Welcome back to the King of Fighters Love Letter, a series where I ooze out my love for SNK and do my best to share that love. Riding on the wave of feigning interesting and mild popularity that King of Fighters XII has established, I intend to help further blossom that enthusiasm by offering you the story that King of Fighters XII itself did not. Rest assured, this is not perfectly easy information to come across. To be an American SNK fan actually kind of sucks. To this day SNK's a relatively small company, and their efforts to localize the series until recently were mildly effective at best. They are not known for having great translators.

Some of you are probably wondering why I even care about the story behind the series. Tons of games, no official plot summary, and borderline ridiculous translations. Let it be known that I was willing to go through this trouble simply because I love the characters. As written in the original Love Letter; King of Fighters is all about the characters. It's not necessarily the plot itself that draws peoples' interest; it's simply the fact that the plot presents us more information about these characters that we fans have become attached to. Behind all these obstacles, the characters' charm shines through, making everything else seem less important. That said: let's move on.



Now that we've established the existing backstory behind the series, we're almost ready to begin. All that's left to cover is King of Fighters' initial inspiration: Mythology. Rest assured my own knowledge of Shinto--Japan's oldest native religion-is sparse, but I at least know enough to give you a slightly deeper insight than usual to King of Fighters. As I forgot to mention initially: Various King of Fighters characters have supernatural abilities based on myth, though not all of them. Kyo Kusanagi is the series' initial link, with his mysterious command of fire being rooted in several legends. In Shinto Myth the Orochi was a powerful Eight Headed Serpent that would demand the sacrifice of young women from the people. Moved by the peoples' plea the Orochi was felled by Susanoo, Shinto God of the Sea. Upon its death a magnificent sword was found in the Orochi's corpse; and to help settle one of Susanoo's disputes it was offered to Amaterasu, Shinto Goddess of the Sun. Initially this sword was called "Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven."

The sword changed hands until it came into possession of a young warrior named Yamato Takeru. The sword both protected his life and revealed its nature soon after being given to him. At some point an evil warlord had trapped Yamato in an open plain of high growing grass while setting fire to the field, thus surrounding him on all sides with flames. In a desperate plea to save himself, Yamato cut the grass with the sword and quickly discovered it had the power to control wind. As he swung the sword: gusts would fly in the direction of his strike; and in a brilliant move he cut away the grass surround him while simultaneously redirecting the flames to his enemies. After this battle the sword was renamed the Grass Cutting Sword--or Kusanagi. The sword appears frequently in Myth, basically acting as the Japanese Excalibur. Though the Grass Cutting Sword is actually known to control wind, Yamato Takeru's battle appears to be the inspiration for Kyo Kusanagi's control of flame.



And now we are finally to King of Fighters 1995, the true beginning of the Orochi Saga. Most of the story we covered in Backstory Mayhem wasn't very strongly advanced in 1994, with almost none of the endings revealing anything of importance. Because the game has nearly the exact same cast, you could really consider KOF 95 a reboot.

The endings in 95 now reveal some information leading into further titles, and the game itself is a significant improvement. In lieu of the previous game's detailed but poorly animated sprites, some characters got total graphical overhauls. The amount of graphical improvement was subtle, but it really made the game feel ahead of its time. What's more the game plays MUCH more smoothly. There was also one serious change that would stick with King of Fighters permanently: The concept for 3 player teams in 94 was very creative, but not flexible. You HAD to choose one of the pre-made teams. King of Fighters 95 introduced the concept of "Edit Teams." You could construct a set of characters from any three, and they would simply have a generic ending. King of Fighters would not be the same if you couldn't construct your own team. Story be damned, this was a boon for the multiplayer.

Most of the characters created specifically for 1994 were ill defined, with both their move lists and personalities not entirely distinct. KOF 95 rectified this. Kensou and Athena became more distinct: with Kensou in particular developing his cocky attitude and penchant for meat buns. Likewise Ralf and Clark began getting their own moves, with Clark becoming more of a grappler and Ralf a brawler. Again, the changes are subtle in 95. All of the refinements really did add up, though.



The premise is that once again, fighters around the world have received invitations for a King of Fighters tournament. Once more, the invitation letters are signed with a mysterious "R." Each team's motivation to enter King of Fighters 94 is largely identical, even down to the Women's Team being formed out of spite and the Ikari Team being formed to hunt down Rugal. Some of the more offbeat developments are that Kyo's team is personally invited by one of Rugal's secretaries, leaving little doubt to Team Japan that Rugal is still alive. Less sure of this fact are Choi and Chang, who present Kim with the invitation letter in hopes of siding with Rugal and escaping Kim's rehabilitation at the last minute. Meanwhile Geese Howard himself sent the heroes of Fatal Fury a letter informing them that he's leaving a surprise at the tournament for them.

As I said, the game is highly identical in terms of cast. The only new characters we're getting are the Rival Team, and the only team on its way out is the USA/Sports team from the previous year. There's supposedly an ongoing joke among the creators that the Sports Team repeatedly receives invitation letters to King of Fighters, but tougher fighters keep beating them up and stealing those letters. Considering the Rival Team took their place this year, I wouldn't be surprised.



Iori is a mysterious new fighter with a similar power to Kyo Kusanagi's. He has a nearly identical command of fire, however his flames are a strange purple tint. Also of note is that while Kyo wears symbols of the sun, Iori wears symbols of the moon. He starts out being quite the mystery, though he also appears to be from a famous clan like Kyo.

