It all began in '94... Kept on rolling in '95... Things were in place in '96 and came to an end in '97... Now it comes and here we go... KOF is here again! Nothing gonna stop because it's 1998!!

Iori’s life must’ve been weird, imagine being a successful bassist then one day you’re able to shoot fire out of your hands and you suddenly have the urge to kill a random 19 year old high schooler. Edit: Team samsho is dlc for kofxv.

Iori still is a musician and dislikes violence despite acting like violent person in the kof tournaments. His power was already activated since his birth.

That unknown planner who made 100 different bonus game ideas deserves a medal.

Fun fact: Choi is actually beloved in Korea and treated like a high tier character. That's why he's in SvC Chaos.

I love how it's canon that krauser isn't really interested in kof he only went to 96 because his teammates were Mr big and geese 🤣

Fun fact much later on in the KOF canon to be more precise after the Ash Crimson Saga ended in KOFXIII Robert would finally pop the big question to Yuri aka ask her to marry him and she said yes meaning Robert and Yuri are now fiancé, and fiancée whereas Ryo still has no freaking clue that King has a crush on him.'

My favorite character tidbit is that Clark is a massive pro wrestling fan. No real reason, it's just something he loves to nerd out over.

King Of Fighters literally existed as a blind spot for me until KoF 13 so having a retrospective like that that even breaks down the story is freaking amazing, can't wait for Part 2

Kim’s rehabilitation idea is actually a fatal fury reference. In 2 he enters the tournament to reform krauser from his evil ways and he succeeds in his ending as krauser is seen being a respectable member of society. In fact he originally was usually very successful at this to the point in made him a national hero. This also a faithful depiction of the real world taekwondo associations overarching message of using one’s strength as a means of justice. It’s why he’s so obsessed with it because he takes these virtues to heart even if others don’t think the same way he believes in justice strong enough to stand by that belief no matter any criticisms he gets for coming off as self righteous.

Well, Rugal is an arms dealer. He probably was going to sell that missile at some point before he evaporated.

The fact that Mai shiranui is somehow sexier than Bayonetta so she's banned from smash is still hilarious.

I loved how much detail SNK went into the lore of this franchise. For instance Kyo losing his projectiles and becoming more rekka orientated was linked into his fight with Goentiz where he changed his fighting style to be able to take him down in the rematch.

37:34 Oh.. I guess that explains why "Kusanagi" (the Chizuru-created Kyo's dark clone) has Kaneda's voice. Kyo was originally suppose to be a more blatant reference to Kaneda like how Krohnen was to Tetsuo.

Rugal's ability to copy moves was, much like a lot of other things, referenced in King of Fighters Destiny, when he used Kyo, Terry, and Heidern's moves against them.

Hearing that 98UM intro at the beginning gave me chills, literal chills!

Just as a friendly reminder, we owe Smash’s existence to KoF.

Nicely done! KOF story is coming like a Final Fantasy story!

Iori was always pretty chill. Sure, he’s an asshole but if u piss him off or if he’s anywhere near Kyo (especially near Kyo), he becomes an aggressive prick who would be happy to roast someone alive. Also, his cursed bloodline powers are like the main reason why he doesn’t want anyone near him. But like Kyo, he is willing to work along aside him and Chizuru to face off against a common foe. He likes cats, jazz, and playing in his band.

Lucky's favorite sport being baseball is almost certainly a reference to Michael Jordan, who originally wanted to be a baseball player like his dad

That Rugal infinity idea would’ve taken KOF into straight up horror territory. The concept art looks like something from SNK’s Mutation Nation or Beast Busters. No doubt the difficulty would’ve been very high and cause players to go into fits of rage

That part about the end of the Orochi Saga... imagine Capcom did the Kyo and Iori ending with Ryu and Bison and then never turned back... that'd be wild.

Also worth noting Ralf Jones & Clark Steel are obvious homages to Stallone/Schwarzenegger & their portrayals of Rambo/Dutch.

"I've seen people who've never even touched an SNK game before get excited for KOF XV." Ha ha, guilty as charged.

KOF is my favorite SNK series! I didn't know that a max meter would make the normals stronger though. I only used it for super moves all these years!

Shouts out to the Mexico/Latin region for always supporting kof endlessly

Every great video brings us one step closer to the BlazBlue retrospective with a complete story breakdown. It will come, friends. Thorgi will get there one day.

