Characters in The King of Fighters introduced during the Tales of Ash (KOF 2003 to XIII) will be listed here. This includes the PS2-exclusive characters in KOF XI.

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The King of Fighters XII

Raiden / Big Bear

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/raiden_kofxiii.png

"I AM RAIDEN!"

Origin: Australia

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/australia_flag_png_5a2267853e3ed5969105531512204165255.jpg

Fighting style: Pro Wrestling

Voiced by: ^note

Playable in: ^note

A professional wrestler who appeared in the first Fatal Fury game. Originally he was bribed by Geese Howard into serving him, but after Geese's defeat went straight and narrow, reverting to his kindly Big Bear persona. He doesn't make an appearance in KOF until XII (although he was originally considered to represent England in '94). His Face persona is still Big Bear, but Word of God says that Raiden was chosen over him due to a lack of villains in XII. He eventually leaves Geese's employ to return to his homeland, passing up KOF for many years due to his satisfaction with his Face and Heel personas. While there's a slight misunderstanding about his current allegiance, Raiden decides to join Kim and Hwa Jai, believing that it will help boost his reputation as a fighter.

See Fatal Fury: King of Fighters for tropes on him

The King of Fighters XIII

Kim Team

Hwa Jai

"Strapped for cash? Bet all your money on me! You'll be rich in no time! Hya ha ha!"

Origin: Thailand

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/flagthailand.png

Fighting style: Muay Thai

Voiced by: ^note

Playable in: ^note

Yet another fighter who debuted in the original Fatal Fury, Hwa Jai is an arrogant Muay Thai fighter and early rival of Joe, he becomes a more formidable fighter after getting a little tipsy. He was defeated by Joe and became his friend and sparing partner. Now he teams up with Kim Kaphwan and Raiden in KOF XIII, seeing the tournament as a chance to revitalize his career and get another shot at besting Joe.

See Fatal Fury: King of Fighters for tropes on him

Villains

Saiki

Regular Saiki in the front, Demon Saiki in the back.

"Look back at your life before you die. Was it worth it? It wasn't, right? Nothing about you is worth anything!"

Origin: Unknown

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/10c06342_71a7_425a_a1f4_b6d32940b6f7.png

Fighting style: Personal style

Voiced by: ^note

Playable in: ^note

Boss character in: ^note

The leader of Those From The Past and the mastermind behind the events of the most recent tournaments. Looks suspiciously like Ash Crimson. He and his group's origins lie in Western Europe, Saiki himself functioning as the Western emissary of Gaia. As such, Those from the Past can be considered counterparts to the Hakkesshu clan. Whereas Orochi can distort space, Saiki possesses control over time. Saiki's alleged goal is to break Orochi's seal, resurrect the entity known as Gaia's Will, and use Orochi's power to open a monolith known as the Gate, allowing Saiki to travel back in time and rewrite history; ages ago, many members of Those from the Past were wiped out, presumably by Elisabeth's ancestors. To this end, he conspires to have Those from the Past manipulate Chizuru Kagura and Rose Bernstein, the sponsors of the most recent tournaments, to prepare the ritual necessary for reestablishing his forces and eradicating his enemies before they can become a threat to his operations.

