Shingo Yabuki

''The King of Fighters'' fighting game series, produced by SNK, includes a wide cast of characters, some of which are taken from other SNK games. The story takes place in a fictional universe in which an annual series of 3-on-3 or 4-on-4 fighting tournaments are held.

The first game in the series introduces the initial main character of the series, Kyo Kusanagi, a young Japanese fighter who is the heir to a powerful group of martial artists having pyrokinetic abilities. Kyo fights against the Kusanagi clan's enemies, his rival Iori Yagami, and the snake entity Orochi and its human followers, among others. The first four games in the series revolve about these fights, while ''The King of Fighters '99'' introduces a new story arc, revolving around K′, a young man who seeks to destroy the mysterious NESTS organization because they kidnapped him at an early age and stripped him of his past memories so that they could force him to be a fighter under their control. In ''The King of Fighters 2003'', a new character named Ash Crimson enters the tournament, to steal the powers of the clans who sealed the Orochi in the past for unknown reasons. A new group of antagonists, known as Those From the Past, also appears in the series; they want to obtain Orochi's power for the purpose of giving it to their unknown master. The latest story arc involves a young Chinese fighter named Shun'ei who possesses unknown supernatural powers, as a result of and being connected with Ash's time-traveling paradox.

The plot and the characters came from the ''Yamata no Orochi'' legend. There are also several characters in the games that are parodies or homages. Merchandise based on the characters has also been released, including action figures and keychains. The characters have garnered praise from several video game publications for the quality of their designs and movesets. Comments focused on the lack of improvements in some of the characters, but added that the roster is greatly diverse.

Cast creation and influences

The developers of the series claim that their prototype version for ''King of Fighters'' was going to be a ''Double Dragon''-style side-scrolling beat 'em up titled ''Survivor''. It would have used only core characters from the ''Art of Fighting'' and ''Fatal Fury'' series, specifically allowing players to play Robert Garcia and Terry Bogard for location testing. However, the idea was quickly abandoned. Since the developers were attached to the idea of the two series cross-over, they eventually agreed to make their idea into a fighting game. Characters from the ''Ikari Warriors'' and '' Psycho Soldier'' games were also added in the spirit of other gaming genres considered for their final product. The concept of a three-man team was one of the ideas kept from the side-scrolling version. Flagship director Toyohisa Tanabe asserts that the ''Art of Fighting'' and ''Fatal Fury'' fighters were added specifically for adults. The newer ''King of Fighters'' characters were aimed to appeal to younger and newer audiences. He adds that every original character for the series was added based on the developers' strong desire to make one. For example, he agreed to include characters such as Benimaru Nikaido and Chang Koehan to add an off-beat variety to the cast, which he had previously deemed to be too serious. Later in the series, their approach to creating their characters altered slightly, to also serve as a type of fan service, which he refers to as a collaborative effort between fans and the staff.

Several characters that appear in the series are parodies or homages to either anime, manga, actors, films or television shows that held the creators' interest. Noticeable examples are K9999 and Zero. Characters are sometimes added at the voice actors' convenience, or to fill in gaps that occur for each installment's story; this happens with Duck King in ''The King of Fighters XI'' and Ryuji Yamazaki in ''The King of Fighters '97''. Several characters were added to the roster by Eolith's desire when this company sponsored SNK, to attract fans from Eolith's region.

When designing characters for the first ''King of Fighters'' game, developers wanted a new, "snazzy" hero who would easily fight against ''Fatal Fury'' and ''Art of Fighting'' characters. Initially, this character was called Syo Kirishima, but late in the production, his name was changed to Kyo Kusanagi. This was done in order to relate him with the ''Yamata no Orochi'' legend, which was used as the inspiration for the first arc (and specifically featured a majestic sword known as ''Kusanagi no Tsurugi''). To continue with the idea of the Orochi plot, the designers gave several other characters, such as Kyo's rival Iori Yagami, similar characteristics to Kyo. In ''The King of Fighters '99'', to contrast the previous protagonist of the series, K' was made to be the "dark hero". K's introduction to the series was meant to remove popular characters Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami from the roster, though this idea was scrapped in the game's release. Due to the large additions of teenager characters in the series, SNK decided to add several middle-age ones to balance them.

Oda said while researching for the game's new characters, they avoided stereotypes like Japanese sumo wrestlers to produce more diversity in the cast which includes characters of various nationalities. Oda coined the term "Kyo-ify" based on the series' main character Kyo Kusanagi in regards to the stylishness presented in the cast. As a result, Oda wanted the fighters to look as appealing as Kyo. Art director Nobuyuki Kuroki found it unfair that only a few designers were included on the staff. Oda created Antonov by mixing traits SNK founding owner, Chairman Kawasaki, and Mr. T, an executive at the time, and divides it by the cosmological constant. Eisuke Ogura created newcomers Shun'ei and Sylvie, distancing them from previous veterans. Kuroki regarded Shun'ei as important to the narrative, desiring his personality to contrast previous leads. Main characters Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami underwent a major redesign to fit the series' new story arc while at the same time the development team tried to keep their appeal intact. Kuroki said he made this move despite fearing a negative response based on the rivals' popularity.

Original characters

Antonov

:
is a Russian billionaire and the president of his own company, the Antonov Corporation. After being reinvigorated for his love of fighting, he purchases the rights to the King of Fighters brand despite objections from the board members of his company, and announces a new King of Fighters tournament. Proclaiming himself as the “first champion”, he sends out invitations across the world, challenging old and new teams to take his "KOF" championship belt away from him. After the incident caused by Verse at the climax of ''KOF XIV'', the resulting lawsuits had cost Antonov nearly all of his money and damaged his reputation, causing him to briefly disappear from the public. In order to help restore his reputation, Antonov decides to form his own wrestling team named Galaxy Anton Wrestling and is prepared to take part in ''KOF XV'' as the leader of Team G.A.W. alongside Mexican wrestlers Ramón and King of Dinosaurs.

