The King of Fighters 2001
System: Neo Geo
Publishers: Eolith SNK
Release date: 2001
Version | Date | Author | Description |
---|---|---|---|
1.00 | 2016-02-13 | The Golden Horse | Initial release. |
[Source] The King of Fighters 2001 Scitron / Eolith (& SNK) SCDC-00143 Dec 19, 2001 [Generator] MAME 0.152 (modded by Valley Bell), Universe BIOS Jukebox Player Following SNK's bankruptcy, "The King of Fighters" IP went to a Korean company named Eolith. Following this, the development of the next game began with Eolith as the publisher, and Brezzasoft, a company made up of former SNK employees, as the developer. Eventually, the series returned to arcades with "The King of Fighters 2001", created with a fraction of the budget the old SNK had--and it shows. Painfully. It's apparent in the graphics, where everyone fights against drab backgrounds, and character portraits are so stylized that they're ugly. It's apparent in the bizarre gameplay decisions: you can choose how many fighters and Strikers make up your team to the point of creating 1-on-4 fights, and the new characters are so crazily-designed that one of them has an attack that KOs both fighters when it hits. It's also apparent in other ways, like the confusing way it ends the NESTS storyline started in "The King of Fighters '99," or the inclusion of a character whose only purpose is to rip off a famous anime character (so brazenly that the new SNK erased him from continuity as soon as they could). Most relevantly, it's apparent based on the soundtrack. Gone are the lengthy, varied sound and great instrumentation. Instead, what you have are techno/rock loops that mostly last around 30-40 seconds, presumably the average length Brezzasoft and Eolith could afford. It would be a decent soundtrack... if it weren't in a "King of Fighters" game. The entire series before it set a standard for exemplary soundtracks, and the music of "2001" just doesn't live up to it. Many of the best tunes are _way_ too short to matter. Why did I make a pack for this then, you ask? Because if I'm going to help get the whole series represented on VGMRips, I have to make packs for the "bad" parts too. They're just as part of the series' history, after all. For what it's worth, "NESTS, the Rulers of Darkness," "0" and "I Am the Strongest" are pretty cool. Otherwise, though, listen to this one at your own discretion. At the very least, don't expect a soundtrack on the level of the previous game. [Side note about one particular translation: "NESTS, the Rulers of Darkness" in Japanese is "Nesutsu Yami no Shihaisha", where "Shihaisha" is the word for "Ruler," only the "sha" portion that means "person" has been replaced with the word for "company", which has the same On-reading. This qualifies as a pun, one that translators seem to have missed, resulting in awkward translations like "NESTS, Ruler Company in the Darkness."]
Source: VGMRips
Related packs
![]() |
Fatal Fury 2, Fatal Fury Special (U) / Garou Densetsu 2, Garou Densetsu Special (J)
Neo Geo • YM2610 |
![]() |
The King of Fighters '95
Neo Geo • YM2610 |
![]() |
The King of Fighters '94
Neo Geo • YM2610 |
![]() |
Shock Troopers
Neo Geo • YM2610 |
![]() |
Samurai Shodown / Samurai Spirits (J)
Neo Geo • YM2610 |
![]() |
The King of Fighters '96
Neo Geo • YM2610 |
![]() |
The Super Spy
Neo Geo • YM2610 |
![]() |
Real Bout Fatal Fury / Real Bout Garou Densetsu
Neo Geo • YM2610 |
![]() |
The King of Fighters 2003
Neo Geo • YM2610 |
![]() |
Top Player's Golf
Neo Geo • YM2610 |