Ancient Evil: Like Orochi, Saiki is an ancient being that leads an organization called Those from the Past, whose goal is to change the past and rule over humanity.
Arch-Enemy: To his descendant Ash, as everything Ash did throughout the saga was for the express purpose of subverting and eventually killing Saiki.
Artificial Stupidity: As much of a SNK Boss he is, his AI can't block low to save his life, even as Evil Ash, which is why Daimon's light Jiraishin can almost trivialize the fights with him, as seen here.
- He's also absolutely defenseless agaisnt Vice's Splash, as seen here
Asshole Victim: His baseless murder of Mukai did not win him any points here.
The Assimilator: He first pulls this on Mukai. When Ash absorbs his powers, Saiki's influence overwhelms him, transforming Ash into Evil Ash.
Bad Boss: Mukai found out first hand that Saiki does not appreciate someone taking care of business he deems his own... And that's without mentioning how he constantly treats his underlings like dirt, even as they are making sure everything is going according to plan.
Big Bad: Of the Tales of Ash Saga as a whole, He’s the leader of Those from the Past, he’s a deity created by earth itself like Orochi, and he plans to use Orochi’s power to travel to the past and change the past to destroy/reshape humanity after losing a similar war against them.
Break Them by Talking: Very fond of using this tactic.
Combat Pragmatist: Despite his supernatural powers, Saiki will still pick up rocks off the ground and throw them at you, as if he doesn't think his foes are worthy of anything more.
Contrasting Sequel Antagonist:
- To Orochi. Both are deities created by the earth itself and are leaders of their respective factions. But while Orochi was sealed at the end of his war against humanity, Saiki went into hiding and had children and descendants while he was in hiding. Furthermore, Orochi acts more of a force of nature putting Humanity on Trial, while Saiki sees them as playthings to be subjugated.
- To Igniz: Both are very powerful fighters, they are both leaders and both have huge god complexes. While Igniz gathered data from many fighters during the tournament and called himself the god of humanity, Saiki seeks to use Orochi to go back in time and change the past so that he and his followers can rule over humanity both in the past and future, also, Saiki is already a god-like being to begin with.
Dark Is Evil: Combined with Light Is Not Good. He's dressed in all white, but his flames are pitch black. Either way, there's no denying he's a very evil being.
Devour the Dragon: He does this on Mukai.
Evil Counterpart: To Ash. Both are powerful fighters, they both have stylish appearances but that’s where the similarities end. Ash is a Hero Antagonist that wants to stop Those from the Past from changing the past and cares about his Childhood Friend, Elizabeth, while Saiki is a sadistic deity that takes pleasure in making humanity suffer.
Fan Disservice: When his boss form faces the participants, (or when he uses his NeoMax) he turns into a completely naked muscular guy (who still somehow moves effeminately) with only his face, hands and feet covered in black, tar-like stuff. While his genital area isn't covered, he doesn't seem to have anything to show off anyway. It's like SNK wanted to mock Gill and Seth's... erm, "fashion" sense.
Female Gaze: Both his arcade version artwork and his winning portrait in XIII seems to have quite the focus on his really nice ass.
- Then there's the ending of XIII, where the camera is focused just around his naked rear for the majority of the sequence.
Foil: To Orochi. Both Orochi and Saiki have many similarities, both of them despise humans and declared war on them, they’re god-like beings, they’re both leaders of their own factions and they both lost their wars against humanity. But there are also some key differences between them; Orochi is the god of nature and Saiki is the god of time, Orochi is a calm figure who believes humanity must be eliminated for the sake of the world (and is more disappointed and embittered than outright hateful), while Saiki is a condescending jerk who seems to take pleasure in tormenting mankind. The final difference is that Orochi was sealed away at the end of his ancient war, while Saiki had descendants and he alongside his remaining followers went into hiding.
A God Am I: Like you wouldn't believe. The man could even rival Igniz in terms of this trope, and unlike Igniz, he's never really been mortal before.
Hate Sink: More than any other final boss in the series. The cutscenes and dialogue Saiki has in XIII work to thoroughly establish just how truly nasty Saiki is as a person. Between his sense of smug superiority when it comes to just about everything in the world, constant spiteful remarks to the cast, and willingness to murder his most loyal and noble follower when he was merely offering his aid, Saiki establishes his depravity and irredeemability extremely quickly, and sets himself up so that his eventual Fate Worse than Death at the hands of Ash winds up one of the most well-deserved deaths in the series. Even Rugal looks better in comparison to him.
Humanoid Abomination: Despite appearing human in his normal form, he's a being similar in nature to Orochi, existing for the sole purpose of dominating mankind. His inhuman nature becomes far more apparent in his transformed state.