59:05 I didn't know about the idea for the Rugal/Geese/Krauser fusion before today, and I am *glad* that didn't make the cut, because... jeez.

I think my favorite thing about ryo and kings relationship is the kof 2000 ending where takuma deflects the zero laser with haoh shikoken to save king and kings like "I'm in your debt" and takuma says verbatim "Don't be silly I can't let the mother of a kyokugen heir perish" which causes robert,ryo and king to go "HUH?". It's non-canon as hell like most team endings but it's hilarious. There are other team art of fighting endings where it's just takuma and the others pushing ryo and king together but the 2000 one is by far the funniest to me.

This channel has it all. Great voice, great unique content and movie length videos.

A couple of corrections and trivia; 1) KoF was planned as a collaboration of Fatal Fury + AoF + Samsho in the beginning. The Samsho roster was scrapped because they had over a 100 yrs timeline gap and Samsho being a weapon-based FG. The US sports team was made as a replacement to them, and THAT'S WHY SNK HATED AND TREATED THEM AS SUCH. 2) Choi Bounge(Who is read "Chae Bun-Gay" with Bounge means lightning in Korean) is not a serial killer. although he is based on Freddy Kruegar who is one, Choi was just a criminal who attacks ppl randomly with no question asked just for his joy of violence. 3) The sway dodge was to imitate the 2-line system from Fatal Fury and the Charge meter was from AoF. You could do a taunt and cut the chunk of their meter like they did in AoF, but this taunt system was changed since 97 to just a useless move only to appeal to your opponent. 4) In 94 and 95, any fighter from Fatal Fury could move forwards while crouching. while being correct to its origins, it wasn't a fair move since it wasn't applied to everyone. Also exclusive to 94&95 was if you beat King or Yuri with a non-grappling special, their clothes would shred revealing her underwear(This did come back in XIII for a brief moment). 5) The Japan team(aka the hero team), was designed after the 3 most feared form of disaster in Japan - which is Fire, Lightning and Earthquake. Kyo uses flames from his ancestral power, Daimon smashes the ground to shake the earth, and Benimaru.....can make electricity for some unknown reason. 6) The statue behind Rugal who Thorgi claims it's Zangief is actually Abobo from Double Dragon. Other characters include Reiji Ouyama from Atlus's Power Instinct, but mostly they are from Capcom's Street Fighter. This might seem that SNK started what is known as the "Feud" between Capcom and SNK, but it was actually Capcom who shot first. During the promotion for the Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo, Capcom revealed a picture where Sagat was holding a man by the face who looked like a mash-up version of Ryo and Robert from AoF. KoF94 was released after that reveal. 7) Long jump was added in 95. 95 also had sway attacks so you can dodge and counterattack immediately, this lead to some deadly combos. 8) While every numeral KoF until XI was made annually so they were made with rush and crunches, 96 was one of the worst to be released incomplete. Command normals were gone, The input was stiff so rekkas were hard to perform, and command shortcuts was also removed so it was tough to input super specials too.

1:16:32 Her sister actually. 1:35:16 Don't you mean Yashiro? Despite those miskates, I really did enjoy this retrospective. Very detailed, especially with the cutting room floor info. I'm so damn glad that Rugal Infinity didn't end up becoming a thing.

The KOF team before SNK's bankruptcy should reunite together. I want to know their secrets on making such detailed sprites.

29:35 granddaughter actually. Mai’s parents aren’t actually documented. Her grandparents are, her hair band was a gift from her late grandmother and again grandpa hanzo trained them both but it’s never stated what happened to her parents.

1:35:15 Yamazaki isn't Yashiro but their both members of the Hakkeshu. The confusion is understandable in such a long video.

Did it all begin in 94? Kept on going in 95? Pieces come in place in 96? Come to a head in 97? Would be cool if that's what happened

1:48:39 Small correction on that: The backgrounds aren't the same from Dream Match 1999. They were remodeled again. Furthermore, they use different camera movement from the Dreamcast backgrounds

41:56 That flag isn't the flag of England, that is the British flag prior to the joining of Northern Ireland, represented by the Red diagonal lines as part of St Patrick's saltier

The closest we get to a Team Masters is team Guardian/Team Adoptive Parents with Dolores Vanessa and Terry in XV

1:16:29 CORRECTION: Maki, Chizuru's twin sister, is the head of the Yata Clan, not her father.

