Timeline

The King of Fighters timeline shows the chronological events taking place in the series, particularly tournament related.

Ancient Times[]

65 Million B.C.[]

During the ancient times, a being was born from the Earth itself, named Orochi. A divine being who calls itself "Gaia's Will", manifested through floating emotions and substances of nature, and became the equalizing force between humans and nature. Orochi was nature's guardian and was granted with many of its powers. It gained followers to its cause and eventually formed a clan. The eight strongest warriors of that clan would go on to be known as the Hakkesshu. As the mankind began to grow in numbers, however, the natural balance began to crumble.

194 A.D.[]

Orochi could no longer tolerate the destruction as a byproduct of human progression and wanted to completely wipe humanity from existence. Orochi decided to use the powers gained from nature to reign havoc on humanity. The Hakkeshu and the human race waged war until the Kusanagi, Yata, and the Yasakani defeated it with three mystical treasures; the Kusanagi Sword, the Yasakani Jewel and the Yata Mirror. The Hakkeshu and Orochi were defeated and sealed. Though kept in a suspended state, Orochi continues to feel that mankind pollutes the world.
The Hizoku clan is formed by a powerful Chinese sorcerer named Hizoku.

500 A.D.[]

The Dragon's spirit is developed by the ancient Chinese warrior Qin Wang Long and is considered to be a great psychic power in its case took the form of a dragon.

854 A.D.[]

The seal that was put on Orochi begins to weaken. The three clans decided to move its vessel into another location. Wanting to disrupt their unity, one of the Hakkesshu killed the leader of the Yasakani's wife. Under a disguise, the murderer then approached the Yasakani head and reported that the Kusanagi clan was responsible, saying that it was "atonement" for letting the seal weaken. To add more fuel to the fire, the corpse of his wife was found in the Kusanagis' homeland. Angered by the revelation, the Yasakani made a blood pact with Orochi to gain the necessary means for revenge. Gaining a forbidden technique called "Kin Sen Hyaku Juuichi Shiki: Ya Otome" (Forbidden Method 1211: Eight Maidens), the Yasakani would renamed themselves as the Yagami Clan. As a side-effect of the Orochi's curse, the once crimson flames of the Yagami changed to a violet/bluish tint from Orochi's taint. The curse also causes each heir to die young and each mother to die in childbirth. Since then, the clans have waged a generation long grudge with casualties made from both sides, which continues on to this day in the present.
A member of the Hakkesshu kills the Yasakani clan leader's wife and flames the Kusanagi clan,
The Hizoku clan leader dies.

Past Events[]

1857[]

The Hizoku clan become a secret clan.

1896[]

Ron becomes the leader of the Hizoku clan.

1963[]

8-year-old Leopold Goenitz learns about his duty as a Heavenly King and made haste to revive his lord Orochi. In an attempt to reach this means, he became a religious missionary who would travel to those in need.

1968[]

A 20-year-old man named Rugal Bernstein and his brother began making themselves known throughout the political and fighting world. He became an influential arms dealer who operated aboard his aircraft carrier Black Noah. At some point, the two went their seperate ways.

1973[]

Goenitz, now 18 years old, meets and challenges a now 25-year-old Rugal Bernstein and easily defeated the older man by taking out one of his eyes. Impressed with his fighting power, he granted his opponent some of Orochi's power to see if he could become a valid host for the entity as an experiment. Since then, Rugal has a bionic eye to replace the one he lost.
Later that year, he paid a visit to a remote village where a Hakesshu member, Gaidel, was staying. To his surprise, Gaidel was living a peaceful life and had no interest in their lord's mission. In response, Goenitz activated the Riot of the Blood in his daughter, Leona, which lead to the death of her parents and everyone else in the village. Pleased with the results, he sealed away her memories and continued to look for ways of speeding up his lord's revival.

1979[]

The events of Art of Fighting 2 take place.

After Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia rescued Ryo’s younger sister Yuri from the mysterious Mr. Karate, she reveals Mr. Karate’s identity as their father Takuma. Takuma explains he was coerced into serving Geese Howard under threats against his family.
Meanwhile, the rising star in South Town's underworld crime boss Geese returns from his business trip and upon learning the events that transpired in his absence, hosts the first tournament simply titled The King of Fighters to recruit new men to his cause. Geese invites all 12 fighters who are veterans and newcomers, except Ryuhaku Todoh, who departed South Town to train in solitude. Ryo, Robert, Takuma and Yuri all enter the KOF tournament to defeat Geese.
Ryo champions The King of Fighters tournament finals against Mr. Big. Ryo is then invited to meet the police comissioner, revealed to be none other than Geese Howard himself. Geese invites Ryo to join him, but Ryo refuses and defeats him in battle. Geese is last seen escaping to Japan, when he learns that his former fellow student Jeff Bogard has been trying to bring him down.

1981[]

Terry and his younger brother Andy were orphans who raised themselves on the streets of South Town. They were soon adopted by Jeff Bogard, a master martial artist. A few years after being adopted by Jeff, both Terry and Andy witnessed the brutal murder of their adoptive father at the hands of Geese Howard: a ruthless businessman and expert martial artist who rules South Town's criminal underworld as a merciless crime boss. Geese, who was once Jeff's rival, had murdered Jeff when the latter had tried to expose Geese's criminal activities to the public. Knowing that they weren't strong enough and needed more training to confront Geese, the brothers made an oath to spend a decade to fine tune their martial arts before trying to avenge their adoptive father. Terry chose to wander in his home country, combining his self-taught street fighting techniques with the Hakkyokuseiken fighting skills he learned from both his adoptive father and his mentor, Tung Fu Rue who is the shih-fu of both the art of Hakkyokuseiken and the art of Bajiquan. Andy decided to perfect his own martial arts style in Japan to differentiate himself from his older brother by being taught the Shiranui-ryū Ninjutsu (Shiranui Style Ninja Technique) and a form of empty-handed combat called Koppōken.

1984[]

Goenitz pays a visit to a remote village where a Hakkesshu member, Gaidel, was staying.
Surprised that Gaidel had no intrest in their lord's mission, Goenitz activates the Riot of the Blood in his daughter, Leona, which lead to the death of her parents and everyone else in the village.
Goenitz seals away Leona's memories and continues to look for ways of speeding up his lord's revival.

