The two series were combined for the North American release under the name of The King of Fighters 2003.
In China the series was divided into two halves: The King of Fighters 2003 composed of five issues, and The King of Fighters 03: Xenon Zero (拳皇 XENON ZERO) composed of eight issues. The series inspired a manhua with the same name. 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 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. 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. 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. The game was solely released for Switch on February 21, 2019. In North America the game was released alongside The King of Fighters 2002 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. The game was first revealed in Tokyo Game Show 2003, originally planned to be developed on the Atomiswave hardware before settling on the Neo-Geo MVS hardware. Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami come to Chizuru's aid as Ash tells Iori that he's his next target. After defeating the mysterious stone fighter known as Mukai, Ash Crimson appears before Chizuru, attacks her in her weakened state and steals her powers. Only in console mode, there is a fighting option without this mode.Īt the end of the tournament, depending on how players defeat the midgame boss, Kusanagi, the players will either face Adelheid Bernstein or learn that the tournament organizer is Chizuru Kagura and that a group known as " His Distant Land" is working in a secretive plot. The several new rules are instituted, including a whole new team system, based in Tag Team, which allows you to change character at the time of the fight. According to the game's storyline, a new King of Fighters tournament is organized by an unknown host. 11 Original Cameo Characters (only in PS2)Īs indicated by the game's name, it takes place two years after the last canon King of Fighters game, The King of Fighters 2001.