The King of Fighters 2002 (Neo Geo)

The King of Fighters 2002: Challenge to Ultimate Battle
Developer: Eolith Publisher: Playmore Platforms: Neo Geo, Arcade (Neo Geo) Released in JP: October 10, 2002 (MVS), December 19, 2002 (AES) Released in US: October 10, 2002 This game has unused graphics. This game has regional differences.

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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

Graphics for the character name "Ex-Kyo", while not used in-game, can still be found in the data using Kawaks' tile viewer. This was likely an early name for Kusanagi, the hidden Kyo clone that has his moveset from The King of Fighters '95.

These tiles intended for a "Winners Don't Use Drugs" message can also be found there, left unused due to the retirement of the slogan.

Along with these, 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 restriction of the animations by the game's censor switch.

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, PlayStation 2, 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.

In The King of Fighters 2003, the win pose/Kyo clones' intro moveset is re-used as Kusanagi's win pose.

Regional Differences

To do: Record and compare the different voice clips.

Changing the language to Korean gives Kim, Choi, Chang, and May Lee different voices. May Lee's name is also changed to Lee Jinju.