The King of Fighters 2000

The King of Fighters 2000 is a fighting game produced by SNK for the Neo Geo arcade and home consoles in 2000. It is the seventh installment in The King of Fighters series for the Neo Geo, and marks the final game in the series produced by the original SNK before the company's bankruptcy. The game was ported to the Dreamcast (in Japan only) and the PlayStation 2 in 2002. A sequel to The King of Fighters '99, the story focuses on a new tournament held by military man Heidern who seeks to use the former NESTS agents K' and Maxima in order to find more investigate the NESTS coorporation. The gameplay retains the Striker system from the previous games but the assisting character can also cooperate with the playable character in order to generate combos. The King of Fighters 2000 was developed when SNK entered into bankrupt which resulted in the game having glitches and bugs as members from the staff left the team during the making of it, most notably producer Takashi Nishiyama. SNK attempted to add further depth to the NESTS cast with K''s new enemy Kula Diamond while other newcomers like Vanessa and Seth were meant to generate to attract different audiences. The PlayStation 2 version of the game was released in North America in a two-in-one bundle with its immediate sequel, The King of Fighters 2001, as the first two games to be published by SNK Playmore USA. Critical reception to the game's fighting system and cast of characters has been mostly positive, due to the improvements SNK brought to the franchise. However, there were mixed reactions in regards to the company's handling of the graphics and backgrounds which made divided reviewers in whether or not the game was one of the best ones of the series. Two novelizations and a drama CD have also been published in Japan.