Andy Bogard : Andy Bogard (アンディー・ボガード,
Andī Bogādo) is
Terry Bogard's younger brother. After his foster father Jeff's death, Andy goes to Japan to train under Hanzo Shiranui, from whom he learns Shiranui-ryū ("Shiranui style" in Japanese)
Ninjutsu and a form of empty-handed ninja combat called Koppō-ken. During this time, he grows up alongside Hanzo's granddaughter
Mai, who falls madly in love with him and begins proclaiming him her fiancé. While in Japan, Andy meets
Muay Thai fighter Joe Higashi, inviting him to return with him to the United States and enter
Geese Howard's King of Fighters tournament. Late in the tournament, Andy tried to kill Geese by himself, but Geese overpowers him and Andy nearly falls to his death. Terry saves Andy, who then acknowledges Terry as the superior fighter. Andy continues to join Terry in the subsequent King of Fighters tournaments, though he sustains a serious chest wound in the brothers' final battle with Geese. After Geese's death, Andy resumes his training, taking on a young apprentice named
Hokutomaru. Instead of participating in the KOF: Maximum Mayhem tournament himself, Andy sends Hokutomaru in his place to see what his apprentice has learned. In Hokutomaru's ending, Andy writes him a note expressing pride in Hokutomaru's strength, saying he has nothing left to teach him. In
City of the Wolves, Andy continues to suffer from his chest wound, but decides to enter the new tournament despite the risks to prove to himself that he is strong enough to defeat Terry in a fight. In the
King of Fighters series, Andy regularly appears on a team alongside Terry and Joe, joined in entries with four person teams by Mai or Blue Mary. During the
Ash Crimson Saga, Andy briefly leaves the team to care for the ill Hokutomaru before later returning at his brother's request. In his anime incarnations, though sometimes perplexed by her actions, Andy is more open to showing his affection towards Mai. In
The King of Fighters XIV, its established that Andy and Mai are now in a relationship.
Billy Kane : is introduced in
Fatal Fury as the righthand man of
Geese Howard, a crime lord in the fictitious American city of South Town. Geese holds
The King of Fighters tournament every year with Billy as his champion. Billy was the undefeated champion of the tournament, until he is defeated by
Terry Bogard, who moved on to later defeat Geese. He also appears in
Fatal Fury Special as a playable character for the first time. After Geese recovers, Billy appears in
Real Bout Fatal Fury to assist him in the conquer of South Town. Though Geese requests Billy destroy the Jin Scrolls, Billy cannot bring himself to do so, replacing them with fakes and hiding the real ones away, and he leaves South Town after Geese's death. In the PlayStation version from
Real Bout Fatal Fury Special, Billy is brainwashed by his half-brother White in order to aid him in the conquer from South Town. He then appears as a sub-boss character in the arcade mode, but once he is defeated, he returns to normal. A 3D fighting game version of the series,
Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition was produced as well, which retells the plot of the first game. By the time of
City of the Wolves, Billy has assumed control of the Howard Connection after Geese's death, and works with Geese's son Rock Howard and brother-in-law Kain R. Heinlein to retrieve Geese's stolen legacy, including the Jin Scrolls. After the Scrolls are destroyed and learning of the Jin dynasty's connection to Geese and Rock, Billy accepts Rock's decision to move on, retaining control of Geese's legacy. In
The King of Fighters series, Billy was meant to appear in
the first game from the series as a member of an England Team, composed of him,
Mai Shiranui, and
Big Bear, but due to several problems with the capacity of the game, and the desire from the
Art of Fighting staff to add
Yuri Sakazaki, Billy was removed from the game. When the new
King of Fighters tournament began in ''
The King of Fighters '95'' under the control of a man named
Rugal Bernstein, Billy is ordered by Geese to go in his boss' place because Geese was still healing. He joins with a
ninja named
Eiji Kisaragi and a mysterious man named
