KOF2003 - King of Fighters - strategy, links, and stuff

Hello all!

Well, last week I cracked and went on a three day emulation spree. I always play the occasional old classics on Znes, but I recently download epsx, kawaks, nebula, mame, mugen, o f*** yeah. Lot of good games out there on the web for these systems. I even found Tekken 3, one of my all time favs! (I am a Tekken to VF convert)

So...i have decided to pick up KOF 2003, and except for dabbling in SF2 and capcom vs snk 2 , I dont have have much experience in 2d fighters.

I have found a cool text document guide on kof2003, but not too much else. can someone out there suggest some websites in regards to kof? any general tips for a beginner like me in this?

lastly, if you have no game system, are a little bored and have some time, check out some of the emulators i listed above, and here are some games i suggest to look for (i was succesful in finding):

NeoGeo Samurai Shodown IV
NeoGeo SNK vs CAPCOM Chaos
NeoGeo KOF 2003
NeoGeo The Last Blade 2
NeoGeo Aero Fighters 2/3
CPS2 Marvel vs Capcom
CPS2 Street Fighter Alpha 3
CPS2 X-men vs Street Fighter

Thanks for the help!

 

If you're interested in learning KoF I'd make the following suggestions:

KoF 98
KoF 2002
KoF NeoWave
KoF XI

KoF 2003 is not a very popular game at all, in fact I'm pretty sure a lot of the die hard KoF players hate that game. KoF 98 is the old school KoF game that many consider the overall best, KoF 2002 is like an updated 98 and NeoWave is kind of like an updated 2002. XI is a very modern KoF with a 3 on 3 tagging system, it's quite different to older KoFs tho so some players don't like it. In fact people seem to either love it or hate it.

98, 2002 and NW are all "dream match" games which means any char in KoF may be in them, regardless of whether they are dead or not in the on going story of the KoF games.

2002 has a very solid engine, it's straight forward to learn but has lots of depth to it (BC cancel combos, counter hit blow off combos, guard cancel blow offs etc...). 2002 is probably my favourite KoF game.

For basic info check out:

www.gamefaqs.com

Just type in the game you're looking forward and there'll be plenty of stuff to start you off with. Also check out

www.neoempire.com

for some KoF discussion and vids.

 

Well, I picked up a lot of those for the PS2.
If you're going emu I think the later Fatal Fury's are a lot of fun as well, Real Bout FF 2 and such.

I picked up playing KoF only last year myself and I tried a number of versions. Personally I prefer 2003 over 2002. But then this is from someone with no history in KoF whatsoever and thus doesn't notice the engine-switch besides the fact that things generally look prettier. The tag-teams make it a lot more fun for me. But I'm really waiting for XI at the moment (EU release for PS2 5 december or so).

Besides that I'm a huge King fan, thus 2002 and NeoWave are rather lacking (as they are the only ones not includng her I believe). But this is rather much a non-argument. I picked up 2003 mostly because it was the latest version available at the time.

Ah well, pick whichever one you want. As you're emu-ing I don't think there's much competition so all you need is the game you personally prefer.

 

KoF02 on the PS2 is simply horrible tho, a very poor conversion. It's only redeeming feature is more chars to unlock (Geese, Goenitz and Orochi Iori). The graphics are poor, speed is messed up, has bugs and glitches etc. Play the DC version and you'll see how KoF02 should look and play. In fact if you really want to see how KoF02 should be, play it on the Neo Geo or Arcade, then you'll get a feel for it.

King is 100% in KoF02 on the PS2, you need to unlock her, same with Shingo, just complete the Time Attack. It's a joke on PS2 as Rugal is selectable from the beginning so you can just rinse thru Time Attack (you have to unlock Rugal on DC version). You can also get Kusanagi (old style Kyo).

King's in NW too. To get some of the extra chars you just need to hold R1 over specific chars on the select screen and then pick them (Kim, Geese, Orochi Chris, Orochi Shermie and Orochie Yashiro are picked in this way for sure off the top of my head).

There's plenty of competition for KoF, you only need to see what is run at SBO and the like (NW and XI over the past 2 years I think). In fact there have been plenty of events for KoF02 over the past year in the UK and Europe alone. Hence if you want to get into playing KoF and try to get involved with a scene or play other people, KoF02 (or 98 for old school) is a good bet.


In fact, Neko here's a ton of strats for you courtesy of the SRK wiki...