1986[]

A 34-year old operative man named Heidern was just promoted to his current rank for his exceptional proficiency in martial arts and strategy. The event took place at a top-secret base in Brazil and his wife and daughter were present for the ceremony. Rugal Bernstein, who caught wind of Heidern's high marks, stormed the base when he was away and killed fifty secret service officers on his arrival.
When Heidern hurried back from his duties, Rugal deprived him of his right eye and deemed him unfit to be a part of his "collection". Instead, he murdered Heidern's wife and child. Disgraced and alone, he developed his own fighting style and mercenary unit called the Ikari Warriors. Heidern would spend nearly a decade filled with hatred and rage against Rugal.
Ash Crimson is taken in by the Blanctorche family, where he be friends a girl named Elisabeth.
To break his master's seal, Goenitz kills the head of the Yata clan and Chizuru Kagura's sister, Maki Kagura.

1988[]

Heidern adopts Leona as his daughter and starts training her as an Ikari Warrior.

1989

Geese Howard sets up Billy Kane as his champion in his second up-and-coming King of Fighters tournament. After this, Geese becomes acquainted with Marie Heinlein, whom he eventually marries, and has a son, Rock Howard.

Decade of the 1990s[]

1990

On October, Geese Howard has organized and announced his second fighting tournament, dubbed The King of Fighters: South Town.

1991[]

The events of Fatal Fury: King of Fighters take place.

Kyo surpasses his father and is designated as the clan's leader.
Terry reunites with Andy after the latter returns to South Town from Japan. After the Bogard brothers pay respects to Jeff's grave, they encounter and befriend a Japanese Muay Thai champion named Joe Higashi from Thailand and learn about The King of Fighters: South Town tournament hosted by Geese.
Determined to avenge their adoptive father's death, Terry and Andy enter KOF alongside Joe and fought against many competitors, including Tung Fu Rue who had wanted to test the brothers out in making sure they were ready for their potential battle against Geese.
Despite their best effort, both Andy and Joe were badly injured after defeating two of Geese's fighters, Raiden and Hwa Jai respectively, leaving Terry to continue on alone and facing off against Geese's right-hand man Billy Kane within the final match of the tournament.
Although Terry succeeds in defeating Billy and winning the tournament, he is suddenly captured by two of Geese's henchmen and sent to Geese's personal tower by force, leading to a one-on-one showdown against the crime boss himself.
Geese was a formidable opponent for Terry, but the latter gained the upper hand during their battle and defeated the former with a powerful jump kick, causing Geese to fall from his tower and plummet to his death.
As Terry, who had finally avenged his adoptive father's death left the tournament victorious, Andy felt a mixed sense of closure and returned to Japan to continue his martial arts training while Joe, who had said his goodbye to the brothers after the tournament's conclusion, traveled back to Thailand in order to continue his Muay Thai training.

1992[]

Ash leaves the Blanctorche manor and their teachings.
The Blanctorche Manor is burned.
Mature and Vice are hired as Rugal's secretaries.

1993[]

The events of Fatal Fury 2 take place.

Two years after the events of The King of Fighters: South Town and the death of Geese Howard, a mysterious nobleman named Wolfgang Krauser becomes the sponsor of a new tournament called The King of Fighters: World Wide. This time, the tournament takes place internationally with both veterans and newcomers competing and battling against each other from their selected countries.
While the town presumes Geese to be dead, he was actually alive, apparently thanks to the secrets of a Chinese scroll in his possession. The scroll, called the "Phoenix Scroll", was later discovered in Geese Tower; it allows the user to speed up their recovery rate.

1994[]

The events of The King of Fighters '94 take place.

Kyo, currently 19 years old.

Rugal, bored of lack of competition, hosts a new King of Fighters tournament after Geese Howard and Wolfgang Krauser were defeated, seeking to add strong opponents to his statue collection.
Kyo enters in a preliminary held in Japan to determine the members of the country's representative team in the King of Fighters tournament. He bests Goro Daimon and Benimaru Nikaido to become the leader of the team, with the two becoming his teammates and eventual friends.
24 invitations are sent and fighters around the world, including The Lone Wolves and the Kyokugenryu practitioners, participate to form a team of three members.
Saisyu challenges Rugal in the Black Noah and is beaten, badly.
The Japan Team surprises the globe, defeating their opponents and eventually heading to the finals.
Mature invites the Japan Team to fight their final match within Black Noah, where Rugal revealed the true purpose of his tournament: defeat the winning team and add them to his grisly collection of previous challengers.
Kyo sees his defeated father there and decides to avenge him.
After he was defeated, Rugal triggers the self-destruct mechanism on his ship. The team escapes and reflects on their victory.
Rugal uses the Orochi power to survive and replaces his destroyed right forearm with a cybernetic one.
Geese and Krauser watched the events of the 1994 tournament, as well as witnessing Rugal Bernstein's "demise". Although the Fatal Fury Team did not win KOF '94, they were both impressed with their results in the tournament and began plotting their downfall.

1995[]

The events of The King of Fighters '95 and Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory take place.

Kyo, currently 20 years old.
Rugal is revealed to survived his suicide attack against the fighters, but not without losing his right hand. Believing that his loss against the Hero Team was a fluke, he decides to host the 1995 edition of The King of Fighters tournament. He also promotes Vice as his new secretary, and replaces his missing hand with a cybernetic one.
Rugal brainwashes Saisyu and sends out invitations for another King of Fighters tournament.
Sometime before the 1995 tournament, the South Town's evil emperor Geese Howard learns about the Orochi power, and becomes intrigued with it. He sends his right-hand man, Billy Kane, to form a team and enter KOF '95 to investigate. Billy seeks out the help of the ninja Eiji Kisaragi to join its team, but not without retaliation. Their fight comes to a draw when a mysterious man appears dragging one of Geese's assassins. His name was Iori Yagami. Overwhelmed by Iori's strength, Billy invites both Eiji and Iori to form the Rival team to enter the tournament. Iori joins them as a means to meet his rival.
Billy tries to convince him to join to the KOF with him, although his behavior. Each of these men had something to do with one of the participants of the tournament. Billy wanted revenge against Terry Bogard for defeating Geese in the past, Eiji wanted to continue his agenda against all Kyokugenryu practitioners (precisely Ryo Sakazaki), and Iori wanted his chance to kill his clan enemy, Kyo Kusanagi, in a fight.
The 3 enter to the KOF as the Rivals Team, with Iori being the leader. They were able to enter KOF by stealing the American Sports Team's Invitation(formed by Heavy-D!, Lucky Glauber and Brian Battler). This would end up becoming a reoccurring theme for the USA Team.
Billy then introduces Eiji to Iori who comes in dragging the body of one of Geese's assassins.
Rugal abducts the Japan Team in an abandoned missle base and had Saisyu fight Kyo.
Once again, all of the teams fought will all their strength, culminating with the Hero Team winning The King of Fighters '95 after beating the Rival Team. On their way to reach Rugal, Kyo runs into his father, Saisyu, who was brainwashed by Vice. After beating him and snapping him out of Vice's control, Rugal appears to challenge the heroes. Learning from his previous mistake, Rugal taps in the Orochi power and transforms into Omega Rugal, starting all out during the fight.
Frustrated by his 2nd defeat, Rugal tries to tap in more of the Orochi power, but just as he does, Rugal's body explodes into microscopic pieces, instantly killing him. At the same time, Iori suddenly snaps and brutally attacks Billy and Eiji, nearly killing them. Iori swears that he will kill Kyo and all of the Kusanagi's in the near future.
Claiming that such power could only belong to him, Iori severely injuries his fellow team members and declares Kyo and his clan will be next.

