The King of Fighters 2002 (Neo Geo)

The second-to-last King of Fighters game on the Neo Geo and the successor to The King of Fighters 2001, as well as the second (and last) developed by Eolith.

Unused Graphics
The name of the character Ex-Kyo is not used in the game. It can be found with the tile viewer in Kawaks. This was likely an early name for Kusanagi. (The hidden Kyo clone that has his 95 moveset)



As well as this, utilizing the debug sprite viewer along with Kao Megura's FAQ reveals a number of unused sprite animations for different characters. Most of them consist of old variants of most moves or animations from earlier games rendered unused due to engine re-usage as well as the animations used when the game's censor switch is on.

Kyo


Kyo's Striker animation consisting of RED Kick and Hikagane from The King of Fighters 2001. Since 2002 no longer uses Strikers, this animation goes unused.

Benimaru


Benimaru's old Super Inazuma Kick special from The King of Fighters 2000. The kick itself is part of his Handou Sandan Geri special, but the flip kick special on its own is unused.

Goro Daimon
Daimon's old '96 sidestep dodge. The series ditched the sidestep from '99 onward.

Daimon's sidestep attack animation.

Unused airblocking frames. Daimon can't airblock in this game.

Terry
Terry's old Back Knuckle command attack from '98.

His old Power Charge special from '98.

Kim
Both parts of Kim's old Kuuren Geki command normal from KOF 99.



Clark
Clark's Striker summon animation. KOF 2002 no longer uses Strikers, so this goes unused.

The end of an unidentified piledriver attack.

Ryo
Both parts of Ryo's old QCB+Punch special from KOF 2001.



Ryo's old intro against fellow Art of Fighting veteran King. This goes unused in the Arcade and Neo Geo AES versions of the game since King is not actually playable in those versions (she was in the Dreamcast, PS2, and XBox versions).

Robert
This crouch animation found on that particular character code has a DM startup flash preceding it, which means that Robert's Kuzuryu Sen triple flip kick DM from KOF 2000 was going to be included, since that started up with a crouch.

Robert's old aerial CD blowback attack from KOF 99.

Takuma
The entire animation for the SDM version of Takuma's Kishin Geki complete with taunt. Only the DM version is usable in game.

Yuri


Yuri's taunt that plays at the end of the SDM version of her Hien Hou'ou Kyaku used from the '99 to 2001 games. This move is not available as an SDM in this game.

Mai
A different stance for Mai without bouncing breasts can be found and activated when the game's region is set to USA and the censor switch is on.

The landing sprite for Mai's Hou'ou no Mai DM from KOF '98, which is not usable in this game.

Mature
An unused DM animation set that starts with the startup from Ebony Tears, goes into the spin part of her Sacrilege move and ends with her Heaven's Gate slam with electric sparks near her hand.

The old version of Mature's Close Standing C from KOF 96.

Billy
The flame burst from Billy's EX Mode Salamander Stream DM from KOF 98. Billy does not have that DM in 2002 but the flame bursts are present here.

The first of two of Billy's old winpose form KOF 98 which go unused completely. First, where he removes his bandanna and lets his hair fly out.

The second where he points his cudgel at his beaten enemy.

Shermie
The old version of Shermie Shoot.

Whip
Censored Animations:

Whip's Desert Eagle ground shot move usually has her shoot at you with a gun. When censored, it changes to her flicking what is possibly an explosive earring instead.

Her HSDM, Super Black Hawk has her blast you with a dark-brown revolver. When censored, it changes to a gold revolver with a flanged head and her whip attached to the handle.

Unused: Her old unused SDM Whip Shot from KOF 99, though it looks more glitched in motion now.

Vanessa
Vanessa's Parrying Puncher special from KOF 2001.

Seth
The DM version of his Doh-Tori-Shichimonsatsu which is SDM only in this game.

His special intro pose against Original Zero in KOF 2001. Unused since neither Original nor Clone Zero are in this version of 2002.

K9999
The censored version of K9999's "You Can Have This Too!" DM is changed from him turning his arm into a gun and shooting the enemy to just him pointing his fist and gunshots magically firing from his fist.

Kusanagi
Kusanagi has the animations for the Aoki special used by Kyo-1 in KOF 99 and 2002 Unlimited Match. Since Kusanagi already has Oniyaki, this goes unused out of redundancy.

Kyo's old turn-back-to-camera-and-extinguish-flame winpose/Kyo clones' intro, a result of Kyo himself, Kyo-1, Kyo-2 and Kusanagi all using the same spriteset with different colours. Goes unused.



Miscellaneous
An alternate nametag set for May Lee, writing her name as "Lee Jinju".



Regional Differences
If the language setting is set to Korean, the in-game voices of the (who else?) Korea Team (Kim, Choi, Chang) and May Lee are changed to Korean-language voices. May Lee's name is also changed to Lee Jinju.