is called "The King of Fighters," thats where "King of Fighters" gets it's name, it's a concurrent series, like a gaiden.

As such, Garou: Mark of the Wolves is my answer, with the additional caveat that it's the greatest 2D fighting game ever made.

 

[Virtua Sanus]

For people that might find 98 overwhelming due to too many characters be sure to give Garou a shot. It is not a KOF game but it is very commonly considered by many as one of the best 2D fighting games of all time. Just check out this intro!



Also, be sure to play with a friend if at all possible. Some of these games have excellent single player content for the time, but they are always going to be best with friends.

 

[Normal]

How can 98 be the best if it doesn't have K'.

 

[Bard]

Does 98 have Leona and Vanessa?

 

[Deleted member 12790]

 

[_zoipi]

Okay... ELI5 why Garou is so well recieved? I just want the best bang for my buck and if Garou has a lesser roster than KoF 98 or 2002...

 

[Jawmuncher]

The one with the best opening

 

[Deleted member 12790]

Does 98 have Leona and Vanessa?

Click to shrink...

Leona, yes, Vanessa, no, she debuted in KOF 99.

KOF 98 is a dream match, so dead characters can return. As such, it features every single character in a KOF game up to that point, including the USA sports team which hadn't been seen in 5 years at that point.

 

[Bard]

Leona, yes, Vanessa, no, she debuted in KOF 99.

KOF 98 is a dream match, so dead characters can return. As such, it features every single character in a KOF game up to that point, including the USA sports team which hadn't been seen in 5 years at that point.

Click to shrink...

If it doesn't have Vanessa, how can it be called the best?

 

[Deleted member 4067]

98

First game I bought on Switch on launch day after Zelda

 

[Lua]

Not KoF,but i really recomend anyone that wants to get into snk games to start with garou. That game is basically perfect. If you want a kof tho, either 98 or 2002.

 

[Deleted member 12790]

Okay... ELI5 why Garou is so well recieved? I just want the best bang for my buck and if Garou has a lesser roster than KoF 98 or 2002...

Click to shrink...

Fatal Fury is the successor to street fighter. Street Fighter and Fatal fury were designed and directed by the same man, Takashi Nishiyama. Nishiyama left Capcom for SNK, and Fatal Fury was his spiritual successor to Street Fighter, a sequel without the same name. Fatal Fury is Street Fighter's primary rival in the fighting game market, it's SNK's flagship series, and, along with street fighter, was the primary game that drove and evolved the genre during the 90's golden era of fighting games. Both series copied each other back and forth, one upping each other constantly. The King of Fighter series itself is a gaiden to Fatal Fury, the backdrop of all the Fatal Fury games is "the king of fighters tournament."

Garou: Mark of the Wolves is the last Fatal Fury game, it's Fatal Fury 4. It's the ultimate evolution of the series, SNK's magnum opus, from the team that literally invented the genre. It's widely considered SNK's answer to Street Fighter III: 3rd strike, both in terms of graphics and gameplay.

Garou's roster is excellent. The balance in the game is perfect. All the characters have real depth, but it's still pick up and play. The driving theme behind the roster for Garou is "remix." It might be lost on you a bit because you haven't played other FF games, but every character in Garou is some sort of descendant from previous games (garou takes place after a large timeskip). This means all the characters feel familiar, but have large tweaks and differences. Each character is wildly different from one another, in a very classic "Street Fighter II" sort of way. Literally every single character in Garou is incredibly fun to play as. The game also has some really good mechanics, like Just Defend, which is SNK's answer to SF3's parry.

 

[Pla-pla-place holder]

You cant go wrong with 98 and if i may get u some garou, real bout special, or real bout 2 while your at it.

 

[_zoipi]

Fatal Fury is the successor to street fighter. Street Fighter and Fatal fury were designed and directed by the same man, Takashi Nishiyama. Nishiyama left Capcom for SNK, and Fatal Fury was his spiritual successor to Street Fighter, a sequel without the same name. Fatal Fury is Street Fighter's primary rival in the fighting game market, it's SNK's flagship series, and, along with street fighter, was the primary game that drove and evolved the genre during the 90's golden era of fighting games. Both series copied each other back and forth, one upping each other constantly. The King of Fighter series itself is a gaiden to Fatal Fury, the backdrop of all the Fatal Fury games is "the king of fighters tournament."

Garou: Mark of the Wolves is the last Fatal Fury game, it's Fatal Fury 4. It's the ultimate evolution of the series, SNK's magnum opus, from the team that literally invented the genre. It's widely considered SNK's answer to Street Fighter III: 3rd strike, both in terms of graphics and gameplay.

Click to shrink...

