Vice

Vice (バイス, Baisu) is a character who debuted as a member of the Iori Team in The King of Fighters '96. Her official nickname is Throbbing Brutal Sadic (躍動 する 残忍 な 嘲笑, Yakudou suru Zannin na Choushou).

In the Neo Geo Freak's 1997 Volume 8 character poll, she was voted as the thirteenth favourite character with a total of 780 votes.

Development
Both she and Mature are descendants of Orochi with her being the "cruel" one of the duo. Both women were still being developed during location testing and were likely finished near the end of the game's production schedule.

Orochi Saga
One of the Hakkesshu, Vice joined forces with fellow Hakkesshu, Mature so as to serve their master, Orochi. The two often took orders from the superior Hakkesshu and one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Orochi, Goenitz, though she didn't like him. Goenitz ordered her and Mature to keep tabs on Rugal Bernstein; a man who desired to wield Orochi's power and had been granted some by Goenitz. They posed as his secretaries to keep a close eye on him and kill him if required. When Rugal kidnapped Saisyu Kusanagi at some point during or before The King of Fighters 1995, Vice was ordered to brainwash him. She succeeded, though not without difficulty due to his resistance to the process, for which she developed a grudge against him. After Rugal died at the end of the KOF '95 from being unable to contain the Orochi power, Vice and Mature's duties were switched to keeping an eye on Iori Yagami instead, due to his Yagami heritage of the Orochi power. They were to bring him to the King of Fighters 1996 tournament. At the tournaments conclusion, Goenitz arrived and their identities were revealed. When Goenitz was defeated by the combined efforts of Kyo Kusanagi and Iori, Vice and Mature were called upon by Goenitz to help. However, the two betrayed him, deciding to use Iori to attempt to awaken Orochi, having liked his company and hated Goenitz all this time. Their plan backfired however, as with Goenitz's vengeful warning before passing away, Iori entered the Riot of the Blood and the two discovered he was unable to control the Orochi power. Before the two could do anything, they were killed by him. Although dead, the two can take the form of solid shadows in the living realm.

Tales of Ash
The two continued to haunt Iori in his dreams and eventually revealed themselves to still exist in the mortal realm before the beginning of The King of Fighters XIII. Claiming to not hold a grudge against him, they agree to entertain themselves as his teammates in the latest tournament. The women want to prevent Orochi's power from being stolen by Ash or Those from the Past and convince Iori to join with the lure of confronting Ash. After the climax of the KOF XIII tournament, Iori's magatama returns to his possession and the weakened Orochi seal begins to strengthen itself once more. She and Mature ask if he truly wants to accept the magatama and the Orochi blood once more, offering him a final chance to completely eradicate the cursed fate from his bloodline. When Iori refuses their offer, the women fade away. They state they will meet him again in his dreams.

XIV Arc
Vice and Mature return once more while Iori visits a grave. Vice tosses him an invitation to KOF, she mentions that this KOF is just the beginning of the nightmare. Just like in the previous tournament. After the climax of the tournament, Vice and Mature don't stop Iori who was going to seal Orochi. Mature states that all destinies are beginning to shift, with Vice agreeing, she comments that Iori can't resist his blood once it boils. The women return to the dead once more.

Personality
Vice is a violent person, taking great pleasure in killing others and seemingly immune to their pain. She and Mature are not precisely friends, but instead help each other in order to free the power of Orochi.

Despite her brash nature and murder at Iori's hands, and the fact he belongs to the Yasakani bloodline, an enemy of theirs, she and Mature seem genuinely concerned for his well being and respect his wishes rather than their loyalty to Orochi. This, despite Iori's frequent hostilities towards them.

She holds a grudge against Saisyu Kusanagi due his resistance taking her a great deal of unexpected effort to be able to brainwash him in the first place, and it's due of the nature of this relationship that she despises old men, for instance showing total disdain towards Gang Il.