1996[]

The events of The King of Fighters '96 and Real Bout Fatal Fury take place.

Having manipulated Mr. Big and Wolfgang Krauser's interests in his activities, Geese enters the 1996 King of Fighters tournament to entertain himself. His goal was to minimize his rivals' power and investigate the things surrounding Orochi's power, as well as to settle the score with Terry. In his team's ending, Billy shields him from an assassination attempt from one of Big's men and the crime lords part ways. Since then, Geese plays a minor role by hiring Billy to investigate oddities in the tournaments. He often plans for Billy's teammates in advance by offering them various personal awards. So far, he has been keeping tabs on Orochi and seems to have taken an interest in Gato's father.
A few months before the KOF '96 tournament, Goenitz runs into Kyo and challenges him to a fight. Goenitz toyed with Kyo throught the entire fight before ending it with a single fatal blow that nearly killed him. Kyo was rushed to the hospital, where Benimaru and Daimon was waiting for him. Feeling bitter about his embarrassing defeat, Kyo swallows his pride and becomes determined to defeat Goenitz the next time they meet.
As time passes, the 1996 edition of The King of Fighters tournament was about to begin. However, things would be different this year, as KOF would unexpectedly explode in popularity, to the point where this iteration of KOF would be hosted on an international level.
Once again, all of the teams fought will all their strength, culminating with the Hero Team winning The King of Fighters '96. Chizuru appeared before Kyo and Iori, revealing that she was the one hosting this year's tournament, in an attempt to lure out the two men to fight the real threat; the coming return of Orochi. Before she could explain any further, Goenitz appears and destroys the stadium where the finals were being hosted. He reveals himself as the leader of the Hakkeshu, and that Mature and Vice were keeping an eye on Iori Yagami, since he is a descendent of Orochi. Seeing an opportunity to finally end all three heirs at once, Goenitz attacks the trio, but is ultimately defeated. In the final events of the tournament, he is defeated by Kyo with the help of Iori and Chizuru. Humiliated, Goenitz saves face and apparently took his own life in the aftermath of the tournament by cutting his body on his own wind.
Chizuru explains that since Orochi is on the verge of resurrecting, the three should form up together like their ancestors did nearly 1800 years ago. However, Kyo and Iori despised the idea of working together, and rejected her request.
Not soon after that, Iori entered the Riot of the Blood state and killed Vice and Mature.
After the KOF '96 tournament, the story in Real Bout explains that Geese obtained all three scrolls from Jin Chonshu and Jin Chonrei a year ago. However, he strategically wants them destroyed so that they would never be used against him. In the same game, he finally announces his presence to the public and organizes The King of Fighters: Real Bout tournament to settle his differences with the Bogard brothers. In the tournament's climax, he faces Terry and is once again thrown from the tower. Although Terry caught hold of his nemesis' hand, Geese refused his help and wrenched his arm away from Terry's grasp, laughing while falling to his own death, for good.

1997[]

The events of The King of Fighters '97 take place.

The incident itself and the subsequent accident of Goenitz's attack was officially reported as the result of terrorist activity by an unknown group, but the details concerning the identity, motives, and subsequent whereabouts of the terrorists remained a mystery. Despite this, the KOF '96 tournament was an overwhelming commercial success. A few months after, the event triggered a fighting craze and various large corporations, expressing interest in the fad, offered to sponsor subsequent tournaments, leading to a demand for an eagerly awaited KOF '97. The fad reached all over the globe and in no time KOF '97 came into being. As expected many teams would be formed for this iteration.
Once again, all of the teams fought will all their strength, up until the the finals of the tournament. Yashiro, Shermie and Chris, suddenly remembers their duties as one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Orochi. They begin to use the tournament in order to gather enough power from the fighters so that the trio themselves can help awaken Orochi from its long dormant sleep.
During the finals of the '97 tournament, Kyo confronts Iori. However, Iori suddenly enters the Riot of Blood state. At the same time, Leona falls to the Riot of Blood state, revealing that she is also a descendent of Orochi. Kyo, Ralf and Clark fight to snaps them out of the state. Realizing the situation, Kyo, Iori, and Chizuru come together and form the Three Sacred Treasures Team to stop the Heavenly Kings from reviving Orochi.
Kyo, Iori, and Chizuru confronts the remaining Heavenly Kings of Orochi, Yashiro Nanakase, Shermie, and Chris. The Hakkesshu also mention the plan to sacrifice Kyo's girlfriend Yuki in order to revive Orochi. Fueled by these turn of events, Kyo, Iori, and Chizuru fights an emotional and heroic battle against the remaining Heavenly Kings. Their battle ends up reviving Orochi, but not at full power. In order to him to reach full power, both Yashiro and Shermie commit suicide in order to transfer their remaining energy into Chris and because of this, Orochi is able to return to the world while using Chris' body as the host, and attempts to destroy the three clans at once. As was done in the legends of their clans, the trio successfully defeat him.
In a last-ditch effort, Orochi causes Iori to enter the Riot of the Blood state, expecting him to turn on Kyo and Chizuru. Instead, Iori snaps out of his control and snares Orochi by the neck. Kyo suddenly gets a vision by various members of the Yasakani clan, explaining the circumstances behind Iori's past and his connection to Orochi. Kyo obliged his rival by crippling the great serpentine deity with one last deathblow, allowing Chizuru to reseal Orochi. Exhausted, Kyo passes out. The last thing he sees is Yuki, saying that she will wait for him.
Unbeknownst to even Chizuru and Iori, the final battle with Orochi was being observed by NESTS. Kyo disappears after the battle and would not be seen for at least a year.
The entire Hakkesshu brotherhood, except for Ryuji Yamazaki and Leona, were killed and would stay so for quite some time.
During the period between the KOF '95 and KOF '96 tournaments), NESTS learned about the Orochi power, as well as Kyo Kusanagi. When Kyo was knocked out after the fight with Orochi in the end of the KOF '97 tournament, they kidnapped him and began the "Kusanagi Cloning Program", an experiment in which children were turned into human weapons based on Kyo's appearance and DNA.