Okay... For which reasons? Controls, easy of accesibility, mechanics, gimmics... If i just want a good fighting game to play with friends that are somewhat known in this fighting game shtic (we both wtched and enjoyed High Score Girl), why should i get Garou insted of a more packed KoF 98/2002?

 

[RecRoulette]

98 is where you start

 

[Deleted member 5148]

OP, you know how sometimes there's only one truth in life? Choose KOF99.

 

[Deleted member 12790]

Okay... For which reasons? Controls, easy of accesibility, mechanics, gimmics... If i just want a good fighting game to play with friends that are somewhat known in this fighting game shtic (we both wtched and enjoyed High Score Girl), why should i get Garou insted of a more packed KoF 98/2002?

Click to shrink...

The primary reason people say Garou is so great is the gameplay. It has tight controls, very fluid animation with lots of cancels (so very responsive with a lot of visual cues), great mechanics (TOP, just defend, frame cancels, super combo breakers, dodging), is extremely well balanced, with all the characters playing very differently from one another. It has a lot of depth but is also very pick up and play. Someone who has never played it before can have fun with it just as much as someone who has put in a thousand hours of training.

It's also drop dead gorgeous:

Garou is way, way more accessible to beginners than any of the KOF games, or any other SNK game for that matter. "Easy to pick up, difficult to master" is Garou to a T.

 

[Jaded Alyx]

Was I dreaming or did SNK say they were working on a new Fatal Fury?

 

[Laser Ramon]

Outside of 98 and 2002 for the rosters alone, I am quite partial to 2003. Things get weird.

 

[Phoenixazure]

98 for pure gameplay, kof97 and 99 for story

 

[Kewlmyc]

Was I dreaming or did SNK say they were working on a new Fatal Fury?

Click to shrink...

A new KOF

 

[Jaded Alyx]

A new KOF

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Yeh I know about that, but I feel like I heard talk about bringing FF back as well.

 

[RestEerie]

98 is the best in terms of gameplay variety. 97 is always best for me in terms of story...

 

[NeonZ]

Garou in spite of a smaller roster has more detailed animations than KoF with a higher number of sprites for each animation, alongside some great backgrounds. The systems also are simpler than KoF's but they work great.

98 and 2002 have the best gameplay in the KoF series, so if you actually have local competition you might as well go with them. Their arcade modes are rather lacking compared to the standard games though (like 97 or 99) lacking mid-games cutscenes and their endings are just random pictures.

KOF 98 is a dream match, so dead characters can return. As such, it features every single character in a KOF game up to that point, including the USA sports team which hadn't been seen in 5 years at that point.

Click to shrink...

98 lacks the boss (96) and rival (95) teams for some reason (well, probably memory, but I really don't get bringing back the USA team over the boss team).

 

[Deleted member 7092]

I too am completely new to this series, and of course am now very interested in checking it out thanks to the Smash announcement.

Garou sounds like the best all-around game, but how about the best Terry-centric game?

From the Wikipedia description of Terry in Garou:

"In Garou, he has a new look: his long blond ponytail is trimmed, and he has exchanged his trademark red vest, hat, and sneakers for a brown bomber jacket and work boots. Terry has a new Desperation Move, the "Buster Wolf"; however, he can no longer perform his original trademark move, the "Rising Tackle", which now belongs to Rock Howard."

This seems like an alternate take on Terry, as opposed to the blueprint the Smash version will be based on. I'm curious as to which game has the most authentic/classic Terry Bogard incarnation!

 

[Deleted member 12790]

I too am completely new to this series, and of course am now very interested in checking it out thanks to the Smash announcement.

Garou sounds like the best all-around game, but how about the best Terry-centric game?

From the Wikipedia description of Terry in Garou:

"In Garou, he has a new look: his long blond ponytail is trimmed, and he has exchanged his trademark red vest, hat, and sneakers for a brown bomber jacket and work boots. Terry has a new Desperation Move, the "Buster Wolf"; however, he can no longer perform his original trademark move, the "Rising Tackle", which now belongs to Rock Howard."

This seems like an alternate take on Terry, as opposed to the blueprint the Smash version will be based on. I'm curious as to which game has the most authentic/classic Terry Bogard incarnation!

Click to shrink...

Terry still pretty much plays like Terry in Garou. He lacks his rising tackle, but the crack shoot still gives him an arial counter and rising attack. To give street fighter terms, Rising Tackle was more like Ryu's dragon punch, while crack shoot was more like Ken's dragon punch (i.e. more horizontal).

Terry is still the co-star of Garou: MotW. He and Rock Howard share the center stage. The story is about how he and rock howard have bonded as father and son.

I actually like Terry's bomber jacket look better than his red jacket look.

