K'

K' , pronounced as "Kay Dash", is a character who debuted as the leader of the Hero Team in The King of Fighters '99, and stars as the reluctant hero in the NESTS saga of the series (KOF 99-KOF 2001). To contrast the previous protagonist of the series, K' was made to be the "dark hero".

His official nickname is "He who surpasses K" or "Better than K".

Development
The inspiration for the appearance of K′ and Maxima can be found in the Psikyo arcade game The Fallen Angels ( in Japan). This obscure 1998 release stars an emaciated goth in tight leather pants named Cool, along with a brawny, cybernetically enhanced US Marine named Harry Ness. The man responsible for the design of both characters, Shin'ichi Morioka, migrated to SNK shortly after The Fallen Angels was released, and elements of Cool and Harry Ness' design were used in the creation of K′ and Maxima. The end result is that K′s oufit looks nearly identical to Cool. The idea of K' wearing shades was taken by another Fallen Angel character named Haiji Mibu. His namesake was taken from a clone character in the light novel Blue Knight Berserga Monogatari, which is set in the same universe as the anime series Armored Trooper Votoms. During the early phases of development of The King of Fighters '99, K′'s introduction to the series was meant to remove popular characters Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami from the roster, though this idea was later scrapped. C.A.C Yamasaki predicted that K' would be popular on his release, however this prediction never came true, in an interview he comments that K' was "a little too plain."

K' would later receive a slight redesign on his hair due to the protagonist of Garou: Mark of the Wolves looking just like K'. This caused the supervising designer to panic after realizing this. For The King of Fighters XIII, the producer Masaaki Kukineo mentions that the team were pursuing a more "cooler" version of K' where he now keeps his sunglasses on during the fight. He wanted fans to pay close attention to his new animations.

Personality
K' has a very serious and arrogant personality but is very easy to enrage due to his more high-strung side, though he is starting to treat Whip as a big sister and Kula as a little sister. He often calls Maxima names - like "stupid", "idiot", etc. - but he actually trusts his partner's reliability. He is hardly polite and is always gruff, even to those close to him. Because K' usually expresses his concerns in a "tough guy" manner, Maxima jokingly calls him dishonest or stiff. Because of this, K' would often let Maxima handle any social necessities in his stead.

If there is something K' hates above everything else it is to be compared with Kyo which often results of him being labeled the inferior Kusanagi, and because of that K' started to have some sort of rivalry with Kyo. Believing that he is more than just a mere imitation of Kyo, K' is always looking for a way to escape his fate as the "second Kusanagi flame".

In KOF XIII, several fighters often point out K's rather immature personality ("whiny", lazy, anti-social and constantly rude to others) in their pre-fight dialogues against him. It is also pointed out he feels trapped in his life and is also rather very lazy and hates involving himself in most things he finds trivial, making him not unlike Iori Yagami in terms of nihilistic mindset (and the two ironically very much hate each other and are prone to nasty dialogue between one another for little reason).

He, of course, despite his disinterest to partake in the KOF tournaments, at times often boasts about his abilities to take on anyone anytime, anywhere, which is something not quite far off from his capabilities as he also finds engaging in tasks with expected results to be yet another chore. Much of his dislike of trivial things is likely due to the trauma of often serving as one of NESTS's agents in regards to various shady assignments, as seen in his pre-battle dialogue against Daimon in XIII where he states "I have enough blood on my hands already".

Powers

 * Pyrokinesis - Due to Kyo Kusanagi's DNA he was infused with, K' can create and manipulate fire out of thin air but only from his right hand. K' can create fireballs, infuse his kicks and punches with fire and create pillars of fire with his body as seen with his "Hyper Chain Drive" super. However, he is not immune to other types of fire nor able to control fires he didn't create. In fact, due to him not being a descendant of the Kusanagi clan, he doesn't have total control of his own flames either, which is why he is forced to wear a special glove to protect himself from his own fire and to help him suppress and control it.
 * Translocation - K' can translocate himself.

Fighting Style
K' has a unique fighting style that is said to be "Pure Violence", but it has several similarities with Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do. He even uses some of his famous moves, such as the One inch punch and Flying Kicks. As a nod to hinting of said "violence", K's moves tend to show very brutal mannerisms due to his high-strung nature. This ranges from violent elbow strikes, enraged battle cries, and even resorting to throwing his sunglasses at his foe and following up with a beatdown, no holds barred.

Most of his mannerisms are either somewhat lazy (due to his disinterest in fighting), even to dozing off in battle via his idle stance when a certain amount of time passes in games before KOF XIII; his flames tend to come only from his right hand due to his limitations, but K' can work around this handicap in combat regardless, and is regarded as one of the best fighters in the KOF universe (as well as a high/top tier character in terms of gameplay in later installments of the series).

