I am now going to rate the thirteen themes that the Women Fighters Team has had over the years in The King of Fighters.
Song: “Ne!”
Game: The King of Fighters ’94
Team: Women Fighters Team – King, Mai Shiranui, Yuri Sakazaki
Super fun and upbeat. The electric guitar is cool, and the trumpet in the end is so solemn. Fantastic bassline too. A very solid start for this team, and a clear fan favorite.
Rating: 8.5/10
Song: Tsuchi o Hau Bass
Game: The King of Fighters ’95
Team: Women Fighters Team – King, Mai Shiranui, Yuri Sakazaki
Not my favorite, but not bad. Jazz funk vibes. The sax solo at 1:17 is pretty cool; best part of the song, even if a bit short.
Rating: 6/10
Song: Get’n Up
Game: The King of Fighters ’96
Team: Women Fighters Team – King, Mai Shiranui, Kasumi Todoh
Really, really good. It’s hard to believe how many musicians of great renown SNK hired to do the arranged soundtrack for this game — Akira Jimbo from Casiopea is playing drums here! The drumming is world class throughout, but check out his section starting at 3:11 in particular. This song is just pure quality, including the guitar, the upright bass, and all the brass instruments too.
Rating: 9.5/10
Song: Fairy
Game: The King of Fighters ’98
Team: Women Fighters Team – King, Mai Shiranui, Chizuru Kagura
This has to be a 10/10. One of the most iconic KOF songs ever, fits the class and elegance of Chizuru perfectly, and has been in a bunch of games because it’s such a huge fan favorite. The song speaks for itself, but the main thing here is the progressive quality of the composition itself, and how so very emotional and moving it gets as it goes.
Rating: 10/10
Song: Sha-La-La
Game: The King of Fighters ’99
Team: Women Fighters Team – King, Kasumi Todoh, Blue Mary, Li Xiangfei
KOF ’99 decided to reinvent the franchise and innovate on a bunch of aspects, and the style of the soundtracks is no exception. The production definitely goes in a very different direction from previous tracks, right from the start. But this one isn’t exactly one of my favorites. Not super memorable, if I’m being honest. I do really like the piano that kicks in at 3:10, especially when joined by the bass; so that part gives it a few extra points.
Rating: 6.5/10
Song: Come Up Smiling
Game: The King of Fighters 2000
Team: Women Fighters Team – Mai Shiranui, Yuri Sakazaki, Kasumi Todoh, Hinako Shijou
We’re back to the same upbeat tone used in “Ne!” from ’94. A cheerful theme with fun piano and electric guitar solos, and a pretty memorable intro riff. Nothing mind-blowing, but it gets the job done!
Rating: 7.5/10
Song: The Queen of Fighters
Game: The King of Fighters 2001
Team: Women Fighters Team – King, Mai Shiranui, Li Xiangfei, Hinako Shijou
KOF 2001 is definitely… something. It’s something alright. Not a fan-favorite game in the series, to put it very mildly. SNK was going bankrupt, and the budget was clearly very low, which shows in the backgrounds, and even in the soundtrack. STILL, despite all of the hardships, this is not a bad theme. It’s far from the upper tiers, but I wouldn’t call it bad.
Rating: 6/10
Song: Diet
Game: The King of Fighters 2002
Team: Women Fighters Team – Mai Shiranui, Yuri Sakazaki, May Lee
This was actually Yuri’s original theme, from Art of Fighting 2. KOF2002 brought a lot of older pieces back in newer versions. So that has to be kept in mind when rating this one: its just a reimagining of an older theme that was already considered a classic by fans. When it comes to the music itself, well… it’s… gym music. Yuri listens to this while pumping iron. I won’t exactly rate it super high, even if it’s beloved by many members of the KOF community, more due to its history than anything if I had to guess.
Rating: 7/10
Song: Destiny
Game: The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match
Team: Women Fighters Team – King, Mai Shiranui, Kasumi Todoh
KOF 2002 UM became far more popular than the original KOF 2002, so it feels fair to rate that game’s theme as well. This one feels very classy, and seems to fit King, Kasumi, and even Mai in their elegance. A solid theme.
Rating: 8/10
Song: I’m Hot for You
Game: The King of Fighters 2003
Team: Women Fighters Team – King, Mai Shiranui, Blue Mary
Although 2003 is not a great game, and one of the lowest rated entries in the KOF series alongside 2001, it does feature my favorite formation of the Women Fighters Team, with King, Mai, and Mary. It also has a song that clearly suffers from lower production values — you can tell from the instruments, which I’m 99% sure are being played by a DAW instead of a real band, even in the arranged version — but the composition here is actually really, really good! This theme just oozes personality and flair. If this theme had been blessed with a higher budget and production, this would be close to a 10/10 for me. Sadly, I need to be fair and rate it a bit lower than that.
Rating: 8.5/10
Song: Who is Queen
Game: The King of Fighters XIII
Team: Women Fighters Team – King, Mai Shiranui, Yuri Sakazaki
Not only did SNK find its footing again by this point, so did the Women Fighters Team, returning to its classic formation from ’94 and ’95. This is possibly my favorite KOF game overall (maybe tied with ’98), and the soundtrack is part of the reason for that. This song is a return to greatness, without a doubt. It keeps the very high energy levels from “I’m Hot for You” but pushing the envelope far, far more, into many distinct directions that seem to fit the personality of this team very well.
Rating: 9.5/10
Song: Splendid Soldier
Game: The King of Fighters XIV
Team: Women Fighters Team – King, Mai Shiranui, Alice Nakata
A very solid theme! The violins are definitely a new feature for the themes of this team, perhaps to go along with the inclusion of Alice (I’m not a huge fan of Alice’s, but I can dig the violins). I love the callbacks to previous themes, from the intro referencing “The Queen of Fighters” to the (very dissonant, which is a plus) mallets solo that seems to just hint at “Who is Queen.” The ongoing bassline here wouldn’t be out of place in Final Fantasy IV. All in all, I really like this theme — my only criticism is for the sound quality of the brass section, which could have been better.
Rating: 9/10
Song: Like a Queen
Game: The King of Fighters XV
Team: Team Super Heroine – Mai Shiranui, Yuri Sakazaki, Athena Asamiya
For KOF XV, with its strange team compositions that attempt to shatter expectations, our women fighters have fully transitioned into super heroines — clearly as a continuation of the ideas incubated in SNK Heroines, a game that is actually canon. Having Athena on the team sure is spectacular — and so is this theme! I really, really love it. The brass section here is a monumental improvement over the previous game. The bassline is still as epic as ever, and the composition itself is one of the best ones I’ve seen for this team. Beastly theme. I have to give it a 10/10, taking the top spot alongside Fairy.
Rating: 10/10
Masquered 