List of The King of Fighters characters

"Heavy D!" redirects here. For other, see Heavy D (disambiguation).

All the characters who had appeared during the Orochi Saga story arc. *Top row (from left to right): Kyo, Benimaru, Daimon, Terry, Andy, Joe, Ryo, Robert, Takuma, and Heidern. *First middle row (from left to right): Ralf, Clark, Athena, Kensou, Chin, Yuri, Mai, King, Heavy D!, and Lucky. *Second middle row (from left to right): Brian, Kim, Chang, Choi, Rugal, Iori, Eiji, Billy, Saisyu, and Omega Rugal. *Third middle row (from left to right): Leona, Kasumi, Mature, Vice, Geese, Krauser, Mr. Big, Chizuru, Goenitz, and Yashiro. *Fourth middle row (from left to right): Shermie, Chris, Yamazaki, Blue Mary, Shingo, Orochi Iori, Orochi Leona, Orochi Yashiro, Orochi Shermie, and Orochi Chris. *Bottom row: Orochi and Yuki.

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

[edit]
NESTS characters
Ash saga characters
The characters introduced in the NESTS Chronicles and Tales of Ash story arcs.

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.[1] 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.[2]

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.[2] 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.[3][4] Several characters were added to the roster by Eolith's desire when this company sponsored SNK, to attract fans from Eolith's region.[5]

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).[6] 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.[7] In The King of Fighters '99, to contrast the previous protagonist of the series, K' was made to be the "dark hero".[8] 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.[9] Due to the large additions of teenager characters in the series, SNK decided to add several middle-age ones to balance them.[10][11]

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.[12] Art director Nobuyuki Kuroki found it unfair that only a few designers were included on the staff.[13] 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.[14] 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.[15] 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.[16][17]

Character appearances

[edit]

The table below summarizes every single fighter in the series. A green cell indicates that the character is playable, while a red cell indicates that the character is not playable or does not appear.

Main series

[edit]
Character Origin '94 '94 Re-Bout '95 '96 '97 '98 '98 UM '99 2000 2001 2002 2002 UM 2003 XI XII XIII XIV XV Total
Adelheid Original No No No No No No No No No No No No Yes Yes No No No No 2
Alice Nakata Fatal Fury No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No Yes No 1
Andy Bogard Fatal Fury Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes 16
Angel Original No No No No No No No No No Yes Yes Yes No No No No Yes Yes 5
Antonov Original No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No Yes Yes 2
Ash Crimson Original No No No No No No No No No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes 5
Athena Asamiya Psycho Soldier Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 18
B. Jenet Fatal Fury No No No No No No No No No No No No No Yes No No No DLC 2
Bandeiras Hattori Original No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No Yes No 1
Bao Original No No No No No No No Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No No No No 4
Benimaru Nikaido Original Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 18
Billy Kane Fatal Fury No No Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes No No DLC Yes DLC 10
Blue Mary Fatal Fury No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No DLC Yes 12
Brian Battler Original Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No 4
Chang Koehan Original Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes No 14
Chin Gentsai Original Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes No 15
Chizuru Kagura Original No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No Yes No No No No Yes 6
Choi Bounge Original Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No Yes No 13
Chris Original No No No No Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes No No No No No Yes 6
Clark Still Ikari Warriors Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 18
Darli Dagger Samurai Showdown No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No DLC 1
Dolores Original No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No Yes 1
Duck King Fatal Fury No No No No No No No No No No No No No Yes No No No No 1
Duo Lon Original No No No No No No No No No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No DLC 5
Eiji Kisaragi Art of Fighting No No Yes No No No Yes No No No No No No Yes No No No No 3
Elisabeth Blanctorche Original No No No No No No No No No No No No No Yes Yes Yes No Yes 4
Evil Ash Original No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No Yes No No 1
Foxy Original No No No No No No No No No Yes No Yes No No No No No No 2
Gai Tendo Buriki One No No No No No No No No No No No No No Yes No No No No 1
Gang-il Original No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No Yes No 1
Gato Fatal Fury No No No No No No No No No No No No Yes Yes No No No DLC 3
Geese Howard Fatal Fury No No No Yes No No Yes No No No Yes Yes No Yes No No Yes DLC 7
Goenitz Original No No No Yes No No Yes No No No Yes Yes No No No No No DLC 5
Goro Daimon Original Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No 14
Haohmaru Samurai Showdown No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No DLC 1
Heavy D! Original Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No 4
Heidern Ikari Warriors Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes No No No No DLC Yes 9
Hein Original No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No Yes No 1
Hinako Shijo Original No No No No No No No No Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No No No DLC 5
Hotaru Futaba Fatal Fury No No No No No No No No No No No No No Yes No No No No 1
Hwa Jai Fatal Fury No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No Yes No No 1
Igniz Original No No No No No No No No No Yes No Yes No No No No No No 2
Iori Yagami Original No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 16
Isla Original No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No Yes 1
Jhun Hoon Original No No No No No No No Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No No No No No 4
Joe Higashi Fatal Fury Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes