The King of Fighters '94 (officially abbreviated KOF '94) is a fighting game released by SNK for the Neo Geo-based arcade system in 1994, as the inaugural game in The King of Fighters series. The game was soon also released for the Neo Geo home console systems, including a Neo-Geo CD version. In 2008, KOF '94 was one of sixteen games included in SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1 for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Wii.KOF '94 is a crossover featuring characters from SNK's previous fighting game properties Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting. It also includes revised versions of characters from their pre-Neo Geo games Ikari Warriors and Psycho Soldier, as well as original characters created specifically for the game. The plot features the creation of a new King of Fighters tournament created by the criminal Rugal Bernstein.SNK developed KOF '94 with the initial idea of using several games from the company in order to attract gamers who played these games. The characters' designs, as well as its innovative gameplay system based on using teams of three members, were both well received. The success of the game allowed SNK to produce a long collection of sequels in The King of Fighters series.In 2004, to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the series, SNK released a remake titled The King of Fighters '94 Re-Bout. It features the original game and a new version with higher resolution graphics.

The King of Fighters '98 (commonly abbreviated as KOF '98) is a 1998 fighting game released by SNK released for the Neo Geo arcade and home console. It is the fifth game in The King of Fighters series. This installment was advertised by SNK as a "special edition" of the series, as it featured most of the characters who appeared in the previous games (from KOF '94 to '97), regardless of whether the character was killed off in the series' ongoing storyline (which would be resumed in the following game in the series with a new story arc).Ports of KOF '98 were released for the Neo-Geo CD and the PlayStation. A Dreamcast version titled The King of Fighters: Dream Match 1999 was also released, which featured much of the stages remade in 3D. The game was also remade for the PlayStation 2 as The King of Fighters '98: Ultimate Match, which expanded the number of playable characters.As KOF '98 did not feature a plot, the SNK staff took this opportunity to add Rugal (who died in KOF '95) as well as various alternate versions from various characters to the game. KOF '98 has been commonly praised by several video game publications as the best KOF from the series due to its graphics and gameplay. Ultimate Match, however, was criticized for how similar it is to KOF '98.