It's All About Me: Saiki might just be the most self-serving villain in KOF history. Not even Rugal was this much of an unpleasant, egotistical dickwad and he's the guy with paintings of himself who submerges his defeated conquests in liquid metal. It doesn't help that Saiki apparently plans to absorb Orochi and become the sole Gaian Will, presumably in part to be able to fully sculpt humanity into passive hunting prey.
Japanese Pronouns: In the original version, he uses the very archaic and self-deprecating shousei. Like Ash, he isn't half as humble as his speech patterns suggest.
Jerkass: Saiki's dialogue is pretty much entirely consistent of him making spiteful comments to everyone around him, including the people who serve him.
Kick the Dog: Kills Mukai for disobeying his orders, even though Mukai loyally offered to fight in his place.
Kick Them While They Are Down: One of his specials in his regular form is literally this. Repeatedly.
Lack of Empathy: The amount of times he says anything that isn't dripping with sheer contempt for everything around him can be counted on one hand.
Long-Haired Pretty Boy: His human form has some really luscious white hair. It probably comes with being part of Ash's bloodline.
Make Wrong What Once Went Right: The Bad Ending of story mode reveals that before traveling to the future, he engineered events to render humanity properly docile for his rule. However he unfortunately made a few oversights, resulting in the modern world. He now intends to go back and correct his mistakes. He also intends to do this after his canonical defeat. It doesn't go that well either.
Misanthrope Supreme: Views humanity at large as a plague that must be wiped off the face of the planet.
Moveset Clone: On the surface, many of his normals and specials resembles Ash's own moveset. That said, the many different functions those moves have - especially considering that Saiki's specials are performed with motion inputs to contrast Ash's charge commands - make most of those initial similarities very surface-level.
One-Winged Angel: After he absorbs Mukai's powers, his body turns red, gains a similar build to that of Mukai, and parts of his body start glowing black. While this form is not playable, he does take it on during his Neomax attack.
Physical God: Like Orochi, he is a deity created by the planet itself and is insanely powerful.
Power Makes Your Voice Deep: His transformed state has an eerily deep, booming voice.
Puny Earthlings: He's rather fond of reminding the human characters how insignificant they are before him, as well as reminding them he has the power to wipe their entire species from existence.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: Unlike Ash, he always has them.
Ret-Gone: Along with Ash. And unlike Ash, there's no indication his soul was contained in Verse.
Sissy Villain: Like Ash, he has very feminine mannerisms. Most noticable when he's possessing Mukai for the penultimate fight of the game, as being a huge towering wall of muscle doesn't change his mannerisms in any way.
Slouch of Villainy: Often seen lounging around in a couch in cut scenes.
Smug Super: One of the most powerful antagonists in the series, and also one of the most vile.
SNK Boss: As to be expected with a KOF boss, he's one infuriatingly tough opponent to face. He's very difficult to open up (though as noted in Artificial Stupidity, you can cheese him pretty well with low attacks), has projectiles that are very good at trapping you in place so he can swoop in and command grab you, and, as is common with SNK bosses, possesses a full-screen super (which counts as a Neo MAX, despite only costing him 1 meter).
Spell My Name With An S: Before his name was officially revealed to be Saiki, sites spelled his name as "Psyche."
Surrounded by Idiots: Mentions something like this in one of the story mode scenes.
Technicolor Fire: Black fire, which behaves more like ink. Evil Ash's black fire is actual fire, being a tainted version of Ash's.
Teleport Spam: His playable version in the console and Updated Re-release can do this.
Temporal Paradox: The cause of his ultimate demise.
Time Stands Still: This appears to be one of his powers or at the very least, connected to the time gate that allowed him to travel to the present day as seen in his pre-fight intro, although he seldom uses it in battle.
Uncanny Family Resemblance: He bears a striking resemblance to his direct descendant, Ash Crimson.
Villain Ball: Sure Saiki, one of your strongest minions who has nothing but loyalty for you offers to fight in your stead, which would really help if you needed to duck into the door to the past in a hurry... and your response is to kill him for no reason other than that he spoke up to you. Yeah, that's REALLY going to help. Specially when you follow it via taking over the body of your own descendant despite knowing clearly that he is NOT to be trusted.
Villainous Breakdown: Saiki screams for his life after Ash uses his remaining willpower to stop Saiki from controlling his body and allows himself to be erased from the timeline via Temporal Paradox.
Vocal Dissonance: Some of his in-battle clips get surprisingly gruff and coarse compared to his spoken dialogue, it's especially jarring given he shares his voice with Ash.
Voluntary Shapeshifting: Saiki outside his true form is playable in the console version of XIII and the Updated Re-release for arcade machines (XIII Climax). His Neo MAX allows him to turn into his true form to deal some damage.
You Have Failed Me: There are some implications that Saiki offed Mukai because of his defeat back in 2003, spurring Saiki to want to take matters into his own hands and not risk screwing up their operations so late in the game. Doesn't make it any less of a callous move or a wholly stupid one, for that matter.