Iori Yagami. Billy's team does not win, and at the end of the tournament Iori beats up Billy and Eiji. In ''
The King of Fighters '97 Geese sends Billy to investigate the mysterious Orochi power in Iori. Geese hires a sadistic outlaw named Ryuji Yamazaki and tricks a good freelance agent named Blue Mary to help as well. After the tournament ends, Yamazaki demands his pay from Geese by attacking him and Billy. The same team is shown in The King of Fighters '98, The King of Fighters 2002 and Neowave but none of those contain a storyline. He also appears as an assistant character (known as "Striker") in The King of Fighters '99: Evolution and The King of Fighters 2000''. In the former he is available for any character, while in the latter he is a striker for Andy Bogard. In
The King of Fighters 2003, Geese orders the team of Billy Kane, Ryuji Yamazaki, and
Gato to infiltrate the tournament in another attempt to take over South Town. During the spin-off game
The King of Fighters Kyo Billy appears as boss character along Geese to fight against the Bogard brothers and the protagonist
Kyo Kusanagi. In
KOF: Maximum Impact 2, it is revealed Billy has moved to the countryside of the
UK with his young sister,
Lilly Kane, and has decided to return to South Town once again, willing to show the Meira twins:
Alba and
Soiree the town should be embarked by no one. Billy also appeared in the console version of
The King of Fighters XIII, released in November 2011. He is also present in the
otome game King of Fighters for Girls. Billy Kane appears in the TV anime film
Fatal Fury: Legend of the Hungry Wolf, where he is voiced by
Daiki Nakamura in the original Japanese version and
Paul Dobson in the English dubbed version. Like in the original
Fatal Fury video game, Billy Kane is one of Geese Howard's underlings alongside
Raiden, Ripper and Hopper. He enters the King of Fighters tournament alongside Raiden on Geese's behalf and later mortally wounds Tung Fu Rue while the Bogards and Joe are escaping from Geese's men. In the final battle of the film, he ends up fighting against
Andy Bogard and ends up being defeated by him. He appears again in the sequel
Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle, where he makes an unvoiced appearance in the beginning of the film, in which he is confronted by
Laurence Blood at the Pao-Pao Cafe and is defeated off-screen. Billy makes an extended cameo appearance in the third film,
Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture, this time voiced by
Tomohiro Nishimura in the original Japanese version and once again by Paul Dobson in English. He encounters his old adversary Andy in a night club, but the two are confronted by Laocorn's henchman Hauer before they get a chance to fight again. In the second episode of the anime spin-off mini-series
The King of Fighters: Another Day, Rock Howard, Geese's son, stops Billy from killing
Lien Neville who was carrying out a hit on him. Billy tries to convince Rock to help him, because as he carries Geese's heritage, Lien would try to take him out too. Instead, Rock decides to save Lien's life and fights Billy, who almost manages to kill him as well for shaming Geese's legacy, but is blown away by a beam fired over Geese Tower. He also stars in manhua from the video games which retells his actions from the games. Additionally, in the
manga The King of Fighters: Kyo authored by Masato Natsumoto, Billy starts investigating
Kyo Kusanagi in order to make him talk about the ancient demon Orochi. In Gamest's 1997 Heroes Collection, Billy was voted as the staff's fourth favorite character. In the character popularity poll on Neo Geo Freak's website, he was voted as the seventeenth favorite character with a total of 757 votes. For the special endings in ''
The King of Fighters '97'', three video games journals,
Gamest,
Famitsu and Neo Geo Freak, had to create a team composed of three characters from the game so that they would be featured in an image after passing the arcade mode. The special team created by the Neo Geo Freak's staff was a team of fire wielders: Billy,
Kyo Kusanagi, and
Mai Shiranui. The special ending only appears in Japanese versions of the game.
