Orochi Saga

The Orochi Saga (オロチ編, Orochi-hen) is the first story arc in The King of Fighters series. It covers the events found in The King of Fighters '94 (prologue) through The King of Fighters '97.

Story
Notes: As said in many pages on the wiki, The King of Fighters series takes place in an alternate universe separated from storylines such as the Fatal Fury series and Art of Fighting series:
 * Because of this, their stories will not be listed in the synopsis of the Orochi Saga, although the events of Art of Fighting, Art of Fighting 2, Fatal Fury: King of Fighters & Fatal Fury 2 (in that order) all happened before the events of The King of Fighters '94.
 * Additionally, games such as Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory, Real Bout Fatal Fury, and Art of Fighting 3 do not happen during the Orochi Saga.

Besides that, The King of Fighters '98 (and its remake The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match), is not listed in the story, as it is a "Dream Match" game, and is therefore non-canon. The same thing occurs with The King of Fighters '94 Rebout, which is a remake of the original '94.

Additionally, The King of Fighters: Kyo also contains elements that are canon to the events found in the Orochi Saga.

Past
Ancient Times= During ancient times, being was born from the earth itself, named Orochi. A divine being who calls itself "Gaia's Will", manifested through floating emotions and substances of nature, and became the equalizing force between humans and nature. Orochi was nature's guardian and was granted with many of its powers. It gained followers to its cause and eventually formed a clan. The eight strongest warriors of that clan would go on to be known as the Hakkesshu. As mankind began to grow in numbers, however, the natural balance began to crumble.

1800 years ago, Orochi could no longer tolerate the destruction as a byproduct of human progression and wanted to completely wipe humanity from existence. Orochi decided to use the powers gained from nature to reign havoc on humanity. The Hakkeshu and the human race waged war until the Kusanagi, Yata, and the Yasakani defeated it with three mystical treasures; the Kusanagi Sword, the Yasakani Jewel, and the Yata Mirror. The Hakkeshu and Orochi were defeated and sealed. Though kept in a suspended state, Orochi continues to feel that mankind pollutes the world.
 * -|1800 Years Ago=

The seal that was put on Orochi begins to weaken. The three clans decided to move its vessel into another location. Wanting to disrupt their unity, one of the Hakkesshu killed the leader of the Yasakani's wife. Under a disguise, the murderer then approached the Yasakani head and reported that the Kusanagi clan was responsible, saying that it was "atonement" for letting the seal weaken. To add more fuel to the fire, the corpse of his wife was found in the Kusanagi homeland. Angered by the revelation, the Yasakani made a blood pact with Orochi to gain the necessary means for revenge. Gaining a forbidden technique called "Kin Sen Hyaku Juuichi Shiki: Ya Otome" (Forbidden Method 1211: Eight Maidens), the Yasakani would renamed themselves as the Yagami clan. As a side-effect of the Orochi's curse, the once crimson flames of the Yagami changed to a violet/bluish tint from Orochi's taint. The curse also causes each heir to die young and each mother to die in childbirth. Since then, the clans have waged a generation long grudge with casualties made from both sides, which continues on to this day in the present.
 * -|660 Years Ago=

A child named Goenitz learns about his duty as a Heavenly King and made haste to revive his lord Orochi. In an attempt to reach this means, he became a religious missionary who would travel to those in need.
 * -|1963=

A man named Rugal Bernstein began making himself known throughout the political and fighting world. He became an influential arms dealer who operated aboard his aircraft carrier Black Noah.
 * -|1968=

Goenitz, now 18, challenges a now 25-year-old Rugal Bernstein and easily defeated the older man by taking out one of his eyes. Impressed with his fighting power, as an experiment, he granted his opponent some of Orochi's power to see if he could become a valid host for the entity. Since then, Rugal has a bionic eye to replace the one he lost.
 * -|1973=

Later that year, he paid a visit to a remote village where a Hakesshu member, Gaidel, was staying. To his surprise, Gaidel was living a peaceful life and had no interest in their lord's mission. In response, Goenitz activated the Riot of the Blood in his daughter, Leona, which lead to the death of her parents and everyone else in the village. Pleased with the results, he sealed away her memories and continued to look for ways of speeding up his lord's revival.

