is a fighting game produced by SNK Playmore for the Neo Geo arcade and home platforms in 2003. It is the tenth game in The King of Fighters series and the last one released for the Neo Geo, which served as the primary platform for the series since The King of Fighters '94. It was ported to the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, and was released in North America as a two-in-one bundle with the preceding game in the series, The King of Fighters 2002.
Gameplay
The 3-on-3 Team Battle Format is applied in the game once again, just like the past editions. It also uses a Multi-Shift format that allows players to change characters during the middle of battle. When the "Change OK" sign is displayed above the Power Gauge, the player can do a Quick Shift and change characters immediately, or perform a Switch-Off Attack against the opponent that will consume one Power Gauge stock. The game also features a Tactical Leader System, in which one of the members of the team is designated as the Leader. The chosen Leader can have an access to an exclusive move known as the "Leader Super Special Move". However, this usually requires two Power Gauge stocks to be able to perform it. As in the last game in the series, the players' Power Gauge can hold up to 3 stocks at the beginning of a match. Unlike the previous game, however, the player starts with a full gauge of three stocks right away. When one team loses one of its members, the maximum capacity of Power Gauge stocks is increased by one, giving the losing team a handicap against the opposing team. In addition, unlike the previous KOF games, each hit only earns the player 100 points.
Plot
The game revolves around The King of Fighters, an elite fighting tournament. The tournament at the center of the game is sponsored by an unknown patron, whose identity becomes a matter of public interest in the country. The narrative is divided when the player faces a single fighter named Kusanagi, a clone of the returning warrior Kyo Kusanagi. From one path, following Kusanagi's defeat, the player faces a young man named Adelheid who is accompanied by his sister Rose. Once Adelheid is defeated, Rose threatens the winner with locking him in the area. In other alternative road, it is revealed that Kusanagi was created by Chizuru Kagura as an attempt to test the winner. Chizuru and her undead sister Maki challenge the player to a boss fight. Following the Kagura sisters' defeat, a woman named Botan reveals herself as the true mastermind behind the 2003 tournament, having brainwashed Chizuru. Botan's partner, Mukai, becomes the final boss and despite being defeated, claims success for his superior, having weakened the seal of the ancient demon Orochi.
The game was first revealed in Tokyo Game Show 2003. In North America the game was released alongside The King of Fighters 2002 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. The game was solely released for Switch on February 21, 2019. As the first chapter of a new story arc, Ash was designed as an "attractive evil character", in contrast to previous King of Fighters heroes. Due to Ash's late appearance in The King of Fighters 2003, the staff joked that teammate Shen Woo seemed more like the series' main character than Ash did. The two boss characters, Adelheid and Mukai, had no problems during their designs with the former being the last added to expand the narrative of the series. While Kusanagi was first introduced in The King of Fighters 2002 without a plot focused around him, KOF 2003 gave him the idea of being a clone of Kyo Kusanagi created by Chizuru Kagura while also intending to include his school uniform highly popular within Kyo's fans. The series inspired a manhua with the same name. In China the series was divided into two halves: The King of Fighters 2003composed of five issues, and The King of Fighters 03: Xenon Zero composed of eight issues. The two series were combined for the North American release under the name of The King of Fighters 2003. In July 2004, ComicsOne licensed the series with its first volume tying the release of a new video game and kept publishing it after their transition to DrMaster.
Reception
The game got a 7.1 score by Famitsu. DefunctGames gave it a B+ praising the new gameplay style gave the series a major change. New character Tizoc was noted by Kotaku for appealing South American fans based on him being wrestler. Eurogamer was negative believing, previous SNK fighting game like The King of Fighters 2002 offered a better cast and that the new gameplay system would confuse newcomers. Nevertheless, the reviewer commented that the new Garou: Mark of the Wolves fighters introduced in 2003 would also appeal to players similar to Kotaku. HardcoreGaming101 believed the new gameplay features, cast and artwork were interesting but the sequel, The King of Fighters XI, easily fixed most of its issues.
