Boss/Sub-Boss Guide

Unlike most fighting games, The King of Fighters 2002 UM features multiple bosses that can be fought in arcade mode. This guide will explain how to fight each one of them, as well as provide tips and bios for each character.

"Accident" Sub-bosses

After stage 4, it is possible for you to fight a single enemy that is connected to the NESTS organization. The person you fight depends what you do in the previous matches.

I won't go into detail with how to defeat the sub-bosses because they are just regular characters, so you should be able to beat them with little trouble.

The Kyo clone that you fight is determined randomly. The same goes for Foxy and Angel.

Kyo Clones (Kyo-1, Kyo-2, or Kusanagi)

Bio: Clones of Kyo created by NESTS, though Kusanagi is said to have been created from a brain-washed Chizuru. Kyo-1 has Kyo's moveset from KoF 94/95, while Kyo-2 uses Kyo's moves from Kof 96/97. Kusanagi fights using a slightly altered version of Kyo's 95 moveset.

How to fight: End 2 matches with a regular special move (DM).

Angel or Foxy

Bio Angel is a careless agent of NESTS who uses melee attacks. Foxy is a much more serious member of NESTS, who is a motherly figure to Kula and uses a sword. Angel and Foxy do not get along, as seen in the climax of KoF 2001.

How to fight: End 2 matches with an SDM (requires 1 bar of your energy gauge).

Kula

Bio: A young girl with ice powers, who was designed by NESTS to take down K' back in KoF 2000. The two eventually became allies.

How to fight: End 2 matches with a MAX SDM (requires 3 bars of your energy gauge).

Nameless

Bio: A clone of both Kyo and K', and the only newcomer to 2002 UM. Nameless is also the replacement of K9999 from KoF 2001, due to the latter's uncanny resemblance to Tetsuo from the manga/film Akira.

How to fight: End 2 matches with a MAX 2 (requires 3 bars of your energy gauge, and your health to be low so that your life bar is orange).

Defeating Nameless will earn you the "Unnamed Challenger" achievement. If you have trouble using MAX 2 moves, just pick Igniz and use his Disintegrational Universe Max 2 (press down twice, then press both punches).

Final Bosses

After match 5, you'll face off against 1 of the 4 final bosses. The boss that you fight depends on what type of move you used to defeat your final opponent in match 5 (note: the fight with the "accident" sub-bosses is not match 5).

If you've played any SNK fighter, you probably know by now that SNK bosses are intentionally designed to be unfair. These bosses are no exception. Each of the following characters all have powerful moves that are quick and are often hard to punish. Getting hit by just one of their attacks will often take away 1/4th of your health.

The easiest way to defeat them is to fight fire with fire. In other words, make your team full of boss characters and spam special moves at them. If you want to fight them using normal characters, I'll do my best in giving you advice for each fight.

Krizalid

Bio: The ultimate clone of Kyo Kusanagi, as well as the final boss of KoF 99.

How to fight: End match 5 with either a regular move, or a special move (DM). In other words, don't defeat your last enemy using a super.


Tips:

• You can jump over his tornado kick special move, but be careful because he may do his uppercut special move right after.
  
• Krizalid has a grabbing move where he pushes you to the opposite side. If this happens, quickly block after the initial grab or he'll keep repeating the grab.
  
• Crouching heavy kicks can be useful since it'll knock him down.

Cloned Zero

Bio: The treacherous clone of Zero, as well as the final boss of KoF 2000.

How to fight: End match 5 with an SDM. You will need at least 1 bar of your energy gauge to perform an SDM.


Tips:

• His cape attack covers a large portion of the screen, so always be ready to block.
  
• He has a move where he stands and a purple shadow from the ground hits you. Jump when this is about to happen.
  
• He has a super move where he goes on the ground and summons a black hole. It covers the entire screen so be careful of jumping a lot.
  
• Use crouching heavy kicks when you get the chance.

Original Zero

Bio: A high-ranking member of NESTS, who serves as a boss in KoF 2001.

How to fight: End match 5 with a MAX SDM. Performing MAX SDM requires 3 bars of your energy gauge.


Tips:

• His moves are almost identical to Clone Zero's, so apply your knowledge from that fight here.
  
• He can send out Krizalid, his pet lion, or Ron to attack you. If he sends out Ron, you can try and jump over him (the other strikers are a bit more difficult to avoid).
  
• Like before, try to use crouching heavy kicks.

Igniz

Bio: The egocentric leader of NESTS who overthrew his father, and the final boss of KoF 2001.

How to fight: End match 5 with a MAX 2. To perform a MAX 2, you will need at least 3 bars of your energy gauge, and your health must be low (has to be orange).


Tips:

• Be careful of his whip attack as it covers a large portion of the screen.
  
• His super covers almost the entire screen so be careful.
  