What you mainly know about him from the get go is that he's insanely violent, has a harsh and unforgiving attitude, clearly has a grudge against Kyo Kusanagi, and performs in rock bands. For those people that always complain about Iori's ridiculous appearance: there you go. I think he's even based on the appearance of a real Japanese rock star who was popular at the time, but don't quote me on that. He was summoned by Billy through the use of an assassin, whom he promptly beat to a bloody pulp and dragged back to Billy by his face. He enters the tournament as a member of the Rival Team strictly to challenge Kyo Kusanagi.



Hailing from the Art of Fighting series, Eiji is a ninja from the Kisaragi clan. His martial arts style puts a heavy emphasis on the use of knives, and it's implied in the Last Blade series that his family and style have existed for hundreds of years. The Kisaragi clan are likewise the sworn rivals of the Sakazaki family and their Kyokugen martial arts style, with Eiji carrying on this long standing grudge. Not very much is known about Eiji aside from the fact that he's a ninja that dislikes the majority of the Art of Fighting protagonists, however he doesn't appear to be set on killing any of the Kyokugen practitioners so much as proving his superiority to them.

Compared to the other members of the rival team, Eiji doesn't have a lot of history. In the American version of Art of Fighting 2 it's implied that Eiji is in love with fellow ninja Mai Shiranui, but this was only in the English version. SNK supposedly had some plans to follow up on this by placing him in one of the Fatal Fury movies as a villain that kidnaps Mai, but this was never followed through. After KOF 95 in Art of Fighting 3, we learn Eiji once had a disciple named Jin Fu-Ha. Jin Fu-Ha is preparing himself for the day he exacts revenge upon Eiji for some sort of betrayal. The details of this betrayal are never explained. Eiji is likewise summoned by Billy Kane to participate in the tournament, and he jumps on the chance to enter a fight with his sworn rival Ryo Sakazaki.



Billy Kane is Geese Howard's personal bodyguard and an English punk with a serious distaste for smoking. In the original King of Fighters tournament in Fatal Fury, Billy Kane was the opponent you had to beat in order to become the new champion. Afterward fighters would be allowed to fight Geese Howard. Terry Bogard was one of the few to ever take him down. It's unknown how Geese Howard survived being knocked off a tower by Terry Bogard after beating Billy, but Geese lives on and Billy continues to work as his main agent. Billy himself maintains a grudge against Terry Bogard, though not an especially strong one compared to Geese. He likewise bears a grudge against Joe Higashi for making advances on his little sister, who does not know of Billy's criminal exploits.

Geese sent Billy to the King of Fighters tournament to get some payback on the Fatal Fury heroes, making Billy himself the surprise that Geese wrote about to Lone Wolves prior to the tournament. Billy was tasked with creating a team to take to the tournament and his methods for gathering other fighters were obviously very unorthodox. The alliance set up is extremely flimsy considering each fighter only cares about fighting their respective rivals.



Saisyu Kusanagi is the previous heir to the Kusanagi fighting style and father to Kyo. Though the games never actually show you this, Saisyu challenged Rugal in KOF 94 prior to the tournament. Rugal managed to defeat him and held him hostage as part of his collection; and in order to use his hostage for his own ends one of Rugal's secretaries brain washed Saisyu over the course of the year. Saisyu himself is a wandering warrior constantly traveling the world, which would explain why none of Kyo's family seemed to take notice to his absence.

The creators had originally intended for Saisyu to die in his first encounter with Rugal, but later changed their minds. Kyo's team officially wins the tournament, manages to defeat the brain washed Saisyu, and then confront Rugal for revenge.



After officially being beaten by Kyo's team in 1994, Rugal had supposedly committed suicide aboard his boat: the Black Noah. This leaves most of the fighters to wonder if he could have possibly survived, but very clearly he's kicking in 1995. He's not just back, though, he's back with upgrades. Channeling the same sort of unnatural power he'd been using before, Rugal's sporting a mechanical hand and eye that turn him into one of the most over-powered bosses you could possibly imagine. Kyo once again manages to defeat Rugal, who after the battle is consumed by his own power, vanishing in a burst of demonic energy.

Rugal is gone for good, though various characters make different observations during their endings. Saisyu seemed to have disappeared, with fellow old man Takuma asserting that a fighter like him couldn't possibly have died from his wounds. Heidern finally has his revenge upon Rugal for killing his family, proclaiming that his wife and daughter can rest in peace; however he tells Ralf and Clark that Rugal was clearly just a simple puppet. Iori reveals that the power Rugal was trying to use could only be truly controlled by "The Bloodline," After which Iori brutally beats the hell out of Eiji and Billy; proving what he'd told them previously about how they were just his means to an end. Geese Howard proclaims from his tower that he expected Billy to fail, but next year everyone would have to content with him personally. However now that Rugal is DEAD, you have to wonder how he knew another tournament was going to start unless he intended to revive the King of Fighters tournament himself.

Finally Kyo clearly recognizes the shade released from Rugal's body before he disappeared, with his father proclaiming in the distance that Kyo can't escape his fate as a Kusanagi. A greater battle is soon to begin.

Stay tuned for King of Fighters 1996
My plans keep on being bumped down by just how much material there is to cover in this series. I had to slow down to cover each characters' backstory and again I'll have to slow down and cover one game at a time. There's too much content otherwise. Stay tuned for King of Fighters 1996, and do please let me know how useful this series has ended up being.