K9999


 * For informations pertaining to his new identity in The King of Fighters XV, see here.

K9999, pronounced as "Kay Four-Nine", is an original character in The King of Fighters series. He debut as a violent and unstable man, and appears as a member of the NESTS Team in The King of Fighters 2001 and in The King of Fighters 2002 (the story arc's Rivals Team).

He is voiced by Nozomu Sasaki.

Development
His character design was heavily inspired by the villian character Tetsuo Shima, from the 1988 animated film Akira (adapted from the manga series of the same name). His name is a homage to a character in the anime Armored Trooper Votoms.

Personality
K9999 is considered to be a man not to be tampered with. He has a very short temper and is easily driven to violence. He hates K' with a passion and intensity, and considers him his ultimate rival.

He also develops a rivalry with Kusanagi in The King of Fighters 2002, though this is non-canon. Ángel, another NESTS agent, is the only person he considers to be a friend, but most of the time, K9999 despises everyone around him, including his superiors. In a fight, he attacks with such ferocity and strength that, at times, he doesn't even mind being hit, as long as his opponent falls to the ground. A true psychopath, K9999 continues the path to his own destruction.

Powers

 * Pyrokinesis - K9999 can control fire, but his ability is quite limited in comparison to Kyo Kusanagi, Iori Yagami or even K'. He can only create fire, cause highly-heated gas to erupt from the ground in front of him, and attack with streams of fire in a slashing manner.
 * Limited Shapeshifting - K9999 can shapeshift his hair to resemble K's. K9999 can also shapeshift his clothes.
 * Psionic Shield - K9999 can create a moon-shaped shield of psychic energy.
 * Tentacle Summoning & Transformation - K9999 can transform his right arm into a fleshy tentacle and fling it at his opponents.
 * Polymorphic Arm - K9999 can transform his right arm into an iron drill, a blade or a shotgun-like weapon.
 * Full Power Energy Attack - By using his full power, K9999 can release energy through the air causing damage to anyone nearby. This power is non-canon since it is exclusively used in the original version of The King of Fighters 2002, a Dream Match.

Skills

 * Motorcycle Driving - K9999 can be seen riding a motorcycle very well in the 2001 novel.

Fighting Style
K9999 fights with his polymorphic arm. The arm can transform into claws, blades of different sizes and shapes, and into a shotgun. He knows some basic fighting techniques.

Music

 * NESTS: Ruler of the Dark - The King of Fighters 2001
 * Napolitan Trance - The King of Fighters 2002

Appearances
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Games

 * The King of Fighters 2001
 * The King of Fighters 2002 - potential mid-boss
 * The King of Fighters Neowave - unused character, only usable through cheating
 * KOF x Garou Densetsu - final appearance in an SNK game

Cameos

 * Days of Memories (seventh title)
 * The King of Fighters 2003 - in the Egypt stage, PS2 and Xbox versions only
 * The King of Fighters '94 Re-Bout - in the Mexico stage
 * KOF: Maximum Impact 2
 * The King of Fighters XV - mentioned in Krohnen Team's ending

Novels
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 * The King of Fighters 2001 MORE THAN HUMAN
 * The King of Fighters 2001 THE GODS THEMSELVES

Controversy & Removal from the Series
Several of K9999's mannerisms, attacks, and animations directly reference Tetsuo Shima, the main antagonist of AKIRA (speficially its anime adaptation); he quotes some of Tetsuo's lines from the film and is voiced by Tetsuo's actor Nozomu Sasaki. While SNK has designed several characters after others from more famous series (e.g. Benimaru's design in early installments was based after Jean Pierre Polnareff from Hirohiko Araki's JoJo's Bizarre Adventure), K9999's similarities to Tetsuo Shima was singled out as blatant to the point of nearing plagiarism.

K9999 has not appeared in-story and in-game since The King of Fighters XI (in KOF 2003, he appears as a background cameo only in PS2 version). SNK has taken several measures to remove him from official media, including retconning the NESTS Chronicles Saga to remove K9999's role. His last appearance in a SNK game was in KOF x Garou Densetsu, but he remains unlikely to appear in a mainline KOF title.


 * The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match, a remake of The King of Fighters 2002, introduced Nameless, a new character created specifically to replace K9999. After KOF 2002 UM release, his character portrait was completely removed from the KOF website and his developer description was replaced.


 * In The King of Fighters XIV, the manga adaptation A New Beginning and the mobile game KOF All Star depict Ángel as the only one to betray NESTS at the climax of the KOF 2001 tournament, without mentioning K9999.


 * K9999's portrait in The King of Fighters Character Encyclopedia, which features every KOF character in the series up to The King of Fighters XIII was censored into a black silhouette.


 *  K9999 was edited out of all past artwork that featured him in The King of Fighters XIV's Gallery, which also includes every artwork where he was paired up with other characters. However, he can be inserted through photo editing through hacks and cheat devices.


 * K9999 is not even mentioned in the KOF Japanese portal, being replaced by Diana, a NPC character who would be part of the NESTS Team in KOF 2001.

A commonly held myth among SNK fans was that K9999 had been disowned by SNK to avoid legal action from AKIRA distributor Toho. SNK community manager Krispy Kaiser corroborated this rumor in 2019 when speaking to the Brazilian fansite Power Geyser, stating there was an unspoken rule within SNK that K9999 could not be mentioned by name except by non-descriptive terms (e.g., "the one replaced by Nameless".) and going far to claim that "from now on, in any SNK game, he'll never return." Furthering this, a 2019 post from The King of Fighters All Star 's official Japanese twitter replied to a fan: "K○○○○...? I'm afraid I don't know who that is (You get the idea)".

When asked about K9999's fate at Gamescom 2016, SNK producer Yasuyuki Oda answered, "Maybe one day we’ll find out what happened to Ángel's partner, K9999.".

Krohnen, a new character debuting in The King of Fighters XV, appears to be an updated version of K9999, with traits from Nameless and Alba Meira. Krohnen possesses the same moves, color scheme and even some mannerisms from K9999 and Nameless, but sports a new appearance. In the Team Krohnen storyline, K9999 is confirmed to have resurfaced as Krohnen, and the name is a mere alias.

Following Krohnen's reveal, Krispy Kaiser stated on the official SNK Discord channel, "I had to keep the lie going for years", implying that the legal issues around K9999 were faked for years and his omission from official media and manga were publicity stunts.