• He has his own projectile, and can reflect other projectiles so be cautious.
  
• Use your well-timed crouching heavy kicks as always.

Secret Boss: Omega Rugal

If you thought the four main final bosses were difficult, prepare yourself for one hell of a treat.

Hidden away at the very end of the game is probably the most infamous King of Fighters boss to date. None other than...

Omega Rugal

Bio:The final boss in KoF 94, 95, 98, and 2002. This SNK boss is purposely overpowered, with deadly moves such as his infamous Genocide Cutter.

How to fight: To fight Rugal, you must defeat any of the NESTS bosses using an SDM, a MAX SDM, or a MAX 2. Alternatively, you'll be able to fight him if you KO a NEST boss without getting KO'd yourself. You can't use any continues throughout your playthrough, otherwise he will not appear.

Tips:

• If you get close to him, he will almost always hit you with Genocide Cutter.
  
• If you jump above him, he will almost always hit you with Genocide Cutter.
  
• If he gets knocked down, the first move that he'll use when he gets up will almost always be Genocide Cutter (are you noticing a pattern?).
  
• The heavy kick version of Genocide Cutter has Rugal kicking again in the air. Crouch when this happens.
  
• Be careful when using horizontal projectiles because he will usually reflect them.
  
• Be cautious when at long range, as his Kaiser Wave projectile travels extremely quickly.
  
• At medium range, he may try to do a special move where he quickly moves forward and hits you with a barrage of kicks.
  
• If all else fails, use Heidern's charge based projectile at long range and it will usually hit Rugal.

Unlike all of the previous fights, you will only have one chance to beat Omega Rugal. So if you lose, you'll have to start all the way back at the beginning if you wish to defeat him.

If you defeat Rugal in team play, you'll get the achievement "The King of Fighters." The easiest way to beat him is to pick Igniz and try to hit Rugal with your whip move (quarter circle forward + heavy punch). Rugal will go into the air, and if timed right you can keep juggling him so that he can't escape. Keep doing this and he'll be KO'd.

Of course, beating Rugal with boss characters will make your victory seem meaningless. If you want to have unlimited bragging rights, try to beat Omega Rugal with your own team that doesn't consist of bosses. It may be hard as hell, but you can do it if you try hard enough!

Credits

Hopefully this guide assisted in being able to fight these bosses. My explanations may have been a bit vague, so if you have any other tips feel free to share. Aside from myself, I'd like to SNK for making this great game. Again, hope this guide was useful.

I love making Steam guides to help the community. If you want to keep track of my guides, click here and select the follow option to the right!

[Captain J]

I don't think the Angel/Foxy and Kyo ones are accurate because I ended up finishing more than two matches with a SDM and I always end up fighting one of the darn Kyo clones (I seriously hate fighting them. Not because they're hard by any means but because they just feel like "chump" bosses). But I somehow got Foxy yesterday by playing the game normally.

[Braylovsky]

I see some comments saying that they didnt find Omega Rugal. Imma gonna explain what I did, so maybe you could get an idea what to do.

I choose a team made of Zero, Igniz and King. In the first fights, I always defeated the third enemy finishing him/her with Igniz' Disintegrational Universe Max 2 (down down LP+HP).
This worked, and I defeated Nameless with King (just to hone my skills).

After that, I defetead the NESTS boss that appeared (in my case, Clon Zero). I used Igniz move (Disintegrational Universe). You need to perform the attack 3 times to take down an enemy.

And vuala! Rugal popped up. And I defeted him.

[ArachnoLord]

Hey, so I did a run whith Heidern, Geese and Goenitz, beat Arcade (Nameless, Krizalid) without continues and killed a bunch of people with HSDMs/MAX2s, including Krizalid who I beat solo with heidern and killed with a HSDM/MAX2 yet I didn't fight Omega Rugal

[Brave Sir Robin]

I've played this game on and off for years, and I still don't know what the requirements for Rugal actually are. It isn't what's listed, I've beat the NESTS boss round 1 and sometimes nothing. I've beat the NESTS boss with all kinds of super moves and sometimes nothing. I'm fairly certain it's linked to the number of rounds you lose total (as in the entire playthrough), or possibly score (since more Straight victories = more points).

Also Kula takes 3 MAX SDMs to trigger.

[PhoenixSorc]

@Ghostface
The Orochi Team can be fought in Arcade mode, just as normal opponents. Chances of it happening are low. I've fought them myself, so I can confirm.

[Ghostface]

@Karutomaru
you can't lose a round either you might of had that happen

[Karutamaru]

I went through the entire game without continuing and beat the NESTS boss using a super move. I did not fight Rugal.

[Ghostface]

oh yeah
good point

[BC]

@Masters They are not arcade mode bosses.

[Ghostface]

what about nightmare geese and the orochi team?