King Of Fighters Storyline Retrospective: Part Three
Welcome to part three of the King Of Fighters Retrospective: A look back at the story of KOF that will bring us up to date with the series to coincide with the release of King Of Fighters XII on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on August 28 in the USA and September 4th in Europe.
We’ve so far covered the many tournaments in the early titles and seen many changes to the format of the tournaments. There have also been a handful of villains wanting power, fame and success but thus far none have been successful. By this time in the story both Kyo and Iori had become essentially King Of Fighter’s own Ryu and Ken. However that wasn’t to last as a new warrior by the name of K’ was about to take centre stage.
By the way, if you’re wanting to read parts 1 or 2 you can find them here:
KOF Story Retrospective Part 1
KOF Story Retrospective Part 2
Sit down with us as we look at King Of Fighters 99 this week and 01 and 02 next week to discover more deception, deceit and down-right amazing battles.
3…. 2…. 1…. FIGHT!
King Of Fighters 99
Two years passed since the Orochi battle and the world had returned to peace with fighters simply sticking to local matches to keep up their abilities. The fighters, and indeed the world, had put the nightmare of Orochi far behind them.
However the two champions, Iori and Kyo, had gone missing in this time, with no one knowing their exact whereabouts, not even Chizuru. The other fighters did not concern themselves with their disappearance and carried on with their own lives. That is until a new set of invitations were sent out for the next King Of Fighters tournament.
Unlike the previous tournament the fights would be underground. In addition, no longer were the matches broadcast around the world for everyone to see, especially not after the Orochi ordeal. As well as this, the fights themselves were to see alterations; an additional fighter would be allowed to participate for short whiles, if only to aid their team with one or two attacks. Thus pushing the battles to four fighters a piece.
The same teams from previous tournaments all made a return along with a whole host of new faces. With the absence of Kyo, Benimaru took the place of the number one fighter in the Hero Team and added two new fighters K’ and Maxima, no one knew anything about either of them but everyone suspected them of ill-intent.
Two single entries also showed up that demonstrated abilities almost identical to those of Kyo, from his techniques to his powers.
The fights took place as always with fighters demonstrating abilities and techniques unlike anything seen before and the additional fighter added to the teams meant that battles were more strategic. Eventually, it was the Hero Team that made it to the finals, which were to take place underground in the sewers.
As the Hero Team arrived the water started to dry up underneath them and they soon found themselves standing on a moving platform that began to submerge down further into the sewers beneath them.
As the elevator worked its way down it eventually came to a stop in front of a huge metallic door with the numbers 70599 on them. The door opened and before the team could spend long pondering what exactly was going on, red lights flashed and multiple computer screens came to life in front of them. In the back of the room a darting voice called out to them and invited them in.
The team demanded the man show himself and he did, he was strange compared to most people they had met during the tournament, a tall but relatively weak looking man who showed no fighting spirit at all, except from the darkness in his eyes.
Benimaru demanded the man reveal his true intentions but he simply stared back at him, as they began to walk towards each other and engage in deadly combat. The man showed no effort in pulling off some of the most devastating moves any of the team had seen before in their lives and worse of all, the fighters could sense the man wasn’t even using most of his power to fight them.
After a long, seemingly pointless match Benimaru landed a single move that knocked the man down to the ground, it looked as if the match was over. The man, however, slowly got back to his feet and started to laugh at the fighters as the room lit up to reveal a huge base full of computers and advanced technology, the man’s laughter only grew as he introduced himself as Krizalid.
Krizalid reveals that his intention was to use the King Of Fighters tournament to gather the world’s strongest fighters to his lair to accomplish his ultimate goal. At that moment, images of Kyo flash up on the monitors dotted around the room.
Krizalid tells the team he had taken Kyo captive after the last tournament and used his DNA to clone him and create an army of ultimate fighters; two of which had actually entered the tournament themselves. However Kyo had escaped half way through the process and left Krizalid to use the tournament to finish off his army, which he intended to use to take out the world’s super powers and claim the earth for his own rule.
Benimaru asks Krizalid how he could capture the fighting data from underground, Krizalid tells him that the data is sent through his body to the computers they see around him and that K’ is a clone of himself. K’ refuses to believe him but when Krizalid asks him to tell him about his past, K’ is speechless as he can’t remember any part of it.
Krizalid laughs, there is one last part of his data to be collected; the killer instinct that he will gain from killing them himself, thus the true battle begins. From the start the whole affair is completely one side, with the entire Hero Team being out matched by Krizalid’s immense power.
With the Hero Team on the verge of defeat, Krizalid prepares to finish them off for good, but not before Maxima manages to land one final blow. This gives K’ an opportunity to knock Krizalid back before the fighters themselves fall back, exhausted but sure of their victory.
The four fighters slowly get to their feet but Krizalid once again attacks them. With no strength left, the fighters accept their fate as a huge light emerges from above them. A voice calls “You have failed!” Krizalid looks up and instantly begins to beg for his life to the confusion of the Hero Team.
A rock falls down crushing Krizalid and saving the Hero Team. From the darkness the fighters recognise a fighting spirit that was both immense and familiar, as the figure walks towards the light they recoil in joy as Kyo steps forward.
Before anyone could celebrate, Kyo demanded he was told who saved his friends lives. A voice echoes back at him “We, the NESTS cartel, plan to forward the plan for 10 years! But you must be eliminated!” Kyo isn’t fazed by the threat but before he can react the base begins to fall apart forcing the fighters to flee.
In the distance upon a cliff, a red haired figure looks onward as the base collapses, Iori Yagami stands there in search of Kyo and answers about the mysterious of the clones. As the base falls apart he sees the fighters fleeing the scene “Just you wait, Kyo! Next time, I won’t let anyone stand between us. Our battle will not end until one of us dies!”
The fourth and final extended part of the KOF Story Retrospective is just around the corner. It will bring us bang up to date and set us up for the release of the new title. We’ll see you there.
#1 – kusanagi on September 4th, 2009 9:20 am
when is part 4 going to be published?ive been eagerly waiting for it!