The King of Fighters 2001 is the eighth game in The King of Fighters series, the third and final part of the `Nests Chronicles` story arc, and the first game produced following the closure of the original SNK.
KOF 2001 kept the Striker assist system from the previous two KOF games, but added a new twist to it - the ability to adjust how many Strikers a team could have. While teams in 1999 and 2000 were limited to selecting one teammate as an assist, now teams could have up to 3 assist characters, or none at all.