Duck King : Duck King (ダック・キング,
Dakku Kingu) appears in the original
Fatal Fury as one of the first four opponents in the single-player mode. Possessing incredible talent when it comes to brawling and street dancing, Duck King once challenged Terry Bogard to a street fight and lost. He trained himself in order to surpass Terry. Duck uses a unique fighting style which includes rhythmical dance-like movements and attacks. His primary special move is a flying cannonball technique. In
Fatal Fury 2, Duck was one of the characters from the original game who is defeated by Krauser in one of the games cut scenes, although he would appear as a playable character in
Fatal Fury Special. He would retain his cannonball technique, now dubbed the
Head Spin Attack, along with new special moves such as the
Dancing Dive,
Break Storm, and the
Beat Rush. He also has a new hidden special move called the
Break Spiral. From
Special and onward, Duck would be accompanied by his pet chick "P-chan". He makes another quick cameo in Bob Wilson's ending
Fatal Fury 3 before returning as a playable character in
Real Bout Fatal Fury and its sequels,
Real Bout Special and
Real Bout 2. He also appears as an exclusive character in the PlayStation version of
Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition. Although Duck King has made numerous cameo appearances thorough
The King of Fighters series, including as an alternate Striker (a character who helps the player in battle) in
The King of Fighters 2000, he did not appear as a playable character until
The King of Fighters XI, where he appears as a member of the new Fatal Fury Team along with Terry and Kim Kaphwan.
Geese Howard Hwa Jai : is the first of three opponents the player faces in the original
Fatal Fury before the final match against Geese Howard. A former
Muay Thai champion once nicknamed , he once fought against Joe Higashi in the past and lost, causing him to lose his title. Seeking to defeat Joe, he became a more reckless and dangerous fighter. After being banned from competing in the Muay Thai circuit, his brutal talent was noted by Geese Howard, who hired him to serve as one of his bodyguards and a participant in the King of Fighters tournament. His special technique, the
Dragon Kick, was developed to compete with Joe's
Tiger Kick. He also gains additional strength by drinking a sort of
Super Drink, which thrown at him by one of
Geese's men when he is in danger. In
Fatal Fury 2, Hwa Jai is one of the characters from the original game who gets defeated by Wolfgang Krauser. He is apparently hospitalized and visited by Joe Higashi, as seen in Joe's ending in the game and in
Fatal Fury Special. He makes further cameos in the subsequent
Fatal Fury games (
Fatal Fury 3,
Real Bout,
Real Bout Special and
Real Bout 2) as Joe's training partner and trainer. Despite having been absent since his original appearance as an opponent character in
Fatal Fury, Hwa Jai has been confirmed to return in
The King of Fighters XIII and marks the first time the character has been playable. Kim, following his "reform" of his previous teammates (Chang Koehan and Choi Bounge), seeks out Hwa Jai and Raiden as he believes they still work under Geese Howard. It is not the case as Geese had returned to America long ago but Raiden manages to talk Hwa Jai into joining the team to bolster their reputations as fighters. Hwa Jai accepts, partially due to wanting to fight Joe once again.
Joe Higashi : first appears in
Fatal Fury: King of Fighters as one of the three playable characters along with Andy and Terry Bogard. The plot features Joe allying with the Bogard brothers to enter the King of Fighters tournament and then defeat the host
Geese Howard, who killed the Bogard brothers' father. In the tournament, Joe also beats his Muay Thai rival Hwa Jai, and they both become friends. In
Fatal Fury 2, Joe learns that Hwa Jai was beaten by the new King of Fighters host
Wolfgang Krauser and enters the tournament to avenge him.
Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory and
Real Bout Fatal Fury end the fight between Joe and the Bogard and Geese, who dies falling from the Geese Tower. The two following games,
Real Bout Fatal Fury Special and
Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers also feature Joe as a playable character but none of them contain a storyline.
Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition retells the events from the first game, but with characters who would appear later. Joe returns in
City of the Wolves, now training Preecha as his student and assisting Cheng Sinzan with producing a
biopic about his life,
The Legend of Joe. In
The King of Fighters series, Joe is a regular member from the Fatal Fury Team (also composed of Terry and Andy), and each game features them entering into an annual tournament to search for competition. Andy's girlfriend
Mai Shiranui, joins them in ''
The King of Fighters '99 since the tournament now requires four members per team. By The King of Fighters 2000 and The King of Fighters 2001, Mai leaves and the new fourth member is Blue Mary. The King of Fighters 2002 and The King of Fighters 2003 return the tournament to use teams of three members, but in the latter pro-wrestler Tizoc replaces Andy, who is busy taking care of his sick student. By The King of Fighters XI, Joe leaves the competition as he enters into a new Muay Thai tournament. However, he returns in The King of Fighters XII'', which neither features official teams or plot.
