The King of Fighters/Analysis: Difference between revisions

The first game of the ''KOF'' series, '''The King of Fighters '94''', concerns [[Blood Knight]] and notorious crime lord Rugal Bernstein. Seeking to establish a title as the [[WorldsWorld's Strongest Man|world's strongest fighter]], he resurrects the [[Tournament Arc|international tournament]] "The King of Fighters" (initially held by [[Fatal Fury|Geese Howard]]) to challenge the strongest combatants of each nation. Team Japan, consisting of [[Ordinary High School Student|high schooler]] [[Playing With Fire|flame wielder]] Kyo Kusanagi, [[Casanova]] [[Shock and Awe|lightning wielder]] Benimaru Nikaido, and [[Badass Normal]] [[Mighty Glacier|judo master]] Goro Daimon, make it to the finals aboard Rugal's personal [[Cool Ship|aircraft carrier]], the ''Blacknoah''. Kyo's father Saisyu is already aboard the ship, having tried to take down Rugal by himself, but to [[The Worf Effect|no avail]]. During the final match of the tournament, Benimaru and Daimon are [[The Worf Effect|swiftly defeated]] by Rugal, leaving Kyo to face the villain by himself. Kyo sees his father's unconscious body, and, assuming the worst, goes into an [[Unstoppable Rage]] that allows him to overwhelm Rugal who, sore loser that he is, [[Taking You With Me|activates a series of timed bombs]] set around the ship. The heroes (as well as Rugal's secretaries, Mature and Vice) escape just in time.

The first major plot arc of the series, the [[Orochi]] Saga, begins in '''The King Of Fighters '95'''. Rugal, having [[Never Found the Body|survived the destruction]] of the ''Blacknoah'', once again invites the world's strongest fighters to partake in KOF. This time, however, Rugal is not the first of the problems Kyo Kusanagi is about to deal with. [[The Rival|Iori]] [[Mr. Fanservice|Yagami]], a [[Impossibly Cool Clothes|peculiarly-clothed]], [[Anime Hair|red-]][[You Gotta Have Blue Hair|headed]] [[Walking the Earth|drifter]], has revealed himself as Kyo's rival, thanks to a [[Ancient Tradition|thousand-year-old]] [[Feuding Families|blood feud]] between his family (formerly the Yasakani, now the Yagami) and Kyo's. Like Kyo, Iori also wields flames, although the [[Blessed With Suck|price for their use]] comes from a blood pact [[Deal With the Devil|made with the being]] known as [[Orochi]] that tints the flames blue. Kyo's team makes it to the finals but Iori's does not, resulting in Iori ruthlessly [[Kick the Dog|beating]] [[Teeth Clenched Teamwork|teammates]] [[Simple Staff|Billy]] [[The Dragon|Kane]] and [[Ninja|Eiji Kisaragi]] for their [[You Have Failed Me|failure]]. Kyo is forced by Rugal to fight his own [[Brainwashed and Crazy]] [[Let's You and Him Fight|father]], and although Kyo succeeds in defeating and de-brainwashing him, he faces Rugal [[It Got Worse|immediately thereafter]], who reveals that he has gained Orochi's power, transforming himself into [[Super Mode|Omega Rugal]]. Kyo wins by the [[Near Villain Victory|skin of his teeth]], and an enraged Rugal attempts to [[One -Winged Angel|use more of the Orochi power]], but (as Iori points out) he is not of the Orochi bloodline, and [[Hoist By His Own Petard|instead of]] giving him strength, [[Phlebotinum Overload|it consumes him]] [[Plotline Death|and kills him from within]].

