K'
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| K' | |
|---|---|
| Game series | King of Fighters series |
| First game | King of Fighters '99 |
| Voice actor(s) | Yuuki Matsuda |
| In-Universe Information | |
| Fighting style | Pure violence and use of explosive powers |
| Likes | Beef jerky |
| Dislikes | King of Fighters tournaments, sweets, exercise |
K' (pronounced Kay-Dash) is a video game character in SNK Playmore's King of Fighters fighting game series. He is the protagonist in the NESTS saga of SNK Playmore's long-running franchise.
Contents |
[edit] History
K' was a normal human being before the cloning operation, though nothing is known of his life at that time. As a child, K' was taken away by the NESTS agents, as the experiment subject for the prototype. He would be infused with Kusanagi power, and then the NESTS cartel would prove how feasible it was to inject the immense Kusanagi power in a human being. They succeeded, but only in part. While K' inherited the immense Kusanagi flames, he is unable to sustain so much power. Thus, K's creators decide to place a special glove on his hand so K' can wield the power with no problem at all. Since K' was to become Krizalid, but was an incomplete clone, was just named with his incomplete name: K'. NESTS also altered K's memory, and the only thing K' remembers of his past life is a little girl that kept calling him "brother" and cried out for him. But this memory only exists in dreams now.
[edit] The NESTS Saga
After activation, K' was ordered by Krizalid to join Maxima and team up with Benimaru Nikaido and Shingo Yabuki in order to enter the King of Fighters tournament and collect battle data from the fighters of the competition in order to activate the Kyo Kusanagi clones around the world. The new Hero Team meets Krizalid in a sewer as arranged for one last battle, and K' determined to use of this opportunity to take the man down. However, he turned out to be very outclassed, and it took intervention from Kyo Kusanagi to end Krizalid. None-too-pleased to meet the man who, in a sense, has made him into who he now is, K' challenges Kyo to a fight. Before the battle ends, steel blast doors separate the two, and after defying the NESTS cartel once more, the Hero Team narrowly escapes the assaulting Ikari extermination squad.
For the next year, K' and Maxima continued to run from both the Ikari Warriors (hunting them as fugitive criminals) and the NESTS cartel (hunting them as traitors). K' decides to deal with pursuers by cleaning up his image in KoF 2000. Vanessa and a Mexican wrestler called Ramon offer to team up with them. Though K' does not trust them in the least, he grudgingly accepts her assistance anyway. He also begins to have nightmares about a lonely young girl screaming for him, her "brother". In addition, as the Hero Team arrives in Southtown for their final fight in the tournament, he is heavily plagued by deja vu. Upon arriving in an empty warehouse, he senses an intruder and tells Maxima to lead the other two out.
Now alone, he is confronted by a young woman dressed much like he is. She calls herself the "Anti-K'". The two fight, and K' discovers that their attacks and similar fighting styles are essentially cancelling each other out. His power and stamina fading, K' manages one last powerful blast of fire. To his surprise, the young woman is still standing - badly burnt, but smiling kindly. She introduces herself as Kula Diamond, and explains that she is under orders to stop Zero, a megalomaniac NESTS agent who intends to use the Zero Cannon to destroy his superiors.
When K' arrives, Zero has trashed his teammates, but had taken his share of blows as well - Lin had poisoned him, and Maxima also taxed Zero heavily. Despite his own fatigue, K' is able to best Zero and escape Southtown before the Zero Cannon fires. They are approached afterwards by a familiar figure. When she calls out K's name, it removes all doubts as to who she is - K's sister is Whip, a member of the Ikari Warriors. As a meteor shower consumes Southtown, K' decides to discard his protective glove despite Maxima's warnings. To everyone's surprise, K's flaming power does not go out of control. He appears to have finally learned how to control the legendary crimson flames of the Kusanagi (though this is questionable - he is later shown putting on a new glove salvaged from one of the NESTS bases he destroyed alongside Maxima and Whip).
Throughout his trips to several NESTS bases located around the world, accompanied by Whip and Maxima, K' finds something very suspicious: the bases they have tried to raid for such a long time are now deserted. He begins to suspect that someone is tracking their steps. During a raid on yet another abandoned NESTS building, he stumbles upon Lin, who has also been tracking NESTS in search of a traitor to his clan, Ron. Whip suggests taking him in to enter the next King of Fighters tournament, where NESTS will finally reveal themselves to the world. K' couldn't care less about Lin, but wondered why NESTS would go public after destroying a city.
In the next tournament, K' is exceptionally motivated to finally confront and take down NESTS, and rolls all the way to the final battle aboard a blimp. On board is the original Zero - the one they defeated a year ago was merely a clone. While his friends dealt with Zero's companions, K' focused on Zero. Despite being superior to his clone, Zero still loses to K', but accepts his defeat as a true warrior. The blimp docks with a space station and falls to Earth, but not before Zero tells them to get into the station.
On board, K' meets Igniz, the ambitious leader of NESTS who intends to rule the world. In the fashion of the arrogant evil overlord, Igniz explains the project that involved the use of Kyo Kusanagi's DNA. K', Kula and Krizalid were all products of that experiment, with the final product being an entirely artificial being called K9999. He then challenges K' to a battle after giving K' some of the memories he had lost for many years out of a desire to see a self-aware "clone".
