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''Nothing's gonna stop it 'cause it's 1998!''|'''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7GcbCgEqcE Cipher]''', [[Thematic Theme Tune]] of ''[[The King of Fighters]] '98'' (and its [[Updated Rerelease]], ''Ultimate Match'', as a remixed version).}}
 
The ''King of Fighters'' series started out as a crossover fighting game, featuring some of the most popular characters from [[SNK]] Playmore's (known as ''SNK'' back then) fighting game franchises: ''[[Video Gaem/Fatal Fury|Fatal Fury]]'' and ''[[Art of Fighting]]'', as well as classic SNK games such as ''[[Ikari Warriors (Video Game)|Ikari Warriors]]'' and ''[[Psycho Soldier (Video Game)|Psycho Soldier]]'', splitting them up into teams of three (four in the NESTS Saga), duking it out in one-on-one battles similar to its major competition at the time, ''[[Street Fighter]]''.
 
Although the first game was merely intended to be a [[Mascot Fighter]], the series became more popular than the others that inspired it, and [[Continuity Creep|an overreaching plot soon developed that took the other SNK fighters along for the ride]].
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* The '''Orochi Saga''' arc, which concerns Kyo Kusanagi (the winner of the first King of Fighters tournament) and a thousand-year blood feud with the Yagami family, who have gained demonic power thanks to a pact with a being known as "Orochi".
* The '''NESTS''' arc, which focuses on the titular organisation and their conspiracy to [[Cloning Blues|create weaponized clones]] of the most powerful warriors in the world. As Kyo is absent for the majority of this arc, the main protagonist is a new character called K' (pronounced "kay dash").
* The '''Tales of Ash''' arc, which introduces androgynous French pretty boy Ash Crimson as the new main character. The story involves a sinister plot to capture the powers of the Kusanagi, Yagami and Kagura clans and [[Sealed Evil in Aa Can|seize the sealed power of Orochi]], and the question of [[Enigmatic Minion|just whose side Ash is on]].
 
(More detailed summaries of each arc- and the individual games- can be found in the [[The King of Fighters (Video Game)/Analysis|Analysis]] section.)
 
The games were initially released on the (ridiculously expensive) [[Neo Geo]] home arcade system, so they had a hard time catching on with North American home gamers, but remained very popular in Japan, as well as with arcade gamers worldwide. It released new editions of the game every year with [[Madden NFL (Video Game)|Madden-like regularity]], introducing new characters and rosters into the storyline, while the old characters have seemingly retained their basic sets of special moves throughout the series, probably to dodge the problem of the older games being [[So Last Season]].
 
In addition to the thirteen games of the main ''KOF'' storyline, there are multiple spinoffs, remakes and [[Dream Match Game|"dream match"]] titles (that combine all the characters of that particular saga into one game).
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Aside from fighting games and tie-ins, there were the rather infamous [[Dating Sim]] games for mobiles and [[Nintendo DS]], ''Days Of Memories'' allowed the Player Character to venture in Southtown and date most of the fighting divas from the series (and [[Fatal Fury|from]] [[Art of Fighting|others]]); later versions also allowed a girl Player Character to date the male fighters as well.
 
[[The King of Fighters (Video Game)/Characters|This is the character sheet]]. Be warned, the gross [[Loads and Loads of Characters|amount of characters]] in this series is taken to ''an extreme degree''.
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=== This series names the following tropes: ===
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* [[Amazon Brigade]]: Women Fighters Team, in its various incarnations. In ''2003'', the High School Girls Team replaced the Psycho Soldiers Team, which consisted of Athena, Hinako, and Malin.
* [[The Anime of the Game]]: ''Another Day''.
* [[Announcer Chatter]]: In the ''Maximum Impact'' series. This might be the only announcer in the series to rival those of ''[[Street Fighter]]'', ''[[Marvel vs. Capcom]]'', and ''[[SNSNK Kvsvs. Capcom|Capcom vs. SNK]]''. And ''[[Large Ham Announcer|that's]]'' saying something.
{{quote| "''[[Title Scream|The King of Fighters: Maximum Impact]]'' '''''[[Incoming Ham|TWOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!]]'''''" <br />
"First attack!"<br />
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* [[Creepy Twins]]: The two that appear in the Ikari Team's ''XI'' ending.
