Mukai
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| Mukai | |
|---|---|
 Mukai in The King Of Fighters 2003 |
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| Game series | King of Fighters series |
| First game | King of Fighters 2003 |
| In-Universe Information | |
| Fighting style | Unique form of combat techniques + ability to fossilize things |
Mukai is a video game character in the King of Fighters series. He made his first appearance in The King of Fighters 2003 as the final boss.
Mukai wears a short robe that is tied with a sash. His appearance was designed with the concept of petrification in mind.
Contents |
[edit] History
The origins of the mysterious Mukai are unknown. He made a prompt appearance in the King of Fighters 2003 tournament seeking strong opponents and to test his strength. It is also strongly implied he is somehow connected to the Orochi bloodline and the wills and goals of Ash Crimson (and hence the three sacred treasures).
He is a member (possibly a leader) of a secret organization, known as "Those from the Past". Shadows of his fellow members can be seen resting with Mukai on a giant hand after the game's end.
Before facing him in KOF2K3, Mukai reveals that his organization was behind the new KOF tournament, and his plans did not involve him directly intervening. He states that the Orochi seal has been broken, and the power of the Orochi has entered his master (who this is has yet to be seen, but it can be surmised that this master is the cloaked figure seen after beating him, who is the only one of his group yet to appear). He then engages in combat with the winning team, seeing if they have what it takes to survive in "the new age".
[edit] The Heralds
There are at least five people in Mukai's group of Heralds (They are all seen, albeit shadowed, in the ending of King of Fighters 2003). Four members have been seen; Mukai (far right, kneeling), Magaki (standing behind everyone else, appearing as the tallest), third is Shion (most likely the woman on the far left), and fourth is Botan (the string user, seen next to Mukai, holding her string). The fifth, cloaked figure has yet to be seen, and is presumably the leader of the organization.
[edit] Abilities
Mukai's primary power is his control over many things related to stone. He can form stone, either in crude rocks to chuck at foes, or elaborate pillars to crush them with. He can also petrify his opponents into solid stone with his touch, rendering them helpless against his coming attacks. His ultimate technique, the Netherworld Agony (also known as the Shikai), is a light of energy that emanates from below him, battering and petrifying any who do not guard against it.
In battle, Mukai is a formidable foe, like all SNK bosses. He is adept at close or long range attacks. Up close, Mukai's strikes, while relatively slow, are powerful. His basic hard kick also possesses high priority and a degree of autoguard, cancelling out most physical strikes during the initial leap, and leaving the victim open to the kick itself. From a distance, he can hurl rocks at foes in a basic projectile attack, ambush enemies with rising pillars (which are manually aimed by the player or CPU), or he can simply cause a pillar to fall directly on a foe, regardless of where they stand. His Netherworld Agony fills the screen, and can be instantly followed up with another attack, adding even more damage to the formidable attack. This can be especially dangerous if Mukai has 3 or more levels of power, because he can follow this with his Desperation Move (which batters foes with a barrage of pillars), doing exorbitant amounts of damage.
[edit] Trivia
- His LDM (leader desperation move), Neatherworld Agony fills up the entire screen and petrifies opponents who do not block, and appears to be an inverted (upside-down and flipped) version of Orochi's Return to Nothingness.
- SNK has stated that the key to creating Mukai was to ensure that Mukai was very easy to understand and fight — Mukai is much slower than his predecessors, but his attacks have very high reaction time, has large gauge, and he can combo immediately after a successful screen-filling Shikai land.
- Mukai's theme song is entitled Styx. It consists of frantic, hypnotic strings and piano, preferring to convey a feeling of crisis and fear, rather than focusing on melody. It also seems to be a reference to the river of the same name, that leads to hell.
- Mukai is the first SNK final boss to not have been truly defeated after he is beaten in battle. After his defeat, he stands up, apparently unscathed, and makes his exit after giving an ominous warning. This trend continued with the next boss, Magaki (who is less fortunate)
- Mukai is one of the few SNK bosses to have an obvious weakness; his normal walking movement is incredibly slow. This rarely makes a difference in battle with him, however, due to the fact that Mukai will often launch a barrage of attacks from a distance, and the CPU will often run after the player, rather than walk.
- Like his successor, Magaki, Mukai appears to have a more human form, before transforming into the green-skinned form that is most familiar. He appears partially shadowed in this form during the cinema that precedes the battle with him, wherein he transforms, and begins the battle. In keeping with his stone theme, his human skin seems to be very cracked, bumpy, and callused.
- It is not certain whether Mukai and his order are actually allies or enemies of Orochi, on account of what he says after his "defeat": "Orochi, the beloved of Gaia; humans, and their infinite potential; and the hatred that all bear for my master...None of these will have meaning anymore, for time is flowing to US." In other words, Mukai's efforts at awakening Orochi may only be meant to make its power available for his master to usurp, or make Orochi and humanity weaken each other to the point that Mukai's master can easily dispatch them.