Goenitz notices that the seal containing Orochi is too strong for his lord, and in order to awaken, the seal must be broken. He heads to the Yata household in order to break the seal, but is confronted by the Yata Clan's heiress, Maki Kagura. Unfortunately, she was not powerful enough to beat Goenitz, and she was fatally injured during the fight. Goenitz destroys the seal and leaves. Before her death, Maki passes on the responsibilities of the seal to her sister, Chizuru Kagura, and begs her to find the Kusanagi and Yagami clan leaders, and reunite them together once again to defeat Orochi.
 * -|1980=

A 34 year old operative named Heidern was just promoted to his current rank for his exceptional proficiency in martial arts and strategy. The event took place at a top-secret base in Brazil and his wife and daughter were present for the ceremony. Rugal Bernstein, who caught wind of Heidern's high marks, stormed the base when he was away and killed fifty secret service officers on his arrival. When Heidern hurried back from his duties, Rugal deprived him of his right eye and deemed him unfit to be a part of his "collection". Instead, he murdered Heidern's wife and child. Disgraced and alone, he developed his own fighting style and mercenary unit called the Ikari Warriors. Heidern would spend nearly a decade filled with hatred and rage against Rugal.
 * -|1986=

The King of Fighters '94
Prelude= Goenitz assigns the task of observing Rugal to two other Hakkeshu, Mature and Vice, believing that he could be a sutiable host for Orochi.

Rugal, wanting to expand his "collection", decides to host The King of Fighters in 1994, with an additional twist; fighters must form a team of 3 to compete and represent a country. Now he awaits on his battleship, the Black Noah, waiting to see the teams that will participate.

News spread quickly around the world that a global King of Fighters tournament is happening once again. The biggest discussion was the host of the tournament who was a compete mystery to the public, other than his name, R.
 * -|Invitations Sent=


 * Terry Bogard, Andy Bogard and Joe Higashi learn about the tournament during their vacation. Thinking that either Geese, Krasuer and humorously Ryuhaku Todoh is behind this, they decide to enter KOF as the Fatal Fury Team, representing Italy.


 * While training in Ryo Sakazaki learns that his little sister Yuri Sakazaki entered KOF on her own accord, despite being told it was too dangerous. Takuma Sakazaki tells him and Robert Garcia that they should enter KOF to put their training to the test as the Art of Fighting Team, representing Mexico.


 * A legendary master named Chin Gentsai recived a letter inviting him to the tournament. He decides to enter to test his two pupils; Sie Kensou and a legendary pop star named Athena Asamiya. They decide to enter KOF as the Psycho Soldier Team, representing China.


 * Yuri, meeting up with a ninja named Mai Shiranui, are frustrated that they couldn't enter KOF with who they wanted to (Ryo and Andy respectively). Mai then remembers her "soul sister" she met in England named King. Rushing over to England, King agrees to enter KOF with them as the Women Fighters Team, representing England.


 * In a jungle, Heidern receives a letter for the KOF tournament. He wants to enter the tournament to get his chance at revenge against Rugal, and entrusts entering with his two top operatives; Ralf Jones & Clark Still. They decide to enter KOF as the Ikari Warriors Team, representing Brazil.


 * In America, a man named Lucky Glauber informs his friend Heavy-D! about the tournament. Although happy that he'll get a good fight in after a long time, both are stumped about who could be the last member on their team. That's when they noticed the TV showcasing a football player named Brian Battler. They decide to enter KOF as the American Sports Team, representing USA.


 * In Korea, Kim Kaphwan is watching TV with his two sons when a news alert pops up about a break out caused by Chang Koehan. Frustrated at these events, Kim goes out to beat some sense into him. While fighitng Chang, he is tag-teamed by Choi Bounge although they both lose with little success. Realizing the potential of rehabilitating criminals into people of justice, they (unwillingly) decide to enter KOF as the Korea Justice Team, representing Korea.