Ash Crimson

Shun'ei

: (Shun'ei)
First appearing in ''The King of Fighters XIV'', the team consists of Shun'ei, a fighter who wields hydrokinesis in a form of a claw on his right side of his body and pyrokinesis in a form of a fist on his left side of his body, Tung Fu Rue, the legendary master of Hakkyokuseiken who had debuted in ''Fatal Fury''. During the tournament finals, Shun'ei learns that he possesses a fragment of Verse's power, which causes Verse to go after Shun'ei. After Verse is defeated, the team returns to the Wudang Mountains where Shun'ei tells his teammates that Kyo advised him to continue his training to keep his powers under control to which Shun'ei vows to train harder.

It is revealed that Shun'ei's special abilities had originated from a result of Ash Crimson's act of erasing the latter's ancestor Saiki (and consequentially, his own self) from existence by orchestrating a temporal paradox (via trapping Saiki in the present time), leading to the current events taking place in the ''KOF'' universe, with Shun'ei himself wielding a multiversal power known as Amplified Specters, which are the crucible of souls that connects all universes and converging all possibilities in the multiverse. However, these can only be perceived as illusions, and only a limited few are capable of controlling them.

Ever since Shun'ei had inherited two halves of the Amplified Specters from Verse, he has been suffering from recurring nightmares of being ordered to destroy everything in sight until Tung gave him a pair of headphones to help silence the malevolent voice inside Shun'ei's head while also keeping his powers in check. While Tung retires from fighting, Shun'ei and Meitenkun are enlisted to be accompanied by Benimaru Nikaido at Kyo's behest due to Kyo himself having an important mission in teaming up with Iori Yagami and Chizuru Kagura to help investigate the current situation during the events of ''KOF XV''. Once the source behind the awry of Amplified Specters, Otoma=Raga has been defeated, Shun'ei's power is fully under control, allowing Shun'ei to take off his headphones safely.

Meitenkun

(Meitenkun)
Meitenkun, is a young fighter who is always holding a pillow and is very sleepy. Despite having little knowledge of the King of Fighters, Tung convinces Shun'ei and Meitenkun to enter the tournament as a means for them to face off against renowned martial artists from around the world. In addition, Tung saw the tournament as an opportunity to reunite with the Bogard brothers and meet Kyo Kusanagi, the latter after his father Saisyu requested the Japan Team to help Tung's students with their training.

Duo Lon

:; Keisuke Kōmoto (Japanese in ''KOF XV'')
Duo Lon (; Pinyin: ''Duòlóng''; Japanese: デュオロン ''Dyuoron'') makes his first appearance in ''The King of Fighters 2003'' as a member of the game's Hero Team. His overall look was based on anime title character ''Vampire Hunter D''. He is a member of the assassin group, the Flying Brigands—or —and the half-brother of Xiao Lon. He is an acquaintance of Ash Crimson and Shen Woo.

Hoping to hunt down the clan's traitor, Ron, he agrees to enter the tournament with them. However, after discovering Ash's true objectives, he teams up with Elisabeth Blanctorche and Benimaru Nikaido. Information on Duo Lon's design graph revealed he is one of the nine children of Ron, an assassin who chased after his own father.

Elisabeth Blanctorche

:
(spelled "Elisabeth Branctorche" in ''The King of Fighters XII'') is one of three original characters debuting in ''The King of Fighters XI''. Her initial character concept was to be the rival to Ash, though developers decided to change her into a "leading lady" character. The developers also describe her fighting style as "orthodox with subtle tricks o it despite her minimal moveset.

She initially invites Benimaru Nikaido and Duo Lon to France to form the Rival Team. She eventually reveals her acquaintance with Ash Crimson, whom she scolds for seeming to forsake their mission. Elisabeth did not appear in the arcade version of ''The King of Fighters XII'', but was added as one of two characters exclusive to the home release of the game. Like the rest of the cast, she does not have a team for ''The King of Fighters XII'' (though the two other members of her team from ''King of Fighters XI'' are present in the game). For ''The King of Fighters XIII'', she now appears on a team with Ash's former team members from the 2003 tournament (Shen Woo and Duo Lon), effectively forming what seems to be the new Hero Team.

Though she does not participate in ''The King of Fighters XIV'', she enlists Kukri's help in finding Ash following Verse's defeat, with the two of them succeeding in their mission as Ash's body is soon located in Ukraine's Carpathian Mountains with his soul burning inside it, thus confirming Ash's return to the living world much to Elisabeth's rejoice. In order to help investigate and solve the unknown crisis which seems to revolve around ''KOF'' newcomers Shun'ei and Isla, Elisabeth and Kukri join forces with a fully recovered Ash for ''KOF XV''.

Korea Team

The Kim Team, also known as the Korea Justice Team, and originally the Korea Team, is composed of characters mostly originating from South Korea and are mostly Taekwondo practitioners. First appearing in ''The King of Fighters '94'', the original team consisted of Kim Kaphwan (who had debuted in ''Fatal Fury 2''), a national hero in his homeland of Korea who convince authorities to take in two criminals as part of his new "Rehabilitation Project" with the goal of rehabilitating them of their criminal ways. These two criminals are (Korean: ''Chang Keo-Han'', Japanese: ''Chan Kōhan''), a giant and violent man who uses an iron ball and chain and Choi Bounge (Korean: ''Choi Beon-Gae'', Japanese: ''Choi Bonge''), a sadistic little man who uses Freddy Krueger-esque claws. During the Orochi saga, Chang and Choi would become friends and would always attempt at a chance to escape from Kim's grasp during the end of each tournament but fail due to speaking out loud their scheme near Kim.

