The King of Fighters 2003

The King of Fighters 2003[lower-alpha 1] (KOF 2003, or KOF '03), also known by fans as The King of Fighters X[lower-alpha 2], is a fighting game produced by SNK Playmore for the Neo Geo arcade and home platforms in 2003. It is the tenth game in The King of Fighters series and the last one released for the Neo Geo, which served as the primary platform for the series since The King of Fighters '94. It was ported to the PlayStation 2 and Xbox (in North America and Japan only and it was not compatible with the Xbox 360), and was released on both consoles in North America in a two-in-one bundle with the preceding game in the series, The King of Fighters 2002.

The King of Fighters 2003
The King of Fighters 2003 flyer
Developer(s)SNK Playmore
Publisher(s)
SNK Playmore
Producer(s)Eikichi Kawasaki
Kazuya Hirata
Designer(s)T. Mieno
Artist(s)Tatsuhiko Kanaoka
Composer(s)Masahiko Hataya
Yasumasa Yamada
Yasuo Yamate
SeriesThe King of Fighters
Platform(s)
Release
  • Arcade
    • WW: 12 December 2003
    Neo Geo AES
    PlayStation 2
    Xbox
    • JP: 25 August 2005
    • NA: 31 August 2005
    PlayStation Network
    Nintendo Switch
    • WW: 21 February 2019
    PlayStation 4
    • JP: 21 February 2019
    Xbox One
    • WW: 21 February 2019
Genre(s)Fighting
Mode(s)
Arcade systemNeo Geo MVS

The game uses a 3-on-3 Tag Battle format in which players can change characters in the middle of a fight. Each team has one leader with access to a Leader Super Special Move. The narrative of the game involves a new tournament set by "R" with two parallel bosses serving as final bosses. The game is notable for starting the story arc of newcomer Ash Crimson, with the story arc itself titled the "Tales of Ash". Falcoon worked as the main illustrator. Critical reception to this game has been mixed due to the major change of the regular gameplay associated with the series.

Gameplay
Gameplay screenshot showcasing a match between Ash Crimson and Ryuji Yamazaki.

The 3-on-3 Team Battle format is used once again, just like in past editions. It also uses a Multi-Shift format that allows players to change characters in the middle of a fight, similar to that was used in Kizuna Encounter. When the "Change OK" sign is displayed above the Power Gauge, the player can do a Quick Shift and change characters immediately, or perform a Switch-Off Attack against the opponent that will consume one Power Gauge stock.[1]

The game also features a Tactical Leader System, in which one of the members of the team is designated as the Leader. The chosen Leader has access to an exclusive move known as the "Leader Super Special Move" (in addition to the regular "Super Special Moves"). However, this usually requires two Power Gauge stocks to be able to perform it.

As in the last game in the series, the players' Power Gauge can hold up to 3 stocks at the beginning of a match. Unlike the previous game, however, the player starts with a full gauge of three stocks right away. When one team loses one of its members, the maximum capacity of Power Gauge stocks is increased by one, giving the losing team a handicap against the opposing team. In addition, unlike the previous KOF games, each hit only earns the player 100 points.

The King of Fighters 2003's sequel, The King of Fighters XI would go on to use its mechanics in its gameplay.

Plot

Taking place two years after the events of The King of Fighters 2001, a new KOF tournament has been announced, being sponsored by an unknown patron whose identity becomes a matter of public interest in the country. The tournament establishes a new set of rules, including the Multi-Shift System that enables fighters to tag out at any given time and the competition itself, consisting of both veterans and newcomers once again takes place and being shown around the world. The narrative is divided depending on the player's actions against the mid-boss Kusanagi, a clone of the returning veteran Kyo Kusanagi. An alternate path following Kusanagi's defeat has the player facing off against a young man named Adelheid Bernstein who is accompanied by his young sister Rose, with the two of them being the children of the notorious Rugal Bernstein. Once Adelheid is defeated, Rose threatens the winner, only to be stopped by Adelheid who tells her to let them go as they won fairly. Within the true ending path, 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 player to a boss fight. Following the Kagura sisters' defeat, a woman named Botan reveals herself as the one who had brainwashed Chizuru and that both Botan and her partner Mukai are the true masterminds behind the 2003 tournament, with the latter serving as the true ending final boss. Despite being defeated, Mukai claims success for his unknown superior, having weakened the seal of the ancient demon Orochi and while both Mukai and Botan escape, Ash Crimson attacks a weakened Chizuru and steals the Yata Mirror from her, warning Iori Yagami that he's his next target.