Others

NPC

Botan

The fourth member of Those From the Distant Land, she has the ability to control the actions of anyone she chooses through invisible puppet strings. Botan established herself as quite the Magnificent Bitch as early as 2003, when it turns out she was controlling Chizuru the entire time. After Mukai's failure, she sets her sights on Rugal Bernstein's daughter Rose and controls her from XI to XIII.

Karma Houdini: Her fate in XIII is infinitely less harsh than that of the honourable Mukai. She actually makes it out of XIII completely unscathed. In one of the closing scenes of the story, Botan is seen alive and well, walking in the middle of a crowd. Maybe subverted because either way, she doesn't look too happy and cannot repeat all the crimes she has done in the past because of the lack of Saiki and Those From The Past
Marionette Master
People Puppets: She can use her strings to effectively brainwash and control people. Demonstrated on Rose by making the girl host KOF tournament in a very specific place for Botan's master's plans.

Rose Bernstein

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rose11_8666.jpg

Voiced by: Kazuyo Inosako

Adel's little sister and a Rich Bitch to the hilt. While Adel got Rugal's fighting skill, Rose got his sense of unfair play. She's a noncombatant (although skilled at fencing, according to supplementary materials), but very fond of her brother.

Annoying Younger Sibling: All she does is yap, yap, yap all day long.
- Subverted in-story: Adel may be annoyed with her, but he does care and worry for her sake. And with very good reasons.
Arms Dealer: Though never directly stated, it's strongly implied the Bernstein family continues to maintain their source of income. The only reason Botan mind controlled Rose was because she possessed the influence, power, and wealth to host the KOF tournament on such short notice: up to and including the quiet construction of a lavish colosseum with secret magic relics underneath.
Big Brother Worship: Gets too extreme at times, and sometimes Adel himself has to put his foot down. Her devotion for Adel (as well as her Berserk Button when he is defeated in 2003) seems to border on Big Brother Attraction.
- It's not helped by Adel's massive case of Big Brother Instinct towards Rose herself. ... Um.
Brainwashed: How she spends the entirety of XIII. She is freed in the end.
Cute, but Cacophonic
Duality Motif: Her usual dress (seen to the right) is half-red, half-black. Possibly symbolic, as these are the two dominant colors of her father's tuxedo attire.
Japanese Sibling Terminology: Calls Adel "onii-sama." It's translated as "Dearest Brother" in English.
Left the Background Music On: Subverted/inverted when facing Adel in 2003. At first, Rose appears to be playing "Revolutionary Etude" (the brief opening segment of Adel's theme), but once the music diverts into incomprehensible techno and never looks back for its "R2" portion, it becomes clear she's not performing on the piano for her brother's fights.
Narcissist: Loves herself, absolutely loathes ugly and weak people.
Neutral Female: Despite her haughty nature and being a fencer, Rose doesn't do much other than sit on the sidelines and play the piano. XI even pokes fun at this with one of Adel's moves: Rose is summoned, but only so that she can taunt Adel.
- One of the stages of XIII Climax takes place in the Skynoah, and she's seen hanging around in the background like it's just another day: playing the piano, having tea with her panther at her feet, checking on the controls with Adel...
No Sense of Personal Space: Around her brother, Adel. On occasion, some of her clutching could be considered inappropriate or too intimate for siblings.
Not Herself and/or Out-of-Character Alert: When Rose begins doing things without telling her brother and ignores whatever he tells her, Adel instantly knows something is wrong since she always does what he says and always tells him what's on her mind.
- To reiterate, upon discovering her plans for the ritual grounds built underneath Rose Stadium, he's put at unease, partially due to what they're being used for, but mainly because she would've have told him before even deciding to act.
Ojou: Type 2. Oh yes.
Ojou Ringlets
Pimped-Out Dress: To up the ante, Rose is seen sporting even more extravagant clothing in XIII. Special notice goes to the one described in True Blue Femininity.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: She's not "evil" per se, but she's definitely more of a selfish brat than Adel, that's for sure.
Requisite Royal Regalia: For some strange reason, she wears a tiara despite not being of noble blood.
- The Atlus translation for XIII called her bloodline the Bernstein Family. However the original Japanese text could also be translated as House of Bernstein. Given their influence and wealth, it's possible the Bernstein are fictional German nobility.
Rich Bitch: Hoo boy.
Right-Hand Cat: Is seen playing with a baby panther, which is apparently Rodem's offspring.
Royal Brat
Screw the Rules, I Make Them!
Sibling Yin-Yang: She and Adel are opposite of each other: He inherits his father's fighting style but is a noble fighter, while she inherits her father's pride and ego but is a noncombatant.
Sore Loser: Like father, like daughter. Even though it's her brother that does all of the fighting.
Symbol Motif Clothing: Nearly all her outfits have roses or feature decorative rose flower patterns.
Tagalong Kid: To a degree (see Annoying Younger Sibling above).
True Blue Femininity: She wears a very Pimped-Out Dress in a light blue tone during the Final Stage of KOF XIII.
The Tragic Rose: While tragedy doesn't exactly hit her, she is a vital part in Those from the Past's plans... which end with Ash Ret-goning himself in what becomes a massive Tear Jerker. The dress she's wearing in that moment even has rose motifs all over it.
Unwitting Pawn: Thank you very much, Botan.
Yandere: Adel's ending in XI reveals that Botan is trying to use this side of her against Adel. She succeeds and Rose spends all of XIII in a brainwashed state thanks to her, and only is released at the end.