During the NESTS saga, Jhun Hoon (Korean: ''Jeon Hoon'', Japanese: ''Jon Fūn''), a childhood friend of Kim and rival, took noticed of Kim's rehabilitation project and after seeing the ethics and methods of training towards Chang and Choi, he decides that he would show Kim a more efficient way of management for the criminals and joins the team as the fourth member for the '' '99'' and ''2000'' tournaments. In ''The King of Fighters 2001'', the team was set to enter the tournament as usual. However, before the tournament started, Jhun broke his right arm while chasing an image of Athena Asamiya, of whom he is a fan of. Down one member, Kim decides to have May Lee, a perky teenager and a student of Kim who have always admired the team, replace Jhun as the fourth member with the task of keeping an eye of Chang and Choi during the tournament. During the tournament, May Lee surprised the audience and her teammates with her unique taekwondo style and gains much praise. When the tournament ended, the team return home and are celebrated as heroes for ending NESTS (despite not actually winning the tournament nor defeating NESTS themselves).

In ''The King of Fighters 2003'', Choi is requested by Jhun to sit out of that year's tournament to watch over Kim's children, allowing Jhun to take his place with the scheme of showing the world the difference in ability between him and Kim due to the tournament's new “free tag-off Multi-Shift rule.” In ''The King of Fighters XI'', Chang and Choi convince Kim to join the Real Bout Fatal Fury Team with Terry Bogard and Duck King as they want Kim to enjoy himself for once after Kim believes that Chang and Choi are finally “rehabilitated.” Following the tournament, Chang and Choi realize that Kim will be on the look out for more criminals to help rehabilitate. Despite being deem “rehabilitated”, Chang and Choi are still in Kim's custody. In ''The King of Fighters XIII'', Kim summons Raiden, a famous heel professional wrestler and Hwa Jai, a former Muay Thai champion who was defeated and lost his title to Joe Higashi in the past, to Southtown after he believes that they are still employed by Geese Howard, and takes them in as his new students. However, unknown to Kim, Raiden and Hwa has since cut their ties with Geese and have already reform for quite some time. Instead, they trick Kim into thinking that they are still working for Geese and enter the tournament with him as a way help boost their reputations as fighters, as well as secretly to prove they are better on fooling Kim than Chang and Choi. Once the tournament ended, Hwa and Raiden pretend to have been "reformed" by Kim, and the gullible Kim falls for it. After parting ways with his new teammates, Kim thinks he might have been "too soft" on Chang and Choi, and to honor his new teammates and the struggles they went through, he intensifies Chang and Choi's strict training much to duo's displeasure.

In ''The King of Fighters XIV'', Chang and Choi are sent to prison after destroying a bar while intoxicated. Upon arrival, the criminals encounter Xanadu, a mysterious, enigmatic, infamous and dangerous criminal who through his eccentric yet mesmerizing charisma, reverts Chang and Choi back to their old criminal ways. Upon the announcement of the new tournament, the trio enter as the Villains Team with the goal of causing chaos and destruction. Meanwhile, Kim has not heard from Chang or Choi and is unaware of their imprisonment. Deciding to go look for them, Kim was about leave the dojo when Gang-Il, Kim's master and chairman of the World Taekwondo Federation, and Luong, a seductive woman who is secretly a freelance secret agent and fell in love with Gang-II during his world tour, appear at the dojo's entrance. Though Gang-II and Luong are excited to meet Kim, Kim's bitter memories of his master distracts him from their conversation until Gang-II shows Kim a leaflet, revealing that Chang and Choi are entering the new tournament with a criminal. As Kim decides to enter the tournament to retrieve Chang and Choi from the criminal's control, Gang-II and Luong also decides to enter alongside Kim in the tournament, despite Kim's objections. Due to Kim and Gang-Il’s absence from the ''KOF XV'' tournament via focusing on their Taekwondo training, Luong went to join her fellow secret agents Blue Mary and Vanessa in order to form the Secret Agent Team.

Originally, SNK wanted ''KOF '94'' to have a Prisoner Team, formed by Chang Koehan, Choi Bounge, and a third prisoner, but due to various circumstances, they added in Kim instead and made it the Korea Team. Xanadu was created for ''XIV'' to fulfilled this concept. Also, during the development for ''2001'', May Lee's character design stems from sponsor Eolith's desire for a "Korean Athena Asamiya" that was an "idol-like visual fighter."

Malin

:
is a character who debuts in ''The King of Fighters 2003'' as a member of the High School Girls Team (alongside Athena Asamiya and Hinako Shijou). Her addition to the series was due to Choi's absence in the game where she debuted. The game producers state that her name should be spelled "Malin" and not "Marin", adding that "this is the humble preference of the supervising designer and a mystery to us all".

She becomes a member of the Anti-Kyokugenryu Team in ''The King of Fighters XI'' due to her animosity towards one of the style's practitioners, Yuri Sakazaki.

Official Invitation Team

: (Sylvie Paula Paula)
: (Kukri)
: (Mian)
The Official Invitation Team is composed of characters that Antonov personally invited to participate in his tournament. First appearing in ''The King of Fighters XIV'', the team consists of Sylvie Paula Paula, a remnant of NESTS who wields electromagnetic powers, Kukri, a mysterious fighter from North Africa (presumably Mali) who utilizes sand-based fighting techniques while hiding his face with a hood at all times, and Mian, a Sichuan opera dancer and fighter. Prior to the tournament, each member lives in the underground society with Mian and Sylvie often taking part in underground tournaments together.

During the end of the final match, Kukri reveals that he is familiar with Verse, especially since half its power lies within Shun'ei. When the tournament ends, Kukri leaves his teammates and Antonov behind and travels to the Carpathian Mountains in Ukraine where he finds Ash Crimson. Kukri is soon joined by Elisabeth Blanctorche, revealing that she had hired Kukri to enter the tournament to find and rescue Ash whose soul resided inside Verse.

Kukri is the main antagonist of a spin-off sequel between ''The King of Fighters XIV'' and ''The King of Fighters XV'' titled '' SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy'', in which Kukri himself kidnaps and sends most of the female participants from the ''XIV'' tournament into his personal pocket dimension, alongside Jeanne d'Arc from the ''World Heroes'' series, Thief Arthur from ''Million Arthur'', and a recently resurrected Shermie, as well as swapping genders of male fighters Terry Bogard, Iori Yagami (going under his previous alias Miss X from ''SNK Gals' Fighters''), and Skullomania from ''Fighting EX Layer''.

