Multi-Shift

Multi-Shift was a mechanic and a rule used in The King of Fighters series.

Description
This mechanic was used during most of the canonical games of the Ash saga (The King of Fighters 2003 & The King of Fighters XI). Unlike the Striker System, which had Teams consist of four members, the Multi-Shift System went back to its tradition three man Teams. However, it came with an additional rule; matches consisted of one round, and members can be freely swapped at (almost) any time.

The player can switch to their standby characters if their health isn't depleted by pressing two punches or two kicks. If the player performs a command input with those two buttons, their character will perform a flying attack, turning into an offensive attack. Once a character has been swapped, the player cannot swap into another character for a brief time. The Multi-Shift System was removed starting with The King of Fighters XIII, and was replaced with the traditional 3-on-3 matches.