^3 This is the first rematch episode.
^4 Sakai's first battle as Iron Chef.
^5 This is the first episode to feature a female challenger.
^6 This is the first tag team match wherein both teams have no assistants.
^7 There were two different Keiji Nakazawas with two different specialties who battled two different Iron Chefs Japanese almost five years apart. The first one, a French cuisine chef, battled against Michiba, while the other one, a sushi chef, battled against Morimoto.
^8 No specialty is listed for Umemiya, an actor who trained extensively but did not cook professionally.

^9 This episode covers the second half of the 1994 Mr. Iron Chef competition.
^10 As the winner of the preliminary finals, Kandagawa challenged Michiba in the final round of 1994 Mr. Iron Chef.
^11 This the Valentine's Day battle. Also the first battle to feature two theme ingredients.
^12 This is the Hong Kong Special, wherein both battles were held there. It is actually a two-hour special, although it has been erroneously labelled as a two-episode special.
^13 This is Ishinabe's final ever battle as an Iron Chef.
^14 Second ever tag-team battle.
^15 This is Bruant's second appearance in Kitchen Stadium, challenging the Iron Chef he did not choose in the tag-team battle the year before.
^16 The 1995 Iron Chef World Cup at Ariake Coliseum, which pitted the masters of French, Japanese, Italian, and Chinese cuisines against each other in a single-elimination tournament to determine the best in the world. The winners of the first two battles squared off against each other in the final match. Michiba represented Japanese cuisine, hence the retention of his Iron Chef color in this chart. The final is also covered in the English-only exclusive "Legend of Michiba" episode.
^17 & ^18 Lin and Michiba's battle ended in a draw, hence the overtime match the next week with a new theme ingredient.
^19 Kandagawa was the 100th even challenger, when separate appearances by a challenger count as two challengers.
^20 The first episode where they started displaying the judging panel's scores.

^21 This episode debuts Nakamura as Michiba's hand picked successor.
^22 This episode, known as the France Special, took place in Château de Brissac in Anjou, France. It also took place to promote Gagnaire's restaurant, which was on the verge of closing. This episode was aired as two separate episodes in the dubbed version (although these two merged as a single two-hour episode in the Food Network).
^23 The three-hour Beijing Special taking place in the Forbidden City and pitting the best of four styles of Chinese cooking (Canton, Beijing, Shanghai, and Sichuan) against each other. The first battle was a semifinal round with all four chefs, with the chefs with the two highest scores advancing to the final.
^24 This episode served as a rematch to their battle back in France.

^25 Wild animals hunted for game.
^26 This is the second overtime episode.
^27 There was no theme ingredient, just a theme that the chefs' dishes must focus on.
^28 This is Kobe's debut battle as an Iron Chef, and he loses.
^29 For the summer battle, Chairman Kaga grouped the four Iron Chefs by the continental birthplace of their cuisines. Kobe and Sakai composed "Team Europe" while Chen and Nakamura were "Team Asia."
^30 This episode covers the 1997 Iron Chef World Cup. Much like the 1995 Iron Chef World Cup, it pitted the masters of French, Japanese, Chinese, and New American (instead of Italian) cuisines against each other in elimination matches. The winners of the first two battles squared off against each other in the final match. Nakamura represented Japanese cuisine, hence the retention of his Iron Chef color in this chart.
^31 This is the first drawn battle that did not immediately result in an overtime match. In fact, a rematch between Passard and Nakamura never took place.

^32 This episode featuring Nakamura's retirement battle, counted as one, was aired in two parts. This was also Yukio Hattori's second time taking the role of challenger; former Iron Chef Japanese Rokusaburo Michiba took his place as commentator.
^33 This is Masaharu Morimoto's debut as Iron Chef.
^34 This episode is the second without a theme ingredient but rather a theme on which the dishes should be based.
^35 The 2,000th Dish Special, wherein two teams composed of Iron Chefs and past challengers, was aired in two parts. Chairman Kaga also used this special as an opportunity to list his five best and three worst dishes tasted in the show. The score was tied at 77 points for each team, but Kaga decided that the All-French team won.

^36 This episode, aired in two parts, celebrated Morimoto's first anniversary as an Iron Chef. The two elder Iron Chefs Japanese were present to help Morimoto put his focus back.
^37 This is the first episode in which all four Iron Chefs appear at the same time, rather than have Kobe making a separate entrance. This was also the first episode wherein Chairman Kaga boycotted the battle due to the Iron Chefs' recent losses. Yukio Hattori did double-duty as emcee and usual color commentator for this episode.
^38 There were two different Keiji Nakazawas with two different specialties who battled two different Iron Chefs Japanese almost five years apart. The first one, a French cuisine chef, battled against Michiba, while the other one, a sushi chef, battled against Morimoto.
^39 Theme ingredients included tuna, kohada (Japanese gizzard shad), anago, eggs, and kanpyō. Also, the one-hour time limit for the battle did not include the preparation of the rice to be used for the sushi.
^40 Both Chen and Corby were declared joint winners in the overtime battle.
^41 The final three episodes cover the King of Iron Chefs tournament which saw the Iron Chefs battle against each other. The last Iron Chef standing would then battle the last ever challenger in the show's regular run, Alain Passard.