King (SNK)



King (キング, Kingu) is a character in both Art of Fighting and The King of Fighters series. She debuted in the original Art of Fighting as the sole playable female character. Her official nickname is The Beautiful Kick's Illusion (美しき蹴撃のイリュージョン, Utsukushiki Shūgeki no Iryūjon). [1]

King's appearance in the first game was made to hide her gender, with the game's flyer even using he to refer the character. According to an interview [2]  with her designer, King was primarily inspired and modeled after Jamaican singer, Grace Jones. During the concept stage they took additional inspiration from the henchwoman character in the Hong Kong film China White [3], performed by Dutch Muay Thai action actress Saskia Van Rijswijk.

In the Neo Geo Freak's 1997 Volume 8 character poll, she was voted as the sixteenth favourite character with a total of 616 votes.

Background
King is a skilled fighter who earned fame early in her career by defeating a famous Muay Thai champ. For various reasons - such as to hide her true identity, to present herself as a reliable fighter, and other issues with her gender - she made efforts to portray herself as a man to defend herself from the dangers of Southtown. Five years before Art of Fighting takes place, she suffers a humiliating defeat to Jack Turner and his gang. It is unclear of how, but she ends up working for Mr. Big as the (male) bouncer at the L'Amor Restaurant. Her secret is exposed when she is defeated by Ryo Sakazaki, who is searching for his sister Yuri. King agrees to help him save his sister and guides Ryo and Robert to Mr. Big's hideout.

In the following game, she tries to make an honest living, but resurfaces on the streets. She enters the King of Fighters tournament with hopes to win the prize money to pay for a surgery her younger brother needs to gain the use of his legs. In her ending, she is surprised to see Jan walking on his own two feet. Both Ryo and Robert paid for the operation as thanks for her help with finding Yuri.

According to Ryo, she is still well by the time Buriki One takes place. Running the Illusion bar, Ryo occasionally stops by to see her and catch up. Since he considers her a "good friend", their relationship probably isn't on the romantic track.

Personality
King is a kind, trustworthy, but violent woman. She is unquestionably loyal to her friends, but relentlessly unforgiving towards her enemies. Although King is very passionate, she rarely shows a sensitive side to her friends (and when she does, things just seem to go wrong). She often dresses in men's clothing (although her attire has become more feminine with time) and has a great affinity for fine wine. She also tends to obsess over money so she can pay Jean's medical bills. Though King was once at war with her own sex, she appears to have never been so with her sexuality and seems to be quite attracted to Ryo Sakazaki. (They even have special starting poses to imply this.)

Although King acts rather masculine at the best of times, traces of femininity can't help but show themselves every now and then. For her KOF XIII team story, she expresses a desire to a wear a dress for her teams' victory party.