The company died. The story didn't.
The NESTS Chronicles, spanning KOF '99, 2000, and the yet-unmade 2001, had no ending. Nona drew the character art and signs the work with a pen name. The SNK logo still appears in the opening.
About this game
On October 30, 2001, SNK was declared bankrupt. Sixteen days later The King of Fighters 2001 went live in arcades. The announcement had come first — the Japanese games press ran it on September 29, a month before the company went under — and the contract had gone to Eolith in Korea, working with BrezzaSoft, a studio staffed by SNK people who had just lost their employer. Eolith supplied the producers and the director; much of the development work was done by people who already had KOF credits behind them. What they had to finish was the NESTS arc, three years old and running since KOF '99. They finished it: Igniz beaten, NESTS broken, the story closed.
Gallery
The Story Behind
In 2000 SNK, already struggling, became a subsidiary of the pachislot manufacturer Aruze. On April 2, 2001 SNK filed under Japan's Civil Rehabilitation Act with debts of roughly 38 billion yen, no rehabilitation plan was ever submitted, and on October 30, 2001 it was declared bankrupt. The King of Fighters 2001 reached arcades on November 15, 2001. A Neo Geo AES cartridge followed worldwide on March 14, 2002, a Dreamcast version came to Japan alone on December 26, 2002, and the PlayStation 2 version arrived in Japan on October 23, 2003 — by then the name on the box was SNK Playmore.
Tricks & Tales
Tactical Order Select let you field up to four fighters instead of the traditional three, and decide how many of them fight and how many stand by as strikers.
Collector's Guide
Region & Compatibility
The PS2 is region-locked. A machine and a disc must belong to the same region to work together: NTSC-J (Japan and parts of Asia), NTSC-U/C (North America), or PAL (Europe, Australia). A Japanese console plays Japanese games. It is also Japanese 100-volt hardware — a fat model used in North America's 120 volts or Europe's 220–240 needs a step-down transformer; the slim models use an external adapter that can be swapped for the right one. DVD films carry their own separate region code, fixed to the console as well.
Maintenance Tips
The PS2's most vulnerable part is its optical drive. The laser pickup weakens with age, producing the famous Disc Read Error — discs that load slowly, read intermittently, or read games but not DVDs (or the reverse). Keeping the vents and internal fan free of dust matters, especially on the larger 'fat' models, which run warmer. Replacement laser units are still made, but match the part number to your exact model before buying, as several incompatible types exist. DualShock 2 controllers commonly develop sticky or drifting analog sticks with age; the rubber and contacts wear, and both are repairable.
What to Watch Out For
Before buying, these are the points worth knowing — from someone who handles original Japanese The King of Fighters 2001 copies regularly.
Will a Japanese PlayStation 2 copy of KOF 2001 work on a North American or European PS2?
No. The PlayStation 2 is region-locked into three zones: NTSC-J (Japan), NTSC-U/C (North America), and PAL (Europe). Game discs only work on consoles from the matching region. A Japanese KOF 2001 disc requires a Japanese PS2 to play.
Is there a standalone version of KOF 2001 for PlayStation 2 in North America or Europe?
No. In Japan, KOF 2001 was released as a standalone title. In North America and Europe, it was only published as part of a two-in-one bundle with The King of Fighters 2000. If you're looking for the game outside Japan, expect to receive both 2000 and 2001 together on a single or multi-disc set.
Will my save get wiped if something inside the disc fails?
PlayStation 2 games save to a Memory Card, not to the disc itself. As long as your Memory Card is intact, your progress is safe. There's no internal battery in a PS2 disc that can die and erase your save file.
Unexpected Discoveries
Games you weren't looking for — but might be glad you found.
Rooms this game lives in
Wander deeper — explore the themed rooms where The King of Fighters 2001 sits alongside its kin.
Memories from around the world
This is a young museum, and this page is still waiting for its first voices. The memories people send reach Taisei personally, and the ones that move him find a home here over time — always with the writer's blessing. Yours could be the very first for this game.
Share your memory ↑From the Museum's Screening Room
The King Of Fighters 2001 — Max Explains