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Orochi (オロチ) is a character from The King of Fighters series. It was first alluded to in the ending of The King of Fighters '95, before making its physical appearance as the main antagonist and final boss of The King of Fighters '97, as well as the reoccurring overarching antagonist of the entire series.

Personality[]

Orochi is a powerful being that plans to serve Gaia by all costs. It will protect her from anything, even from what she created herself. It shows no mercy to humans, citing their sins and their harmful self-destructive acts, although it grudgingly does acknowledge their potential to be able to change for the better, holding on to some hope that humanity may one day understand the pain of nature and tells them that they still have chance.

Orochi by itself is not a sinister being and only desires balance between man and nature. In the non-canon KOF Sky Stage, Orochi is fascinated by the likes of Kula Diamond, in what it describes as a creation of mankind with a pure heart and intention.

Powers[]

As a force of nature, Orochi has a vast and incredible set of powers. It can give powers to the Eight Heads of Orochi.

  • Telepathy - Orochi can project thoughts and talk to people mentally. It can freely read minds, especially its enemies, with no hindrances.
  • Telekinesis - Orochi can move objects with its mind.
  • Translocation - Orochi can translocate itself.
  • Possession - Orochi can possess the mind of any of its followers.
  • Ergokinesis - Orochi can manipulate raw energy.
    • Energy Projectile - Orochi can release a projectile of energy from its hands.
    • Energy Pillar - Orochi can create a pillar of energy from the ground.
    • Energy Redirection - Orochi can create a rift in front of it which absorbs and redirects energy attack back to the opponent.
  • Luminokinesis - Orochi can create a powerful light that damages the enemy.
  • Regeneration - Orochi can regenerate and heal itself.
  • Destroy Souls - Orochi can penetrate the enemy's soul and destroy it.
  • Nihilokinesis - Orochi's main power. As it is a God of Nothingness, Orochi has power over nothingness or voids.
  • Power Bestowal - Orochi can give any of the powers below to its followers. Alternatively, it can also grant power via a pact, often by blood.
    • Pyrokinesis - Orochi can give full control over purple fire. The fire has also tapping ability.
    • Electrokinesis - Orochi can give full control over electricity and thunder.
    • Geokinesis - Orochi can give full control over the earth.
    • Aerokinesis - Orochi can give full control over air or wind.
    • Necrokinesis - Orochi can give some control over death or death energy.
    • Superhuman Strength - Orochi has superhuman strength and also it can grant strength to its followers or others via pact.
    • Cutting Powers - Orochi can give cutting powers (slashing hands, cutting aura, slashing projectile).
    • Snake Arms - Orochi can give the power Snake Arms to anyone.
  • Incarnation - Orochi can incarnate in any of its followers, particularly with any of its Heavenly Kings.

Fighting Style[]

Orochi fights mainly with its powers. A very unique thing about its moveset is that while kanji are used, they all seem to have alternate furigana readings that give off somewhat different meanings.

Coincidentally, it also shares animation for some of its kick attacks with Rugal (his Genocide Cutter & Double Tomahawk). Orochi's version of Genocide Cutter, however, is a normal standing D button, which is mostly exploited by players by continuously spamming the button while moving forward to quickly deplete opponents' health bars. Orochi is also one of the few characters who has a move that only inflicts damage upon its opponent falling to the ground from a normal knockdown.

The aforementioned tomahawk kick was inherited by Mizuchi while he retires it completely in 98UM in favor of a new set of kick moves. His Genocide Cutter (now called Ukei) imitation becomes a full-fledged land-based anti-air special attack, thus making Orochi somewhat more balanced than his '97 version.

