KOF: Maximum Impact 2 is a 3D fighting game and the second game in the Maximum Impact sub-series in The King of Fighters series. It was released for the Playstation 2 on April 27, 2006 in Japan, September 19, 2006 in North America, and March 23, 2007 in Europe. It's also known as The King of Fighters 2006 in North America.
Following their leader's defeat in the previous tournament, the Mephistopheles syndicate vanished from Southtown. The local media, no longer under their thumb, publishes a series of lurid exposés about their former oppressors. However, despite this new torrent of information, few suspected that an even larger entity was pulling Mephistopheles' puppet strings.
Addes is an organization shrouded in mystery, and Mephistopheles was just one of its subsidiaries. When and who created it? Where was its headquarters? How far was its reach? — No one really had an inkling as to what this organization truly entailed.
Maximum Impact 2 introduces additions that put the game in a more familiar KOF gameplay, with many characters from the main games getting back their Special Moves and Super Moves, and integrates the Super Cancel system from the main series. It has more contents, with expanded Challange Mode, an optional 3-versus-3 Mode like the mainline games, and tons of unlockable character costumes. This game is also one of the few KOF games that support the full English voice acting in the overseas version.
The Japanese release had a pack-in release with The King of Fighters: Another Day, a promotional 4-episode animated series produced by Production I.G, which acts an Interquel between the two games. In the North America, it was announced as a Pre-Order Bonus for customers of EBGames and GameStop, but SNK failed to ship it on release and it was only made available after a few weeks, in limited quantities for the pre-order customers.
Returning characters
- Returning from Maximum Impact: Alba Meira, Soiree Meira, Lien Neville, Mignon Beart, Chae Lim, Rock Howard, Duke
- Returning from KOF '94: Kyo Kusanagi, Terry Bogard, Ryo Sakazaki, Yuri Sakazaki, Mai Shiranui, Athena Asamiya, Ralf Jones, Clark Still, Kim Kaphwan
- Returning from KOF '95: Iori Yagami, Billy Kane
- Returning from KOF '96: Leona Heidern, Geese Howardnote
- Returning from KOF '99: K', Maxima
- Returning from KOF 2000: Seth, Kula Diamond
- Returning from KOF XI: B. Jenet
New characters
- Luise Meyrink: A butterfly-evoking woman of unknown origin, with even more unknown powers. She enters the tournament to rescue her father after he is kidnapped by Addes...or so she claims.
- Nagase: A genetically enhanced young girl from the same batch as Duke. She works under Addes, but harbours no loyalty towards them.
- Richard Meyer: The famed mixologist of the Pao Pao Café. While his capoeira expertise may be rusty, he still comes by the tournament because he felt like it.
- Lilly Kane: Billy Kane's kid sister, she enters searching for her brother after he suddenly leaves for Southtown.
- Hanzo Hattori: Yes, him...or at least, a hologram of him meant to serve as a sparring partner for Nagase.
- Fiolina "Fio" Germi: An agent of the Sparrows Intelligent Unit known for battling aliens, she enters the tournament to test her combat abilities against the Ikari Warriors.
- Ninon Beart: Mignon's younger sister, always feeling unloved in comparison. She enters to test Mignon's worthiness of their grandmother's power.
- Hyena: Duke's former servant, now entering the tournament himself to try and start up his own gang.
- Jivatma: A high-ranking member of Addes, and the man Duke was really working for in the previous game. If he doesn't look human to you, that's because he isn't.
EX characters
- Classic Kyo: Kyo wearing his outfit from the Orochi saga, with his moveset from KOF '94 and '95.
- Wild Wolf: Terry with his outfit from Garou: Mark of the Wolves, and some playstyle differences.
- Mr. Karate II: Ryo donning his father's Mr. Karate mask and gi, as he did in Buriki One.
- Armor Ralf: Exactly What It Says on the Tin...
and just as overpowered as it sounds.
This work shows examples of:
- Actionized Sequel: Maximum Impact 2 integrates the Super Cancel system from the main series (based on the KOF 2002 incarnation), adding better combo expression than the first game.
- Inconsistent Dub:
- Pretty much every music track has different names in the OST and the in-game Sound Test. For example, the sub-boss battle theme is known as "There's a Semi-Sale in that Forest" in the former and "Cedar Cicada Sellout" in the latter.
- Most of the inconsistencies surrounding attack names from the first game are present and accounted for. The only real difference is that there's more of them.
- Mechanically Unusual Fighter:
- Luise Meyrink can dash and sidestep in the air by tapping any direction on the D-Pad twice.
- Armor Ralf is unable to block. Instead, he has full-body super armor, which causes most attacks to deplete his Guard gauge instead of inflicting hitstun. If he gets Guard Crushed, he takes hitstun like a normal character until his Guard gauge is replenished.
- Kyo Kusanagi Classic and Mr. Karate can manually charge their Power meters by holding the Taunt button.
- No Plot? No Problem!: The unlockable characters can be used in Story Mode, but they don't get much of a story to speak of — they have a generic Opening Scroll, don't get any cutscenes for the bosses, and the game simply skips to the end credits after they defeat Jivatma.
- Oddly Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo: This game is rebranded as The King of Fighters 2006 in the North America. This is a strange decision because a) this is not a mainline game and plays quite differently, b) the first game, which this one is a sequel to, was released as KOF: Maximum Impact in the North America, and c) the main series stopped doing N+1 Sequel Title after The King of Fighters 2003, like The King of Fighters XI released a year earlier. So why did SNK decide to call this game KOF 2006?
- Promoted to Playable:
- Hyena, Duke's Middle-Management Mook from the first game, is one of this game's many secret characters, unlocked after Story Mode is completed with 13 different characters.
- After appearing in Fatal Fury: King of Fighters as a non-playable opponent, then spending the rest of the series Demoted to Extra, Richard Meyer is finally playable in this game, where he's unlocked by completing Story Mode with two characters.
- Punch Catch: This game introduces the Sabaki reversal — after pressing the R2 button, your character assumes a defensive stance. If they're hit by a melee attack while in this stance, the opponent is staggered, and you're free to follow it up with your own attacks.
- Recycled Soundtrack: The night version of Neo Geo Land stage fittingly features the music of SNK games that corresponds to specific characters, like Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting, Metal Slug, Pachislot KOF games, and Twinkle Star Sprites.
- Secret Character: A whole mess of 'em. In total, there are 14 unlockable characters, each of which are unlocked by completing Story Mode with a certain number of characters.
- Shout-Out:
- Leona's E and F color variations are made to resemble Asuka and Rei in their plugsuits
- Terry's F color variation resembles Sol Badguy, but with a hat
- Mai's color variation E is Lum
- Rock's color variation G is Kaede
- Seth color variation E is Dudley
- Lien Costume 2 color variation G is Char Aznable
- Billy Kane Costume 2 color variation H is Sun Wukong
- Nagase Costume 2 color variations E and F are Yatterman-2 and Yatterman-1
- Hanzo color variation H is the original RX-78-2 Gundam, while his Costume 2 color variation E is Kamen Rider V3
- Hyena Costume 2 color variation H is the Hamburglar