* [[Crisis Crossover]]
* [[Cursed Withwith Awesome]]: The Orochi bloodline, which has [[Elemental Powers]] and blade-fingers by default for most members. Then the [[Unstoppable Rage|Riot of]] [[Super-Powered Evil Side|the Blood]] happens and things get a little messy for everyone nearby. Also an example of [[Hereditary Curse]].
** It's also been stated that members of the Yagami bloodline have a tendency to die young, most likely due to the Riot. Puking up all that blood on a regular basis can't be healthy...
** Specifically, mixed bloodlines (i.e. Leona and Iori) can't fully control the power of Orochi, making it easy for Orochi or one of Four Heavenly Kings (Goenitz, Yashiro, Shermie, or Chris) to induce a violent, mindless rampage.
* [[Death Is Cheap]]: Averted since dead characters only return in the non-canonical [[Dream Match Game|Dream Match games]].
* [[Demoted to Extra]]: The American Sports Team from ''KOF '94''. Their only other appearance as playable characters (rather than just background and ending cameos) was in ''KOF '98'', [[Dream Match Game|which brought back almost every playable character in the series up to that point.]]
* [[Depending Onon the Artist]]: Iori's hair is either a gravity-defying pompadour or a more realistic bang that covers part of his face. Sometimes it's in between the two styles!
** K' usually has a (relatively) normal hairstyle, disheveled with a fair amount of bangs. This is consistent throughout the most of the series in terms of sprites and most artwork, but his hair will sometimes appear thick and bushy like a miniature afro, slicked, or even straight-up [[Shonen Hair]].
* [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?]]: Orochi is [[Informed Ability|supposed]] to be able to bring [[The End of the World Asas We Know It]], Goenitz is capable of [[Person of Mass Destruction|catastrophic destruction]] (with hints that Chris, Shermie, and Yashiro can do it too), yet it is never even hinted that more than three fighters were needed to defeat any of them; and in fact, Kyo is usually given all the credit for the defeat of Orochi.
* [[Difficulty Spike]]: Several games in the series suffer from this, but the three most [[Egregious]] examples would probably be in '''94'', '''96'', and ''XI''. If you reach the first cutscene (in '''94''), face the Boss Team (in '''96''), or make it to the [[Sub Boss]] (in ''XI''), expect things to take a turn for the worse.
* [[Distracted Byby the Sexy]]: Only in the comical, non-serious "ending" of ''2002'', though: Shermie makes several suggestive poses and many male characers (including [[Celibate Hero|Andy Bogard]]!) run around trying to get a good look. Clark just runs up and tackles her.
* [[Divergent Character Evolution]]:
** Clark and Ralf used to be basically the exact same character; Little more than headswaps. Over time, they evolved to the point it was downright bizarre to think they were ever similar ([[Red Oni, Blue Oni|Ralf likes to punch things, Clark tosses you around]]) Fan reaction was '''''extremely''''' negative when Clark was brought back to the rank of "[[Palette Swap|Ralf 2]]" in ''XII''.
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** Kyo and Iori were actually [[Ryu and Ken]] in '''95'', but then became wildly different in the next game; in fact, when Iori lost his flames and became a more physical fighter ala Kyo post-'''95'', Kyo ''went back'' to his old moveset.
** The console version of ''XIII'' then added the original flames Iori and "rekka" style NESTS-saga Kyo as DLC playable characters thus restoring the Kyo-Iori side of this trope two-fold (So you can have old "rekka" Kyo versus new "melee" Iori or new/old "fireball" Kyo versus old "flames" Iori.)
* [[Doomed Byby Canon]]: The New Faces/Orochi Team die in ''their'' ending, for crying out loud!
* [[Doomed Hometown]]: Southtown, the setting of sister series/AlternateContinuity ''Fatal Fury'' and ''Art of Fighting'', is all but systematically wiped out by Clone Zero's [[Kill Sat]] at the end of ''2000'' [[Turned Against Their Masters|in his attempt to rebel against the NESTS cartel]]. (This ''does'' lead to Takuma's [[Moment of Awesome (Sugar Wiki)|CMOA]] where he redirects the Zero Cannon's laser with a [[Kamehame Hadoken|Max-Power Haoh Shi Koh Ken]]/Suburu Ou Shikoh Ken to save King.) However, this plot point is absent in the next game, and by the time of ''2003'', the citizens seemingly have worked together to rebuild the shambled city.