But perhaps the biggest team surprise was from Japan.

In Japan, a small tournament is happening to determine the 3 strongest fighters to represent their country. A 19-year-old boy named Kyo Kusanagi enters the tournament to participate in KOF. He easily beats all of his opponents and wins the tournament, making him the team leader. His teammates would be the 2nd and 3rd place winners of that tournament, who would be Benimaru Nikaido, a fasionista and martial artist genius, and Goro Daimon, a formor Olympic Judo champion.

Kyo Kusanagi, Benimaru Nikaido, and Goro Daimon form the Hero Team, representing Japan.

Throughout the tournament, all of the teams fought will all their strength, culminating with the Hero Team winning The King of Fighters '94. After the tournament, Mature, the secretary of "R", invited the winners on a battleship called "Black Noah" to meet the host of the tournament. Before reaching him, Kyo ran into Saisyu Kusanagi; Kyo's father and the former leader of the Kusanagi Clan, bloodied and bruised. He tells the Hero Team before Kyo left to enter the tournament, he disappeared order to fight the host of KOF, which nearly killed him. Angered by this, the Hero Team decided to meet the host. Inside the main room was Rugal Bernstein, the true host of KOF '94. Rugal is happy that the Hero Team won, as they can be added to his "collection", which are former fighters turned into living trophies, with Rugal pointing out that he did not turn Saisyu into a trophy because he felt that he was unfitting. Kyo and his teammates fight Rugal, who would end up being one of the hardest fight of their lives. Unwilling to accept defeat, Rugal attempted to blow up his ship along with the Hero Team. With Rugal's death, the Hero Team decides to part ways, with Kyo decides to travel abroad in order to train, while also wondering where his father is.
 * -|The Truth Behind "R"=

Geese Howard & Wolfgang Krauser, two of Terry Bogard's old enemies, watched KOF '94. Although the Fatal Fury Team did not win KOF '94, they were both impressed with their results in the tournament, and begin plotting their downfall.
 * -|Conclusion=

The King of Fighters '95
Rugal is revealed to survived his suicide attack against the fighters, but not without losing his right hand. Believing that his loss against the Hero Team was a fluke, he decides to host the 1995 edition of King of Fighters tournament. He also promotes Vice as his new secretary, and replaces his missing hand with a cybernetic one.
 * -|Prologue=

The KOF invitations were sent to all of the teams who participated in KOF '94. This time, teams were no longer represented by a country.
 * -|Break A Spine=


 * The champions of the previous year, the Hero Team, were given a surprised meeting by Mature, who gives them the invites to KOF '95.


 * The Fatal Fury Team gets a surprise letter from Geese Howard, stating that he "prepared something fun for the tournament". Believing that Krauser may have a hand in this, they enter.


 * Takuma forces Ryo and Robert to participate in KOF '95, wheater they like it or not.


 * Heidern, after several months of nightmares, is unconvinced that Rugal is truly dead. When Ralf & Clark show him the invitation, they immediately went to enroll.


 * Chin, after teaching Athena and Kensou to sense negative energy, he enlists them into KOF to put their new powers to the test.


 * King runs into Yuri and Mai, asking her once again to join her in KOF.


 * Chang and Choi recieves the KOF invitation and discover that Rugal is alive. The two devises a plan to switch sides when they meet Rugal. Unfortunately for them, Kim sees the invite and forces them to train twice as hard to prepare for KOF.

Geese Howard learns about the Orochi power, and becomes intrigued with it. He sends his right hand man, Billy Kane to form a team and enter KOF '95 to investigate. He seeks out the help of the ninja Eiji Kisaragi to join his team, but not without retaliation. Their fight comes to a draw when a mysterious man appears dragging one of Geese's assassins.
 * -|New Challengers=

His name was Iori Yagami. Billy tries to convince him to join KOF with him, although. Each of these men had something to do with one of the participants of the tournament. Billy wanted revenge against Terry for defeating Geese in the past, Eiji wanted to continue his agenda against all Kyokugenryu practitioners (namely Ryo), and Iori wanted his chance to kill Kyo in a fight.

