Billy Kane

Billy Kane (ビリー・カーン, Birī Kān) is a character in both the Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters series. His family name, Kane, is meant to be pronounced like "Kon" or "Kaan" (as in James Caan, an American actor), rather than the word "cane". His official nickname is The Emperor's Right-Hand Man (の, Koutei no Katoude).

Personality
While Billy cannot be considered a "good guy", he is not an evil man; his criminal career is motivated more by a desire to make easy money and his respect for Geese Howard than actual malice. His softer side is often shown when he's with his sister Lilly or friends Eiji Kisaragi and Blue Mary; even his hatred for Terry Bogard has softened to be much more of a rivalry.

While his hatred of Terry Bogard may have softened, Billy has a deep hatred for Iori Yagami: Iori beat both Billy and Eiji Kisaragi to near death and then abandoned them (in The King of Fighters '95). Billy is also bitter towards Joe Higashi, who took a liking to his sister, of whom he is quite protective.

Abilities

 * Peak Strength - Billy Kane is stronger than he looks, capable of carrying very heavy weapons like his three-part staff.
 * Weapon of Fire - Billy can set his staff on fire to cause strong fire damage. He can spin his staff to create a powerful ring of fire and throw the ring within a small range. The staff cannot control other fires it didn't create and is not immune to other types of fire.
 * Copy Weapon - Billy can create copies of his staff as seen in his Desperation Moves.
 * Hide Weapon - Billy has another staff that he hides underneath his jacket as seen in his KOF 2002 MAX2DM.


 * Pole Vaulting - Billy excels in pole vaulting. He even use the sport to help him in battle.
 * Musical Instrument - Billy plays the electric guitar very well and has a Heavy Metal band back in the UK.
 * Doing Laundry - Billy loves to do laundry, often helping his sister with the washing and expertly arranging items for the best wash and lasting freshness - something he picked up as an orphan fending for himself and his sister, Lilly.
 * Administration - Billy was left in charge of Howard Connection after Geese died.
 * Bo Staff Tricking - Billy is an expert with both the Bo and a Three Section Staff, he is able to display amazing control and perform many tricks with it too.

Fighting style
Billy fights with a three sectional staff that he somehow can ignite with fire and can be split into three parts connected with a chain. He uses Bojutsu as his primary art, but he may also know some Kung Fu moves in order to use his Three Section Staff.

In Fatal Fury only, Billy can lose his staff by hurling it at the opponent after executing his Senpuu Kon. Once he does this, he will cower in fear before the player character leaving him vulnerable until he is thrown another staff by one of Geese's henchmen in the background. The player can prevent them from assisting him. In KOF '95, he drops his staff only when knocked out. He enters the same stance in KOF 2002 for his MAX2DM/HSDM, where it is named Liar Elemental (as it is meant to be a counterattack that takes advantage of such a state).

Voice actors

 * Katsuhisa Namase - Fatal Fury II~Special, The King of Fighters '95
 * Keiichi Nanba - Fatal Fury 3, Fatal Fury Dengeki Bunko drama CD
 * Atsushi Yamanishi - Real Bout Fatal Fury~Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition, The King of Fighters '97~2002, KOF: Maximum Impact 2
 * Seijirou - The King of Fighters 2003~XIII, The King of Fighters: Another Day
 * Masaki Masaki - The King of Fighters XIV~present
 * Haruki Ishiya - The King of Fighters for Girls
 * Shizuka Ito - The King of Fighters All Star (as the Female Version)
 * Marc Donovan - Maximum Impact series (English voice)
 * Daiki Nakamura - Fatal Fury: Legend of the Hungry Wolf
 * Tomohiro Nishimura - Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture
 * Paul Dobson - Animated films (English voice)

Similar characters

 * EX Billy Kane

Trivia

 * In an interview for Real Bout Fatal Fury, the staff comments on the “NO SMOKING” print on the back of his jumper. It’s not to say Billy doesn’t smoke, it’s just something he found randomly in the city. He did not pay for it either.
 * There are times where Billy has his head completely shaven, though in some forms of media after that period he lets it gradually to grow back per installment. In some games like KOF 2003, his hair is shown to be very long and stick out of his bandana which gives him an appearance similar to a rock star.
 * His appearance in Fatal Fury 2 seems to be modelled after the former English pro-wrestler, Dynamite Kid. In later games, his design takes inspiration from the musician Axl Rose.
 * In Gamest's 1997 Heroes Collection, Billy was voted as the staff's fourth favorite character. In the Neo Geo Freak's 1997 Volume 8 character poll, he was voted as the twentieth favourite character with a total of 493 votes. Also, In the character popularity poll on Neo Geo Freak's website, he was voted as the seventeenth favorite character with a total of 757 votes.
 * In Neo-Geo Freak 1998, the characters in KOF '98 have their own interviews. Here are Billy's responses to the questions:
 * What is your aspiration in this competition? - "Do you want me to kill you first?"
 * Who would you like to fight the most? - "Fighting ...? Kukuku - kuku ... I wish I could do such a thing, but ...!"
 * Who would you like to team up with? / Who would you not like to team up with? - "That was decided. Who is there besides him?
 * What is "KOF" for you? - "You're too loud, you...!"
 * Finally, please give a word to your fans. - "Eyes hurt, turn it off. Or this time I will actually kill you...!"
 * For his KOF XIV design, his shirt says "Know your enemy" and the back of his jacket says "Warning. Beware of the dog".