King

"'Her diverse are backed up by her ability to kick tail! You won't know whether to block, roll or hide! KING.'"King is a character in both Art of Fighting and The King of Fighters series. She debuted in the original Art of Fighting as the sole playable female character. In The King of Fighters series, she appears as one of the founders of the Women Fighters Team, along with Mai Shiranui and Yuri Sakazaki, besides being a frequent member of the Art of Fighting Team.

Her official nickname is "The Beautiful Kick's Illusion".

Development
King's appearance in the first game was made to hide her gender, with the game's flyer even using he to refer the character. According to an interview with her designer, King was primarily inspired and modeled after Jamaican singer, Grace Jones. During the concept stage they took additional inspiration from the henchwoman character in the Hong Kong action crime film China White, performed by Dutch Muay Thai action actress Saskia Van Rijswijk.

Personality
King is a kind and trustworthy but violent woman. She is unquestionably loyal to her friends, but relentlessly unforgiving towards her enemies. Although King is very passionate, she rarely shows a sensitive side to her friends (and when she does, things just seem to go wrong). She often dresses in masculine and androgynous clothing, mainly a purple tuxedo. Over time, she has also shown a feminine dress sense more and more often. For her KOF XIII team story, she expresses a desire to a wear a dress for her teams' victory party. She has a great affinity for fine wine. She also tends to obsess over money so she can pay Jean's medical bills. King seems to be quite attracted to Ryo Sakazaki (the two have special starting poses in many games to imply this).

King acts quite masculine, and shows a feminine side as well every now and then.

Powers

 * Energy Projectile: King can launch a projectile of energy with her kicks.

Skills

 * Acrobatics: King is a very acrobatic fighter using moves like "Trap Shot" and "Tornado Kick".
 * Advanced Kicking: King uses a lot of powerful kicks in her moveset.
 * Billiards: King is a very proficient (maybe even professional) billiards player, in everything from pool to snooker, her favorite sport.
 * Drink Mixing: King is an expert in coming up with new drinks all the time as she has been working in bars most of her life as a bartender.

Fighting Style
King uses a very distinct form of Muay Thai. Besides techniques associated with an archetypal "Tae"-style (i.e kick-heavy) Thaiboxer, King employs several acrobatic aerial and spinning kicks - more common in traditional Indochinese kickboxing styles like Muay Boran and Bokator, that are unallowed in contemporary thaiboxing. Her fighting style is very similar many hybrid arts such as Japanese kickboxing, Korean Kun Gek Do, or Chinese Sanda. As King is French there may also be some Savate influence in her style.

Voice Actors

 * Harumi Ikoma - Since her debut
 * Yumi Tōma - The King of Fighters '94 Dengeki Bunko drama CD
 * Masako Katsuki - Art of Fighting anime
 * Sharon Becker - Art of Fighting anime (English voice)

Appearances
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Games

 * Art of Fighting
 * Art of Fighting 2
 * The King of Fighters '94
 * The King of Fighters '95
 * The King of Fighters '96
 * The King of Fighters '97
 * The King of Fighters '98
 * The King of Fighters '99
 * Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000
 * Capcom vs. SNK Pro
 * Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001
 * The King of Fighters 2000
 * The King of Fighters 2001
 * The King of Fighters EX: Neo Blood
 * The King of Fighters 2002 - potential mid-boss & unlockable in console versions only
 * The King of Fighters Neowave
 * The King of Fighters 2003
 * The King of Fighters '94 Re-Bout
 * The King of Fighters XI
 * The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match
 * The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match
 * The King of Fighters XIII
 * The King of Fighters XIV
 * CR The King of Fighters
 * The King of Fighters XV

Mobile

 * Days of Memories (Second, Fourth, and Fifth) - Non-playable
 * SNK Beach Volley Gal's Attack
 * The King of Fighters Mobile
 * The King of Reversi
 * The King of Fighters Mahjong
 * SNK Gals Island Dokidoki Puzzle Shock!
 * SNK Gals Rhythm Combo Yudanshinaide!
 * SNK Gals Island Dennou Freecell Ote Yawarakani
 * SNK High School Collection
 * The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match Online
 * Metal Slug Defense (Unlockable)
 * Puzzle & Dragons
 * The King of Fighters Destiny (Game)
 * Kimi wa Hero
 * The King of Fighters All Star
 * The King of Fighters Go
 * The King of Fighters M: Fighting Stars Assembly
 * SNK Fighting Age

Cameos

 * SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium - Error screen alongside Chizuru
 * The King of Fighters 2002 - Background cameo in the Mexico stage, only in arcade versions
 * The King of Fighters XII - Talking to Ryo in his profile story; in-text cameo in one of Athena's win quotes
 * KOF: Maximum Impact - Background cameo
 * KOF: Maximum Impact 2 - Background cameo
 * The King of Fighters (Pachinko)
 * The King of Fighters 2
 * Koi no Iroha ~Sazanka Chiru Fuyu~ Mobile game
 * Moeyo! KOF Daiundokai
 * SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy - in Yuri's ending
 * Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - background cameo in King of Fighters Stadium Stage

Comics

 * The King of Fighters: A New Beginning

Anime
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 * Art of Fighting (anime)
 * The King of Fighters: Destiny

Trivia

 * When King is knocked out with a special move in the first Art of Fighting, the top of her costume is ripped. This continues to happen in Art of Fighting 2, The King of Fighters '94 and The King of Fighters '95, but doesn't happen again until KOF XIII. If this is done during AOF ' s story mode, King will say different quotes after her defeat. The same occurrence happens again in KOF XIV, only this time, the top layer of the top of her costume is ripped, leaving the under layer of said costume unbuttoned.
 * The same thing occurs with Yuri Sakazaki in the referred games (except in AOF 1, when she is a damsel-in-distress character.)


 * Some source especulates that her real name is Claire, but nothing confirmed by SNK.


 * In KOF XIII, during their pre-fight and win quotes with King, the traditional Muay Thai fighters Joe Higashi and Hwa Jai ridicule her fighting style, not acknowledging it as real Muay Thai practitioner. This continues to happen in future games of the series, only with Joe.


 * King shares the same birthday date with Mature and Shingo Yabuki.


 * In the Neo Geo Freak's 1997 Volume 8 character poll, she was voted as the sixteenth favorite character with a total of 616 votes.


 * King is the only character in the Art of Fighting series with the same voice actress in all her game appearances (in her source series and in The King of Fighters series).
 * Harumi Ikoma, her voice actress, continues with the character's voice dubbing in the current days.