What canonical KoF games are also used for serious play?

[SolidSonicTH]

Games like 98 or 2002 (the "dream match" titles) are common games for high-level play but what about the ones besides that?

I think XI and XIII were the only ones I've seen people really putting the chips on the table for. The others...they never seem to take off in "the scene" (MAYBE 2000 but I haven't seen any evidence of such).

[Running Wild]

Any KOF that isn't 98 or 2k2 , were all ridiculously imbalanced, had something about them that was retarded (lol Iori Yagami in Fatal Fury Team Stage in KOF95 lololol) or added stupid shit (lol Strikers). 98 and 2k2 both had some major character imbalances, but certain entries were just way crazier.

XI I think besides 98 and 2k2 was the next best competitive KOF, it had nice gameplay system and all, but the character imbalance was kinda messed up. The "Arrange" mode in the PS2 version I heard tried to fix up and balance the game more, but I never saw a changelist of what they did for it.

I think 13 has potential though, and SNK really needs for it to catch-on in competitive play, so 98 and 2k2 players can finally move on to something better.

[sibarraz]

Depends on the country actually, you can make of almost all the KOF competitive (like 97 in China)

You can see some tournaments of almost all the KOF, and unless you are a semi god you will not pull all the things that make those games so unbalnced, at least if you play against other guys who know how to play

98 and 2002 are not the most popular just because they are refined games with top notch balance, is just that the games are more fun/had better roster/ other things that made them more popular

[Running Wild]

I dunno how anyone can play 97 competitively.

It's the one KOF game where Terry of all characters has an infinite. What the fuck. It's a real stupid infinite too.

[marchefelix]

KOF 2000 should be played competitively. IMO it is the best of the canonical NESTS saga games.

I think GGPO agrees with me. They have the game.

[Rex Dart]

KOF 2000 was (maybe is) really popular in Korea.

[Running Wild]

2000 isn't bad... but some of the strikers allowed for retarded shit.

[Custle]

I once tried 2000, but I just couldn't enjoy playing it. Maybe it was that I had to play it in 50hz mode.

[fiol]

2000 and 2001 were popular in S.Korea.
About 2000, they banned the multi-strikers combo (for ex. Joe), so it's not that broken.

97 here in China is like SF in Japan. Every arcades (also the shitty ones) have at least 1 or 2 cabs with 97. Usually the infinites are not used during a competitive play (such as tournaments), but bugs are used (ex. Mary). When you play just for fun you might see some chinese who use infinites (ex. Terry) but 90% of the ppl here dont use them. The game is still broken as fuck though.

I think that also 95 is pretty solid for competitive play

[Custle]

I like 2003. It is good, but it lacks polish of XI (I actually prefer changing character mechanic in 2003). I still don't understand why Duo Lon is supposed to be "too good" character in that game.

[Running Wild]

I think that also 95 is pretty solid for competitive play

Fatal Fury Team Stage should be banned though.

You see what happens when Iori fights on that stage?
Iori combo kof 95 (crazy combo)

[fiol]

yes i know.. but beside that, almost every char is broken as fuck so.. 

2003 was played a lot in HK back in the days

[MUSOLINI]

before everybody and theor moms starts bitching bout iori 95 in ff stage, it only against chin. how stupid do you have to be one youve fallen into that infinite to choose chin against iori i the first round in the ff stage.

imo the best canon kofs used for tourneys are 97 & 95, as long as you play with a rule that doesnt allow infinites thes are by fa the best kofs to play for tourneys. he reason fo that is that these 2 are 2 of the most balanced kofs around by far, i dare to say even better balance than 98 or 02 when you dont allow infinites, theyre that good.

kof xi is a tourney worthy kof imo but the balance is shittastic tier. so its way worse than 95 OR 97 WITHOUT INFINITES. 96 sucks balls, fact, same for 94, 99 is ass but not as bad as 94 or 96. 2000 is alright once you set a no infinites rule. 01 is ugly as hell but the gameplay is all there. 03 is ass though, why even bother with it when theres xi (xi has one of the shittiest casts of any kof though, so thats 1 point 03 has over xi).

[Running Wild]

before everybody and theor moms starts bitching bout iori 95 in ff stage, it only against chin. how stupid do you have to be one youve fallen into that infinite to choose chin against iori i the first round in the ff stage.

I thought it was because Iori has a heavy jump falling speed, so he always lands before his opponent does.

I've seen that same thing done on other characters.

[steamwolf]

I'm gonna have to say that I think the canonical KoFs are played competitively until the next one comes out. Then the Dream match titles are usually the ones that everyone keeps playing the most. Fatal Fury also has this as well, as the most played FF games are Fatal Fury Special and Real Bout 2. And of course, Garou, but a Garou Dream Match never happened! People will typically play the newest KoF a lot unless there is some huge, glaring, issue with the game that makes it unplayable. But heck, even XII got competitive play in the arcades, even if people didn't like it too much.