* [[Downloadable Content]]: ''XIII'' has 3 characters made DLC, all three of them being different versions of existing characters basically serving as nostalgia.
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* [[Four Is Death]]: Goenitz, Yashiro, Shermie, and Chris are the Four Heavenly Kings of Orochi. Mature, Vice, Yamazaki, and Gaidel {{spoiler|(Leona's biological father)}} are the Four Earthly Kings of Orochi. They complete the Hakkesshu that represent the eight heads of Orochi.
* [[Game Mod]]: No matter which [[Neo Geo]] installment of the series you pick, there's always a hack of it. Primarily they tend to make bosses playable though some add new arenas, graphics and bump up character's attacks to ludicrous levels.
* [[Girls Withwith Moustaches]]: In ''XI'', the Kyokugen team's ending has Yuri, of all people, don a fake moustache as part of her disguise. Needless to say, Ryo and King aren't fooled, [http://youtube.com/watch?v=_V8Ta2KILHs nor are they amused].
* [[Hidden Depths]]: Take the time to find the official bios for each character, and you'll be surprised by some of their hobbies and other aspects of their lifestyles. For example, Kyo is ''literally'' a [[Warrior Poet]] and several characters are quite the talented musicians.
* [[Hong Kong Dub]]: Largely played straight with the ''Maximum Impact'' dub. Inverted in that the original Japanese audio doesn't always sync properly with the lip movements either, although it's far less frequent.
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** This even extended to the characters on your team who waited their turn on the sidelines (from '''94'' to '''98'') as you fought. The combatants who had yet to fight would stand and react accordingly (positive gestures if you landed a hit, not-so-positive ones if you were getting your block knocked off); KO'ed fighters would sit there silently in a defeated slump, only acknowledging the ongoing fight if their teammate(s) managed to avenge them. If you got stunned nearby your teammates you could mash buttons and one of them could jump out and briefly attack your enemy.
* [[Image Song]]: A crapload. Besides the numerous individual ones for the more popular characters (see the individual character sheet), SNK decided to create an entire ''band'' off of this concept called "The Band of Fighters." The lineup was Kyo (guitarist), Iori (bassist), Athena (lead vocalist), Terry (drummer), and [[Samurai Shodown|Nakoruru]] (pianist) as a band in some bizarre [[Alternate Universe]]. On occasion, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMII_gzYuTc other characters will lend their vocal talents to the group.] Perhaps their best known song is [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1CEfymvmp4 "The Song of Fighters II"] and its live version, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVlip4H6MqM "Bright & Fly."]
* [[I Was Young and Needed Thethe Money]]: When SNK Playmore was in dire need for some quick profit in 2005, they pulled a desperate gamble, make a game to gather many as fans as they could, but another fighting game wasn't their aim, seeing how many Bishoujo and [[Ms. Fanservice]] girls they had in ''The King of Fighters'' and other [[Art of Fighting|fighting]] [[Samurai Shodown|games]] [[Fuun Series|as]] [[Fatal Fury|well]], a series of [[Dating Sim|dating sims]] were made for mobiles and later ported over for the [[Nintendo DS]]. The series was called ''Days of Memories'' with a subtitle for each new installment, it proved to be rather successful as seven ''mobile'' games and two [[Updated Rerelease|rereleases]] for [[Nintendo DS]] were made until 2008.
** The original intent was to only aim at men with the female fighters as obvious [[Love Interests|interests]] for the average Player Character, but the series proved to worthy of their time and SNK Playmore started to whore out male fighters for female fans of the franchise as well. The initial roster for girls was composed of: '''Athena Asamiya, Kasumi Todoh, B. Jenet, King, Mai Shiranui, Yuri Sakazaki, Leona Heidern''' and '''Kula Diamond''', and the men were: '''Kyo Kusanagi, Iori Yagami, K', Ash Crimson, Terry Bogard, Rock Howard, Alba Meira''' and '''Ryo Sakazaki''', eventually after all the seven installments the choices grew to arguably as many popular guys and girls as any ''KOF'' "fan" would like to date.
