Ash Crimson
Encyclopedia
is a video game character in The King of Fighters fighting game
series developed by SNK Playmore
. His first appearance was in The King of Fighters 2003
as the leader of its Hero Team. Ash is a teenager participating in the series' titular fighting tournaments employing pyrokinetic
powers as part of his fighting style. Despite being featured as the series' protagonist from its third story arc
, Ash takes an antagonistic role across the series, wishing to steal the powers from several recurring fighters. The character's identity and intentions are further explored in the latest title The King of Fighters XIII
. He has also appeared in printed adaptations from the games as well as drama CDs.
The staff from SNK Playmore created Ash with concept of having an evil main character, contrasting the series' previous main characters. His movesets have been reworked across every game he has appeared, in which gained new techniques as result of his actions in the plot or was modified to balance the roster. Critical reception to Ash has been largely negative as a result of his androgynous appearance and his strong techniques. In interviews and press releases, video game publisher
UTV Ignition Entertainment noted that he was not very popular within Western games as his design was more suitable for Japanese fans.
to be his next opponent. In The King of Fighters XI
, he teams up with Oswald and again Shen Woo. In the game's endings, Ash leaves his teammates to fight each other after revealing Oswald's price for joining him was finding a drug he can only obtain after defeating their pharmacists' enemy, Shen Woo. He later finds a berserker Iori and defeats him, stealing his powers. As his comrade Elisabeth Blanctorche accuses Ash for abandoning his original mission, and having become obsessed with power, Ash leaves stating that Kyo Kusanagi
will be his next victim. He also appears as an available fighter in the KOF: Maximum Impact 2
update titled KOF Maximum Impact Regulation A as well as The King of Fighters XII
, games which do not have a storyline.
For The King of Fighters XIII
, Ash appears as the only character who does not belong to a defined team. Ash's role in The King of Fighters XIII reveals that he has working for the organization Those From the Past, seen in 2003 and XI. However, he comes into direct conflict with the organization's leader, Saiki, at the end of the game. Ash acts as the final boss of The King of Fighters XIII as , which is imbued with power stolen from Saiki, who is attempting to possess him. He ultimately sacrifices himself to destroy Saiki.
Aside from the main series, Ash has also appeared in other media from The King of Fighters series. In the anime
The King of Fighters: Another Day
, he is featured in the fourth chapter, in which he is revealed as the creator from a city's fire, seeking to lure Kyo into a trap. Ash also appears in the manhua
adaptations of The King of Fighters 2003 created by Wing Yang and King Tung. Paticipating in the 2003 tournament, Ash's team is defeated in the final, but later assists in the defeat of the demon Mukai. In The King of Fighters XII manhua
, Ash is absent from the recurring tournament, but briefly confronts Kyo in an attempt to steal his powers. He is also featured in the CD drama KOF: Mid Summer Struggle, which shows a fake King of Fighters tournament.
adds that the main goal for Ash was to make him an ambiguous protagonist that purposely makes players "feel bad" for cheering for him. Ash's character design was not made by Falcoon. However, he did add extra details to Ash while he was illustrating him to better fit his character. As a result of Ash's final appearance, the staff joked that his teammate Shen Woo appeared to look more like the series' main character than him. For The King of Fighters XIII, Producer Kei Yamamoto wants gamers who played previous titles from Ash's story wonder what are the character's motives for his actions as well as whether they could relate with him. KOF: Maximum Impact 2 Regulation "A" earned its title for three reasons with one of them being the character of Ash introduced in the spin-off series for the first time. Falcoon also labelled the character as "really wild" because of his role within the series and personality. Nona, another artist in charge, stated that from the original King of Fighters characters, Ash was one he liked as he looked forward to his development.
In The King of Fighters XII, Ash was the character who the staff worked the most. They reworked his moves and speech to be more consistent with the rest of the cast. Producer of The King of Fighters XIII Kei Yamamoto commented that Ash was a character players could use to "show off" comically adding it was as a result of his personality. His EX version from such game tends to perform more multiple hits than his regular form. Particularly, his technique was commented to fit well within his character due to its "disgusting" style. Ever since his introduction, Ash gained new moves in accordance to his actions in the series. After The King of Fighters 2003, Ash gained Chizuru Kagura's special move which allows him to seal his opponents' special moves. After defeating Iori Yagami, Ash gained the Neo Max move which works as his strongest attack from The King of Fighters XIII. During development from the game, the staff thought about changing the animation style of Fructidor for an early one they used in a location test.
's Christian Nutt stated that Ash was a "clone" of Guile
from the Street Fighter
series because of their similar movesets. Nevertheless, Ash's team was praised for standing as new characters from the series with new elements. Lucas M. Thomas writer from IGN
commented that a major fan complaint was the character's strength in the video games which caused him to become one of the strongest opponents despite his apparent lack of effort within fights. Thomas himself shared similar comments, commenting that Ash is "nothing if not strange" in regards of stereotypes, and lamented how many times he appeared in the KOF 2003 manhua
in comparison to more popular characters. When the playable characters for the arcade version of The King of Fighters XIII was revealed, Anime News Network
's Todd Ciolek wondered about Ash's lack of teammates and joked that it was possible he was alone since "no one likes Ash now." Marissa Meli from UGO Networks commented on Ash's design, placing it sixteenth in a list "The Most Androgynous Video Game Characters". The notable androgynous appearance was jokingly mentioned by Meli to have been done on purpose by the Japanese designers in order to confuse Western gamers regarding their sexuality. Similarly, while placing Ash's voice as one of "Gaming's Top 10 Deepest Voices", Dan Howdle from Now Gamer joked about him, referring to him as a female character. Writers from Game Informer
also commented about this, joking about their surprise to realizing that he is a male character. When UTV Ignition Entertainment started a poll in which fans voted which artbox would be used in console versions from The King of Fighters XII, an official press release noted that the fans' negative reaction to Ash reduced the number of covers to only two featuring Kyo and Iori.