Vice, as part of the Hakkesshu, mantains a regard of protection of nature. During the pre-match dialogue with Nakoruru, both show their mutual concern about it, yet Vice's vision involves the destruction of mankind rather than the peaceful approach that Nakoruru intends. Out of all the lesser Hakkeshus, she is the most vocal of her hatred of humans in general.

Powers

 * Slashing Hands - Her hands can slash and pierce as if they were knives (As seen in KOF'96).
 * Multiple Attacks - Vice can kick several times in high speed.
 * Cutting Attacks - Vice can make her kicks be enveloped in a cutting aura. She combines this and the Multiple Attacks power.
 * Snake Arms - Vice can stretch her arms in front of her within a long range and with high speed.
 * Negative Energy - Vice can slam a foe out of pure hatred, producing a pillar of dim light with a large skull inside, this attribute sometimes manifests itself in a burst of deep crimson as well.
 * Hooked Nails - Vice has purple, hooked, acrylic nails, most likely used to grab her opponent.
 * Ignore Weight - Vice can grab and slam anyone bigger than her.
 * Hakkeshu: Darkness - The powers of darkness grant her superhuman strength.

Fighting Style
She is one of the first female grapplers for the series, using a variety of throws to corner and interrupt her opponent's advances. During fights, Vice will often harshly berate her opponent, either by sarcastically remarking the damage she will be doing or by commanding her foe to submit. Vice's hyper super desperation move in 2002 UM also heavily implies she is also willing to eat into her opponents.

At first she was able to use more slashing moves, but in further appearances of her, she uses more punches and fierce attacks like body slams and shoulder charges. In her latest apparitions, her style is more focused mainly in bringing her opponent closer to her so she can keep punishing them incessantly with grabs and other violent combinations.

She's been having different fighting stances in KOF '96,  '98 and 2002/2002UM, reversing to her original '96 stance in CvS, CvS2, KOF XIII and XIV.

Music

 * Arashi no Saxophone - The King of Fighters XIII (when the music is set to "Type B", console version only, shared with Mature and Iori Yagami)
 * Arashi no Saxophone 2 - The King of Fighters '96, '98 and 2002
 * Arashi no Saxaphone 5 - The King of Fighters XIII
 * Saxophone Under the Moon - The King of Fighters XIV
 * Tranquilizer - The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match

Voice Actors

 * Masae Yumi - The King of Fighters '96~XIII
 * Mayumi Sako - The King of Fighters XIV
 * Tomoe Tamiyasu - King of Fighters movie (Japanese voice)

Live Action Actors

 * Bernice Liu - King of Fighters movie

Game Appearances

 * The King of Fighters '96
 * The King of Fighters '98
 * The King of Fighters '98: Ultimate Match
 * Capcom vs SNK
 * The King of Fighters 2000 - As a Striker for Iori alongside Mature
 * Capcom vs SNK 2
 * The King of Fighters 2002
 * The King of Fighters 2002: Unlimited Match
 * The King of Fighters Neowave
 * The King of Fighters XIII
 * CR The King of Fighters
 * The King of Fighters XIV

Mobile Appearances

 * Days of Memories (second title) - unplayable
 * SNK Gals Island Dokidoki Puzzle Shock! 2
 * SNK High School Collection
 * The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match Online
 * Metal Slug Defense (unlockable)
 * Crash Fever
 * Kimi wa Hero
 * The King of Fighters Destiny (Game)
 * The King of Fighters: World
 * The King of Fighters All Star
 * The King of Fighters M: Fighting Stars Assembly

Cameo Appearances

 * The King of Fighters '94: Rebout - background cameo in the Kim Team stage
 * The King of Fighters '95 - during in-game cutscenes
 * The King of Fighters '97 - in the Hero team's ending
 * The King of Fighters 2003 - during the edit team ending
 * KOF: Maximum Impact 2 - background cameo
 * SNK Gals' Fighters - with Miss X
 * SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy - in Miss X's ending; also mentioned by Mui Mui in a winquote against Leona