1998[]

The events of The King of Fighters '98 take place.

One of these children for this program was a boy with an unknown name, and his elder sister Seirah. In 1998, the boy was made to participate in the Kusanagi cloning program. He was infused with Kyo Kusanagi's DNA, which gave him the power of pyrokinesis, as well as a clone based on his own appearance named Krizalid. During the program, his memory was tinkered with, and he was made to believe that he was Krizalid's clone. Any real memories from his past have either been erased or suppressed by NESTS. With his memories missing, and now working for NESTS, the boy with no name now became known as K'; a powerful fighter who would eventually become NESTS's ultimate downfall.
Between the events of both tournaments KOF EX2 and KOF '98, Chizuru Kagura erases history, and starts a fresh new alternate timeline while recruiting almost every fighter of the Orochi Saga, to her tournament.
The NESTS syndicate uses Kyo's DNA to make various beings for their purposes. One day, Kyo finds himself surrounded by bizarre gadgets and needles. Deciding to search for answers, Kyo broke out of captivity and managed to escape the hidden fortress despite the sedatives. While escaping, he constantly heard references to the NESTS cartel.
K' and his sister, Seirah are captured by NESTS and he is kept under NESTS and trained to be some kind of weapon. One day, K' was made to participate in the Kusanagi cloning program. He was infused with Kyo Kusanagi's DNA, which gave him the power of pyrokinesis. During the program, K's memory was tinkered with and he was made to believe that he was Krizalid's clone. Any real memories from his past has either been erased by NESTS, forgotten, or repressed.

1999[]

The events of The King of Fighters '99, The King of Fighters EX: Neo Blood, and Buriki One take place.

Once again, all of the teams fought will all their strength, culminating with the Hero Team winning The King of Fighters '99. However, during the tournament, several reports from many agencies reported that many people with the appearance of Kyo Kusanagi have shown up in various locations around the world, a feat that Heidern requests the Ikari Team to look into.
During the finals, the Hero Team is taken to an underground base to meet Krizalid, an agent who reveals himself to be a member of the mysterious organization NESTS. Krizalid reveals that the whole tournament was used to record combat data from all of the fights he obtained to activate an army of Kyo clones that NESTS themselves had created after the fight against Orochi. He is faced in two states: first he appears with a special coat that analyzes an opponent's data. Once he's defeated, he burns away his coat and increases his strength while having stronger moves. K' used everything that he had and more to take down Krizalid.
After Krizalid's defeat, his superior attempts to kill him via falling debris while other members of NESTS attack K' and Maxima, who are both revealed to be former NESTS agents and that the duo succeed in defeating their enemies before making their escape from the collapsing location of their battle against Krizalid. K' then discovers that he is a test subject designed to replicate Kyo's techniques. Interested in learning more about his stolen past, he decides to take down NESTS, with Maxima helping him.
Mere moments after Krizalid's death, the underground NESTS base exploded, which caused many of the fighters to get caught up in. Terry Bogard, a yearly combatant in The King of Fighters tournament, was nowhere to be found, with his glove being the only thing left. Takuma Sakazaki was seemingly crushed underneath the rubble, although he humorously broke out of it shortly afterwards. Athena was caught underneath the falling rubble and passed out. Though he has no memory of it, Kensou saved her with a formidable latent energy known as the Dragon Spirit, something that seems to affect both him and Bao.
A few hours after the tournament's conclusion, Whip returned back to the area where the final battle took place and found Krizalid, still barely alive from the crash. She asks Krizalid if he remembers his father's face, to which he discovers that he cannot remember. Whip reveals to him the reason why he couldn't remember is because he was not her brother; K' was. Krizalid would shortly die realizing that he was the clone of K'. His corpse was later taken into custody by the Ikari mercenaries, with Whip crying silently.
It's Spring 1999... Fighters from across the world gather at the Tokyo Dome to compete in the World Grapple Tournament. Each contender has their own fighting discipline, ranging from the popular styles of Boxing, Professional wrestling, to the lesser known arts of Aikido, Tai Chi and Muay Thai. Finally, they have the chance to prove which martial art conquers all! Ryo Sakazaki of the KOF tournaments complete as well to prove the superiority of Karate.
Nearly a year after the events of the 1999 tournament, Heidern is determined to figure out the objective of the NESTS cartel so that he can stop them from achieving their ruthless ambition. A fellow commander and long-time friend of Heidern, named Ling, tells the veteran fighter that K' and Maxima may hold the key to locating the whereabouts of the mysterious organization. Using this information, Heidern decides to focus his efforts on finding the duo so that they can be captured and interrogated for information.

Decade of the 2000s[]

2000[]

The events of both The King of Fighters 2000 and The King of Fighters EX2: Howling Blood take place.

