King of Fighters 2001 gets the ACA NeoGeo treatment, releasing today
In the latest addition to the constantly expanding ACA NeoGeo Library, SNK and Hamster have brought us, you guessed it, another classic fighting game from ye olden days. This time, we get to experience a modernized version of the incredible King of Fighters 2001. Yes, this is the latest ACA release post-KoF 2000, and yes, there is a version that came out the year after.
The King of Fighters is a long-running fighting game series that is, to this day, receiving new entries, and is held in the same esteem as Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat. KoF 2001 specifically introduced a feature that would continue to be used in the series for years to come and really freshened up the genre upon launch.
This feature is the ability to choose four of the massive cast of 40 characters and take them into battle as a team, which you could then swap between using the Tactical Order Select System. This introduced a new dynamic to the series, forcing you to learn an abundance of characters from the get-go and understand exactly what each member of that huge cast does so you could either efficiently use them in battle or learn to defend against them when your enemy chooses them.
Aside from this, it’s King of Fighters as usual. Beautiful 2D sprite work, max gauges, huge combos, and excellent character designs that still hold up to this day. Combine this with ACA NeoGeo’s modern features like save-states, training modes, online multiplayer, and pad support, and this is probably the best version of the game to date.
If you’d like to try it out for yourself and experience a very important part of fighting game history, you can purchase KoF 2001 ACA NeoGeo at either of the links below for only $2.99!
Looking to square off one-on-one in other settings? Check out our Top 25 best fighting games for iOS!