** Of course massive doses of [[Alternate Continuity]], [[Hand Wave]], and [[Retcon]] were shoehorned in the games for the characters whom were already in a relationship, had love interests of their own, or just wasn't up to start a relationship with anyone in the first place, to suddenly open their hearts for the average player character to succeed at conquering their love.
* [[The Jimmy Hart Version]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ovCp9HXn-o "Jungle Bouncer,"] the theme of the ''Ikari'' team in both '''94'' and ''2002'' sounds very similar to Faith No More's [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upWUuByQLxQ "Surprise, You're Dead!"]
** On the other hand, Igniz has two of them. His ''2001'' theme, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzFIg7zmrAs "Kare koso Saikyo" ("He Is The Strongest!"),] is a faster rock version of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OivRHzXUm2A Original Zero's theme.] His new theme in ''2002UM'', [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fy16dCouwc8 "Save The Universe,"] sounds like [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6cfOUgt0h4 "Save A Future,"] Mildred Avalon's theme from ''[[Arcana Heart (Video Game)|Arcana Heart]]''.
** The Korea Team's theme in ''2000'', [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Lrlut8oXZ0 "Wild Party,"] has a few riffs indicative of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRbPWcLode0 "Crazy Train"] by "The Prince of Darkness" himself, [[Ozzy Osbourne (Music)|Ozzy Osbourne]]. In particular, compare the beginning of both songs.
* [[Leaning Onon the Fourth Wall]]: While several [[Victory Pose|Victory Poses]] seemed to be aimed at the player directly (such as Yashiro giving a sly pointer gesture, Kim's [[Twinkle Smile]], Benimaru's "I love you" and "Thank you," Shermie blowing multiple kisses, etc.), but they're also combatants in a (usually) televised, wildly popular international fighting tournament, so it's possible that they're also [[Fourth Wall Psych|appealing to their fanbase]].
* [[Left Hanging]]: The ''Maximum Impact'' series seems to be heading this route. ''2'' ended on a [[Sequel Hook]], ''Regulation A'' was simply an [[Updated Rerelease]], and ''Regulation A2'' was cancelled.
* [[Loads and Loads of Characters]]: As of ''XI'', there are 98, ''not counting'' all the clones, alternate versions, guest appearances, or those only in [[Spin-Off]] series.
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* [[The Movie]]: There's one, starring [[Ray Park]] as Rugal... and let's leave it at that.
* [[Mundane Made Awesome]]: Several.
** One of Rugal's super moves is an overhead stomp. If it connects, he breaks his opponent's neck, crushes them into the ground, and proceeds to '''''[[Everything's Better Withwith Spinning|perpetually spin in 360 degrees]] [[This Is a Drill|and drill the opponent in the gut]]'''''. Damage is sub-par, but it's well worth it. This eventually contributed to the [[Memetic Mutation|You Spin Me Right Round/Rugalspin meme]].
** In ''2002: Unlimited Match'':
*** [[Bonus Boss|Nightmare Geese]]'s Raising Dead End HSDM, wherein [[Power Glows|his hands glow]]. If he [[Counter Attack|counters]] a move then, [[Shirtless Scene|he rips his shirt off]], encases you in a giant Reppuken, and fires it at you. It sounds mundane, and yet the visual delivery is surprisingly epic.
*** Clone Zero traps you in a black hole, follows you in, and seems to [[Street Fighter II (Video Game)|Shun Goku Satsu]] you.
*** Original Zero has Ron whack your soul from your body, and then has his gang of strikers physically smash it to bits before he slots it back in.
*** Igniz [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|traps you in a galaxy and then blows it up]]. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFdo8xgMyFA Check it out] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCXYfZme4Aw for yourselves.]
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* [[No Ending]]: Usually in the case of characters added to home ports of games (who usually receive some sort of congratulatory artwork in place of an actual ending), as well as all the hidden characters in ''Maximum Impact 2''. The case of the former, this also results in no character-specific prologues and cutscenes for the sub-boss and boss.
* [[No Koreans in Japan]]: Averted.
