Games World

Review: The King Of Fighters: The Ultimate History

Bitmap Books’ latest epic packs a punch.

Capcom’s Street Fighter has had many rivals over the years, including the likes of Virtua Fighter, Mortal Kombat and Guilty Gear. However, one franchise stands out as the true competitor: SNK’s King of Fighters. Since its inception in 1994, the series has offered what many fans consider to be the only legitimate alternative to Capcom’s one-on-one offering, and at one point, it was more popular than Street Fighter in Japanese arcades. After something of a barren period for the franchise (and, arguably, the genre in general) King of Fighters is enjoying something of a minor resurgence, which makes the publication of Bitmap Books’ The King Of Fighters: The Ultimate History all the more timely.

Weighing in at over 540 pages and packed with interviews, artwork, screenshots and much more besides, The King Of Fighters: The Ultimate History follows in the footsteps of Metal Slug: The Ultimate History and Neo-Geo: A Visual History; all of these books are the result of the publisher’s close relationship with SNK, a relationship which has allowed for unprecedented access to the company’s vaults – as well as its past and present staff.

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