It is revealed in ''The King of Fighters XV'' that Kukri’s cynical attitude had been originating from the death of his master and adopted mother Dolores, who had sacrificed her life to save him after the former had suddenly awakened his sand power while being unable to initially control it at first. Although he did find Ash for Elisabeth, he still wasn't able to find Dolores elsewhere until he became relieved to learn of his master’s revival while watching her interview for the next KOF tournament on television. Back when Kukri was adopted by Dolores, he had learned the existence of Amplified Specters, the same multiversal-based power that Shun'ei inherited from Verse, which Kukri initially disbelieved at first.

Oswald

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appears in ''The King of Fighters XI'' as a member of the game's Hero Team, along with Ash Crimson and Shen Woo. An Irish professional assassin who utilizes a card-based fighting style in attacking his opponents with razor-sharp cards, he was created as an older gentleman, and is an enigma to even the creators. Developers consider his moves to be comical compared to the seriousness of his image, especially when the move "Joker" is blocked or misses. They chose to leave the result of his fight with Shen ambiguous, implying that fans would have been disappointed with the outcome. He was originally intended to be the "good-looking glasses" character for the series.

It is revealed at the end of the tournament that Oswald joins Ash and Shen Woo to obtain money and drugs named Dragon Pills. Ash agrees to give information regarding the drug to Oswald, explaining that it can only be given to him if he defeats the provider's enemy, Shen Woo. Oswald would later make his return as a DLC character in ''The King of Fighters XIV''.

Shen Woo

:
is one of the members of the Hero Team in ''The King of Fighters 2003'', along with Ash Crimson and Duo Lon. He was first conceptualized to be a "wild and sexy man". Due to his fighting style revolving around punches, designers for his fighting style had to make his attacks distinctive enough to avoid confusion with Ralf and Yashiro.

As ''"Shanghai's God of War"'', he was raised in the city of Shanghai in eastern China and given that nickname for developing his own, devastating street-fighting boxing style that is best described as "violent". He soon came to be very feared, and grew to enjoy the thrill of the fight. Eventually, he came to know and befriended both the enigmatic fighter Ash Crimson and the Chinese assassin Duo Lon, with the three of them becoming the "Hero Team" for ''The King of Fighters 2003'' tournament.

At the end of ''The King of Fighters XI'', Ash decides to pit his two teammates against each other by convincing Oswald to defeat Shen Woo for the mention of the "Dragon Pills" made by anonymous pharmacists in Shanghai, telling Oswald that they will only give the Dragon Pills to someone who could defeat their mortal enemy, that is Shen himself. As soon as he and Oswald are left to fight each other, the result is unknown, though they managed to survive the outcome. He is voiced by Kōji Suidzu. Shen Woo is one of the many examples of a sexualized male video game character of the aggressive type.

South America Team

: (Nelson)
: (Zarina)
: (Bandeiras)
The South America Team is composed of characters originating from South America. First appearing in ''The King of Fighters XIV'', the team consists of Nelson, a boxer with a robotic prosthetic left arm after losing his arm in a terrible accident, Zarina, a Samba dancer whose fighting style resembles capoeira, and Bandeiras Hattori, an obsessed fanboy of ninjas who trained himself to become one, and the founder of the “ Brazilian Ninja Arts Dojo.” Prior to the tournament, Nelson defeated Tizoc in a contest that left him in disgrace, with the latter adopting a heel persona called “King of Dinosaurs.”

Each member had their own reason for entering the tournament. Nelson wants to seize victory in the tournament while hoping that his fiancée Liccia will awake from her coma, Zarina wants to win the prize money to procure land as a nesting place for her pet Coco, a toucan and its species, and Bandeiras hopes that his participation and fighting style will bring in students to his dojo. While the South America Team didn't win, they saw good fortune coming out of the tournament when Liccia awakes from her coma, Zarina convinces Antonov to help procure land for Coco after he already purchased much of the land for one of his businesses (she gleefully admits that she simply kicked him in the crotch instead for his aid), and Bandeiras travels to Japan to advertise his dojo. However, he ends up getting arrested by police for causing a scene. Before seeing Liccia in the hospital, Nelson stops by at his arm's manufacturer for a checkup, completely unaware that the scientists who gave him the cybernetic left arm were responsible for his accident, and are attempting to use him as a test subject for an unknown purpose.

Verse

:
is the main antagonist and final boss in ''The King of Fighters XIV''. An evil presence who embodies one of the Amplified Specters that is sensed across reality, time, and space, various fighters from the tournament join to stop him. Within his being, he holds the souls of deceased fighters from the past tournaments such as Goenitz, Yashiro Nanakase, Shermie, Chris, Orochi, and Ash Crimson along with Gaidel, Krizalid, Original Zero, Igniz, and Rugal Bernstein, as well as Mizuki Rashojin from ''Samurai Shodown II'', Kukri's adoptive mother Dolores and many more. The existence of Verse was the result of Ash changing his timeline to erase himself from being Saiki's descendant and killing his ancestor in the process, this being the reason of why Nakoruru travels to the present in order to help fix the timeline. Not only that, one of Verse's fragments is also implanted inside the young Shun'ei, leaving his parents to abandon him secretly due to this, though he was later rescued by Tung Fu Rue, who had decided to raise him as his last disciple. According to Geese Howard, the appearance of Verse was foretold in the Sacred Scrolls of Jin.

In a manga adaption of ''XIV'' titled '' The King of Fighters: A New Beginning'', once Verse gathers enough essences from the previous matches, including one which were outside the ring, he is confronted and defeated by Geese, who interrupts the recent official matches, using its power to assume his Nightmare form in order to fight alongside Billy and Hein against the China and Fatal Fury Teams while also summoning the deceased Four Heavenly Kings and NESTS executives to dispose of the other teams, including Nakoruru’s summoned ''Samurai Shodown'' warriors.

Adelheid and Rose

:
:
(Adel for short), along with his younger sister, , are the only known children of Rugal Bernstein. They reside in an airship called "Sky Noah". Adel is a boss character from ''The King of Fighters 2003'', as well as a secret and mid-boss for ''The King of Fighters XI''. They were added to the series to create an alternate story to the main plot.

