In the idle game The King of Fighters AFK, your team throws the punches but you call the shots. Form a squad of five champions drawn from the franchise’s deep roster (like psychic pop idol Athena Asamiya and fiery martial artist Kyo Kusanagi) and watch them pummel thugs and bosses alike. Your crew reaps gold and XP even when you’re not playing—but with fighters this fierce, maybe AFK stands for “always flawless knockouts” instead of “away from keyboard.”

What we love: Little heroes with big moves. These tiny pixel-art versions of KOF mainstays like Iori Yagami and Mai Shiranui aren’t just adorable—their iconic attacks pack a serious punch. Watching Chizuru Kagura unleash her ultimate—summoning a clone that smacks foes senseless—almost makes us feel sorry for the bad guys.

Quick tip: After summoning a new character, open the codex and claim their stat-boost rewards (while brushing up on your King of Fighters lore, of course). These permanent bonuses apply to all fighters, making even B-list benchwarmers worth getting.

Meet the creator: The King of Fighters AFK is the third KOF game by South Korea’s Netmarble Neo, working once again with Japan’s SNK. The team admits their fighting-game reflexes have dulled with age and free time is harder to find—two factors that inspired this first-ever KOF idle game.