 

[Deleted member 12790]

98 lacks the boss (96) and rival (95) teams for some reason (well, probably memory, but I really don't get bringing back the USA team over the boss team).

Click to shrink...

Is the switch version not KOF 98 UM? Because it added back in the boss team and rival team.

 

[Deleted member 7092]

Terry still pretty much plays like Terry in Garou. He lacks his rising tackle, but the crack shoot still gives him an arial counter and rising attack. To give street fighter terms, Rising Tackle was more like Ryu's dragon punch, while crack shoot was more like Ken's dragon punch (i.e. more horizontal).

Terry is still the co-star of Garou: MotW. He and Rock Howard share the center stage. The story is about how he and rock howard have bonded as father and son.

I actually like Terry's bomber jacket look better than his red jacket look.

Click to shrink...

I really appreciate you evangelizing Garou! You've been a wonderful resource in this thread, and you've completely sold me on picking it up.

However! I'm open to buying two of these games. Garou is a lock. Do you have any input on what the second should be, given my original post?

I don't particularly like Terry's default design—he looks painfully generic to my untrained eyes, but that's precisely why I'm trying to understand his history better. I want the visual context for his classic look so I can fully appreciate Sakurai's attention to detail when he drops in November.

 

[Deleted member 12790]

I really appreciate you evangelizing Garou! You've been a wonderful resource in this thread, and you've completely sold me on picking it up.

However! I'm open to buying two of these games. Garou is a lock. Do you have any input on what the second should be, given my original post?

Click to shrink...

KOF 98 hands down. Don't get me wrong when I say Garou is miles better -- it's miles better than the other SNK games, which themselves are amazing. KOF 98 is one of the best fighting games ever made. It's just that Garou is even better. That's not a knock on KOF 98, rather it's an indication of just how good Garou is.

KOF 98 has some of the best classic terry animations in the series. KOF 98 is pretty iconic terry.

If not KOF 98, pick up Fatal Fury Real Bout 2. It's the "Street Fighter Alpha 3" of the Fatal Fury series.

 

[Deleted member 7092]

KOF 98 hands down. Don't get me wrong when I say Garou is miles better -- it's miles better than the other SNK games, which themselves are amazing. KOF 98 is one of the best fighting games ever made. It's just that Garou is even better. That's not a knock on KOF 98, rather it's an indication of just how good Garou is.

KOF 98 has some of the best classic terry animations in the series. KOF 98 is pretty iconic terry.

If not KOF 98, pick up Fatal Fury Real Bout 2. It's the "Street Fighter Alpha 3" of the Fatal Fury series.

Click to shrink...

98 it is! Thanks again—I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to explain all of this to us SNK fighting game newcomers :)

 

[Man God]

Real Bout 2 is great.

 

[ggx2ac]

 

[Man God]

That picture is wrong but always cracks me up. Always.

 

[NeonZ]

This seems like an alternate take on Terry, as opposed to the blueprint the Smash version will be based on. I'm curious as to which game has the most authentic/classic Terry Bogard incarnation!

Click to shrink...

It's very likely the Garou look will be an alternate costume in Smash Bros, although obviously that's not confirmed yet. He only loses one attack compared to standard Terry anyway (His new Buster Wolf attack has been used by standard Terry too in later games).

The KoF versions of Terry also are tweaked starting from 96 to 98, since his Power Wave projectile becomes a shorter range explosion (KoF 98 actually has both versions of Terry alongside other alternate versions of characters that received big changes through the years) in addition to gaining or losing some secondary extra attacks that aren't part of his iconic moves.

Real Bout Fatal Fury 2 (don't mix it up with standard Fatal Fury 2) was the last Fatal Fury game before Garou and it looks and plays pretty well, although obviously still with a much smaller line up than KoF. The sprites are bigger and brighter, somewhat reminiscent of Capcom's SF Alpha series.

 

[Deleted member 7092]

It's very likely the Garou look will be an alternate costume in Smash Bros, although obviously that's not confirmed yet. He only loses one attack compared to standard Terry anyway (His new Buster Wolf attack has been used by standard Terry too in later games).

The KoF versions of Terry also are tweaked starting from 96, since his Power Wave projectile becomes a shorter range explosion (98 actually has both versions). Real Bout Fatal Fury 2 (don't mix it up with standard Fatal Fury 2) was the last Fatal Fury game with before Garou and it looks and plays pretty well, although obviously still with a much smaller line up than KoF. The sprites are bigger and brighter, somewhat reminiscent of Capcom's SF Alpha series.

Click to shrink...

It's just crazy to me that I've been a forum-dwelling game nerd for over 15 years and I have no frame of reference whatsoever for this apparently well-regarded and rich franchise with more entries in it to count. I've never been much into fighting games outside of Smash Bros., but still!