Despite sharing several physical and fighting traits with Rugal, Adelheid is an honorable fighter who exhibits good sportsmanship, even having a friendly conversation with Heidern, Rugal's mortal enemy. Rose, however, was developed to be extremely prideful and selfish, possessing her father's negative traits. At the end of ''The King of Fighters XI'', Rose is manipulated by Botan, a member from the mysterious organization Those From the Past to use her in their plans, leading to the events of ''The King of Fighters XIII''.

Those From The Past

are a new group of antagonists that make their debut in ''The King of Fighters 2003''. They are mysterious, and supposedly inhuman, warriors who want to get the power of the Orochi so that they can give it to their shrouded master. It is implied that they are the European counterparts of the Orochi Clan. The organization is destroyed after Saiki's death by Ash in ''The King of Fighters XIII'', but their actions triggered the birth of Verse.

Mukai

:
is the hidden final boss in ''The King of Fighters 2003''. His appearance was designed with the concept of petrification in mind. Mukai's primary power is his control over many things related to stone. He can form stone, either in crude rocks to throw at foes, or as elaborate pillars to crush them. He speaks in very pious, grandiose declarations, but appears to have a cautious attitude toward the potential of humans.

Mukai appears in ''The King of Fighters 2003'' tournament, seeking strong opponents to test his strength against them. Mukai reveals that his group had organized the tournament so that they could break the Orochi seal and give its power to the group's unknown leader. Mukai wanted to battle against the winning team of the tournament, seeing if they had what it takes to survive in "the new age". Mukai is defeated, but manages to escape. He would later return in ''The King of Fighters XIII'', but is killed by Saiki after disobeying his boss.

Shion

:
makes his first appearance in ''The King of Fighters XI'' as the sub-boss. The character was conceptually designed to be one of Ron's daughters, though developers decided to change his gender to startle and appeal to fans with his androgynous appearance. Shion is an enigmatic character whose past is unknown. He works as an underling for the demon Magaki, and seems knowledgeable about the workings of Orochi. After being defeated at the ruins of the tournament finals, he is dragged through an extradimensional gate. However, after Magaki is defeated at the end of the tournament, Shion kills him and his whereabouts remain unknown. In ''King of Fighters XIII'', as the last cutscene, the head of Shion's spear appears. The cutscene is named ''The Crimson Spear''. It is shown that he's still alive as he appeared before Shroom and Rimelo.

Magaki

:
is the final boss of ''The King of Fighters XI''. Not much is known about Magaki and his past history. Like his partner Mukai, Magaki wants to awake Orochi and give Orochi's powers to his own master. He also shows even less respect for humans in general, believing them to have little-to-no potential, and being weak overall. He also seems to have very little tolerance for not getting what he wants from others. Like Mukai before him, after he was defeated he stood up, apparently unscathed, and made his exit into another realm after commenting that perhaps it was more than spirit that was needed to awaken Orochi. However, as he finally realizes the error in his plan, he is killed by Shion's spear, hurled from the dimensional rift he was escaping from.

He is notable for his ability to teleport projectiles around the screen, including behind his opponent. As a result, many players have compared fighting him to playing bullet hell games.

Saiki

:
is the main antagonist of ''The King of Fighters XIII'', being revealed as the leader of Those From the Past while serving as the sub-boss of the game. He is able to control the flow of time due to a gate that can halt the timeline so long as it is open. During the game's cutscenes, he takes the appearance of a human, very similar to Ash Crimson. Before taking on the player's team, Saiki drains Mukai of his power after the latter disobeys a direct order, killing him in the process while transforming into a red demonic being. After the battle, Ash takes his power, seemingly killing him. This plan backfires as Ash ends up being possessed by Saiki and turns into a shadowed version of himself called Evil Ash (known by fans as Dark Ash) to act as the game's final boss. During the ending, Saiki is defeated, but tries to use the gate to rewind time again in an attempt to restart his plot once more; Ash stands in his way and prevents his passage. When the gate closes, Saiki is finally killed, but it is revealed that he is Ash's ancestor, thus by denying Saiki passage into the past, Ash forces his own existence to cease. Despite this, Ash's soul would later reside within Verse during ''The King of Fighters XIV'' and after the latter's defeat, Ash would eventually be revived in the living world.

Characters from other SNK games

Art of Fighting Team

The Art of Fighting Team is composed of ''Art of Fighting'' originating from the video game series with the same name, and are mostly practitioners of Kyokugenryu Karate (also known as Kyokugen), a fighting style created by the Sakazaki family. First appearing in ''The King of Fighters '94'', the original team consisted of Ryo Sakazaki, the heir to Kyokugenryu Karate who is the first champion of KOF tournaments, Robert Garcia, a wealthy practitioner of Kyokugenryu from Italy, who is Ryo's best friend and rival, and Takuma Sakazaki, Ryo's father and the founder of Kyokugenryu Karate who trains the students at the dojo, and Ryo and Robert's master. After ''The King of Fighters '95'', Takuma decides to retire from competing due to his age catching up with him which leads to Robert suggesting that Yuri Sakazaki, Takuma's daughter, Ryo's sister, and Robert's love interest, becomes his replacement for the next tournament, having been fully trained in Kyokugenryu. Beginning with ''The King of Fighters '96'', Yuri becomes the third member of the team for the remainder of the Orochi Saga.

During the NESTS Saga, Takuma comes out of retirement and joins the team as the fourth member in ''The King of Fighters '99''. In ''The King of Fighters 2000'', Yuri wanted to show her independence by joining the Women Team that year by begging King, a French Muay Thai fighter who has a history with the Sakazaki family in the past, to be her replacement, and because she is like a family to them. While Ryo and Takuma welcomed the idea, Robert disagreed and challenged King to a kicking contest to prove herself. Although the contest ended in a tie, Robert was impressed with King's kicking ability that he agreed to let King join the team. In ''The King of Fighters 2001'', Robert and his father Alberto Garcia are facing a takeover in their company, the Garcia Foundation, after they and the rest of the world suffers from a financial crisis due to NESTS’ increased activities after the last tournament. After pleading to the Sakazaki family to enter the tournament to win the prize money, they agreed to help Robert and his family (in reality, Takuma wanted to win the prize money for himself to help with the family's dojo).

