K'

General CVG character
name=K'


caption=
firstgame="The King of Fighters '99"
series="The King of Fighters" series
japanactor= Yuuki Matsudacite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1173798/|title=Yuuki Matsuda - IMDb|publisher=Internet Movie Database|accessdate=2008-08-23]
voiceactor=Andrew Scott
inuniverse=SNK character
fightingstyle=Pure violence | K' (ケイ・ダッシュ, "Kei Dasshu", "K Dash"), also known as K Prime in the English localization of some of the games, is a character who debuted as the leader of the Hero Team in The King of Fighters '99. He stars as the reluctant hero in the NESTS saga of the series. He was created to be a "dark hero" in order to contrast the previous protagonists from the series.

K' is a young person who lost all his memories when the Nests syndicate captured him and inserted in him the DNA of the powerful fighter Kyo Kusanagi to copy his fire abilities. K', wanting to prove himself more than object, betrays Nests and decides to destroy to them for using his body and deleting all his memories. Although hating tournaments, K' uses the "The King of Fighters" tournaments to find the Nests members and defeats them. In his search, he also meets a person named Maxima who has his same purposes and become partners. Aside from the main series, K' also appears in several other media series such as spin-offs and crossover video games as well as comic adaptations of the series.

Conception and creation

To contrast the previous protagonist of the series, Kyo Kusanagi, K' was made to be the "dark hero".Cite book | year=September 20, 2005 | editor=Akihiko Ureshino | title=The King of Fighters Perfect Reader | pages=139 | language=Japanese | publisher=Nikkei Business Publications, Inc. | id=ISBN 4-8222-1711-6] The origins of both K′ and Maxima can be found in the Psikyo arcade game The Fallen Angels (Daraku Tenshi in Japan). This obscure 1998 release stars an emaciated goth in tight leather pants named Cool, along with a brawny, cybernetically enhanced police officer named Harry Ness. The end result is that K′ looks nearly identical to Cool. His namesake was taken from a clone character in the light novel," Blue Knight Beluzaga Monogatari", which is set in the same universe as the anime, "Armored Trooper Votoms".cite book |last= Hama |first= Masanori | title= Blue Knight Beluzaga Monogatari |chapter= |publisher= Asahi Sonorama |date= June 1985 |id= ISBN 978-4257763079 ] During the early phases of development of "The King of Fighters '99", 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.cite web | author=SNK Playmore | url=http://kofaniv.snkplaymore.co.jp/english/character/index.php?num=kyo-1| title="Kyo Kusanagi-1 Official Profile" | work= [http://kofaniv.snkplaymore.co.jp/english/index.html King of Fighters 10th Anniversary Official Website] | accessmonthday= January 19 | accessyear=2008 | language=English] Eiji, a designer from the video games commented he thought that K' would be more popular than how he resulted and also noted K was too plain.cite web | author=SNK Playmore | url=http://kofaniv.snkplaymore.co.jp/english/comment/remember_kof.php?num=8| title=Interview with Eiji| work=King of Fighters 10th Anniversary Official Website | accessmonthday= January 19 | accessyear=2008]

Another K, a striker character from The King of Fighters 2000, was the final rendition of K′ outside of a last-minute hairstyle change. He had brown hair and sported a violet costume.cite web | author=SNK Playmore | url=http://kofaniv.snkplaymore.co.jp/english/character/index.php?num=kdush| title="K' Official Profile" | work= [http://kofaniv.snkplaymore.co.jp/english/index.html King of Fighters 10th Anniversary Official Website] | accessmonthday= January 19 | accessyear=2008 | language=English] K' has been noted by several of the series' designers as being one of the most difficult characters to illustrate since his look is very different when he is drawn by different illustrators. [cite web | url=http://kofaniv.snkplaymore.co.jp/english/comment/remember_kof.php?num=6| title=Interview with Wing Yan and King Tung| publisher=King of Fighters 10th Anniversary Official Website | accessdate=2008-07-29] They also mentioned that the reason for his hair being bushier than need be may be a reflection of the conditions around him.cite web | author=SNK Playmore | url=http://kofaniv.snkplaymore.co.jp/english/character/index.php?num=kdush| title="K' Official Profile" | work= [http://kofaniv.snkplaymore.co.jp/english/index.html King of Fighters 10th Anniversary Official Website] | accessmonthday= January 19 | accessyear=2008 | language=English]

