The king of fighters Awaken

In early KOF games, each player's teammates waited in the background
The King of Fighters is a four-button fighting game (with some exceptions, most notably The King of Fighters XI). The buttons are usually labeled as A, B, C, D and correspond to Light Punch, Light Kick, Heavy Punch, and Heavy Kick respectively. There is also a universal attack known as the "Blowback" or "CD Attack" that will always knock down the opponent; it is performed by pressing C+D in most games, or the E button in KOFXI.

The primary mechanic that separates KOF from other fighting games is its 3-on-3 battles; each player selects three characters to use, and battle continues until one team is completely defeated. There are typically 3-to-5 rounds, and when one player is KO'd, the other regains a small amount of life at the start of the next round. The exceptions to the above rules are The King of Fighters 2003 and XI, which utilize Marvel vs. Capcom-style tag mechanics.

In terms of actual fighting, The King of Fighters is comparable to Street Fighter in general structure, but tends to favor the rushdown style of play thanks to its numerous movement options. Perhaps the most important of these options are KOF's four types of jumps. In addition to the normal jump, there is the Super Jump (performed by pressing down, then holding an upward direction) which allows the character to travel across much of the screen, but makes them very vulnerable to attacks. The Short Hop, performed by quickly tapping and releasing an upward direction, causes the character to perform a much smaller jump. Finally, the Hyper Hop, performed by pressing down, then quickly tapping up-left or up-right, makes the character perform a far-traveling, low-height jump. These jumps allow the player to attack from several different angles.

Another unique quirk in KOF is how "command normals" (normal attacks which require a single directional input and a button press) are handled. For the most part, a command normal that is used standalone cannot be canceled out of; however, they have other special properties such as hitting as an "overhead" or forcing a knockdown. In KOF, a command normal can be canceled into from a normal attack, but (usually) surrenders all of its special properties in the process. Comboed command moves can then be special-canceled.

The Roll is another key mechanic. Replacing the Dodge from KOF '94/'95, rolling allows the player to get around certain attacks, most notably projectiles, and can be used to confuse the opponent after a knockdown.

In order to balance the numerous attack options in KOF, there are two separate mechanics implemented to help players deal with offensive pressure. Guard Cancel Blowback, performed by pressing CD while blocking an attack, causes the character to immediately perform their CD Attack; likewise, Guard Cancel Roll, performed by pressing AB while blocking an attack, causes the action to freeze for a short moment while the player's character rolls out of the way. Both of these attacks use 1 stock of super meter