After K' and Maxima's betrayal, NESTS began working on ways to take out the traitors. Due to how powerful K' was, the answer was to fight fire with fire; or in this case, ice. Learning what they knew about the K' program, NESTS created the Anti-K' program; an experiment that alters the users DNA to control ice. Their experimentations culminated by using a little girl who was kidnapped by NESTS at a young age. This little girl would become Kula Diamond; their "Anti-K'." Despite the fact that Kula was a mindless puppet with no sign of emotions (aside from being an innocent young girl), the NESTS cartel was not willing to repeat the same mistake they made with K'. Therefore, NESTS created an android called Candy Diamond, who would monitor Kula's behavior and assure that Kula would accomplish her missions, providing assistance in battle if she was needed. NESTS also assigned two of their top agents, Diana and Foxy to supervise and prevent any sort of betrayal by Kula.
During the KOF 2000 tournament, NESTS orders Kula to exterminate the cartel's traitor, K'. During the midway point of the tournament, Kula freezes an arena, trapping K' and his team. She is ordered by Diana and Foxy to exterminate K'. The two fight and K' came out the victor, forcing her to retreat.
At the finals of the tournament, the Hero Team are taken to an underground mansion via a hidden elevator and are greeted by a mysterious but sinister-looking man. At the same time, Ling and a couple of his associates suddenly betray Heidern by holding him at gunpoint. In the underground mansion, the man known as Zero reveals he had the real Ling killed and replaced with a clone in disguise. He also tells the fighters that he was a former member of NESTS with plans to eliminate the cartel by using a powerful space-based weapon known as the Zero Cannon; setting it to operate with the same technology found in Krizalid's battle armor. To demonstrate his power, Zero fires a warm-up shot of the cannon towards Earth and destroys South Town; the home of Terry Bogard, Ryo Sakazaki, and many others.
The Hero Team fights Zero and defeat him in combat. However, he is rather pleased at his defeat, revealing that the fighters' battle energy powers the Zero Cannon, and their battle gave it enough energy to power it. He attempts to fire the Zero Cannon again, but nothing happens. It's revealed that Heidern swiftly and forcibly removes the clone Ling's remote control of the cannon while dispatching him in the process. Diana and Foxy also swiftly appear, stating that NESTS will not be defeated by traitors. Meanwhile, in space, Kula and Candy stands atop of the Zero Cannon and destroys it while in orbit, and redirected its shot towards his location, critically injuring him.
With the mansion collapsing, the Hero Team escapes, with K' and Maxima being separated from Ramon and Vanessa during the chaos. During this time, Whip finds Zero dying, and the Project '00 data. Zero tells Whip he has "what she is looking for" and reveals a truth to her; a truth so haunting that it angered Whip, kills Zero with her gun, and stays in the collapsing mansion.
While Kula redirected the shot to hit Zero, this causes the Zero Cannon to explode and has her fall head-first to Earth, but Candy sacrificed herself to save her beloved sister.
The first shot of the Zero Cannon that hits South Town destroys the entire city while catching everyone off guard in the process. All of the fighters miraculously survived, although the Benimaru Team would come face to face with a man named Ron; the person Seth and Lin were looking for. He reveals that he betrayed the Hizoku by joining NESTS for personal gain, labeling himself as a traitor by many of the group's members. Ron attempts to kill Lin and Shingo, but escapes to avoid Benimaru's Electro Trigger. Seth, in awe of how quickly Ron's power is growing, vows to take him down. Bao was left in a critical state after absorbing the blast of the Zero Cannon. Kensou suddenly gets his powers back, and learns that the power is transferred between the two if one of them is gravely injured.
One week later, the Ikari Team made a search and rescue mission to find Whip, but to no avail. Heidern discovers that the Project '00 data was stolen, and that a image data was left behind. The video show that Whip had taken the data, apologizes for it, and says that she will meet them again in the future. At night, K' has a strange dream of a little girl crying, with Maxima believing that it could be a clue to K' missing memories. Whip suddenly appears before the two and reveals the truth that Zero told her; that Whip is in fact a clone of Seirah, the biological older sister of K' who died after being abducted by NESTS. While Maxima is cautious of this truth, K' decides to believe her, and after he tears off his right glove, the three team up to destroy NESTS once and for all.

2001[]

The events of The King of Fighters 2001 take place.

Shingo continues to train under Saisyu.
After the destruction of South Town by the hands of the Zero Cannon, the incident was reported to be the result of an artificial satellite crashing to earth and adorned the front pages to various newspapers of countries all over the world. A legion of individuals called for the end to The King of Fighters tournament, which had a notorious history of always inviting some sort of violent accident. In an ironic turn of events, this ended up causing the KOF tournament to regain considerable popularity. And thus, The King of Fighters 2001 was planned to take place. The interest in the tournament rivaled that of the KOF '97 tournament, perhaps even exceeding it.
After the death of Krizalid, the failure of Project Krizalid, the betrayal of K' & Maxima, and Zero's coup d'etat with the Zero Cannon, NESTS decided to bring back the Kusanagi Cloning Project, and created K9999; the "perfected" 9999th Kyo Kusanagi clone. Built from the ground up, K9999 wielded an exorbitant amount of power. Like K', he was given a special glove that helps him control his shapeshifting powers and keep them from going berserk. Prior to the 2001 tournament, he was tasked to form a team with Foxy, Kula Diamond, and Ángel. Their main purpose was to dispatch the rogue creations that had escaped from NESTS's grasp, as well as disposing K', Kyo Kusanagi, and anyone who would get in the cartel's way. K9999 hated the idea of working with Foxy and Kula, due to the former being way to authoritarian for his liking, and the latter being too annoying. He did seem to enjoy working with Ángel, as she seems to have the same interests at heart.
As expected in a KOF tournament, all teams thought with their might, culminating in victory for the Hero Team. In the tournament finals, the Hero Team boards a special blimp that is soon revealed to be a spaceship. There they meet Original Zero, whose clone decimated the cartels' secrecy with his scheme in the previous year. He congratulates them for reaching the finals and states that they're headed for NESTS's real headquarters. He decides to entertain his passengers with a match and is backed up by his pet black lion Glugan, Ron, and Krizalid. Despite the oppressive force of his group, he is defeated moments before the ship docks at NESTS's space satellite. He stays on board the exploding ship and urges the Hero team to proceed forward.
Once inside NESTS's satellite, they face the NESTS leader, Nests. He expresses wishes for his renegade agents to return to the organization and is soon afterward killed by Igniz, who claims ownership of the cartel. Igniz also reveals that K', Kula, Krizalid, K9999 and Whip were guinea pigs; creations made for his own personal entertainment. Kula, who was separated from the rest of her team and present at the time, also heard her origin as an artificial life form. As the winner of The King of Fighters tournament, Igniz labels K' as the strongest warrior and by defeating earth's strongest warrior he would surpass all of humanity making him a God. His hopes were short-lived when he is defeated by K'. Upon defeated, he breaks down, shocked and appaled that he was defeated by the very guinea pigs he created. Igniz proclaims that he is a fallen god and names himself a "demon" instead, and plunges the satellite through earth's atmosphere in an attempt to demolish his competition and the planet.
Thankfully, the satellite crashes into the ocean and the fighters aboard were somehow saved from the explosion, presumably thanks to Ron. K' saves Kula from drowning; in gratitude, she and her guardian, Diana, ally themselves with K' and company. K9999 and Ángel are presumably still alive though their exact whereabouts are unknown. Foxy is also stabbed by them though her apparent on-screen death is later revealed to be false.
Ron reveals to Misty about the Dragon Spirit, and how its power surpasses NESTS. This power currently resides in Kensou, and is interested in releasing this power for an unknown goal.
With Igniz's death, it signaled the end of the NESTS cartel. K' and Kula, now free from NESTS, both want to make their own future and make up for the time lost in their lives.

2002[]

The events of The King of Fighters 2002: Unlimited Match take place.

