SNK’s “King of Fighters” series celebrates its 30th anniversary today – the first part, “The King of Fighters ’94”, hit arcades on August 25, 1994.

Originally intended to be a combination of characters from SNK’s popular Art of Fighting and Fatal Fury franchises, King of Fighters also featured famous faces from some of the company’s other games, such as Ikari Warriors and Psycho Soldier. It would also feature brand new fighters who would become fan favorites in their own right.

By far the most interesting aspect of the first game was the fact that players used not just one character per fight, but three; the lineup was grouped into teams. For example, the “Fatal Fury” trio consisted of Terry, Andy and Joe from that series. While players were not given the option to create their own team in King of Fighters ’94, this became a hallmark of the series in later installments.

King of Fighters was so popular in its home country of Japan that it even surpassed the mighty Street Fighter in terms of player interest at times. And even today there are fighting game fans who consider it the better of the two famous franchises.

The latest entry in the series, The King of Fighters XV, was released in 2022.

SNK has confirmed that there are plans to celebrate this momentous occasion, so keep your eyes peeled.