Adelheid Bernstein

Adelheid Bernstein (アーデルハイド・バーンシュタイン, Āderuhaido Bānshutain), Adel for short, is a boss character from The King of Fighters 2003 and The King of Fighters XI. He, along with his younger sister, Rose, are the only known children of Rugal Bernstein. Creators have stated that he is the "other protagonist" of the Ash saga.

He is voiced by Tetsuya Tanaka.

Story
Adelheid and his sister Rose reside on an airship called "Sky Noah". In The King of Fighters 2003, he would challenge fighters there at the behest of his sister. His story in The King of Fighters XI implies that he faced the Ikari Warriors Team and was defeated by them. He peacefully chats with Heidern and explains that he is only following his father's legacy. In his ending for the game, he seems to appear regretful for his actions and yells at his sister for insulting his opponents.

The Console Edition of The King of Fighters XIII reveals more of Adelheid's cooperation with Heidern (in which he addresses him as "Colonel Heidern") as he tries to help the forces of good suppress the evil plans of Those from the Past. When Rose is finally freed, he reassures his sister he would punish those responsible for her subjugation.

Personality
Unlike his father, Rugal Bernstein, Adel is an honourable fighter, who exhibits good sportsmanship, as demonstrated when he is defeated in The King of Fighters 2003. It came to the point that he even cooperated with one of his father's victims, Heidern, to get to the bottom of the plans of Those From the Past, and at the then-strange behavior of his sister. He rarely has the evil ways of his father and has helped those Rugal has wronged on many occasions.

Powers

 * Gather energy - Adelheid can channel energy from Gaia.
 * Sense - Adelheid can sense chi energy of those nearby.
 * Energy Projectile - Adelheid can fire projectiles of energy from his hands and feet. The Reppuuken is an example.
 * Energy Reflector - Adelheid can create a barrier that reflects projectiles.
 * Slashing hands - Adelheid's hands can pierce an enemy.
 * Slashing aura - Adelheid can create a cutting aura around his legs. The Genocide Cutter is an example.

Fighting Style
His style is very similar to his father's. Unlike his father, his moves are faster and is also easier to chain. On the other hand, his moves are significantly weaker in priority. It seems the mastery of his father skills is still a long way to go, considering his Desperation Moves (Genocide Cutter, Kaiser Wave) are his father's common special moves.

Unlike his father's moves, all of Adel's moves are written directly in German (examples being "G. Wand" and "G. Kreis"), all with the "G" initial beforehand for each technique. It is unknown what the "G" stands for, but judging from his father's "god complex", one can assume it stands for "god". However, as a subversion, his command normals have the "A" initial instead from his own name, and his throw lacks an initial.

Music

 * Revolutionary Etude - The King of Fighters 2003 (first half of theme)
 * R2 - The King of Fighters 2003 (second half of theme)
 * King - The King of Fighters XI

Game Appearances

 * The King of Fighters 2003 - Bad Ending final Boss
 * The King of Fighters XI - mid Boss
 * The King of Fighters XIII - Story Mode

Mobile Appearances

 * Days of Memories (ninth title) - NPC

Cameo Appearances

 * KOF: Maximum Impact 2 - background cameo
 * KOF Maximum Impact Regulation A - background cameo
 * The King of Fighters '94: Rebout - background cameo