KoF 98:

http://www.shoryuken.com/wiki/index.php/The_King_of_Fighters_'98:_The_Slugfest

KoF 02:

http://www.shoryuken.com/wiki/index.php/The_King_of_Fighters_2002

KoF 03:

http://www.shoryuken.com/wiki/index.php/The_King_of_Fighters_2003

KoF NW:

http://www.shoryuken.com/wiki/index.php/King_of_Fighters_Neowave,_The

KoF XI:

http://www.shoryuken.com/wiki/index.php/The_King_of_Fighters_XI

 

Thanks LM! I did some digging myself and found some good sites and text document guides regarding 2002, the sites you provided are just terrific! Thanks!!

Funny Vortigar said that because when I first picked up 2002 I had the same reaction (I also have never really played KOF in the past) so I was like uhhhh, 2003 looks pweetier...but I usually like my games to have as much depth as possible (but not too much). So I have decided to decided to take up 2002, and since i see myself being more active in the fighting community in the future, even if it is only the VF community, I will more than likely run into someone who plays these games, which is cool. ah, the only thing is I really really dont want to use a stick for these kinds of games, I am afraid it will effect my stick play in vf. but yeah, i dont plan on attending any kind of competition for these kinds of games.

LM, are there any kind of like general tips you can give me? Like, what kind of mindset or focus, or things I should always remember, basics, things to train in, stuff like that, during KOF matches (or even 2D fighters in general)? Maybe you can explain this from a VF kind of perspective? See what I'm saying?

Thanks again

N

 

KOF2003 is trash.

LM Akira:

KOF played this year at SBO was KOFXI. Someone ripped the DVD and posted in youtube: SBO'06 KOFXI.

 

Zero:

Yeah, what I'd meant in what I said was that NW was played at SBO 05 and XI was played at SBO 06 (those 2 games over the past 2 years)...I've already got some of the dvds, got the 3S and HnK 06 one and the T5.0 and VF4:FT one from 05. I want to get hold of the GGXX/ 06 one too, #Reload was played in 05 that's another I want to track down. Thanks for the link.

Neko:

Firstly I'd highly reccomend that you use a stick for KoF tbh, that way if you every happen to come across a KoF cab (or whatever) you'll always be able to play it. Secondly is the most important thing, the button layout. I don't know if you've ever seen a Neo Geo stick but they have a very different button layout compared to most sticks. The 4 main buttons arc in a crescent from left to right (kinda like a clock face from 9 to 12). Hence the KoF / Fatal Fury games have a layout that should look like:

D
C
B
A

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-01-49-en-70-1mk0.html

Check the link cos I can't write the 4 buttons as an arc on here.

This means you can use your thumb for A and the following 3 fingers for B C D.

A = light punch
B = light kick
C = hard punch
D = hard kick

This layout makes sense for lots of reasons:

A+B is your roll (forward or back)
B+C is your BC cancel move activation
C+D is your blow off/knockdown move

Making these button presses with this layout is very easy on the hands, in fact after a while you won't even need to think about where to put your fingers it'll just be instinctive.

Using a stick to play other fighting games can only improve your stick usage in VF imo...you'll learn how to do many alternate commands you'd never use in VF which will really give you more experience in using a stick, which can only be a good thing.

In general KoFs are a team based game so it's essential that you start to learn more than just one character in the beginning. Play around and see who you like. Chars like Terry, Ryo, Kyo, Iori, Robert are essentially the shotos of KoF, with dragon punches, fireballs etc.. There are grappling chars, rushdown chars and so on, much like any other 2D game. Just have a mess around and see who appeals to you.

Once you've got a few chars you're interested in, start reading thru some faqs or guides to get a better idea of how to use them. I don't think I can really explain KoF things in a "VF way" but you'll get a much better idea if you read up on some stuff and watch some media online. Youtube has a ton of KoF02 stuff, just search away and see what you think.

 

Hey if anyone's interested in playing some old KOFs online (no 2k2 though sadly), check this out.

http://sa-fighters.atspace.com/poporu_guide/

 

Somewhat unrelated, but I have recently found myself playing a lot of Samurai Shodown 5. It is actually the first SS I really enjoy since SS2 on the NG. Since being a kid I have loved several of the characters, and I really enjoy the sword gauge strategy element, which suits my turtling. Anyways, I can recommend it to anybody who likes SNK stuff.

I also recently got Neo Geo Battle Coliseum, but haven't got around to playing it yet (SS5 interefered). Anybody got any thought on this game?