I am trying to get into the SNK games lately because at least SNK is making new games. But I like to follow story lines, so I wanted to start at the beginning and work my way up.
Can someone list the lineage of SNK games, starting from earliest to latest, with a focus on Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting, and KOF? I’d like to play them in the order that they were released (not just the order they came in the series). There are just so many of them that I am lost though.
I’ll focus on the main games of the series:
Fatal Fury (1991)
Fatal Fury 2 (1992)
Fatal Fury Special (1993)
Fatal Fury 3 (1995)
Real Bout Fatal Fury (1995)
Real Bout Fatal Fury Special (1996)
Real Bout Fatal Fury 2 (1997)
Garou: Mark of the Wolves (1998)
There are many other versions, but those are the main ones. Fatal Fury Wild Ambition is a 3-D remake of the Fatal Fury 1 storyline but with a more modern cast. Real Bout Fatal Fury: Dominated Mind is basically just the PSX port of RB FF Special with a new boss and anime cutscenes.
The best FF games are FF Special (old school, comparable to Super Turbo), Real Bout Special and 2 (comparable to the Street Fighter Alpha series), and Garou (comparable to the Street Fighter 3 series).
Art of Fighting (1992)
Art of Fighting 2 (1994)
Art of Fighting 3 (1996)
Art of Fighting 3 still has some of the best 2-D sprites even for today. The AOF series is definitely an acquired taste…it brought a lot of new ideas and great graphics for their time, but the controls and odd roster are a bit of a turn-off for many people.
The KOF series probably has the longest continuous storyline in fighting games.
The main plots themselves aren’t that complex, but what makes the KOF universe so deep is that just about every character has a unique personality and an in-depth background.
Many important characters have actually died or gone under significant personality or gameplay changes during the plot, and there is a ton of character development throughout the series (which is something I think too many other fighting game stories lack).
This site is good for starting off on knowledge of the KOF characters and plots, although unfortunately it hasn’t been updated since KOF 2001:
isn’t buriki one considered part of the AOF timeline sorta like garou is for FF; granted if you’re considering playing these games through emulation then you’re probably gonna have quite a headache trying to find that and an emulator that plays it
and are you considering samurai shodown and last blade too?
Buriki One is considered part of the storyline…
The Last Blade series is set in the same time line as KoF. Zantetsu is Eiji’s great, great grandfather.
Fatal Fury is linked to KoF as well obviously; hell the original Fatal Fury was subtitled: “The King of Fighters”.
There are basically 3 main seperate storyline universes in SNK:
The newer (2-D) KOF storyline
KOF Maximum Impact storyline
Everything else
Surprisingly, only the first 2 universes are really active, as there hasn’t been a single storyline game in the 3rd category since Samurai Shodown 5 (which was in 2002).
All of the non-KOF SNK games are in the same universe and timeline. Originally KOF starting with 95’ was also SUPPOSED to fit in the storyline but after KOF 97’ it became hard to fit and the KOF-SNK universe continuity was basically dropped after KOF 2003.
The regular SNK universe (main game) goes:
SavageReign/Kizuna (circa 2060’s-2070)
All of these games have been proven to be connected.
Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting are connected in so many ways it’s ridiculous. They are basically sister series, so that’s proven
(FF=AOF)
Garou is 10 years after the death of Geese Howard, and is the new Fatal Fury series, so that’s proven (Garou=FF=AOF)
Buriki One is specifically stated to be 15 years after AoF 3 (1984), so that’s proven (Garou=FF=AOF=Buriki)
In Kizuna, Kim Sue Il is a descendant of Kim Kaphwan (despite what his English SNK Vs. Capcom card says) and Chung met Terry when he was a little boy and recieved his hat so (Kizuna=Garou=FF=AOF=Buriki)
In Samurai Shodown V, Kyoshiro meets an ancestor of Hayate’s in his ending (SS=Kizuna=Garou=FF=AOF=Buriki).
Zantetsu from Last Blade is an ancestor of Eiji from AOF so (SS=Kizuna=Garou=FF=AOF=Buriki=LB)
I believe Real Bout Fatal Fury takes place when KoF 98 would have (the actual game is just Shingo’s dream).
So, is KOF 95-97 in the story line? And if so, where do they fit in?
i hate all snk games, EXCEPT ONE, that is MAD fun to play.
Rage of the Dragons
LOVE THAT GAME.
If you come on up to EVO East…you’ll get a ROTD tournament and play.
So in other words, you have zero taste. Good to know.
Originally, that’s when it SHOULD have fit in (1998), in order to tie the normal SNK and KOF universes together.
However, after KOF 2003 SNK Playmore has dropped any connection between the KOF and normal SNK universes.
They’ve also said that MOTW takes place in 2006, and is 10 years after the death of Geese Howard in Real Bout.
Also Terry is 35 years old in MOTW (his birthday is March 15, 1971).
Man why wasn’t AOF 4 made as you know there should have been and man I can’t believe the T man is 36 years old now.
There won’t be an AOF4, because every AOF character who actually matters is already in KOF.
jack turner matters!
I wanted to find out Jin’s beef with Eiji and what happened to Todo as Kasumi was looking for him.
Sorry but they should be another AOF
wow you dont like Garou. Why don’t you just not play snk games at all if thats the case. Garou/KOF98 was the best they ever produced imo.
Is there an actual Snk cannon guide like the SF one in which I can read more about? I’m just curious, because I would really like to read up about it.
The SNK cannont you will find mainly in the King Of Fighters Lineage…you can find something of that sort at gamefaqs.com …I have it printed.
This Is A Great Topic