Nameless is the 9,999th K' clone and the only survivor of "Project ". He is known by NESTS by his codename "'" or "Zhe Prime". Existing as an experiment subject to perfect the Kyo Kusanagi cloning program that was first achieved with K', he only knew pain and suffering from excruciating endurance tests, with his "brothers" (other clones dubbed as "K' children") being guinea pigs to the Kusanagi DNA, with gruesome results from explosions and genetic mutations, or even death. Nameless himself has come close to death at least 180 times.
Nameless's miserable existence would one day be eased with Isolde, having fallen in love with her. Whenever he was badly injured, he would see the beautiful yet sad girl near the infirmary. Isolde became his motivation to live on and endure the painful experiments, and little did Nameless know he would also indirectly help Isolde improve her own powers, and that his attraction for her was mutual.
During the course of the experiments, Nameless eventually gains control and strength over his power. Once the laboratory members deemed him fit to wield the Kusanagi flame, his custom glove was grafted onto his left arm. The glove is meant to enhance his strength of will, which would theoretically make him as adept as Kyo. A similar glove design was originally planned for K' but he left before it could be used on him.
He was immediately sent to Earth to test his fighting skills, and with him being able to kill by mere touch (a tap on the shoulder), demonstrated unintentionally with an unfortunate woman victim, he was designated as an assassin. On one of his assignments, he cornered a man who was trying to escape from the syndicate. In a bid to spare his life, the escapee confessed the truth behind Isolde.
She was a part of the Anti K' Project, similar to Kula Diamond, and was given the power to control ice. However, her abilities were deemed to be inadequate until she saw Nameless. The organization soon noticed that Nameless and Isolde's abilities are increasing by meeting each other, and so they were allowed to routinely see one another to bring out their full potential. Regrettably, Isolde died from her testing. Rather than waste her progress, NESTS crafted her DNA into Nameless's glove. Her abilities keep the flames pacified until needed for use.
Nameless doesn't know if he should believe the man, but he realizes that his words have weight to them. He hasn't seen Isolde since he received his glove. Not wanting to risk losing Isolde, he unquestionably follows any orders he's given by NESTS. He hopes to one day return her to her rightful body and perhaps, even bring her back to life.

2003[]

The events of The King of Fighters 2003 take place.

Before the tournament, Chizuru discovers that the Orochi seal is suddenly weakening, and requests Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami to team up with her and investigate this issue. However, the two men refuse to work with each other and go their separate ways. Due to this, Chizuru suddenly disappeared.
As The King of Fighters X tournament began, a new "Hero Team" enters in the tournament, and it is formed by the three bands of misfits; the Chinese street fighter Shen Woo, the Hizoku clan ninja prince and Ron's son Duo Lon, and the mysterious young man Ash Crimson. The two enters after Ash's invitation, whose intentions are unknown for the tournament and his teammates.
During the tournament, Chizuru summons KUSANAGI, a being that looks like Kyo Kusanagi. At the midway point, Kusanagi attacks Team K'. Although the Team was victorious, the three decide to investigate further, as The King of Fighters tournament has a long history of impending disasters. During their investigation, they meet up with Kyo and Iori, both of whom were investigating the tournament due to Chizuru's disappearance.
Once again, throughout the tournament, all of the teams fought will all their strength, culminating with Team Ikari winning The King of Fighters 2003, making this the first time that a Hero Team did not win a KOF tournament. They are summoned to a flying battleship called Sky Noah, and the Ikari Warriors discover a shocking truth.
The host of KOF 2003 were Adelheid Bernstein and Rose Bernstein; the son and daughter of world's the notorious crime boss, Rugal Bernstein. Adelheid challenged the Ikari Team, the winners of the 2003 tournament, at the behest of his sister. Upon his defeat, Rose threatened to kill the Ikari Team, but Adelheid refused, showing his compassion in a fight and the difference between him and his father.
After the tournament, Ash, Duo Lon and Shen Woo, while not winning the tournament, still had fun. Shen leaves to fight new opponents and Duo Lon leaves Ash by himself after detecting Ron's presence. With Ash all alone, he goes on to fulfill his own agenda, with a sinister sneer on his face.
Suddenly, Chizuru appeared before Kyo, Iori and Team K'. It is revealed that Kusanagi was created by Chizuru Kagura as an attempt to test the winner. Chizuru and her undead sister Maki soon challenge the fighters. Chizuru was greatly injured, and Following the Kagura sisters' defeat, a woman named Botan reveals herself as the one who had brainwashed Chizuru, and that she and partner Mukai are behind the Orochi seal weakening.
Mukai appears before Team K', testing the winning team to see if they will survive "the new age". K', Maxima and Whip defeat him, and revealed to them that he is a member of Those from the Past, an . Despite being defeated, Mukai feels no ill will towards the victors, claiming success for his unknown superior, having weakened the seal of the ancient demon Orochi. Before the duo escape, Mukai taunts K' about regaining his memories, as well as reaching his true potential.
Ash Crimson suddenly appears and attacks a weakened Chizuru and steals the Yata Mirror from her, gaining her mirror illusion powers. He taunts that Iori will be next before fleeing from the scene. Kyo swears to take down Ash Crimson.
Meanwhile, Leona enters the Riot of the Blood due to the Orochi seal being broken, and attacks Ralf and Clark, badly injuring them. Despite the two not holding anything against her, Leona is pulled out of the team by Heidern in due to the emotional trauma she suffered after the incident.
Chizuru survives the attack, but can no longer participate in fights, remaining in the hospital.

2004[]

The events of The King of Fighters: Maximum Impact take place.

Addis was the most powerful gang in Southtown. Its leader, a man known only as Fate, was considered a modern-day Robin Hood to the poor and downtrodden. He himself had adopted two twin brothers, Alba and Soiree Meira, and trained them to be successors to his legacy. Six months before the in-game events, Fate is killed by Duke, the leader of the up-and-coming Mephistopheles gang. Duke then proceeds to exploit the poor to serve his thirst for power.
In the present day, the "KOF: Mephistopheles Fighting Tournament" is beginning, with the venue being all of Southtown. The participants (minus the Meira Brothers and Lien) believe that the tournament is being sponsored by a charity organization known as the Metatron Foundation, but they soon learn that its true sponsor is the Mephistopheles gang. Alba, Soiree and Lien are contacted directly by Hyena, so they know Metatron has nothing to do with this.

2005[]

The events of The King of Fighters XI take place.