The 3 enter KOF as the Rivals Team, with Iori being the leader. They were able to enter KOF by stealing the American Sports Team's Invitation. This would end up becoming a reoccurring theme for the USA team.

Once again, all of the teams fought will all their strength, culminating with the Hero Team winning The King of Fighters '95 after beating the Rival Team. On their way to reach Rugal, Kyo runs into his father, Saisyu, who was brainwashed by Vice. After beating him and snapping him out of Vice's control, Rugal appears to challenge the heroes. Learning from his previous mistake, Rugal taps in the Orochi power and transforms into Omega Rugal, starting all out during the fight.
 * -|From "R" to "Ω"=

Frustrated by his 2nd defeat, Rugal tries to tap in more of the Orochi power, but just as he does, Rugal's body explodes into microscopic pieces, instantly killing him. At the same time, Iori suddenly snaps and brutally attacks Billy and Eiji, nearly killing them. Iori swears that he will kill Kyo and all of the Kusanagi's in the near future.
 * -|Foreboding Coming=

The King of Fighters '96
A few months before the KOF '96 tournament, Goenitz runs into Kyo and challenges him to a fight. Goenitz toyed with Kyo throught the entire fight before ending it with a single fatal blow that nearly killed him. Kyo was rushed to the hospital, where Benimaru and Daimon was waiting for him. Feeling bitter about his embarrassing defeat, Kyo swallows his pride and becomes determined to defeat Goenitz the next time they meet.
 * -|Darkest Sky=

As time passes, The King of Fighters tournament was about to begin. However, things would be different this year, as KOF would unexpectedly explode in popularity, to the point where this iteration of KOF would be hosted on an international level.
 * -|Violent Fighting=


 * The Fatal Fury Team once again formed a team together, but not before long, Billy Kane and Geese Howard appeared before them. Geese reveals to the team that he'll be entering KOF as an invited guest


 * Takuma talks to Ryo, Robert, and Yuri about this upcoming KOF tournament. He announces that he'll be retiring starting this year, and requests that Yuri should team up with Ryo and Robert, much to the former's disdain. The three team up as the new Kyokugen Team.


 * Heidern informs Ralf and Clark that he will not be joining KOF anymore, as his long life goal of killing Rugal has been achieved, and he must oversee their mission to watch out for any suspicious activity for the tournament. To fill in the missing team member, Heidern enlists a new operative named Leona, who after a not-so-friendly introduction, forms the new Ikari Team.


 * The Psycho Soldier Team once again enters KOF. Athena and Kensou's sees this as their chance to boost their popularity, while Chin wonders who could be behind the strings this time.


 * Mai tells King that Yuri won't be joining them for KOF, as she is already on the Kyokugen Team. King initially decides not to join KOF, as she wanted to spend time with her brother Jan, he convinces her that she should join this year. As for their final member, they meet a Japanese girl named Kasumi Todoh, who wanted to join KOF to possibly find clues about her missing father. The three come together as the new Women Fighters Team.


 * -|The Seductress and the Sadistic=


 * -|Under the Night of the Moon=

The King of Fighters '97

 * -|Fateful Conclusion=

Characters Introduced
'94=

Original Characters

 * Kyo Kusanagi (Playable in '94, '95, '96, '97, '98, and '98UM)
 * Benimaru Nikaido (Playable in '94, '95, '96, '97, '98, and '98UM)
 * Goro Daimon (Playable in '94, '95, '96, '97, '98, and '98UM)
 * Heidern (Playable in '94, '95, '98, and '98UM)
 * Chin Gentsai (Playable in '94, '95, '96, '97, '98, and '98UM)
 * Chang Koehan (Playable in '94, '95, '96, '97, '98, and '98UM)
 * Choi Bounge (Playable in '94, '95, '96, '97, '98, and '98UM)
 * Heavy-D! (Playable in '94, '98, and '98UM)
 * Lucky Glauber (Playable in '94, '98, and '98UM)
 * Brian Battler (Playable in '94, '98, and '98UM)
 * Rugal Bernstein (Playable in '94, '98, and '98UM)