Despite his laziness, K' is shown to be rather flexible (evidenced by his pre-KOF XI blowback attack, Second Shell, Minutes Spike, and Crow Bites Plus/classic jumping strong kick).

Music

 * KD-0079 - The King of Fighters '99, 2002
 * KD-0084 - The King of Fighters 2000
 * Big Pain - The King of Fighters 2001
 * KD - The King of Fighters 2003
 * KDD-0075 - The King of Fighters XI, XIII (when the music is set to "Type B", console version only)
 * KD-0079+ - The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match
 * KDD-0063 - The King of Fighters XIII
 * KD-SR - The King of Fighters XIV
 * KD-0079 ~KOF XIV ver.~ - The King of Fighters XIV (as Ralf's opponent)
 * Cool Drive - Days of Memories

Voice Actors

 * Yuuki Matsuda - The King of Fighters '99~XIII, The King of Fighters: World
 * Yoshihisa Kawahara - The King of Fighters XIV, The King of Fighters: All Star, The King of Fighters XV
 * Yūki Ono - The King of Fighters for Girls
 * Andrew Scott - Maximum Impact series (English voice)

Appearances
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Games

 * The King of Fighters '99
 * The King of Fighters 2000
 * The King of Fighters 2001
 * The King of Fighters EX: Neo Blood - Hidden Striker
 * The King of Fighters 2002
 * The King of Fighters Neowave
 * KOF: Maximum Impact
 * The King of Fighters 2003
 * KOF: Maximum Impact 2
 * Neo Geo Battle Coliseum
 * The King of Fighters XI
 * The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match
 * The King of Fighters XIII
 * KOF Maximum Impact Regulation A
 * The King of Fighters 2
 * Maximum Impact - versus character
 * The King of Fighters XIV
 * The King of Fighters XV

Mobile

 * Days of Memories (first, fourth and seventh titles) - unplayable
 * The King of Reversi
 * The King of Fighters Mahjong
 * Moeyo! KOF Daiundoka
 * SNK Gals Island Senkan Battle Gekichinshichaouzo!
 * SNK Dream Battle
 * The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match Online
 * World Cross Saga
 * Ultimate Heroes
 * Tower of Saviors
 * Kimi wa Hero
 * The King of Fighters: World
 * The King of Fighters Destiny (Game)
 * The King of Fighters All Star
 * Clash of Kings
 * The King of Fighters M: Fighting Stars Assembly
 * The King of Fighters for Girls

Anime

 * The King of Fighters: Another Day

Cameos
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 * SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium - image cameo alongside Alex in a black and white Neo Geo Pocket error screen
 * Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 - appears during the Groove Select in an screenshot containing the opening of KOF '99
 * The King of Fighters '94 Re-Bout - background cameo
 * Sister Quest
 * Moeyo! SNK Gals Osuin Katoukai
 * Nariyuki Quest
 * SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy - in Kula's ending

Trivia

 * K's yell following his debut - "Dora!" or "Ora!" - was made due to Sha-V's suggestion. He reasoned that these shouts are K's equivalent to Kyo's "Kurei!" or Iori's "Doushita!". Konny jokingly wonders if he's trying to say the word "dry" since the first draft of his yell was "Dorei!".
 * K' and Maxima are the champions of all The King of Fighters tournaments hosted in the NESTS Saga, which was confirmed in the Light Novels.
 * Early English promotional posters for The King of Fighters '99 originally had K' named "K Prime".
 * His team's backstory for KOF XI features lyrics from Karl Busse, a nineteenth century lied from Germany. The particular song is Über den Bergen, transcribed in Japanese as "you in the mountain".
 * In a 2005 poll made by SNK-Playmore USA, he was voted as the fourth fan favorite character with a total of 338 votes.
 * In Neo Geo Battle Coliseum, at the character select screen, when selecting K' with R1+X, he wears red clothes, has blonde hair, and wields green flames, just like Ash Crimson.
 * According to former The King of Fighters director Toyohisa Tanabe, a "guest character" from KOF would make an appearance in the cancelled 2003 Capcom fighting game Capcom Fighting All Stars, with an obscured silhouette as the only hint to who this character's guest appearance was. Due to the visage of the character, many believe that it was supposed to be K'.
 * In an interview with one of the manhua artist and authors, King Tung, he replies that K' is his favorite original character in the series.
 * K '' s Chain Drive may have possibly been inspired by the end fight scene from the 1997 film Drive.
 * In the KOF 2003 manhua K' explicitly states " I gave my best punch to my best friend", its also reveled he grows deep feelings for Kula (although its not explicitly stated if this are feelings of "love" or just concern for her safety") (as she is captured by Rugal and used as a source of power for his Kaiser wave attack).
 * His HSDM/MAX2DM, Crimson Star Road, is named after an episode of the anime series Legend of Galactic Heroes.

Similar Characters

 * Another K'