Mukai, a member of a mysterious group, stole the Orochi seal in the last tournament and broke it, causing confusion and destruction to happen from within sight. Taking advantage of the situation at hand, Ash stole the Yata Mirror from Chizuru and drained her powers in the process. In the advent of the new KOF XI tournament, new faces are handed invitations, while old faces, such as Eiji Kisaragi, return to the ring.
Among the new KOF participants are Oswald, Duck King (a South Town veteran fighter himself), Momoko and Elisabeth. All these fighters will find themselves in a tournament full of mysteries and secrets started by motives that they’d ignored. Behind this healthy competitive tournament hides a hidden force called "People from the Past" with a mysterious goal.
The hosts of the tournament are two members of "Those from the Distant Land", consisting of a weapons expert named Shion and a dimension manipulator named Magaki, who serve as the respective sub and final bosses of the game. Following their defeat, Magaki tries to escape and steal Orochi's power, but instead ends up being murdered by his own ally Shion. In the ensuing chaos, Ash attacks a rampaging Iori Yagami (affected by his Riot of the Blood curse) who had seriously injured both Kyo Kusanagi and Shingo Yabuki, managing to steal the Yasakani Jewel from him. Despite being confronted by his estranged childhood friend Elisabeth Blanctorche and her two associates Benimaru Nikaido and Duo Lon, Ash manages to swiftly escape from them, warning the trio that he intends to target Kyo as his final victim in the near future.

2006[]

The events of KOF: Maximum Impact 2 (KOF 2006) and Garou: Mark of the Wolves take place:

Ten years after the death of the notorious crime lord Geese Howard in The King of Fighters: Real Bout tournament, the city of South Town has become more peaceful. Now, the stage is in the neighboring city of Second South Town. A new fighting tournament called King of Fighters: Maximum Mayhem starts in the area, and several characters related with the fighters from the old era of King of Fighters tournaments participate within it.
Despite speculation surrounding his survival after the second encounter, the narrative in Garou: Mark of the Wolves indicates that Geese met his demise after a fatal fall from Geese Tower. This event is subtly referenced in the Real Bout series through his nightmare form, which emerges as a challenging secret boss. In the game storyline, he is survived by his son, Rock Howard, and his brother-in-law, Kain R. Heinlein.
After suffering a serious injury, Kain's friend and guardian, Grant took in a thug named Vox Reaper as his apprentice and successor.

2008[]

The events of Street Fighter 6 and Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves take place:

Grant died from a fatal wound his suffered from, with his legacy survived by his apprentice, Vox Ripper. Rock accepted Kain's request to find Marie, Rock's mother and Kain's sister, who was revealed to be alive, but kidnapped by an unknown group.
Terry and Andy, and their friends (Mary, Joe and Mai) visits Metro City to meet familiar faces they have not seen since years. Though both Andy and Mai return to Aokigahara.

Decade of the 2010s[]

2010[]

The events of The King of Fighters XIII take place.

Time has passed away from Magaki was slain by Shion's spear, and Shion vanished into the dimensional rift. Then other members of the group Heidern was tracking suddenly appeared and vanished, as if to mock Heidern and his team. Who are "Those From the Distant Land," and why are they so persistent in their pursuit of the power of Orochi? Meanwhile, Ash Crimson, having obtained Kagura's power, chose to ignore Elisabeth's cautions and took on Iori Yagami's power. Yata was defeated, and Yasakani has fallen. Only one of the Three Sacred Treasures remains: the Sword of Kusanagi. However, Kyo Kusanagi suffered a major injury at the hands of Yagami, who had been overtaken by the power of the revitalized Orochi.
With these recent incidents, it was feared that the next King of Fighters tournament would never happen. However, thanks to an unheard-of amount of promotion by a mysterious party, the KOF will be held on an unprecedented scale. The new mixed martial arts tournament is on the world stage, and the mass media has been giving it coverage like never before. Fighters all across the world begin to receive invitations... all sent from "R"!
The fighter Ash Crimson has absorbed the powers from two of the descendants of the clans who sealed the Orochi away 1,800 years ago, Chizuru Kagura and Iori Yagami, while Kyo Kusanagi is to be his last victim. As his former comrade, Elisabeth Blanctorche, prepares to stop him, fighters receive an invitation to another King of Fighters tournament hosted by a person labelled as "R". The tournament is sponsored by Rose who is being controlled by "Those From The Past", the organization behind the two prior tournaments that has been trying to break Orochi's seal.
When the winning team reaches the game's end, Saiki, the leader of "Those From The Past" puts his work into motion. Saiki intends to use the energy expended by the winning team to enable him to cross time. However, as the fight rages, Botan notes that the gate that links them to the past is starting to close despite the battle. Before Saiki can act, he is ambushed by Ash Crimson, who steals his power.
It is revealed then that, while Ash was enlisted by Saiki to obtain the Three Sacred Treasures to power the time gate, Ash had no intention of helping Saiki. Ash is suddenly overtaken by Saiki's persona, who then attempts to cross the time gate in Ash's body. The winning team pursues him into the time gate and the final battle of The King of Fighters XIII begins inside the time gate. Saiki is defeated in the gate but persists on crossing over to the past, believing it means nothing since he can return to the past and then cross the gate again to attempt his plan anew. However, Ash halts his attempt and allows the gate to close, leaving Saiki trapped in the present. Furthermore, Ash reveals that he is a descendant of Saiki.
By locking Saiki out of the gate, he denies Saiki's existence in the past and forces his own existence to cease. As Ash vanishes from the living world, the flow of time resumes. In the epilogue of the Story Mode, in the dimensional rift, a spear appeared in front of Shroom and Rimelo, two members of Those From The Past who faced Kyo in the opening of the game (Console version). More surprising, Shion appeared before them, revealed that he's still alive.

2014[]

The events of The King of Fighters XIV take place.

After Ash sacrifices himself to erase his ancestor Saiki from existence during the thirteenth tournament from three years ago, an entity called Verse emerged. It consisted of fallen souls from The King of Fighters series and other SNK series. Sensing a profound malevolence emanating from a spacetime rift, Nakoruru, a young priestess from Feudal Japan in the late 18th century, embarked on a journey to the present day. She joined forces with Mui Mui, a Dragon clan member, and Love Heart, a pirate and captain of the Peace Air Pirates, to participate in the 14th KOF tournament.
A confident billionaire named Antonov buys the rights to The King of Fighters tournament, over the strong objections of the board members of his company, the Antonov Corporation. Proclaiming himself as the “first champion”, he eagerly hosts a new tournament and sends out invites across the world, challenging the teams to take his title.
Once again, all of the teams fought with all their strength, culminating with the Japan Team reaching the finals, which was a final confrontation with the "first" champion, Antonov. Team Japan easily beats him, making them winners of The King of Fighters XIV, the first time since their last victory in the '97 tournament.
However, mere moments after beating Antonov, a mysterious entity appears, destroying the stadium and causing the death of many people. This Verse's manifestation has already caused time anomalies. A fragment of Verse is inside, and its presence compelled Nakoruru (who refers to him as Wei Kamui) to traverse through spacetime to defeat it. Shun'ei defeated Verse, but upon the defeat, it exploded and released ominous mist across the world. With Verse's defeat, The King of Fighters tournament ends.
36 hours after the tournament's conclusion, Heidern receives information from Maxima about the creature that appeared during the finals of the tournament. The Ikari squad leader dubs the entity as Verse, due to it only yelling "Veeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrse" when it spoke. Heidern then confirms that there are several bodies that were resurrected and has already commenced a 24-hour surveillance. After the meeting, he tells Leona that her father Gaidel is likely among the resurrected souls but could not be confirmed. Leona responds that she's not concerned about it.

