The games' story focuses on the title tournament in which fighters from multiple SNK games take part. SNK also created original characters to serve as protagonists, with individual story arcs, interacting with fighters from Art of Fighting and Fatal Fury, among other titles. Multiple spin-off games, such as the R duology for the Neo Geo Pocket and Maximum Impact for the PlayStation 2, for example, have also been released. There have been multiple cross-over games in which the SNK cast interacted with characters created by Capcom, while some characters have been present as guest characters in other games, such as Mai Shiranui in the Dead or Alive games, Geese Howard in Tekken 7, Kula Diamond in Dead or Alive 6, and Terry Bogard in Fighting EX Layer, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and Street Fighter 6. Critical reception of the video games have been generally positive with their use of teams and balanced gameplay often cited.
Several characters from the series also appear in crossover video games. NeoGeo Battle Coliseum is a 2-on-2 tag team fighting game for the Atomiswave arcade board, and SNK Gals' Fighters is a fighting game for the Neo Geo Pocket Color. Along with the KOF, characters from other SNK series also star in both of these games.[34] A rhythm game titled The Rhythm of Fighters was released for mobile phone games during 2015.[35] Capcom also produced a series of similar crossover fighting games with SNK. The SNK-produced fighting games of this crossover include the Dimps-developed portable fighting game SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium for the Neo Geo Pocket Color in 1999 and SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos for the Neo Geo in 2003. The games produced by Capcom are Capcom vs. SNK in 2000. This was followed by a minor upgrade, Capcom vs. SNK Pro, and a sequel titled Capcom vs. SNK 2, both released in 2001.[36] The three games were produced for NAOMI hardware and later ported to various consoles. SNK also produced SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos,[37] and the video game card game titled SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS.[38]
Multiple mobile phone games have also been produced including The King of Fighters All Star,[39] Kimi wa Hero,[40] Clash of Kings,[41] KOF X Arena Masters,[42] KOF: WORLD,[43] The King of Fighters Orochi Go, The King of Cyphers,[44][45] and a crossover with Fatal Fury.[46] An otome game King of Fighters for Girls is also in development.[47] The characters have also been guests in other mobile games such as Kyo in Fighting Days.[48]
A separately produced compilation titled The King of Fighters Collection: The Orochi Saga was released for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Wii outside of Japan. This compilation has the same lineup of games as the Japanese Orochi Hen, along with KOF '94 and KOF '98. The extra features are different. There is an added Challenge Mode where the player must win certain matches against the CPU in KOF '98 under specific conditions, a media gallery featuring listenable tracks from each game, and a collection of official illustrations.[49]
The basic gameplay system of KOF is similar to SNK's previous games like the Fatal Fury series, Art of Fighting and Samurai Shodown. The game uses a four attack button configuration like Fatal Fury 2 and Fatal Fury Special, that consists of light punch, light kick, strong punch and strong kick. Like Fatal Fury 2, specialized techniques are performed by pressing buttons in combination, allowing the player to dodge an opponent's attack or to launch a character's powerful knockdown attack. As with most other fighting games, each character has a set of basic, unique, and special moves the player can perform using a specific series of joystick and button inputs.[53] Each new installment provides new ways to create stronger attacks such as The King of Fighters '97. Instead of charging the Power Gauge it is now filled when the player strikes the opponent or by performing Special Moves. The player can stock up to three Power Gauges. The player