The sequel casts Joe back into the classic Fatal Fury team that includes Terry and Andy, the reason being Terry's desire to reunite the original team to participate in the upcoming tournament. In the spin-off
The King of Fighters Kyo, the player (who uses
Kyo Kusanagi) can challenge Joe to a fight in a game, and also make him join to his team for the upcoming King of Fighters tournament. Joe also takes a minor role in
The King of Fighters EX as an assistant character (dubbed "Striker") for the Fatal Fury Team, now composed with the Bogard brothers and Mai. Additionally, he stars in
The King of Fighters Neowave with the original Fatal Fury Team. He was also added to the crossover game
Capcom vs. SNK Pro, an updated version of
Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 for the PlayStation and Sega
Dreamcast, and in the sequel
Capcom vs. SNK 2. He is also present the
otome game King of Fighters for Girls. In the 1993 film
Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle, Joe becomes ashamed after learning that Terry became depressed after being defeated by
Wolfgang Krauser and tries to avenge him. However, he ends up being heavily wounded by Krauser. In
Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture from 1994 Joe joins Terry, Andy and Mai into helping a girl named Sulia into stopping her brother Laocorn Gaudeamus, who is the main antagonist from the film.
Michael Max is a black boxer who appears in the original
Fatal Fury as one of the first four CPU-controlled opponents whom the player faces. Prior to the events of the game, Michael was a young boxing prodigy who was once considered a strong contender for the title of Worldwide Heavyweight Champion. However, he left the boxing circuit to seek real combat and participate in the King of Fighters tournament, feeling that professional boxing was a mere sport protected by rules. He is also the friend and student of boxing of Axel Hawk. His only other appearances in the series includes in the cut-scenes of
Fatal Fury 2, where he is one of the fighters defeated by Wolfgang Krauser, and in
Axel Hawks ending in
Fatal Fury Special, where he is depicted as Axel's trainer. In one of his victory poses, it is revealed that he is Catholic. Michael Max is the only character from the original
Fatal Fury that has never appeared in
The King of Fighters series until he makes a cameo at one of
The King of Fighters XV trailer.
Raiden / Big Bear : first appears in the original
Fatal Fury as the second of the final four computer-controlled opponents in the single-player mode. He was once a popular
face wrestler until he was betrayed by his tag partner during a match (a character later revealed to be Big Bombarder from the SNK wrestling game
3 Count Bout). This incident transformed him completely and he became a notorious
heel wrestler. Not satisfied with venting his frustration in the ring, he enters the King of Fighters tournament as a masked fighter, acting as one of Geese's guardians. His primary special move in the game is the
Vapor Breath. This character was modeled after real life pro wrestler
Big Van Vader. He returns as a regular playable character in
Fatal Fury 2 and
Fatal Fury Special, where he renounces his Raiden persona and now fights as an unmasked face wrestler under the identity of . He trains at his native land of
Australia, where his deadly strength increased on several levels. He also develops a friendly rivalry with Terry, as seen in his endings in both games. His special moves in
Fatal Fury 2 includes the
Giant Bomb, a rushing tackle, and the
Super Drop Kick. He also has a hidden special move called the
Fire Breath, an improved version of his
Vapor Breath. In
Special, he gains a new special move called the
Bear Bomber. He later cameos as a wrestling commentator in
City of the Wolves.
Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition, being a retelling of the original
Fatal Fury tournament, depicts
Raiden under his masked heel persona once again. Outside the
Fatal Fury series, Raiden also appeared in the
Capcom-produced crossover game
Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000, and its sequels,
Capcom vs. SNK Pro and
Capcom vs. SNK 2, being one of the few
Fatal Fury characters who did not appear in
The King of Fighters as a playable character (at the time) in those games. Raiden also appears in
The King of Fighters XII and
the sequel. In
KOF XII none of the characters are assigned into teams but for
KOF XIII they are. Raiden's teammates in
KOF XIII are Kim Kaphwan and Hwa Jai. Kim is mistaken in thinking Raiden and Hwa Jai are still in the employ of Geese Howard, wanting to "reform" both men. Raiden convinces Hwa Jai to act as if they are so they are able to enter the tournament to build reputation for themselves. The
Fatal Fury characters refer him as "Bear", his face persona, which he denies.