Fatal Fury series

 * Terry Bogard (Playable in '94, '95, '96, '97, '98, and '98UM)
 * Andy Bogard (Playable in '94, '95, '96, '97, '98, and '98UM)
 * Joe Higashi (Playable in '94, '95, '96, '97, '98, and '98UM)
 * Mai Shiranui (Playable in '94, '95, '96, '97, '98, and '98UM)
 * Kim Kaphwan (Playable in '94, '95, '96, '97, '98, and '98UM)

Art of Fighting series

 * Ryo Sakazaki (Playable in '94, '95, '96, '97, '98, and '98UM)
 * Robert Garcia (Playable in '94, '95, '96, '97, '98, and '98UM)
 * Yuri Sakazaki (Playable in '94, '95, '96, '97, '98, and '98UM)
 * Takuma Sakazaki (Playable in '94, '95, '98, and '98UM)
 * King (Playable in '94, '95, '96, '97, '98, and '98UM)

Ikari Warriors series

 * Ralf Jones (Playable in '94, '95, '96, '97, '98, and '98UM)
 * Clark Still (Playable in '94, '95, '96, '97, '98, and '98UM)

Psycho Soldier

 * Athena Asamiya (Playable in '94, '95, '96, '97, '98, and '98UM)
 * Sie Kensou (Playable in '94, '95, '96, '97, '98, and '98UM)


 * -|'95=

Original Characters

 * Iori Yagami (Playable in '95, '96, '97, '98, and '98UM)
 * Saisyu Kusanagi (Playable in '95, '98, and '98UM)
 * Omega Rugal (Playable in '95, '98, and '98UM)

Fatal Fury series

 * Billy Kane (Playable in '95, '97, '98, and '98UM)

Art of Fighting series

 * Eiji Kisaragi (Playable in '95 and '98UM)


 * -|'96=

Original Characters

 * Leona Heidern (Playable in '96, '97, '98, and '98UM)
 * Mature (Playable in '96, '98, and '98UM)
 * Vice (Playable in '96, '98, and '98UM)
 * Chizuru Kagura (Playable in '96, '97, '98, and '98UM)
 * Goenitz (Playable in '96 and '98UM)

Fatal Fury series

 * Geese Howard (Playable in '96 and '98UM)
 * Wolfgang Krauser (Playable in '96 and '98UM)

Art of Fighting series

 * Kasumi Todoh (Playable in '96 and '98UM)
 * Mr. Big (Playable in '96 and '98UM)
 * -|'97=

Original Characters

 * Yashiro Nanakase (Playable in '97, '98, and '98UM)
 * Shermie (Playable in '97, '98, and '98UM)
 * Chris (Playable in '97, '98, and '98UM)
 * Orochi Yashiro (Playable in '97, '98, and '98UM)
 * Orochi Shermie (Playable in '97, '98, and '98UM)
 * Orochi Chris (Playable in '97, '98, and '98UM
 * Shingo Yabuki (Playable in '97, '98, and '98UM)
 * Orochi Iori (Playable in '97 and '98UM)
 * Orochi Leona (Playable in '97 and '98UM)
 * Orochi (Playable in '97 and '98UM)

Fatal Fury series

 * Ryuji Yamazaki (Playable in '97, '98, and '98UM)
 * Blue Mary (Playable in '97, '98, and '98UM)


 * -|NPCs=
 * Mature (NPC in '94)
 * Saisyu (NPC in '94)
 * Rodem (NPC in '94, '95, '98 and '98UM)
 * Vice (NPC in '95)
 * Yuki (KOF) (Appears in Novels and Mangas)
 * Gaidel (Appears in KOF '97)