Shroom and Rimelo

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Rimelo (left) and Shroom (right)

Two characters who previously appeared as unnamed members of Those from the Past in 2003's ending. Shroom is the girly-looking blond man while Rimello is the brunette weird girl. They first appeared in the Ikari Team's Ending in XI to reclaim Magaki's lifeless body, taking Heidern's Eyepatch of Power with them in the process. They return in the XII manhua and later are included in several scenes of XIII's Story Mode, including the OP video where they give Kyo his invitation to the KOF tournament.

Ascended Extra
Cute Mute: Rimelo never ever says a word.
Dude Looks Like a Lady: Shroom, so much that...
- She's a Man in Japan: More exactly, in the Chinese manhua.
Elegant Gothic Lolita: Rimelo's black/white dress and really cute pump shoes evoke the style.
Enfante Terrible: Rimelo can't be older than 15 (at least in looks), yet she's a full blooded membress of Those from the Past.
Eyepatch of Power: Shroom sometimes wears an eyepatch in XIII. Rimelo is often seen playing with it, too. It belonged to Heidern, actually, and if you have Ralf face Saiki he'll furiously demand to have the eyepatch back in their pre-fight talk.
Karma Houdini: While they're not half as villainous as Saiki, they also get away with their activities as members of Those from the Past. May be subverted in the Story Mode, if them being there when Shion returns is any indication.
Odd Friendship: Shroom is quite the cold Jerkass, but he seems to treat Rimelo better than he does to others.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Having made some research and realized that he and the others were few more than peons, Shroom and Rimelo decided to get ready and bail out ASAP. They don't really get the chance, as far as we know.
The Smart Guy: Shroom is seen doing research about the Gate.
Unfortunate Names: Come on, Shroom?!
The Unfought: Despite the fact that they prominently appear in XIII's intro and Story Mode (even managing to rough up Kyo a little before handing him his invitation to the tournament), you never get to fight either of them.

Characters / The King of Fighters: The Tales of Ash

Individual Pages:

The King of Fighters XII

The King of Fighters XIII

Kim Team

Villains

Others

Botan

Rose Bernstein

Shroom and Rimelo

Alternative Title(s): The King Of Fighters XII, The King Of Fighters XIII

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Characters / The King of Fighters: The Tales of Ash

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Individual Pages:

The King of Fighters XII

The King of Fighters XIII

Kim Team

Villains

Others

Botan

Rose Bernstein

Shroom and Rimelo

Alternative Title(s): The King Of Fighters XII, The King Of Fighters XIII

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