Despite not winning the 2001 tournament, the financial crisis that Robert and his father faced seem to have been resolved as by ''The King of Fighters 2003'', Robert is joyfully wealthy again and enters the tournament with Ryo and Yuri. When the team returns home from the tournament, they found Takuma laying facedown on the dojo floor, apparently after being assaulted by an unseen assailant. Takuma tries to tell them who attacked him, but passes out, and is taken away in an ambulance. In ''The King of Fighters XI'', it is revealed that Takuma was not attacked by an assailant but actually, he collapsed due to malnutrition, liver problems, and other health issues. He uses the incident as an excuse to fulfill his wishes for a grandchild by asking King to enter the tournament with Ryo and Yuri, and be his replacement since Robert cannot enter because of a disaster that took place at his father's company that his presence is required for the issue to be resolved. In ''The King of Fighters XIII'', the Sakazakis get into a family argument after Yuri cuts her hair which Takuma and Ryo disapproves of. When Robert tells Yuri that her family wants her to quit her training (more so, to stop entering King of Fighters tournaments and fighting overall to prevent serious injury to herself), Yuri decides to enter the tournament with King and Mai Shiranui to show her independence once again, and to show her family how much her Kyokugen has improved. When Takuma (who has made a full recovery) finds out that Yuri is entering the tournament with another team, he, Ryo, and Robert, who now has enough free time away from his father's company, enter the tournament. When the tournament ends, the team, alongside Yuri and King, are being interviewed by the media that Robert pulls out an engagement ring while Yuri is answering questions. Takuma takes notice of the ring and Robert's intentions that he hits Robert from behind, which leads to the two men hitting each other without notice while Yuri embarrasses King by telling reporters that she wishes King becomes a part of the family. Ryo then proclaims that teamwork is the key to Kyokugen's success.

In ''The King of Fighters XIV'', the team have since opened up their own restaurant called “Kyokugen BBQ” with the help of Richard Meyer. In addition to entering the tournament as usual to attract new students, the team plans on promoting their new restaurant. After returning home from the tournament, the team throws a private party to themselves where Ryo and his student, Marco Rodrigues (from '' Garou: Mark of the Wolves''), become displeased with Robert and his family's attitude regarding their training, and are more focused on improving the restaurant. In ''The King of Fighters XV'', Ryo excludes Yuri from the team since she's spent less time training and invites King to join him and Robert instead.

Fatal Fury Team

The Fatal Fury Team is composed of characters originating from the video game series with the same name. First appearing in ''The King of Fighters '94'', the original group consisted of Terry Bogard, an American fighter who sought to defeat the evil crime lord Geese Howard in order to avenge the death of his father Jeff Bogard; Andy Bogard, the younger brother of Terry who uses the Shiranui fighting style; and Joe Higashi, a Muay Thai fighter and mutual friend of Terry and Andy. In ''The King of Fighters '99'', Mai Shiranui, a Shiranui kunoichi, and love interest of Andy, joins the team as during this time, teams are now composed of four fighters. Blue Mary, a female agent and love interest of Terry, and decides to help her out in her job by teaming up with her in the ''2000'' and ''2001'' editions of the King of Fighters tournaments.

In ''The King of Fighters 2003'', Terry and Joe entered the tournament with Tizoc, a famous Mexican professional wrestler as Andy took care of his Shiranui disciple Hokutomaru who fell sick with the mumps. In ''The King of Fighters XI'', Terry organizes a new Fatal Fury Team with Duck King and Kim Kaphwan. In ''The King of Fighters XIII'', Terry wanted to catch up and reunite the Fatal Fury Team with Andy and Joe once again. In ''The King of Fighters XIV'', Terry, Andy, and Joe enter the tournament in order to not only enjoy themselves, but also to investigate Geese's suspicious involvement from within the competition itself.

Garou Team

The Garou Team (known as the Mark of the Wolves Team in Japan) first appears in ''KOF XI'', containing characters that appear in the video game '' Garou: Mark of the Wolves''. The team includes Tizoc, a famous Lucha libre pro wrestler, Gato, a powerful yet emotionless martial artist and a modern-day female pirate named B. Jenet. Though the members become good friends during the course of the tournament, Gato decides to leave them after the end of the tournament in order to avoid Hotaru Futaba from finding him and getting herself involved in his personal quest. The team returned in ''The King of Fighters XV'' as DLC, with Geese's biological son and Kain R. Heinlein's maternal nephew Rock Howard (who was previously a DLC character in ''KOF XIV'') replacing Tizoc due to the latter becoming King of Dinosaurs for his own personal reasons.

Geese Howard's teams

The villain known as Geese Howard, who is the original creator of the KOF tournaments since the events of ''Art of Fighting 2'', creates several teams in the series. In ''The King of Fighters '95'', he sends his right-hand man Billy Kane to kill his enemies, the Bogard Brothers. Billy allies with Iori Yagami and Eiji Kisaragi to form a Rival Team in the tournament, but once they fail to obtain the victory, Iori brutally attacks them and nearly kills Billy and Eiji in the process, with the latter two developing a personal grudge against Iori and vowing to one day get their revenge towards their former teammate.

In ''The King of Fighters '96'', Geese creates the Boss Team, which consists of himself, Wolfgang Krauser, and Mr. Big. Geese uses both Krauser and Big as pawns in the tournament, hoping to get the power from the Orochi entity while Krauser only wants to prove his strength in seeking a rematch against Terry and avenging his pass loss towards him and Mr. Big seeks to regain his status as the undisputed crime lord of South Town's criminal underworld from Geese, vowing to one day eliminate him.

