Alba Meira

Alba Meira (アルバ・メイラ, Aruba Meira), Alba meaning "daybreak" in Italian and Spanish, is a fictional character from SNK Playmore's fighting game series Maximum Impact, part of The King of Fighters series. Alba is one of the protagonists of the series, along with his younger twin brother, Soiree Meira. His official nickname is The Devil of Daybreak.

In a 2005 poll made by SNK-Playmore USA, he was voted as the second fan favorite character with a total of 4824 votes.

Development
According to Falcoon, Alba is a "cooler" version of himself. In his official blog, he addresses that both Meira brothers were initially conceptualized to be the KOF counterparts to Fatal Fury stars, Terry and Andy Bogard, given the game's setting being the same as their predecessors. The designing process for both brothers lead to the idea of Another costumes for each character. Several of the brothers' prototype designs were assigned to other characters' alternate outfits; in this case, Alba's prototype design became Rock's alternate outfit. Additionally, Alba's original fighting style was going to be traditional boxing or karate, but it was deemed to be too common in comparison to his brother's customized capoeira. In a later entry, Falcoon adds that he was originally disappointed with Alba's presentation in the first game as it didn't meet with his expectations for the character at the time. Once he was named producer for the sequel, Falcoon took extra care to make Alba present himself as he intended: the stylish and "all-mighty" character.

Series scenario writer, Akihiko Ureshino, states that the Meira siblings became twin brothers to avoid comparison with other brother characters from other SNK games, such as the Kazama brothers from the Samurai Shodown series and the Jin brothers also from Fatal Fury. He also addresses that the main complaint received from fans were concerns of the brothers "not looking alike"; in response, Ureshino admits that he was also unaware of Alba and Soiree being siblings until much later in production and shares his confusion with fans to this day.

Story
At the age of three, Alba lost his parents to an accident and was raised in an orphanage in Germany along with his "younger" twin brother, Soiree. The day he turned 14, he escaped the orphanage together with his brother and settled in Southtown. Fate, the city's boss at that time, took them under his wing, altering the wariness of the two brothers toward adults. When Alba turned 18, he left Fate and chose to make his own way, under his own power, in the wilds of Southtown.

After Fate died due to a war with the group Mephistopheles, Alba tried to avenge his death by fighting Duke, the head of Mephistopheles. However, he realized that Duke did not kill Fate with his own hands, so he could not avenge his death yet. Despite this, Alba defeated Duke, which resulted in him becoming the new leader of Southtown, although he was reluctant to accept this title. He works together with his brother, Soiree, and his friends to keep order in the city. Alba's Gang is called "The Sons Of Fate" based on Hyena's story, and their followers called him as his mentor, "Fate".

In the OVA "Another Day," Alba and his men manage to evacuate Southtown as the city becomes covered in flames. Alba tries to find the source of the disturbance, only to run into Kyo Kusanagi, who he consequently fights.

In KOF: Maximum Impact 2, Alba comes across Luise Meyrink and Jivatma, leader of Kushiel (クシエル, Kushieru), who both mention something about Alba and Soiree's past and their connection to a being called Judeim. At the very end of Alba's ending, he speaks in a double voice; as this happened in both the English and Japanese versions, it is hinted that Alba is starting to become aware of his existence as Judeim.

According to the novels in the Japanese Maximum Impact 2 official page, Alba defeated Jivatma and won the tournament.

Personality
Alba is a very serious man that almost never shows any sign of emotion. He is portrayed as being cold when talking, but he does care about people, especially his brother. He's often described in various mediums as a mean looking punk who speaks in an eloquent yet rude manner.

Powers

 * Energy Projectile - Alba can release a projectile of white energy.
 * Energy Attacks - Alba can fuel his attacks with white energy. His energy attacks can mimic wind and electric energy
 * Sense - Alba can sense the presence of people nearby.

Fighting Style
Alba's fighting style is a complex form of Kung-fu with others martial arts. He mainly focuses on punches to contrast his brother's fighting style. He also possess the ability to counter both high and low attacks in a fashion similar to Aikido. He is also one of the few characters in The King of Fighters series that can launch three projectiles in one sequence.

Music

 * The Couple's Shooting Star - Days of Memories

Voice Actors

 * Hiroyuki Satou - Japanese
 * Randy Ladner - Maximum Impact (English)
 * Jayson Woolley - Maximum Impact 2, Another Day (English)

Game Appearances

 * The King of Fighters Maximum Impact
 * The King of Fighters Maximum Impact 2
 * The King of Fighters Maximum Impact Regulation A
 * Maximum Impact

Mobile Appearances

 * Days of Memories (fourth title) - unplayable

Anime Appearances

 * The King of Fighters: Another Day