The King of Fighters 2001

The King of Fighters 2001 is the eighth game in The King of Fighters series. It is the first of two King of Fighters games published by Korean company Eolith after Aruze put SNK into bankruptcy.

King of Fighters 2001 kept the Striker assist system from the previous two KOF games, but added a new twist to it - the ability to adjust how many Strikers a team could have. While teams in 1999 and 2000 were limited to selecting one teammate as an assist, now teams could have up to 3 assist characters, or none at all.

This game was given a remade intro for the PS2 port.

Plot
An entire city was wiped off the globe with the use of the satellite weapon, Zero Cannon, during King of Fighters 2000.

This incident was reported to be the result of an artificial satellite crashing to earth, and adorned the front pages to various newspapers of countries all over the world.

A legion of individuals called for the end to the KOF tournament which always invited some sort of accident, but ironically this fighting tournament with a bad history once again regained considerable popularity.

The interest in the tournament rivaled that of the '97 contest, nay, exceeded perhaps exceeded it.

But for this tournament carried out on the international stage, an astonishing fact came to light.

A team from NESTS has entered the tournament!

What are the true objectives of the event's sponsor? There's no guarantee that even with this tournament, tragedy will not repeat itself....

The third title in the King of Fighters: The NESTS Chronicles. At last, this tournament will end it all!

Upon realizing that they're now the target of their enemies, the NESTS cartel decides to host the 2001 KOF tournament so that they can use it as a method to eliminate them. To this end, the organization sends four of their top fighters to enter into the competition, which includes the beautiful but enigmatic Kula Diamond, the top NESTS agent Foxy, the psychotic Kyo Kusanagi clone K9999, and the ditzy yet dangerous brawler Angel.

In the tournament finals, the Hero Team (K', Maxima, Whip, and Lin) boards a special blimp that is soon revealed to be a spaceship. There they meet Original Zero, whose clone decimated the cartels' secrecy with his scheme in the previous year. He congratulates them for reaching the finals and states that they're headed for NESTS' real headquarters. He decides to entertain his passengers with a match and is backed up by his pet black lion Glugan, Ron, and Krizalid. Despite the oppressive force of his group, he is defeated moments before the ship docks at NEST's space satellite. He stays on board the exploding ship and urges the Hero team to proceed forward.

Once inside NESTS' satellite, they face the NESTS leader, Nests. He expresses wishes for his renegade agents to return to the organization. Moments after he utters this, he is killed by his right-hand man, Igniz, who claims ownership of the cartel. Igniz also reveals that K', Maxima, and Whip are guinea pigs/creations made for his own personal entertainment. Kula, who was separated from the rest of her team and present at the time, also heard her origin as an artificial life form. Declaring himself a god, he assaults the team as his first act of "divine retribution". When he's defeated, he proclaims that he is fallen god names himself a "demon" instead. He plunges the satellite through earth's atmosphere in an attempt to demolish his competition.

Thankfully, the satellite crashes into the ocean and they were somehow saved by the explosion by someone (though by whom is up for speculation). K' saves Kula from drowning; in gratitude, she and her guardian, Diana, ally themselves with K' and company. K9999 and Angel are presumably still alive though their exact whereabouts are unknown. Foxy is also stabbed by them though her apparent on screen death is later revealed to be false.

Hero Team

 * K'
 * Maxima
 * Whip
 * Lin

Japan Team

 * Kyo Kusanagi
 * Benimaru Nikaido
 * Goro Daimon
 * Shingo Yabuki

Iori Team

 * Iori Yagami
 * Vanessa
 * Seth
 * Ramon

Fatal Fury Team

 * Terry Bogard
 * Andy Bogard
 * Joe Higashi
 * Blue Mary

Art of Fighting Team

 * Ryo Sakazaki
 * Robert Garcia
 * Yuri Sakazaki
 * Takuma Sakazaki

Ikari Warriors Team

 * Leona Heidern
 * Ralf Jones
 * Clark Still
 * Heidern

Psycho Soldiers Team

 * Athena Asamiya
 * Sie Kensou
 * Chin Gentsai
 * Bao

Women Fighters Team

 * King
 * Mai Shiranui
 * Hinako Shijou
 * Li Xiangfei

NESTS Team

 * Kula Diamond
 * K9999
 * Angel
 * Foxy

Korea Team

 * Kim Kaphwan
 * Chang Koehan
 * Choi Bounge
 * May Lee

Zero Team (Sub-boss)

 * Zero (Original)
 * Krizalid
 * Ron
 * Glaugan

Boss

 * Igniz