Critical reception to the game's fighting system and characters has been mostly positive due to the improvements SNK brought to the franchise. There were mixed reactions to the company's handling of the graphics and backgrounds, which divided reviewers opinions about its status as one of the best games of the series. Two novelizations and an audio drama have also been published in Japan. The gameplay in The King of Fighters 2000 is based on that of The King of Fighters '99; it expands on the "Striker Match" format introduced in its predecessor. The game has an Active Striker System, which allows the player to summon a Striker member in any situation, whether the player is attacking or being attacked by the opponent, allowing the player to use his or her strikers in combos. The player can also replenish Strike Bombs by either losing rounds or taunting the opponent. After an incident at the previous tournament, the commander of the Ikari Warriors Team, Heidern, is determined to investigate the objective of the NESTS cartel and stop it from achieving its ruthless ambition. Ling, a fellow commander and long-time friend of Heidern, tells him that K′ and Maxima were once NESTS operatives and that they may hold the key to locating the whereabouts of the mysterious organization. Using this information, Heidern decides to focus his efforts into using the next KOF tournament to lure both K′ and Maxima out of hiding so that they can be captured and interrogated by him for crucial and critical information about the NESTS cartel. In Japan, Game Machine listed The King of Fighters 2000 on their September 1, 2000, issue as being the second-most-successful arcade game of the month.