* [[Not Just a Tournament]]: The game in a nutshell, most prominently during The Orochi Saga ('''95''-'''97'') and The Tales of Ash (''2003''-''XIII''), where the primary motive of the baddies is to [[Sealed Evil in Aa Can|unseal]] [[Orochi]] (although for varying, but no less equally evil purposes). This has happened so frequently that characters start [[Lampshade Hanging|asking]] why there can't be a regular fighting tournament that ''doesn't'' serve as the instrument for [[The End of the World Asas We Know It]] every once in a while.
* [[Numbered Sequels]]: Until recently, all of the games had the "''The King of Fighters''" title, followed by the year the game was released. This tradition stopped with the release of ''XI'', which was released two years after ''2003''. There is also a bit of confusion about this, since ''KOF: Maximum Impact 2'' was entitled "''The King of Fighters 2006''" in North America.
* [[Obvious Beta]]: ''XII'''s home version was released with very spartan single-player features (only five fights and no boss), a poorly regulated and hastily-patched online mode (to the point of being unplayable,) and massive [[Game Breaking Bug|Game Breaking Bugs]]. Studious crackers have found files on the game disc regarding [[Dummied Out]] characters.
* [[Oddball in Thethe Series]]: It seems that this title would originally go to ''2001'' with its bizarre spin on the [[Assist Character|Striker System]] (your team can go anywhere from all four characters to only one member with three Strikers), the low-quality, highly-repetitive, techno-style music that lasts for all of 30 seconds, its lukewarm conclusion to an already controversial saga, and (most of all) [[SNK Boss|"lovable" Igniz]], one of ''the'' cheapest bastards in fighting game history (to put this into perspective, ''he'' was the former posterboy for [[SNK Boss]]), but you could make a case for the [[Obvious Beta|bare bones]] ''XII'' too.
* [[Off-Model]]: Since the default sprites are used since '''96'' and the style of animators keeps evolving or the animators are changed, this is bound to happen, starting with new attacks that looks a little different in style (some attacks in ''2000'') to very noticeable art clash (starting with ''2000'' newcomers, although '''99'' newcomers are an arguable transition).
* [[Over the Shoulder Murder Shot]]: Iori does this in one of his desperation moves.
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* [[Practical Taunt]]: In earlier iterations, taunting lowers the other player's power bar (though it does the opposite in more recent installments).
* [[Public Domain Artifact]]: Treasures of Amaterasu, which is a major part of the plot the latest story arc.
* [[Put Onon a Bus]]: This happens a lot. You can't fit 80+ people in one game.
** The American Sports Team, who appeared in the first game and has only been back in a non-striker fashion only once for the "Dream Match" game, ''The King of Fighters '98'' (which still had missing characters, like Eiji, Kasumi and the '''96'' Boss Team! -- at least until ''[[Updated Rerelease|Ultimate Match]]'').
** Leona skipped ''XI''.
** Andy Bogard skipped ''2003'' and ''XI''.
** Considerably, May Lee, K9999, Foxy, and Angel haven't been seen since ''2002''.
*** [[Akira (Manga)|With the second being dead in a]] [[Bus Crash]]. [[Word of God|Permamently.]]
*** ... while Bao, King, Jhun, Hinako, Xiangfei, Shingo, Lin, and Foxy, for some unrevealed reason, '''skipped the original 2002'''! King and Shingo, however, were brought back to home versions. As for the others... expect background cameos.
*** Not to mention that ''2001'' was the ''only'' canon installment to include Foxy as a playable character. Officially. Save for ''2002UM''.
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* [[Science Is Bad]]: The underlying message with the NESTS Chronicles.
* [[Secret Project Refugee Family]]: K', Whip, and Kula have essentially been this post-NESTS saga alongside caretakers Maxima (who functions as the [[Older Sidekick]] to K', as well as Kula's [[Honorary Uncle]]), Foxy, and Diana (the [[Team Mom|Team Moms]] of the group, [[Heterosexual Life Partners|as well as]] [[Has Two Mommies|Kula's maternal figures]]).
* [[Shout-Out]]: Check [[The King of Fighters (Video Game)/Shout Out|the page]].
* [[Sibling Team]]: The Bogard Bros., who usually team up in ''KOF'' alongside their good buddy Joe. The current saga (until ''XIII'') marks the first time Andy wasn't on the roster alongside Terry.
* [[So Last Season]]: Subverted: the rosters rotate with every new season, but the special moves rarely do.
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