As the Boss Team disbanded at the end of ''The King of Fighters '96'', Geese creates and sponsors his own team known as the Outlaw Team for the same purpose. The team for the ''KOF '97'' tournament is made up of Billy Kane, Blue Mary, and Ryuji Yamazaki. The team would later appear in ''The King of Fighters 2003'', with Blue Mary being replaced by Gato. Eiji later return in ''KOF XI'', where he teams up with Malin and Kasumi Todoh to not only counteract the Art of Fighting team, but also to settle his personal grudge against Iori (much like Billy had attempted to do in both '97 and 2003).

Geese eventually returns to the tournament in ''The King of Fighters XIV'', where he becomes the main leader of the South Town Team, which consists of him, Billy, and Geese's personal butler named Hein. The team returns in ''The King of Fighters XV'' as DLC, with Yamazaki (who was previously a DLC character in ''KOF XIV'') replacing Hein. It is later revealed that Hein, alongside Luong are in fact secret agents working with certain organizations, whereas Hein goes undercover as Geese's butler and even secretly enlists Yamazaki to figure out what Geese's next plan is during the fourth saga, and eliminate him. Unfortunately for Hein, Geese already knew the plot long before and pretended to be clueless, playing along for his own entertainment.

Ikari Warriors Team

The Ikari Warriors Team is a group of mercenaries that enters in each tournament in the series in order to find well-known criminals and capture them. The leader established the team in order find the criminal Rugal Bernstein, in order that Heidern could get his revenge against Rugal (who killed Heidern's wife Sandra and their daughter Clara). The other two recurring members of the team are the soldiers Ralf Jones and Clark Still, who were originally the player characters in ''Ikari Warriors'' and its sequels.

, Heidern's adopted daughter introduced in ''The King of Fighters '96'', replaces him as he takes on a more active role behind the scenes, investigating occurrences parallel to the tournament. Although she tends to be very quiet, Leona was conceived to be an Orochi descendant at the time of her debut, and her designers took special care to let their interests at the time reflect in her actions. Her official nickname is The Silent Soldier. Although she recovers from her childhood trauma at the end of ''King of Fighters '97'', she leaves the team after attacking her friends in the Riot of the Blood state at the conclusion of ''King of Fighters 2003'' and tries to regain her focus from within her personal time.

Leona, Ralf, and Clark compose the Ikari Team for ''The King of Fighters XIII'', reflecting the team's roster from the 1996 tournament. Despite her difficulties in controlling herself leading her to sit out the ''XI'' tournament as Whip took her place, Leona commits herself to entering the ''XIII'' tournament, deciding to accept, and deal with, her Orochi blood.

Ever since Verse's incident at the end of ''The King of Fighters XIV'', Heidern and the Ikari Warriors have been investigating the unknown threat left behind by Verse, leading to Heidern meeting and befriending not only a resurrected Malian medium named Dolores, but also a cynical Chilean graphic artist named Isla who utilizes a multiversal Specter power similar to Shun'ei's own and in due time, the three of them form a new Rival Team for ''KOF XV''.

Psycho Soldier Team

The Psycho Soldier Team specializes in using a combination of Chinese martial arts and psychic powers—dubbed "Psycho Powers" by SNK. Its team members consist of , an elderly mentor and master of Psycho Power who specializes in Drunken boxing. He participates with his students throughout the tournaments since 1994, but leaves the competition in 2003 to observe thoroughly the matter of Orochi's possible resurgence, asking K′ and Maxima to investigate the tournament in his place for activity, meaning both Kensou and Chin are replaced with Hinako and Malin.

The others members of the team are Chin's students Athena Asamiya, a famous Japanese pop singer and idol; a Chinese teenager infatuated with Athena named , with the two of them originally the player characters in '' Psycho Soldier''; and a little Chinese boy named . As Bao trains with them during the time between ''King of Fighters '97'' and ''King of Fighters '99'', Kensou gradually loses his powers, until they become obsolete. However, his powers are recovered in ''King of Fighters XI'', causing Ron and Misty to take an interest in it, revealing a probable importance of the Dragon Spirit.

A young girl who trained with Kensou and Athena, , also debuts in the team in ''The King of Fighters XI''. She was added into the cast to fit the image of the younger Psycho Soldier team, though the developers have expressed discomfort with adding so young a character amongst a large group of adults. In addition, Momoko's discipline is Capoeira, rather than Chinese Martial Arts like her teammates. Chin and Kensou make their latest appearances in ''The King of Fighters XII''; in ''The King of Fighters XIII'', the Psycho Soldier team is re-formed and represented by the original members.

Heroines Team

The Heroines Team, also known as Women Fighters Team is a group composed exclusively of heroines, christened "The Princesses of Punch." The team first formed by the ''Kyokugen'' karate prodigy Yuri Sakazaki, the kunoichi Mai Shiranui, and the Muay Thai fighter King. Throughout the later games of the series, there are several changes in the members of the team, as Yuri is sometimes called to join the Art of Fighting team, leading her to be replaced by the heir of the ancient Yata clan Chizuru Kagura and Kasumi Todoh—a young female martial artist who seeks to defeat those who practice ''Kyokugen'' karate. In later games, new characters appear, due to the new rule of using four members; these include the agent Blue Mary, the Chinese-American female martial artist Li Xiangfei and the sumo fighter . In ''2003'', the Women Fighters Team has a subdivision with young girls as the members, hence the reason it is named the High School Girls Team (also known as the Pretty Girl Fighters Team in 2002 UM). This team is led by Psycho Soldier leader Athena Asamiya, and the two other members are Hinako and Malin. In ''XI'', the team is dissolved, since the members go to other teams or they have other things to do. The Women Fighters Team is reunited for ''The King of Fighters XIII'', featuring the three original members from the 1994 tournament. In ''XIV'', the team returns with Mai and King getting a new member named Alice Nakata, an avid fan of Terry Bogard who inspires to be just like him, who was previously introduced in the ''Garou Densetsu: The Legend of Wild Wolf'' pachinko machine. At King's permission request while she returns to the Art of Fighting Team with Ryo and Robert, Athena is allowed to be the leader of an advance team for ''KOF XV'' known as the Super Heroines Team, alongside the Women Fighters' original members Mai and Yuri.