Attributes

K' was a normal child who lived happily with his sister, Seirah. One day, they were captured by NESTS, a crime syndicate who dealed with drugs, genetics, robotics and biotechnology. K' was kept under NESTS and trained to be some kind of weapon. Inside NESTS, K' met Maxima, a cyborg and they worked together as a team in several missions for NESTS. Also, K' got to know the high-rank officers Whip and her brother, Krizalid. In 1998, K' was set to participate in a program named Kusanagi cloning program. K' was infused with the DNA of Kyo Kusanagi, which gave him the power of pyrokinesis. During the program, K's memory was repressed and he was made to believe that he was Krizalid's clone. After getting tired of NESTS, K' and Maxima left the syndicate, being hunted down several times.

K' has a very serious personality but is very easy to enrage. He is starting to treat Whip as a big sister and Kula as a little sister. He often calls Maxima names like "stupid", "idiot", while Maxima calls him "Aibou". He sees Kyo as a rival and wants to prove he is better than him, not as only a clone.

Appearances

Main series

In 1999, they heard of a King of Fighters tournament being held by NESTS itself and decided to participate to face it right on. They were joined by Benimaru Nikaido and Shingo Yabuki who were looking for Kyo. They were taken to a place where Krizalid were waiting for them. K' fights against him and is able to defeat him. The place was about to crumble when Benimaru and Shingo are separated from K' and Maxima and escape from the base.

The next year, K' and Maxima are joined by the mercenaries Vanessa and Ramon. They entered the tournament to discover NESTS scheme, but Vanessa and Ramon were there to capture K' and Maxima at the end of the tournament, since they were working for Ling and Heidern. During the tournament, the team were attacked by a mysterious group who were there to kill K'. The team was formed by Diana, Foxy, Candy Diamond and Kula Diamond, who was dubbed as the Anti-K'. K′s team made it to the finals and face the NESTS agent Zero. K' and his team eventually defeat Zero. K' and Maxima were fleeing the place when they meet Whip who joins their team.

In 2001, K', Maxima and Whip were joined by Lin, a Hizoku assassin who had a grudge against Ron, who betrayed the Hizoku to join NESTS. They reached the semi-finals and had to face a team NESTS sent to join the tournament. K's team won and were put in a blimp and were shocked to see the original Zero. The ship anchored to a satellite and Zero and his comrades were defeated. K' and his team entered the satellite and Zero's ship was destroyed. Igniz proclaimed himself NESTS CEO and would kill K' and his comrades, but is defeated. Igniz then proceeds to make the satellite fall on earth to destroy a part of it, but it felt in the water, thanks to Ron.

In 2003, K' and Maxima was given by Chin Gentsai and entrance to that year's KOF. Chin said he felt a dark wave of energy around that KOF and wanted them to investigate it. K's team defeated Ash's team and made it to the finals. A ship then appeared and they were brought inside it. There, Rugal Bernstein's sons, Adelheid Bernstein and Rose Bernstein were waiting for them. Adelheid soon proceeded to fight them, but they managed to defeat him. The next edition of KOF, K′entered the tournament with Maxima and Kula, but couldn't make it to the finals. At the end of the tournament, they were invited by Heidern to attend to a lecture about the mysterious group Those from the Past. Heidern said he had Magaki's body, but they are attacked by two children who take Magaki's body away.