I don't know if you knew this but in both 96 and 97 if you make it to the end as team psycho soldiers the four Heavenly Kings (Goenitz, Chris, Yashiro, Shermie) and Orochi will talk to Athena as if they know her implying they knew her in a previous life as the goddess Athena

As someone who grew up casually playing the games in arcades, been reading about the various sagas recently, and then I came across this, alot of work, thanks for putting this out! EDIT just finished this first part----absolutely incredible work! Fantastic! Amazing work on this, looking forward to part 2!

love that part one of this series is almost TWO HOURS long.

There is no way to express how much i'm loving this retrospective series and the amount of effort and work put into it is just impressive These videos also made me confirm how much I love this series and it's great story ingame and of the games

"Team Grown Arms" I can't believe this franchise roster is so big that there are actually 3 different characters with stretchy arm powers, that's incredible.

Mai: I thought you were stronger than that. Bummer City! Me: I don't think American dialogue actually sounds like tha... Sailor Moon: Major BUMSVILLE, Oh, I'm so late

Man. The game series was some simple concept of crossover esque game and yet it became a new fighting game series.

It all began in '94... Also... Your channel is about to explode, sir... 💯

Also Robert's face was based off Jean Claude Van Damme! If you look at the AOF poster!

Great format! I mean,shout out to another content Shoryugame who has a great channel explaining the lore of all the KOF series. But I actually appreciate you mixing in the behind-the-scenes elements + easter eggs on top of all that. *chef's kiss*

I agree they could have called it "Female Fighters" to roll off the tongue better, but i think the name was pretty deliberate considering this was the 90's still; Women in video games were starting to become much more prevalent, now not only having like two in your street fighter roster to a noticeable percentage being female, and women in general being more and more notable as stars. Even in universe it's considered a pretty inspiring thing that in a martial arts tournament there's a team that consistently make it to the semi finals minimum who are all women, which i think was the main idea for the name.

I can't wait for part 2! I hope we won't have to wait too long...

If I recall correctly, Athena Asamiya isn't the same person from the original games, but one of her main incarnations.

Man Could you imagine if there was a character that was just one big reference to akira hahaha. crazy right krohnen

Finally! A proper KOF retrospective! I’m looking forward to the next parts.

I am really thankfull for all these retrospectives you’ve been making! As someone really compasionate about video game history and a new fighting game fan (although I am very bad), these videos have taught me a lot about these big series that have so, oh so complicated and mind-blowing history Can’t wait for part 2!

This was literally the exact video I was looking for. An in-depth examination of the series' evolution of mechanics, the lore, the characters, everything. Thank you for making this.

I now demand a retrospective on SNK Gals Fighters solely because you don't want to.

I don't know if it's intentional, but Orochi's difficulty kinda could explain lore-wise. New face team was intended to sacrifice Yuki not just because she's close to Kyo but also she's a descendant of Kushinada bloodline who was supposed to be a sacrifice in the past, they ended up have to use Yashiro and Shermie as substitute and Chris as vessel so they're not a proper ritual which made Orochi awaken in weakened state.

Massively surprised that you didn't mention King's ripped shirt when she loses. Definitely one of my favourite moments playing the game 😂

As I'm watching this retrospective, all the memories playing the games listed so far came flooding back. Both good in wins and bad in crushing defeats. You sure know how to tug the heart strings Thorgi. This is a thoroughly well researched video. I can't wait for part 2!

As someone that knows nothing of KOF . This appears to be so well thought out well done!

THis is incredible. Thank you for your hard work, Thorgi.

God finally a neo geo content creator that doest sound like he is make love to the games.

Damn this was a hell of a video. Definitely one of, if not the best retrospectives I've personally seen on KZfaq.

Correction on "earliest game with a date-specific event": Rise of the Triad came out in 1994 and had an absolutely legendary Christmas Mode that replaced all the music with metal covers of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Man I fucking commend you for doing these arcade modes to get footage. I’m trying to go through all the KOF games, and I am STUCK at 94, and 95 wasn’t much better

Also apparently Kyo's GF Yuki is a descendent of one of the sacrifical maidens that were used for Orochi.

Now I want a KOF cinematic universe

I'm excited for part 2 of this retrospective after the not so subtle hint at 38:07 of K9999.

I had the Orochi Saga on the Wii. Nostalgia overload. Fun fact: Benimaru has the most KoF tournament wins at 9. Yes, you read that right, 9.

