Good Bad Bugs / The King of Fighters

Since it was on a yearly release schedule for most of its life, and is part of a genre where bugs and oversights are incredibly common, The King of Fighters is no stranger to interesting bugs.

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The King of Fighters '94

• Throws are... weird.
  • Normal throws are worth 1000 points, and deal damage when the opponent hits the ground afterwards. However, if you use any other attack immediately after landing the throw, the damage and score are replaced by the damage and score of the attack you used.
  • If you perform a combo ending in a command grab that knocks the opponent down, there's a brief period in their downed animation where a command grab will connect if you get back into grab range. This window also appears after any command grabs following this second one, allowing for an infinite grab loop.
• In both this game and '95, if you input the motion for an air-only special move in a way that overlaps with the motion for the character's DM, the DM will come out instead. Ryo is probably the easiest character to perform this with, since the input for his air Ko'ou Ken^note quarter circle forward + punch overlaps with the input for his Ryuko Ranbu DM^note quarter circle forward, half circle back + strong punch
• There's an interesting quirk with special moves known as "Special Move Morphing". If you input one version of a special move with two distinct variants immediately after performing the other, an entirely new move is created — often a hybrid of the two versions. The practicality of this varies wildly depending on the character and the move you want to morph. For example, morphing Kyo's light Oboroguruma into the heavy version will add the latter's finisher, but it will always whiff, since light Oboroguruma can't juggle. However, morphing the heavy version into the light version will cause Kyo to stop after the first two hits, allowing for follow-ups.

The King of Fighters '95

• Joe can cancel the endlag on his close Strong Punch by inputting quarter-circle forward + any Punch button immediately after it hits the opponent.

The King of Fighters '96

• Some characters can be put into an "airwalk"^note The character is in the air, but can still walk around, and otherwise behave as if they are on the ground state after performing certain actions. While airwalking, all grounded normals receive no pushback, allowing for relatively easy infinites in the corner.
• If you start running, input a backward jump, then immediately hold forwards to keep running, the run animation will override the jump, causing your character to appear to be running backwards.
• If you attempt to cancel certain normals into a DM when you aren't able to use one, that normal will land many more hits than it usually does.
• Goro Daimon's Jiraishin has a number of bugs in this game, but one of the more interesting one occurs when you use it after a knockdown — During a character's getup, there's a one-frame window where the light version will connect, and the opponent will be unable to block it. There are setups that allow you to hit this window consistently, but they vary wildly based on the opponent's wakeup speed and the recovery of the move you used to score the initial knockdown. This particular bug would re-appear in '97, '98, and 2002, and is one of the main reasons why he's a top-tier character in those games.

The King of Fighters '97

• Attempting to combo into or buffer a DM with a motion input ending in forward when you don't have enough meter will result in what's known as a "Ghost Move" — your character stops whatever they're currently doing and starts moving forward incredibly quickly. While the setups are different for every character, pretty much all of them use it as either a whiff-punish option or a flashy Lag Cancel.

The King of Fighters '98

• This game was the first appearance of the "Stomp Cancel" glitch. Normally, Kim can cancel his light Haki Kyaku into Hou'ou Kyaku. However, if you attempt to do this while you don't have meter, the endlag on the Haki Kyaku will be significantly reduced, as if you canceled it into nothing. This would reappear in many games after this, becoming an essential part of Kim's offense and pressure game in every one. It's also one of the few instances of '98 jank to not be nerfed or outright removed, surviving all the way to Final Edition.
• Some moves prevent the opponent from blocking when they're used. While this is certainly odd, it doesn't affect much, since these moves tend to either be command grabs, which are generally meant to be unblockable, or utility moves that don't deal damage. However, if you use one of these moves on the frame a projectile hits the opponent, they will be unable to block it, creating unblockable setups of sorts.
  • A similar bug exists with Iori's Yami Barai.^note It might not be the only one, but Iori's projectile is the most well-documented. There's a certain point in the fireball's hitbox where it cannot be blocked if it covers the opponent's sprite in a specific place as they're getting up, if you don't use any moves before the fireball hits. In most cases, this is somewhat difficult to exploit, but against Brian and Kensou, you can simply buffer a light Yami Barai after a successful Ya Otome to make it unblockable.
• In Ultimate Match, Krauser and Rugal have a special intro where they fire Kaiser Waves at each other. If you skip this intro at a certain point, Rugal's Kaiser Wave will come out and hit Krauser, sending him flying, but thankfully dealing no damage.

The King of Fighters 2000

• If you use Lin's Hizoku Ougi Eikou DM without any meter, all of his normals become unblockable for the rest of the round, or until he gets hit by or blocks an attack, uses a special move, or attempts to use another special move or DM.