Music[]

Voice Actors[]

Game Appearances[]

Mobile Appearances[]

Cameo Appearances[]

Similar Characters[]

Cards[]

SNK vs SNK vs SNK vs Weiss Schwarz KOF98UM OL Cos大乱斗 Kimi Wa Hero KOF All Star KOF All Star KOF All Star

Sprites[]

The King of Fighters R-1 The King of Fighters '97 The King of Fighters '98: Ultimate Match The King of Fighters 2002: Challenge to Ultimate Battle

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • Orochi and its followers are an interpretation of the mythical eight headed serpent, Yamata no Orochi.
  • Orochi is well known for its glowing effect (rendered by hardware) since introduction in KOF'97. This effect is lost in KOF '98 UM, and is rendered via sprite palette in Mizuchi. This is probably due to the later games being dream matches, as Orochi seemingly doesn't use Chris as host (his intro also shows him already in humanoid form instead of transforming from Chris).
  • Orochi is the first supernatural antagonist in the KOF series, though later revealed to have no true malice for mankind. True to the Yamata no Orochi origins, Orochi's true form is that of a giant serpent (with eight heads) as seen in Iori's ending in SVC Chaos.
  • Orochi has no actual gender. It first used a female body as illustrated in the "battle of 1800 years ago", seen in The King of Fighters: Kyo. As of recent, due to using Chris as a host, Orochi is often identified as a male, and this design lingers even in KOF XIV.
    • Most of its seiyū are, however, female. Shiki Aoki, who is Orochi's seiyū in The King of Fighters: World and The King of Fighters: All Star, is a transgender male.
  • When first introduced in KOF '97, Orochi cannot crouch, but has attacks that must be blocked low, while being visually identical to its standing attacks. Crouching stances and attacks were first implemented in the PlayStation version of KOF '97, but in a very incomplete form with severe frame cuts. These were redone when Orochi was added in KOF '98 UM, using newly-drawn sprites. Mizuchi, on the other hand, uses a combination of Orochi's arcade and PlayStation KOF '97 sprites with improvised animation frames.
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KOF '94 Logo Sprite Kyo KusanagiBenimaru NikaidoGoro DaimonTerry BogardAndy BogardJoe HigashiRyo SakazakiRobert GarciaTakuma SakazakiRalf JonesClark StillHeidernAthena AsamiyaSie KensouChin GentsaiKingMai ShiranuiYuri SakazakiKim KaphwanChang KoehanChoi BoungeHeavy D!Lucky GlauberBrian BattlerRugal Bernstein
KOF '95 Logo Sprite Iori YagamiBilly KaneEiji KisaragiSaisyu KusanagiOmega RugalNakoruru (Game Boy only)
KOF '96 Logo Sprite Leona HeidernMatureViceKasumi TodohGeese HowardWolfgang KrauserMr. BigChizuru KaguraGoenitzMr. Karate (Game Boy only)
KOF '97 Logo Sprite Shingo YabukiYashiro NanakaseShermieChrisBlue MaryRyuji YamazakiOrochi IoriOrochi LeonaOrochi YashiroOrochi ShermieOrochi ChrisOrochi
KOF '99 Logo Sprite K'MaximaWhipBaoLi XiangfeiJhun HoonKyo-1Kyo-2Krizalid
KOF '99 Evolution Logo VanessaSethSyo KirishimaAlfredFiolina GermiGai Tendo
KOF 2000 Logo Sprite RamónLinHinako ShijoKula DiamondClone ZeroFoxyCandy DiamondAnother K'Another IoriAnother BenimaruAnother RobertCosplayer KyokoKang Bae DalSmart ChangCool ChoiKaoru WatabeBaitangDuck KingLilly KaneKim Jae HoonKim Dong HwanUnknownKing LionKim Sue-ilKaedeDuke EdwardsRockyAthenaNeo & GeoG-Mantle
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KOF EX Logo Moe Habana
KOF 2002 Logo Sprite Kusanagi
KOF EX2 Logo Reiji OogamiJun KagamiMiu KurosakiSinobu Amou
KOF 2003 Logo Sprite Ash CrimsonDuo LonShen WooTizocGatoMalinMaki KaguraAdelheid BernsteinMukai
KOF MI Logo Alba MeiraSoiree MeiraLien NevilleMignon BeartChae LimDukeRock Howard
KOF XI Logo Sprite OswaldElisabeth BlanctorcheMomokoB. JenetShionMagakiSilberSho HayateJyazuHotaru FutabaItokatsuTung Fu Rue
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KOF MIRA Logo Xiao LonMakoto Mizoguchi
KOF '98UM Logo Nightmare Geese
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