2017[]

The events of Neo Geo Battle Coliseum take place.

In February of the new Japanese era, there is a man trying to rule the NEOGEO World. "I will topple NeoGeo's most powerful warriors and put myself on the throne!" We knew that if he managed to obtain NeoGeo world's awesome power, world domination would not be far from his reach. This man, who sat at the heart of "The Warez Conglomerate" with overwhelming financial power behind him, had already set out on his ambitious path to gain NeoGeo World's power.
Those who knew the truth of his intentions were already trembling with fear... As NeoGeo World drew closer to the verge of disaster, a Warez sponsored fighting competition was announced. This event is called "NEOGEO BATTLE COLISEUM". The Federal Government is worried about the situation, and has secretly dispatched its two best secret agents, Yuki and Ai. A world on the verge of eternal darkness… The future of NEOGEO World is now in the hands of the warriors."

2018[]

The events of SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy take place.

Several months prior to the events of the fifteenth torunament, Kukri's obsession for women caused him to create a pocket dimension where women fighters must survive in his universe and join forces and slug it out with other women.
Kukri transports and kidnaps most of SNK female fighters, including few of them who aren't present in the previous tournament (such as Jeanne D'Arc and the recently revived Shermie) to this pocket dimension, and they suddenly fall unconscious. Upon waking, they find themselves in a strange mansion, along some male fighters who have been changed into women.
Kukri's main objective is to transform the female fighters into sand sculptures. For this, he has the help of an evil statue whose energy comes from the battles between the fighters, in addition to the fear and despair of each of them.
The fighters attempt to battle their way out, but are confronted by the mastermind, Kukri, who reveals he has trapped them in his castle in a pocket dimension and they must defeat him to return home. The heroines all defeat Kukri, which causes the pocket dimension to collapse all together, sending the heroines back to reality (indicated as the events being revealed to be a bad dream), while Kukri is left in an unknown status.

2019[]

The events of The King of Fighters XV take place.

Only the world's toughest fighters can duke it out in the largest martial arts tournament in the world. Though a mysterious being called Verse destroyed the KOF arena, its threat was quelled thanks to the brave efforts of the winning challengers. Time has passed since the closing of that tumultuous tournament, and the next KOF begins, backed by a new sponsor. Meanwhile, Chizuru Kagura senses something interfering with the seal of Orochi, otherwise known as Gaia's Will. She teams up with Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami to join the KOF and investigate. Amidst these myriad motives, fighters resurrected after Verse's defeat also join the fray. Once again, a storm is on the horizon.
Following Antonov's early retirement, the new tournament commissioner Anastasia sends out invitations to fighters to join the tournament; the mayhem caused by Verse's powers resurrects various long-thought deceased fighters from past tournaments as well.
Chizuru Kagura gathers Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami in order to look after the seal of the snake demon Orochi. Shun'ei, a teenager with mysterious powers resembling Verse's, enters the tournament again alongside Meitenkun and Benimaru Nikaido to better understand his powers.
During the tournament, they encounter a rival team led by a girl with similar powers to his own, Isla. Isla is being mentored by a woman named Dolores who wishes for her and Shun'ei to stop the appearance of more creatures like Verse, believing Ash Crimson's timetravelling in a previous tournament to have caused their appearance.
However, a new creature labeled as Re Verse appears as the tournament progresses and targets the fighters, pulling them into another world. Following Re Verse's defeat, the mysterious goddess Otoma=Raga appears and attacks the teams.
Upon Otoma=Raga's defeat, the fighters escape back to their world and are crowned the new King of Fighters champions, whereas Isla finally warms up with Shun'ei at the same time their respective Amps are fully under control, such as Shun'ei can finally take off his headphones safely. As confirmed by Kukri earlier, defeating Otoma=Raga and Re Verse does not erase the revived fighters’ existences once they survive the two entities’ rampages.

Dream Match[]

History[]

One year after the release of Fatal Fury 2, SNK released an updated version titled Fatal Fury Special. This version rebalanced the existing cast and added all of the Mid-Bosses and Final Boss as playable characters. But the biggest addition was the appearance of Art of Fighting series protagonist Ryo Sakazaki as a Secret Boss.

It has been said that, as a result of the popularity that ensued from Ryo Sakazaki being a hidden character in this game, The King of Fighters as a series was born.

Fatal Fury series[]

Fatal Fury Special
Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition
Real Bout Fatal Fury Special
Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers

Samurai Shodown series[]

Samurai Shodown V Special
Samurai Shodown VI
Samurai Shodown V Perfect

The King of Fighters series[]

Trivia[]

In order to preserve their characters' images, SNK ceased to age their characters since The King of Fighters '95 and they have remained the same ages since then. This means that characters introduced in The King of Fighters '94 have only aged one year in the series. To stay true to this theme, newer characters following this year also keep the same age they have when introduced. Some concessions to age and the passing of time exist, though, such as Terry's switch to his Garou outfit, Kyo no longer being in high school since 1998, or Rock Howard suddenly becoming an adult when he was seen as a child. Character ages have also stopped being officially listed as of The King of Fighters XI, likely to avoid confusion amongst fans.
The King of Fighters tournaments had an 15-year ongoing marathon run from 1991 to 2006, even though there is only one hiatus gap in 1992 due to the original KOF host's death and resurrection.
Geese started The King of Fighters: Real Bout tournament on the 5th anniversary of his competition against Joe Higashi and the Bogard Brothers back in 1991 which was The King of Fighters: South Town tournament.
Geese was aware about his permanent death in the original timeline of 1996 during Real Bout Fatal Fury, before Chizuru erased history after the climax of her tournament The King of Fighters '97, thus also resurrecting Geese in one piece, the underworld crime boss stayed mysteriously under the radar ever since, until the right moments where he would all of a sudden appear in various future tournaments unqualified, but mostly to challenge his old flames.
The plot of Buriki One, takes place in the same continuity year as The King of Fighters '99, but Ryo been de-aged by one decade (his birth year changed from 1957 to 1967) to fit the continuity and have him age realistically.
Due to the events of SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy being treated as a self-contained dream sequence they do not affect the future mainline KOF titles directly, with only a few minor tidbits like Shermie's presence being followed up upon.