The King of Fighters 2000



The King of Fighters 2000 is the seventh game in The King of Fighters series. This King of Fighter has the introduction of Active Striker characters that add an extra dimension of strategy to game play. It also features Another Strikers and/or Manic Strikers that are characters from other franchises in the SNK World. This would be the last King of Fighters game produced by SNK before the company's bankruptcy and later revival as SNK Playmore.

Story
After the incident at the KOF 1999 tournament, the commander of the Ikari Warriors, Heidern, is determined to figure out the objective of the NESTS cartel so that he can stop them from achieving their ruthless ambition. A fellow commander and long-time friend of Heidern, named Ling, tells the veteran fighter that K' and Maxima were once operatives of NESTS and that they may hold the key to locating the whereabouts of the mysterious organization. Using this information, Heidern decides to focus his efforts in using the next KOF tournament as a way to lure both K' and Maxima out so that they can be captured and interrogated into telling the authorities about the NESTS cartel. Unknown to Heidern however, Ling has other plans in store for K' and the other fighters. Plans that could endanger Southtown and the entire world.

Meanwhile, the NESTS cartel sends a beautiful but mysterious fighter named Kula Diamond to spy and investigate the KOF tournament, upon the fact that there may be a traitor in the organization. At the finals of the tournament, the Hero Team (K', Maxima, Ramon, and Vanessa) succeeds in defeating the Benimaru Team (Benimaru Nikaido, Shingo Yabuki, Lin, and Seth) and tries to figure out on what happens next, but to everyone's surprise, they're suddenly taken to an underground mansion via a hidden elevator and is greeted by a mysterious but sinister-looking man. At the same time, Ling and a couple of his associates suddenly betrays Heidern during the investigation and Ling tells Heidern that the plan to capturing K' and Maxima was just a ruse for an even bigger plot. In the underground mansion, the eight fighters confront the man known as Zero and that the mysterious man tells the two teams about his detailed tactics, in which he eliminated the real Ling and placed a clone in Heidern's position while slipping into his guise from within the process. Also, Zero tells the fighters that he was once a part of the NESTS cartel, but is no longer affiliated with the organization and that he plans to eliminate them by using a powerful space-based weapon known as the Zero Cannon. To demonstrate his power, Zero fires a warm-up shot of the cannon towards a part of Southtown and decimates that section in an instant, possibly killing a lot of people from within the process.

Enraged by this, K' and the other fighters battle against Zero with all of their might, not realizing that their clashing energy is being sent to the Zero Cannon's power generator. After a tough fight, Zero is heavily beaten, but is not willing to give up just yet. In a last desperate effort, Zero tries to fire another shot of the Zero Cannon towards Southtown, but discovers that the cannon isn't working and that he gets blown away by an unexpected explosion. At the same time, Heidern knocks the Zero Cannon's second control away from the Ling imposter and disposes of him easily. As Zero tries to figure out on what went wrong, two of NESTS' top agents, Diana and Foxy, appears and tells Zero that his traitorous plan to destroy NESTS has fallen apart.

Within the process, Kula Diamond, who's stationed on top of the Zero Cannon in space, uses her own power to fire a blast towards Zero's position in Southtown, killing Zero instantly while decimating that specific section of the city from within the process, though K' and the other fighters manage to escape just in time. In the aftermath of the tournament, Terry Bogard, Athena Asamiya, and many other fighters come to the aid of those who were injured by the unexpected blast of the Zero Cannon and that everyone is determined to clean up and rebuild Southtown from the ruthless attack. As Heidern and the Ikari Warriors look on from their military base, they make a vow to bring NESTS and its associates to justice.

Hero Team

 * K'
 * Maxima
 * Vanessa
 * Ramon

Benimaru Team

 * Benimaru Nikaido
 * Shingo Yabuki
 * Seth
 * Lin

Fatal Fury Team

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

Art of Fighting Team

 * Ryo Sakazaki
 * Robert Garcia
 * King
 * Takuma Sakazaki

Ikari Warriors Team

 * Leona Heidern
 * Ralf Jones
 * Clark Still
 * Whip

Psycho Soldiers Team

 * Athena Asamiya
 * Sie Kensou
 * Chin Gentsai
 * Bao

Korea Team

 * Kim Kaphwan
 * Chang Koehan
 * Choi Bounge
 * Jhun Hoon

Women Fighters Team

 * Mai Shiranui
 * Yuri Sakazaki
 * Kasumi Todoh
 * Hinako Shijou

Single Entry

 * Kyo Kusanagi
 * Iori Yagami

Hidden Character

 * Kula Diamond

Boss Character

 * Zero (Clone)

Hero Team

 * Another K'
 * Rocky
 * Fiolina Germi
 * Duke Edwards

Benimaru Team

 * Another Benimaru
 * Cosplayer Kyoko
 * Goro Daimon
 * Eiji Kisaragi

Fatal Fury Team

 * Geese Howard
 * Billy Kane
 * Duck King
 * Ryuji Yamazaki

Art of Fighting Team

 * Awakened Kaede
 * Another Robert
 * King Lion
 * Gai Tendou

Ikari Warriors Team

 * Leopold Goenitz
 * Yashiro Nanakase
 * Shermie
 * Chris

Psycho Soldiers Team

 * Athena
 * Psycho Soldiers Sie Kensou
 * Baitang
 * Kaoru Watabe

Korea Team

 * Kim Sue Il
 * Kim Jae Hoon
 * Kim Dong Hwan
 * Kang Baedal

Women Fighters Team

 * Chizuru Kagura
 * Nakoruru
 * Li Xiangfei
 * Lilly Kane

Kyo Kusanagi

 * Syo Kirishima

Iori Yagami

 * Mature & Vice

Kula Diamond

 * Candy Diamond
 * Foxy

Maniac Strikers Characters

 * G-Mantle
 * Saisyu Kusanagi
 * Rugal Bernstein
 * Another Iori
 * Smart Chang
 * Cool Choi
 * Unknown
 * Neo & Geo