This the only story arc with teams composed of 4 characters, and the only to use the Striker System.
The two first chapters of the saga, The King of Fighters '99 (and its updated version The King of Fighters '99 Evolution) and The King of Fighters 2000, are the only games to use the system point-up and point-down (A.K.A. Battle Ability), a system in which the points earned by the player increase or decrease according to performance during the game, and is only available in the Story Mode of each game. This system is abolished in The King of Fighters 2001, and the series goes back to the system accumulation system, in which the player accumulates points according to his performance in Story Mode.
Due to the Striker system (and 4-vs-4 system, in The King of Fighters 2001), the maximum number of rounds is 5 (7 in KOF 2001). However, when the last round ends in a tie, a decisive round, under the name "FINAL ROUND", appears.
Just like The King of Fighters '98, The King of Fighters 2002 (and its remake The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match), is not listed in the canonical story, as it is a "Dream Match" game, and are, therefore, non-canonical. This is due to the fact that deceased characters in-story return with no reason at all. Beside that, this games returns with the 3-vs-3 system.
However, KOF 2002 UM contains several story elements to Nameless, canonical or not.
The King of Fighters Neowave, a game released in the Atomiswave system (SEGA hardware), is based on KOF 2002 and, therefore, non-canonical.
In this story arc, the expression K.O. (Knock Out) is re-announced only in KOF 2001 and KOF 2002 (and its remake). However, the expression WINNER just appears on the screen, without any announces.
In KOF 2002 UM, the WINNER isn't announced when the player lose the match, in Team Play or CPU vs.
Due to K9999's copyright issues, he was removed from the series' history. For the sake of this summary, K9999's story will be included in this synopsis, although it is advised to check the Controversy section in K9999's page for a more in-depth explanation for his removal from the series.
K9999 is also removed from The King of Fighters XIV's gallery. However, he can be inserted by photo editing through hacks and cheat devices.
Several novels for this story arc are also canon, adding more details to the lore.
This is the only story arc which to use the expression "FIGHT" before the matches.
This is also the only story arc which the expression "K.O." (Knock Out) isn't announced, appearing only on the screen. This occurs only in the twochapters of the saga.
About the Striker System, there are some informations:
In KOF '99, the strikers are automatic, i.e., when the player choose the order of his team, the 4th character is the striker.
In KOF '99 Evolution, there is an option to choose some characters as strikers, the EXTRA STRIKER. The player can choose two versions of the characters: DARK and JUSTICE. The Extra Strikers never appears as playable characters.
In KOF 2000, it is possible choose the characters which will be used as strikers, between Playable Characters, Normal Strikers and Maniac Strikers. The two last mentioned never appear as playable characters.
In KOF 2001, it is possible choose the number of strikers (and therefore the characters to be used in the fight). With exception of Original Zero's strikers, all of them used are playable.
With exception of Original Zero, the bosses and sub-bosses of this saga doesn't have strikers.
This saga and the New Age Saga are the only story arcs in the series with an updated version of a character removed due to copyright isssues and controversy.
This saga, the Orochi Saga and theTales of Ash are the only story arcs which a hero/protagonist or a rival/deuteragonist appears in a solo participation.
The twofirst games of this saga were produced and released by former SNK (before the company's bankruptcy), and the twolast (along with the two EX games) by Playmore and Eolith (the EX games were produced and released by Playmore, and KOF 2002 remake, along Neowave, by SNK PLAYMORE).