One thing to note about the sacrifice at the near end of 97, it was said that there was a similar sacrifice many years ago to awaken Orochi seven maidens were brought to be sacrificed but the three sacred treasures put an end to that before the last one could be killed, now years later the sacrifice that would be needed for Orochi to have a vessel was Kyo's girlfriend who was a descendant of the maiden. But because team Orochi failed to kill her, they instead sacrificed Chris's body to be used as a vessel, which could explain why Orochi was not at full power during the fight.

Awesome video. Goenitz is my favorite KoF antagonist. Koko desu ka! KoF 97 is my favorite in the series, as I find the gameplay the be the loosest for combos while having the best responsiveness, and yes, I am a Shingo fan! I used to yell "Yo te chingo!" when pulling off Shingo's SDM in a combo when playing in my local arcade hahaha

Man. This video has made me a fan of the series. Looking forward to the next one. Keep up the great work.

The King of Fighters games are one of my favourites. Those 2D pixel art of the AES/MVS originals is brilliant, one of the best I've ever seen.

Idk if the algorithm really values comments, but this channel definitely deserves millions of subscribers. KZfaq, do your thing pls.

This is an incredibly well made video. Thank you for creating this, i'm loving learning about the history of the franchise

Canon is such a weird thing we get hung up on nowadays. Does it matter that AoF makes no sense timeline wise? Not to me, but the endgame comparison with the comics was very well put.

awesome video! I'm watching this while playing KOFXV

EASILY the best KOF retrospective video out there. Great job, man!!

Ten minutes in and you've earned a sub. Thank you for this massively ambitious documentary project. I'll be watching 15 minutes every morning before work (and playing some KoF after).

1:35:15 *Yashiro. Awesome awesome vid though. Anyone who's been following since 94 definitely appreciates the work. I can't wait until (if) KoF: Kyo is covered or touched on.

This is one of the best Neo Geo videos on all of KZfaq. Absolutely phenomenal job. No simple Wikipedia copy and paste job here. Well done.

Your retrospectives are so entertaining. I love KOF so much, so I’m looking forward to part 2!

Fun fact about cut intros: The same way Kyo was supposed to enter the stage in '94 parking his motorcycle like Kaneda, Blue Mary was intended to have that intro in KOF 98, but got cut as well. However, you can actually find photos of Blue Mary's scrapped intro in the form of footage from early versions of KOF 98.

This was great. Can't wait to see more.

I wanna kick myself for not watching this video sooner. I got chills throughout the video just remembering these awesome moments. Kinda wanted you to mention the canonical winners of every game when talking about them.

Love this long form coverage. You got yourself a sub sir!

I love it! Great stuff. Love this series and I am so glad people are appreciating it.

Yuki was coincidently related to her ancestor as a sacrifice for Orochi, I'm sure your might be saving this info for the Ash saga, Chizuru older sister Maki was the successor of the Yata clan except she was killed trying to protect the seal of Orochi against Goenitz. Great video, I've watch the whole thing.

I’ve watched retrospectives of this series before but you’ve managed to bring new life to it! I really enjoyed it, great work!

Mad flashbacks throughout the video. Thank you so much!

Thanks for this I was always confused about the Orochi saga. Seeing this brings me back to when I first saw king of fighters in the arcade and was amazed that I could choose three players to fight on one quarter.

Great episode. Very entertaining from beginning to end. I love this series.

I just wanted to thank you for making this retrospective. It has taught me about a series I really always like, but so did not understand the story. After watching your videos I started playing this again and realized how much I love it. Thank you again, really enjoy all of your videos

This video is inanely well put together. It is 1:51h long and I wasn't bored even 1 minut. Thank you for this and I'm looking forward future parts

The Nest Saga is next it for some, it might as well be the Saga that would finacally make or break the KOF series as a whole. Also it's my favorite Saga in the entire franchise for too many reason I can put in a top 5.

Both rugal theme and Japan theme from kof 1994 have an audio sample Of gutsfests 89 " you can hear behind me now I think their called blue death" While the Brazilian/ ikari theme is Literally suprises your dead from faith no more .

I found your channel with this video and ty for the memories. As kid I recall playing kof in Mexico but I couldn't read or even knew what kof I was playing but I always had a blast. Seeing all the parts made me recall my first kof was 99.

Thank you Thorgi for taking the time to make these videos! Keep up the good work!