Richard Meyer : appears in the original
Fatal Fury as one of the first four computer-controlled opponents in the single-player mode. A
capoeira mestre originally from
Brazil, Richard makes his daily living in South Town as the manager of the restaurant Pao Pao Cafe. He competes in the King of Fighters tournament in order to make his capoiera style known to the world. In this game, his character specializes in numerous kick techniques. Richard Meyer was the first fighting game character to use Capoeira. Richard makes cameo appearances in subsequent
Fatal Fury games as a friendly acquaintance of the Bogard brothers and Joe. He appears in
Fatal Fury 2 in the cut scene shown immediately after the first battle against the CPU, tending to a crowd of spectators at Pao Pao Cafe witnessing the player's fight on television. He appears again near the end of the game, where he is defeated in battle by Wolfgang Krauser, as well in Terry Bogard's ending, serving him and his date their meal. In
Fatal Fury 3, Richard opens a new Pao Pao Cafe restaurant, which is maintained by his capoeira apprentice
Bob Wilson. In
Fatal Fury 3, as well as in
Real Bout series, Richard appears to cheer and encourage Bob before each of his matches. He makes cameos in
The King of Fighters XI, trying to tell Kim to leave the cafe and in
King of Fighters XIII witnessing several female fighters destroy his bar. Richard appears as a hidden character in the PlayStation 2 game
KOF: Maximum Impact 2 (released in North America as
The King of Fighters 2006), participating as a fighter for the first time since the original
Fatal Fury. Richard's real given name is Ricardo.
Terry Bogard Tung Fu Rue : is one of the first four opponents the players face in the original
Fatal Fury (when either Andy or Terry defeats him in
Fatal Fury Special, each Bogard brother addresses him as "Master Tan"). He is an elderly martial arts master from China who developed his own fighting style based on
Bajiquan known as the . In the past, he trained Terry and Andy's adoptive father, Jeff Bogard, and his nemesis Geese Howard (as well as
Cheng Sinzan). He raised the Bogard brothers after Jeff was killed by Geese and participates in the King of Fighters tournament in the first game with the objective to defeat Geese. He can transform his body into steel and draw out great power using a deadly secret technique known only to himself. In the game, he appears as meek elderly man, but after taking a bit of damage, he transforms into a musclebound warrior, whose special moves including a flying whirlwind punch and a spinning whirlwind kick in which he shoots fireballs at both directions. In
Fatal Fury 2, Tung was one of the characters defeated by Wolfgang Krauser in one of the game's cut-scene. He would appear as a playable character in
Fatal Fury Special, the upgraded version of
Fatal Fury 2. Unlike the original game, Tung only transforms into a musclebound version of himself while performing certain special moves. Tung reappears in
Real Bout Special and
Real Bout 2. In
Real Bout Special, there are two versions of him in the game. In regular version of him has improved versions of his previous special moves, as well as new moves, while the alternate version of him (EX Tung Fu Rue) has all of his moves from
Fatal Fury Special and one Hidden Ability. In
Real Bout 2, Tung has special moves from both versions of his character in the previous game. Tung also appears in the SNK crossover game
NeoGeo Battle Coliseum. This version of the character was used as an additional character in the PlayStation 2 port of
The King of Fighters XI, until he canonically participates in
The King of Fighters XIV. He is also one of the 20 background characters that appears in the King of Fighters Stadium Stage in
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. In
The King of Fighters timeline, Tung played a vital role in
XIV. According to a profile of one of his disciples, and the protagonist central character of that arc, Shun'ei, Tung found Shun'ei after his biological parents abandoned him for having an eerie powers, related to the main antagonist of that arc. Sensing good in the young eerie powered boy, Tung decided to raise Shun'ei as his disciple to be trained by himself against the villains who had a connection to Shun'ei's eerie power, such as the villain who is connected to Shun'ei's left-half power, an avatar of fiery rage and soul containing entity known as Verse. Additionally, he has met
Kyo Kusanagi's father, Saisyu Kusanagi, and a fellow elderly Chinese martial arts master, Chin Gentsai, sometime before. == Introduced in
Fatal Fury 2 and
Fatal Fury Special ==