The King of Fighters 2003 is the start of the “Ash” Saga about Ash Crimson and “Those From The Past”. This game used the classic 3on3 Team Battle again but now it was possible to change the team members during the battle. It is also the first KOF main series game by the new formed SNK Playmore and is the last KOF game developed for SNK’s NeoGeo MVS.It was ported to the Playstation 2 and XBOX. Beside the new Tag Elements, KOF’03 also had a Team Leader system which allowed the leader an extra strong special move. Kagura Chizura from the Orochi Saga returns as the tournament holder officially while she is actually manipulated by Those From the Past. New faces were Ash Crimson, Duo Luon and Shen Woo which formed the new Hero Team.

For the first time, the Fatal Fury Team changed and Terry is now looking like in Garou MOTW.Adelheid Bernstein, son of Rugal is the boss if certain requirements are not fulfilled to unlock the true final boss, Mukai who tried to break the Orochi Seal.