The King of Fighters 2001

• For some reason, Angel can be juggled by certain attacks for much longer than the rest of the cast. As a result, nearly a quarter of the cast^note Specifically Maxima, Kyo, Daimon, Terry, Andy, Clark, Bao, Choi, and May Lee. And these are just the ones that show up the most often in combo videos. There could easily be more that aren't as widely known. have infinites that work only on her.
• Foxy's crouching light kick is unblockable if it connects during the last few active frames. If you hold the Strong Punch button while it's active, this extends to the entire attack.
• The second hit of Iori's Aoi Hana can be super-canceled. This in and of itself isn't a bug, but it appears that someone missed a flag somewhere, since attempting to super-cancel it when you don't have enough meter to do so will still cancel the move's endlag.

The King of Fighters 2002

The King of Fighters 2002

• The "Unblockable Ground Pound" glitch returns in this game, and it also affects Daimon's MAX2. Luckily, the setups for that don't work on nearly as many characters.
• May Lee could be juggled in a manner similar to Angel in the previous game, but it was much more difficult to pull off.
  • Speaking of May Lee, if she blocks a free-canceled attack or lets it whiff, she enters a bugged version of her Hero Mode, where she still has her Normal Mode sprite, but the game only accepts inputs for her Hero Mode moves. Actually inputting one of these moves in this state leads to odd results — for example, her Hero Guard command normal becomes an odd split-kick that halves the opponent's current HP and chains into itself.

• Rugal's Kaiser Wave has a hitbox during its charging animation. While this in and of itself isn't a bug, if the opponent rolls into from certain distances it as it transitions from one level to another, it will hit them many times (anywhere from 4-40 hits), racking up a ludicrous amount of damage. This bug still exists in Unlimited Match, but it's somewhat more difficult to pull off.

2002: Unlimited Match

• In earlier versions of the game, trading against some of Kim's attacks could result in airwalking

The King of Fighters 2003

• Airwalking setups are incredibly common in this game. Some noteworthy examples include, but are certainly not limited to:
  • Jhun probably has the most notorious one. It appears that someone missed a flag when coding his Ryuurou Shuu command normal, since it can be cancelled into a roll despite being an aerial. The timing is incredibly strict, but if you can pull it off, Jhun will be floating above the ground.
  • A lesser-known method can be performed with Iori or Joe. If they attempt to super-cancel the strong variants of their DP specials^note Oniyaki and Tiger Kick, respectively while the camera is moving, the super may miss entirely, leaving them floating slightly off the ground.
• If you knock down an opponent, then use K's Ein Trigger followed by Blackout as they get up, the Ein Trigger fireball will be unblockable during Blackout's animation. If the opponent was in the corner, you can even get a combo off of this!
• Tizoc can follow up his normal throw with Griffall to tack on more damage. If you input the motion for it immediately after Tizoc grabs the opponent, but before he finishes the throw, the move will come out, but the opponent will be stuck to him for a brief period. Tizoc recovers before this period ends, potentially allowing you to follow that up with a command grab if you're quick enough.
• If you hit an opponent with Leona's Earring Bakudan 2, then defeat them before it detonates, the bomb will be inherited by the next character they send in.

The King of Fighters XI

• Malin's LDM, Salamander, has a few interesting quirks:
  • It can be Quick Shifted out of, making it one of only three LDMs with this property, but only if it's Dream Canceled into.
  • If you attempt to hit a downed opponent with it at the last possible moment an OTG hit can occur, it will deal damage, but it won't be considered part of the previous combo, causing the damage to be unscaled. There are setups that allow you to do this consistently, but they're usually either escapable or incredibly expensive.
• In some versions of the game, Duck King's strong Headspin Attack and light Aerial Headspin Attack are much safer on block when used by Player 2. At one point, this was considered to be powerful enough for Player 1 Duck and Player 2 Duck to have separate entries on some tier lists.
• Oswald has a Desperation Move called Four Suits, which can be delayed by holding down the C button. While doing so, Oswald rapidly spins in place, which allows him to deflect and redirect enemy projectiles. Once the button is released, Oswald will surge forward and unleash an autocombo if the initial ram connects. Four Suits can additionally be Dream Canceled into Joker, Oswald's Leader Desperation Move, wherein Oswald pins his opponent into the far wall and skewers them with all 52 cards in his deck. Sounds straightforward, right? The thing is, if Four Suits was used to send back a projectile, said projectile can still register as a hit while the character is rendered immobile by Joker, thus allowing them to escape before Oswald starts flinging his cards. Certain players have found ways to include this bug as part of (highly situational) combos.

The King of Fighters XIII

• Airwalking still exists in this game, this time triggered by a glitch with King's Surprise Rose Climax.

The King of Fighters XV

• Orochi Shermie has a particularly amusing bug with her Climax, Raijin no Sabaki. If you perform her Climax just as the kick version of her EX Mugetsu no Raiun KOs an opponent, it'll lead to Shermie still going through with the Climax animation, albeit without the cinematic camera angles... despite them already being knocked out. See for yourself here.