The heroes from Ikari Warriors are here to snap their enemies' limbs, slice them up, and punch them so hard they explode.
Up next on the countdown to King of Fighters XIVis the unlucky thirteenth team spotlight. Once again, we delve into the gimme pile of teams who were totally going to show up no matter what. In this case, it’s Team Ikari, the awesome mercenary trio of Ralf Jones, Clark Still (formerly Clark Steel), and Leona Heidern.
In this here trailer, we get to see the Ralf’s fiery punching strength, Clark’s quiet grappling, and Leona’s cold...assassin...y skills? Anyway, just watch it to see Ralf walk through fire like a complete badass.
Yeah, that’s the stuff.
Despite their team name being based on the somewhat obscure SNK series, Ralf made his first appearance in the tank-based shooter TNK III in 1985. Ralf’s design was based on John Rambo.
Ralf and the color-swapped Clark then appeared in the Ikari Warriors trilogy in the mid-80s, which involved them shooting up a shitload of enemy soldiers for whatever reason. Well, except for Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road, which had them on another planet or in the distant future or whatever. The game wasn’t so good, but it was totally metal and had a sweet soundtrack that doesn’t get enough play.
With King of Fighters ’94 intended as this big SNK crossover, Ralf and Clark were introduced, given more unique appearances, personalities, and styles to set them apart. The team was rounded out by Commander Heidern. Heidern is basically a lanky Nick Fury with a beret. Like, not only does he look like Nick Fury, but in terms of being the tactical, government leader character for all the good guys whenever worldwide threats are introduced, he really is that world’s Fury.
In King of Fighters ’96, Commander Heidern was replaced by his adopted daughter Leona. Remember how in that second Avengersmovie, Banner and Black Widow talked about how they can’t have kids? If they could have a daughter, it would be Leona. She’s a haunted soldier who keeps her emotions in check, but she’s also prone to losing control and going on psychotic, mass murdering rampages, due to being part of the Orochi bloodline.
In King of Fighters ’99, they introduced Whip, a young soldier whose weapon is – you guessed it – a whip. She kept floating around between the Ikari Warriors and K’’s team due to the revelation that she’s a clone of K’’s sister.
Regardless, the go-to trio for the Ikari Warriors remains Ralf, Clark, and Leona. They even got to make special appearances in the Metal Slug series. Which is for the best, considering it isn’t like we’ll ever see another Ikari Warriors game.
We only have three teams left before King of Fighters XIV’s August 23 release. We have Team K’, Team Another World, and Team Women Fighters to look forward to. Plus maybe some details on the final boss.
Gavin Jasper played the hell out of Victory Road as a kid and was saddened to realize that it wasn’t all that good when revisiting it years later. Follow him on Twitter!