Other media

Aside from the main series, K' has also appeared in other media from "The King of Fighters" series. K' appears in the spin-offs video games of the series "Neowave" [cite web|url=http://game.snkplaymore.co.jp/official/neowave/|title=The King of Fighters Neowave official website|publisher=SNK Playmore|accessdate=2008-08-08] and . [cite web|url=http://www.snkplaymoreusa.com/game_kof2006.php|title=The King of Fighters: Maximum Impact 2 official website|publisher=SNK Playmore|accessdate=2008-08-08] In the crossover video games "Neo Geo Battle Coliseum" K' is available as a playable character. [cite web|url=http://www.ignitionent.com/ngbc/main.htm|title=Neo Geo Battle Coliseum official website|publisher=SNK Playmore|accessdate=2008-08-08] In the anime, "", he is featured prominently in the third chapter. [cite web|url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=5924|title=The King of Fighters: Another Day (ONA)|publisher=Anime News Network|accessdate=2008-07-28] K also appears in the manhua adaptation of "The King of Fighters: Zillion" that was created by Andy Seto. He stars in further manhua for the games, starting in "The King of Fighters 2001" through "2003" along with the "Maximum Impact" series.cite web |url=http://kofaniv.snkplaymore.co.jp/english/comment/remember_kof.php?num=6| title=Remembrances of KOF: An Interview with Eiji |publisher= King of Fighters 10th Anniversary Official Website | accessdate=2008-07-28]

Reception

K' has received praise and criticism from several video game publications and other media. Scott Daylor from CultureCuartel.com labelled him as a "lame" addition to the character rooster. [cite web|url=http://www.culturecartel.com/review.php?rid=10003121|title=King of Fighters '99 Review|publisher=CultureCuartel.com|author=Daylor, Scott|date=2002-05-15|accessdate=2008-08-23] Diehardgamefan.com commented that the story of K' signaled the downward slide in interest in the series. [cite web|url=http://diehardgamefan.com/2008/07/29/import-review-king-of-fighters-%E2%80%9998-ultimate-match-ps2/|title=Import Review: King of Fighters ’98 Ultimate Match (PS2)|publisher=diehardgamefan.com|author=B., Mark|date=2008-07-29|accessdate=2008-08-24] However, 1UP.com praised K' as the best addition to the The King of Fighters series since Iori Yagami in 95 and regarded him as a cool character remarking his fighting style and his appearance. [cite web|url=http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3112498|title=History Of... The King of Fighters, SNK's classic team-based 2D fighting series|publisher=1UP.com|accessdate=2008-08-23] IGN commented that K' is sufficiently heroic and praises how the comic The King of Fighters 2003 explores his motivations. [cite web|url=http://comics.ign.com/articles/876/876635p1.html|title=King of Fighters 2003: Volume 4 Review|publisher=IGN|author=Sparrow, A.E.|date=2008-05-27|accessdate=2008-08-23] In other reviews they considered him as enjoyable character to play with and praised his revoice in following games. [cite web|url=http://ps2.ign.com/articles/445/445739p3.html|title=King of Fighters 2000/2001 review|publisher=IGN|author=Dunham, Jeremy|date=2003-12-11|accessdate=2008-08-23] Insertcredit.com praised that it is pretty amusing how K' interacts with other clones such as Kula Diamond or K9999. [cite web|url=http://www.insertcredit.com/reviews/kof02dc/kof02dc.html|title=King of Fighters 2002 (DC/Playmore)|publisher=Insertcredit.com|author=Waugh, Eric-Jon Rössel|date=2003-06-24|accessdate=2008-08-24] Gwn.com commented that K' has one of the funniest videos in The King of Fighters 2006 remarking they do not have sense. [cite web|url=http://www.gwn.com/reviews/gamereview.php/id/1020/p/5/title/The_King_of_Fighters_2006.html|title=The King of Fighters 2006 review|publisher=gwn.com|author=Gallo, Matt|date=2006-09-24|accessdate=2008-08-24]

In a 2005 poll made by SNK-Playmore USA, he was voted as the fourth fan favorite character with a total of 338 votes.cite web | url=http://blog.ureshino.cn/?eid=19860#sequel | title=ウレユサ日記03 | work= [http://blog.ureshino.cn/ ureshino chronicle akihiko ureshino official web site] | accessmonthday= September 16 | accessyear=2008 |language=Japanese]

ee also

*List of "The King of Fighters" games
*List of fictional characters who can manipulate fire

References

External links

* [http://kofaniv.snkplaymore.co.jp/english/index.html The King of Fighters 10th Anniversary Official Website]