THE KING OF FIGHTERS 2001 CHARACTERS

The King of Fighters 2001 closes the Nests Chronicles arc and marks the first entry built after the original SNK shut its doors, with Korean studio Eolith taking development duties. The result keeps the striker assist system from '99 and 2000, then hands you the choice of how to spend your roster slots. You can run four fighters and no strikers, three fighters and one striker, or all the way down to one fighter with three strikers backing them up.

The roster runs forty-four deep, including new faces K9999, Angel, May Lee, and Foxy alongside the returning Hero and Rival teams. The Orochi-blooded boss Igniz waits at the end, and the soundtrack leans into a darker, electronic sound that fits the storyline's apocalyptic finale. Released across arcade, Neo Geo, Dreamcast, and PlayStation 2, KOF 2001 holds up as one of the most flexible team builders the series ever shipped.