Characters

Development

The game was first revealed in Tokyo Game Show 2003, originally planned to be developed on the Atomiswave hardware before settling on the Neo-Geo MVS hardware.[2] In North America the game was released alongside The King of Fighters 2002 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox.[3] The game was solely released for Switch on February 21, 2019.[4] As the first chapter of a new story arc, Ash was designed as an "attractive evil character", in contrast to previous King of Fighters heroes.[5] Due to Ash's late appearance in The King of Fighters 2003, the staff joked that teammate Shen Woo seemed more like the series' main character than Ash did.[6] The two boss characters, Adelheid and Mukai, had no problems during their designs with the former being the last added to expand the narrative of the series.[7][8] While Kusanagi was first introduced in The King of Fighters 2002 without a plot focused around him, KOF 2003 gave him the idea of being a clone of Kyo Kusanagi created by Chizuru Kagura while also intending to include his school uniform highly popular within Kyo's fans.[9]

The series inspired a manhua with the same name. In China the series was divided into two halves: The King of Fighters 2003 composed of five issues, and The King of Fighters 03: Xenon Zero (拳皇 XENON ZERO) composed of eight issues. The two series were combined for the North American release under the name of The King of Fighters 2003.[10] In July 2004, ComicsOne licensed the series with its first volume tying the release of a new video game and kept publishing it after their transition to DrMaster.[11][12]

Reception

The game got a 7.1 score by Famitsu.[13] DefunctGames gave it a B+ praising the new gameplay style gave the series a major change.[14] New character Tizoc was noted by Kotaku for appealing South American fans based on him being wrestler.[15] Eurogamer was negative believing, previous SNK fighting game like The King of Fighters 2002 offered a better cast and that the new gameplay system would confuse newcomers. Nevertheless, the reviewer commented that the new Garou: Mark of the Wolves fighters introduced in 2003 would also appeal to players similar to Kotaku.[16] HardcoreGaming101 believed the new gameplay features, cast and artwork were interesting but the sequel, The King of Fighters XI, easily fixed most of its issues.[17]

Notes
  1. Japanese: ザ・キング・オブ・ファイターズ 2003, Hepburn: Za Kingu Obu Faitāzu 2003
  2. Japanese: ザ・キング・オブ・ファイターズ X, Hepburn: Za Kingu Obu Faitāzu Ten

References
  1. "More King of Fighters 2003 details". GameSpot. Archived from the original on October 18, 2021. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
  2. "TGS 2003: King of Fighters update". GameSpot. Archived from the original on November 29, 2021. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
  3. "The King of Fighters 2002 & 2003 E3 2005 Preshow Report". GameSpot. Archived from the original on December 5, 2020. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
  4. "The King of Fighters 2003 is this week's NeoGeo game on Switch". Nintendo Everything. 20 February 2019. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
  5. "Ash Crimson's KOF 10th anniversary profile". King of Fighters 15th Anniversary Official Website. Archived from the original on April 10, 2008. Retrieved February 19, 2008.
  6. "Shen Woo's KOF 10th anniversary profile". King of Fighters 15th Anniversary Official Website. Archived from the original on July 9, 2011. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
  7. "Adelheid". King of Fighters 15th Anniversary Official Website. Archived from the original on August 4, 2020. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
  8. "Mukai". King of Fighters 15th Anniversary Official Website. Archived from the original on February 6, 2021. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
  9. "Kusanagi". King of Fighters 15th Anniversary Official Website. Archived from the original on December 29, 2018. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
  10. "このページの商品は全て です。". Hong Kong Manga. Archived from the original on September 29, 2018. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  11. "THE KING OF FIGHTERS COMES TO COMICS". ICv2. Archived from the original on September 29, 2018. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  12. "San Jose, CA – July 28, 2004". Comics One. Archived from the original on February 4, 2005. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  13. "Japanese Game Ratings". IGN. 27 October 2004. Archived from the original on 21 September 2021. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
  14. "The King of Fighters 2003". DefunctGames. Archived from the original on July 3, 2017. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
  15. "Why King Of Fighters Dominates Latin America's Fighting Game Scene". Kotaku. 29 August 2019. Archived from the original on 3 December 2019. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
  16. "King Of Fighters 2003". Eurogamer.net. Eurogamer. 14 March 2006. Archived from the original on 2 October 2019. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
  17. "King of Fighters 2003, The". HardcoreGaming101. Archived from the original on January 24, 2020. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
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