It's interesting to hear how much Terry has evolved over the years. Though I supposed the same can be said of Ryu and Ken (or at least, I'm assuming—I've not played enough Street Fighter to know first-hand).

I wonder which version of Terry will provide the biggest influence for his Smash rendition?

 

[MistaTwo]

If you are looking to play with friends casually, I would recommend any of these SNK fighters:

KOF 98
KOF 2002
SamSho V Special
Garou:MOW
Real Bout 2

There are plenty of others that are great games, but those are the ones I continually find myself coming back to play with friends.

 

[woodypop]

The KoF versions of Terry also are tweaked starting from 96, since his Power Wave projectile becomes a shorter range explosion (KoF 98 actually has both versions of Terry alongside other alternate versions of characters that received big changes through the years) in addition to gaining or losing some secondary extra attacks that aren't part of his iconic moves.

Click to shrink...

That's another reason why I like '98: alternate versions of many of the characters, for even more variety. Played a lot of it on Dreamcast.

 

[Deleted member 1190]

Okay... For which reasons? Controls, easy of accesibility, mechanics, gimmics... If i just want a good fighting game to play with friends that are somewhat known in this fighting game shtic (we both wtched and enjoyed High Score Girl), why should i get Garou insted of a more packed KoF 98/2002?

Click to shrink...

Are you asking for a big roster or a good fighting game? Because just having more characters doesn't mean it's a better game.

 

[UnsungVagrant]

I actually like 2000 more than 2002 just for the music and artwork alone. Can't go wrong with 98. Last blade 2 and Garou are also really good games.

 

[Deleted member 12790]

An alternate suggestion to KOF 98 would be KOF 97. I feel like KOF 97 and KOF 98 are a lot like Final Fantasy 6 and 7 -- they're so similar that if you like one, you're pretty much guaranteed to like the other, but the devil is in the details. KoF 97 focuses primarily on story and presentation: many stages lack BGM or only have subtle BGM, making it feel like a real fighting tournament, and it has one of the greatest fighting game endings of all time. By contrast, KOF98 focuses on roster and completely ditches the story, it's an actual Dream Match so even dead characters return. KOF 97 might lose something without 3 games of build up coming prior, but the ending is still great:

Spoiler

The Kasanagi and Yagami clans have been mortal enemies for 800 years due to an ancient evil spirit called the Orochi corrupting the Yagami clan. Their two modern decendents, Kyo and Iori, meet for the first time in KoF 95 and become blood enemies.

At the climax of KoF 97, the Orochi is ressurected and claims Iori as his slave, and commands him to murder Kyo, unleashing his bezerker power. As Iori lunges towards Kyo, an ancient spirit talks to Kyo and explains to him that history has been perverted, the Orochi disrupted destiny and has created an endless cycle of violence and death. The Kasanagi and Yagami clans were never supposed to be mortal enemies, their destiny was to be the greatest team up in history, and the spirit begs Kyo to end the cycle.

At the last moment, Iori misses Kyo and instead grabs the Orochi by the neck, seemingly breaking his bond. Then this:

The screen fades to white, and their fates are unknown. At the time, this was supposed to be the last story appearance for either. in KoF 99, the next story-focused game in the series, they were absent from the roster originally (they are hidden characters, though) with the plot focusing on an army of Kyo clones suddenly popping up, ala the Death and Return of Superman.

Legitimately one of the hypest moments in video game history, especially because it came after 3 years of build up. When the bombastic, heroic music kicks in, after what has largely been a game without subtle BGM... holy shit

 

[Ferrio]

KoF98. Garou is a great game, but it's a game you'll appreciate more if you've been introduced to the other games first. KoF98 just has the numbers too, so you're more likely to find characters that resonate with you (arguably the most important aspect of a fighting game). Get a friend, both random select, have fun.

Spoiler

Pick Blue Mary too

Also shout outs to KoF99 cause not many people will.

 

[Deleted member 12790]

It's interesting to hear how much Terry has evolved over the years.

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SNK always put way, way more focus into their fighting game story and universe than pretty much any other fighting game series except Mortal Kombat. It makes diving into the characters way more fun than in street fighter, as they have some great motivations. Their stories also play out over several games, which allows for some real build up and incredible climaxes. The most dramatic beats in the overall SNK fighting universe's story are incredible.

 

[Choppasmith]

Click to shrink...

This never fails to crack me up.

I'm glad to see KOF 98 getting the love. A lot of people will say 2002 (is that not on Switch?) but I don't think that's a good showcase of what really made SNK stick out from the competition. The presentation is really subpar compared to their other stuff.