In '''The King of Fighters '96''', the plot begins to thicken once again as new tournament invitations are sent out. [[Colonel Badass|Heidern]] and [[Old Master|Takuma]] have decided to leave their posts as members of the [[The Squad|Ikari Team]] and Kyokugen school teams and are replaced by their [[Distaff Counterpart|daughters Leona and Yuri]], respectively, and Kasumi Todo, a rival of the Kyokugen school, joins the [[Amazon Brigade|Women Fighters Team]] to make up for Yuri's loss. Iori Yagami once again returns to the fray with the deceased Rugal's [[Sexy Secretary|secretaries]], [[Dark Action Girl|Vice and Mature]]. And to make matters worse, a new team has entered the fray, consisting of [[Blood Knight|Wolfgang]] [[Lightning Bruiser|Krauser]], [[Only Known By Their Nickname|Mr.]] [[Dual -Wielding|Big]], and their leader -- none other than the legendary [[Immortality|Geese Howard]] himself, long thought to be dead since his defeat at the hands of Terry Bogard which sent him [[Disney Villain Death|careening off of his tower]]. Kyo's team once again makes it to the finals, and they meet the tournament sponsor: a [[Barrier Maiden|woman]] named Chizuru Kagura. Chizuru tests Kyo to see if he is worthy of fulfilling his [[Because Destiny Says So|1800-year destiny]] of destroying Orochi. Kyo defeats Chizuru, and shortly afterwards, the first messenger of Orochi appears: [[Sinister Minister|Leopold Goenitz]], the Heavenly King of [[Blow You Away|Wind]]. He is attempting to revive Orochi by [[Sealed Evil in A Can|breaking his seal]], which is being held in place by Kyo, Iori, and Chizuru. Goenitz fights Kyo, and begins to overpower him, but just as all hope seems lost, Iori steps into the fray and [[I Was Just Passing Through|helps his rival]]. Goenitz is defeated, but reveals the truth of the blood pact that Iori's family made with Orochi: it a terrible curse upon them that causes every woman in the family to die in childbirth. Iori, tired of Goenitz's blathering, kills him by engulfing him in flames...which suddenly become crimson red - their original color. Chizuru also reveals another side effect of Yagami's curse - a state known as the Riot of the Blood which causes the afflicted to [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|lose control of their minds]] and become mindless zombies, [[Villain Override|slaves to Orochi's will]] that [[Ax Crazy|kill everything in their path]]. Iori, at first, simply brushes it off, but later while he is conversing with Vice and Mature, he starts to feel sick. Suddenly, he becomes blind and starts [[Blood From the Mouth|coughing up blood]], finally becoming overwhelmed with pain. When his teammates try to console him, they do not realize that Iori has finally lost control of himself as he slashes the secretaries' throats wide open. As they die, Iori lets out a deranged, inhuman scream.

In '''The King of Fighters '97''', the Orochi storyline was concluded. The roster saw many new combatants, such as Ryuji Yamazaki, [[Psycho for Hire|insane criminal mercenary]], who was working for Geese Howard alongside Billy Kane, and Blue Mary, who joins the team to investigate their true motives. Chizuru joined the Women's Team, and there was an entirely new team, known as the [[Terrible Trio|New Faces Team]], made up of [[The Brute|Yashiro Nanakase]], [[Hidden Eyes|Shermie]] and [[Creepy Child|Chris]], a [[Five -Bad Band|group of musicians]] who hated Iori due to his success as a professional guitarist. Their reason for entering the event was simply to publicly defeat Yagami, but deeper reasons would be revealed. At the conclusion of the official event, Iori once again enters the Riot of the Blood, but to everyone's shock, Ikari Team member Leona does the same. Her pupils dilate to an extreme degree, her hair turns bright red, her skin turns a shade of violet, and she vomits blood rather than simply coughing it as Iori does. Leona experiences these symptoms because she is actually the daughter of the Heavenly King of Water, Guidel, who betrayed his cause in exchange for a life of peace. Goenitz awakened her Orochi blood as punishment for Guidel's betrayal, and she killed every single person in her village, including her father. After their defeat, the New Faces Team appeared, revealing their [[Hidden Agenda Villain|real purpose]]... they were the [[Not So Harmless|other three Heavenly Kings of Orochi]], completing the revival of Orochi begun by Goenitz. With the powerful people in the event, as well as several other Orochi descendants (such as Yamazaki), it had been easy to gain the power needed. A grueling battle with them turned out to be [[The Battle Didn't Count|pointless]], as their plan was to [[Thanatos Gambit|sacrifice themselves]] to embody Orochi in the single most powerful Orochi descendant: their own team's Chris. Orochi, saying that nothing about [[Humans Are Bastards|humanity had changed]] in 1800 years, intended to finish its duty of [[Kill All Humans|eliminating the race]]. In the ensuing [[Final Battle|final battle]], Orochi is easily defeated once again by Kyo, Iori, and Chizuru due to Orochi embodying a ''human'' host. Orochi tries one last attempt at victory: activating Iori's Riot of the Blood state. [[Turned Against Their Masters|It doesn't work]], and while Iori is holding Orochi at bay, it gives Kyo enough time to deal one final blow so that Chizuru can reseal him. The plan succeeds, and Orochi is sealed again, but Kyo and Iori are nowhere to be found...