Team Ikari Warriors



The Team Ikari Warriors (チーム, Ikari Senshi Chīmu), sometimes called Team Ikari (チーム, Ikari Chīmu), is a reoccurring Team in The King of Fighters series.

Description
As the name implies, the team is formed by the main characters of Ikari Warriors series, Ralf Jones and Clark Still, alongside his Commander Heidern, who was present in the two first tournaments of the series.

Starting with The King of Fighters '96, the team earns new members: Leona Heidern, who replaces his adoptive father in the leadership, and Whip, during the NESTS Chronicles and Tales of Ash. The two female soldiers and the Commander were created exclusively for the KOF series, although the commander himself debuted in NES version of Ikari III: The Rescue.

The most active team formation is commonly the members of '96 formation through the games, except in The King of Fighters XI, where Whip replaces Leona. However, The King of Fighters 2001 brings all members who were active during Orochi Saga, such as the former classic pre-‘96 team leader Heidern, due to Whip’s absent into joining Team K' in 2001 - 2003 prior to temporarily re-join with the Ikari Squad, due to an emergency matter regarding of Leona's absent as mentioned previously.

List of Members
Orochi Saga=
 * Commander Heidern - First Leader and Member of Team Ikari Warriors in '94 and '95. He left the team in '96 and 2003, and returned in 2001.
 * Colonel Ralf Jones - Member of Team Ikari Warriors. He leads the team in XI, XIII and XIV, and appears in all games of the series.
 * Lieutenant Clark Still - Member of Team Ikari Warriors. Appears in all games of the series.
 * Frontline Soldier Leona Heidern - Member of Team Ikari Warriors. She leads the team in most of the game's series, and left only in XI.
 * -|NESTS Chronicles/Tales of Ash=
 * Soldier Whip - Member of Team Ikari Warriors. Left the team in 2001, and returned in XI.

Trivia

 * The Ikari Warriors Team won the KOF 2003 tournament, with the second classic formation (Leona, Ralf and Clark).
 * This currently makes them the only non-original KOF Team to win a KOF tournament set in The King of Fighters universe.
 * All members of this team are prominent in Metal Slug series, starting from Metal Slug 6.
 * Whip was originally scheduled to officially debut in the team in KOF '96, but as the character was not ready in time, Leona replaced her. The girl made her debut in KOF '99.
 * All members of this team appears at the same time in two games: KOF 2001 and KOF XIV (with Whip and Heidern being DLC characters).