Igniz overpowered K' for the majority of the fight, but made the mistake of enraging K' by completely restoring his memories. This act of spite caused K' to rock the entire space station and nearly incinerate Igniz with a powerful fire attack. Igniz, however, manages to set off a self-destruct sequence that causes the space station to crash into Earth.
During the seemingly fatal fall, Kula Diamond (also on board) releases all of her ice powers at this time, allowing them to endure the passage through the atmosphere. After escaping from the space station which crashed into the ocean, K' swims towards land, and encounters Kula along the way, entirely exhausted. They decide to set aside their old differences and help each other to safety. K' even fends off K9999 and Angel, who have come to eliminate the errant former NESTS agents (both K' and Kula).
Afterwards, Lin leaves the team to continue his search for Ron. Maxima tells K' that he will be leaving as well, to pay respects to his dead friend (who was killed by NESTS). K' himself is left to wonder what will become of his future (as well as Kula's) in the aftermath of the NESTS cartel.
[edit] The Ash Saga
After the fall of NESTS, K' and Maxima had continued to live out their lives in a vagabond manner. Whip returned to the Ikari Warriors, and Kula remained with her guardian from NESTS, Diana. However, in 2003, a new King of Fighters tournament was announced. K' had no interest, loathing the tournament, but was approached by Chin Gentsai of the Psycho Soldiers. Chin, sensing an evil power brooding, requested K' enter the tournament. K' reacted angrily, but was calmed by Maxima, who convinced him to consider the matter. Not long after, K's sister called, requesting that they join a team with her, under orders from her commanding officer, Heidern. K' relented, and entered the tournament. While K' found nothing of personal interest in the tournament, he did encounter several villainous figures that filled him with a sense of foreboding. He cast these feelings to the side, but no sooner had he done this then his flames began to run out of control for the first time in years. Once he finally managed to get his powers under control, Maxima asked him if his glove was malfunctioning. However, K' replied that the problem didn't lie with the glove, but at the root of Kyo's powers. Though his meaning was unclear, his interest in the unfolding events was piqued.
As the next tournament arrived, Whip joined the Ikari Warrior once more, taking the place of her superior, Leona, who was unable to participate. At Whip's suggestion, Kula was called and asked to join K's team, which would again participate in the tournament under orders of Heidern. During the tournament, a frightening figure named Magaki was revealed as the host. However, after Magaki's death, K' and the Ikari Warriors brought biological samples of him to Heidern. At the debriefing that followed on the Ikari Warriors plane, there was an attack, which ceased when Heidern agreed to leave with two of the assailants. This is all of the storyline involving K' at this time.
[edit] Trivia
- The term cloning used in KOF is done by extracting the DNA and inject it into a cell then fertilise it inside a big metallic cylinder (K9999 was born likewise). Although K' is called a clone of Kyo, he technically is not because he was injected with Kyo's DNA rather than born as one.
- On the back of K's jacket it says "A Beast of Prey" (written in capitals).
- 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 man responsible for the design of both characters migrated to SNK shortly after The Fallen Angels was released, and elements of Cool and Harry Ness' design were used in the creation of K' and Maxima.
- K' is referred to as "K Prime" in the King of Fighters Evolution (Dreamcast) instruction booklet, although the logo on the front of the manual is a flaming K with a dash.
- Another K' (K's Another Striker in KOF 2000) is commonly believed and mistakened to be what K' used to look like before he was injected with the DNA. Quoting from the KoF 10th Anniversary website, it was the final rendition of K' outside of a last-minute hairstyle change.
- K' appears as a Striker in KOF EX for the Game Boy Advance.
- He wears a motorcycle helmet in his default rigging model in KOF: Maximum Impact. His alternate rigging model is a samurai with an eyepatch.
- One of K's alternate color scheme in 2D King of Fighters matches Kula's normal color scheme: Bluish-white hair and pinkish purple suit, with a yellow gauntlet, plus a skin color matching Kula's. In KoF XI, even his flames are tinted blue-purple, though upon unguarded impact, the flames will still burn the opponent in red.
- K' possesses what may very well be the oddest HDM in the game KOF '02, the Crimson Star Ride has K' slide forward a very short distance, and if he touches the opponent... he teleports behind them, angrilly throws a "thumbs-down" (one of his winposes) and the opponent explodes in a ball of fire for considerable damage. This move returns in Maximum Impact 2, only working as a "reversal-type" super instead.
- For KOF '03 and XI, K' comes equipped with a brand new DM titled Heaven's Drive, in which he performs the two versions of his Crow Bite move (weak, then hard) and ends the whole thing with a massive air kick... all in about two seconds.
[edit] Related Characters
- Benimaru Nikaido
- Shingo Yabuki
- Vanessa
- Ramon
- Krizalid
- Igniz
- Original Zero
- Clone Zero
- Kula Diamond
- Foxy
- Angel
- K9999
- Lin
- Kyo Kusanagi
- Whip
- Maxima