Another World Team

: (Mui Mui)
: (Love Heart)
The Another World Team is composed of characters who appeared in other SNK games outside of ''The King of Fighters'' universe. First appearing in ''The King of Fighters XIV'', the team consists of Nakoruru, an Ainu miko who fights alongside her pet hawk Mamahaha and is from ''Samurai Shodown'', Mui Mui, the last successor of her clan and a master of Kung Fu from Dragon Gal, and Love Heart, the captain of the Peace Pirates from Sky Love.

In her world, Nakoruru senses a terrible entity emerging after a crack in the spacetime continuum. With the source coming from another universe, Nakoruru transports herself into the present universe with the goal of preventing the disaster and finding its true source. Shortly after arriving at the present universe, Nakoruru encounters Love Heart, who was transported by the same entity unwillingly, and agrees to help investigate the phenomenon. During their investigation, the duo meets Mui Mui, who transported herself to the present universe willing in search of gems filled with mysterious powers and joins them. Upon the announcement of the new tournament, the trio decides to enter in hopes of finding the source. During the finals, the source was revealed to be Verse. Following Verse's defeat and the end of the tournament, the team travels to Russia where Nakoruru believes that Verse may return one day, but is unsure when the entity will come back. While Love Heart and Mui Mui are ready to return to their own worlds, Nakoruru instead decides to stay in the present universe to visit modern-day Hokkaido and China, inviting her teammates to travel with her. While Mui Mui agrees with the idea, unfortunately for Love Heart, she is dragged along by her teammates much to her annoyance.

Samurai Shodown Team

The Samurai Shodown Team, known simply as Samurai Team is composed of characters originating from the ''Samurai Shodown'' series. Originally meant to debut in ''The King of Fighters '95'', the team would have consisted of Nakoruru, a ronin vagabond named Haohmaru, and an American ninja named Galford D. Weller, who fights alongside his pet dog Poppy. However, the idea was dropped due to time constraints. Because of the fourth saga's storyline involving the concept of time and space within a multiverse, this would enable the original plan to truly come to fruition, thus the Samurai Team would finally make their debut in ''The King of Fighters XV'' via a downloadable pass, with the sole exception of Galford being replaced by the female newcomer Darli Dagger from '' Samurai Shodown (2019)'', a strong African ship-maker who wields a jagged saw-sword named Libertalia while being raised by pirates in Merina Kingdom, Madagascar.

Following the fourteenth tournament incident caused by Verse, to which Nakoruru is displaced in the modern timeline along with other characters from outside ''The King of Fighters'' multiverse, her home timeline is also affected as well, bringing the warriors she once knew into the present ''KOF'' timeline. Among the warriors Nakoruru found and immediately team up with were her old friends, Haohmaru and Darli Dagger. Realizing that the mysterious yet dangerous threat of Otoma=Raga might somehow be connected to the current situation that the fighters are facing at the moment, Nakoruru, Haohmaru, and Darli join the fight, presumably to possibly return to their home timeline. After the events of ''KOF XV'', the trio find themselves encountering a recently revived Mizuki Rashojin (from ''Samurai Shodown II''), to which they decide to have her come along with them in continuing to explore the modern world, much to Mizuki's personal reluctance.

Reception

The characters from ''The King of Fighters'' series were said to be a varied cast by ''Eurogamer'' magazine, since the cast includes characters from other SNK games. IGN agreed, commenting that every character has their own unique moves and praising their visuals, even though the magazine mentioned that the characters have old two-dimensional designs. IGN criticized that learning the characters' special moves was difficult. In reviews for the first game, IGN praised the main character Kyo Kusanagi as one of the most enjoyable characters to play, remarking on his dynamism and movesets. GameSpot also praised the characters designs, saying they "shine through, resulting in a cast of characters that's diverse and not plentiful". In other reviews, they complained about the lack of improvements in the character's movesets in some games, and also mentioned that some techniques were simply removed. They noted that, while new characters introduced in some games are interesting, they do not have the same impact as other ones.

1UP.com labelled the characters from the series as one of SNK's best creations, claiming that their appearances and quotations are all "cool"—although they commented some of the storylines are "nonsense". The boss characters were criticized by multiple reviewers for being too difficult to defeat, with Krizalid from ''The King of Fighters '99'' being singled out as too powerful.

Although Kyo's story arc ends with ''The King of Fighters '97'', he has remained a more popular hero. With the introduction of a new lead character, K', SNK had originally planned to remove main characters Kyo and Iori. Instead, they ended up as unlockable hidden characters after fans responded negatively to their removal at location tests. The same issue would happen in the third story arc, where Kyo and Iori are major characters opposing ''The King of Fighters 2003'' lead Ash Crimson but more due to narrative intended reasons rather than fan demand. than his successors like Ash Crimson in Western regions, which led to Ignition Entertainment promoting ''KOF XII'' using him. Similarly, ''Anime UK News'' preferred Kyo and Iori more than the next lead, Shun'ei.

The character designs in ''Maximum Impact'' were praised by IGN, which noted that the conversion to three-dimensional modeling had "extremely vibrant" characters with "a decent amount of detail." However, they disliked the lack of blood, especially during violent attacks, saying the super moves and combos were "just not as spectacular here" as they were in previous installments. IGN sharply criticized the "terribly bad voice acting", calling it "truly piss-poor American dub work." Gamezone added that some characters still remain their unique fighting style, but complained about the lack of individualized endings, and commented that some of the attacks have less style in 3D. ''GameSpot'' also added that the English voices weren't distinctive, but commented that their new outfits were "pretty wild". The characters, however, were "just not done with the same pixel-perfect flair" as the 2D versions, they said, noting that "you'll recognize he charactersbecause of their clothes and special moves, not because of their faces."

References

External links

Characters' entry at ''The King of Fighters'' official website

{{The King of Fighters characters

King of Fighters
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