In an interview with Ignition Entertainment's Director of Business Development Shane Bettehausen, Alex Lucard from Die Hard Game Fan stated that SNK fans from the Pacific simply hated the character and complained about his inclusion in The King of Fighters XII although such title did not have a storyline related to him while they wanted other popular characters from the series to star there. In response to this, Bettehausen commented that he had problems understanding what were the problems regarding aside from his design which he did not find appealing for fans outside Japan. Nevertheless, he commented that as his gameplay mechanics were improved for the game, it would be possible that Western fans would like him now. In June 2009, Stephen Totilo from Kotaku
had an interview Betehausen who asked him when playing what was Ash's gender. Totilo replied female to which Betehausen replied that KOF was progressive with introducing cross-dresing characters. He also commented that fans appeared to be "warming up to him" despite his design. Michael Grimm from GamesRadar
noted the inclusion of Evil Ash in The King of Fighters XIII was suitable for the game as it was meant to conclude the character's storyline and pointed it was not common to have an "evil version" of a character in a fighting game.
Fighting game
Fighting game is a video game genre where the player controls an on-screen character and engages in close combat with an opponent. These characters tend to be of equal power and fight matches consisting of several rounds, which take place in an arena. Players must master techniques such as...
series developed by SNK Playmore
SNK Playmore
SNK Playmore Corporation is a Japanese video game hardware and software company. SNK is an acronym of , which was SNK's original name. The company's legal and trading name became SNK in 1986....
. His first appearance was in The King of Fighters 2003
The King of Fighters 2003
The King of Fighters 2003 is a competitive fighting game produced by SNK Playmore for the Neo Geo arcade and home platform. It is the tenth game in The King of Fighters series and the first KOF game to become a tag tournament as well as the first one to be published by SNK Playmore...
as the leader of its Hero Team. Ash is a teenager participating in the series' titular fighting tournaments employing pyrokinetic
Pyrokinesis
Pyrokinesis, derived from the Greek words and , was the name coined by horror novelist Stephen King for the ability to create or to control fire with the mind that he gave to the protagonist Charlie McGee in Firestarter...
powers as part of his fighting style. Despite being featured as the series' protagonist from its third story arc
Story arc
A story arc is an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, boardgames, video games, and in some cases, films. On a television program, for example, the story would unfold over many episodes. In television, the use of the story...
, Ash takes an antagonistic role across the series, wishing to steal the powers from several recurring fighters. The character's identity and intentions are further explored in the latest title The King of Fighters XIII
The King of Fighters XIII
is the latest installment of The King of Fighters fighting game series developed and published by SNK Playmore. The game is set after the events from The King of Fighters XI and is also the conclusion of Ash Crimson's story arc, which started in The King of Fighters 2003...
. He has also appeared in printed adaptations from the games as well as drama CDs.
The staff from SNK Playmore created Ash with concept of having an evil main character, contrasting the series' previous main characters. His movesets have been reworked across every game he has appeared, in which gained new techniques as result of his actions in the plot or was modified to balance the roster. Critical reception to Ash has been largely negative as a result of his androgynous appearance and his strong techniques. In interviews and press releases, video game publisher
Video game publisher
A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer....
UTV Ignition Entertainment noted that he was not very popular within Western games as his design was more suitable for Japanese fans.
Appearances
Introduced in The King of Fighters 2003, Ash stars as the leader of the New Hero Team composed also by Duo Lon and Shen Woo participating in a new King of Fighters tournament. After the tournament, he ambushes the host Chizuru Kagura and steals her powers, promising Iori YagamiIori Yagami
is a character from the SNK Playmore's The King of Fighters video game series that first appeared in The King of Fighters '95 as the leader of the Rivals Team. He is an iconic character of the series, and regularly appears on publicity material and merchandise. Iori is a central character to the...
to be his next opponent. In The King of Fighters XI
The King of Fighters XI
The King of Fighters XI is a 2D competitive fighting game produced by SNK Playmore originally released in as a coin-operated arcade game for the Atomiswave platform...
, he teams up with Oswald and again Shen Woo. In the game's endings, Ash leaves his teammates to fight each other after revealing Oswald's price for joining him was finding a drug he can only obtain after defeating their pharmacists' enemy, Shen Woo. He later finds a berserker Iori and defeats him, stealing his powers. As his comrade Elisabeth Blanctorche accuses Ash for abandoning his original mission, and having become obsessed with power, Ash leaves stating that Kyo Kusanagi
Kyo Kusanagi
is one of the main characters in SNK Playmore's The King of Fighters video game series; he was first introduced in The King of Fighters '94 as the leader of the Japan team. He is one of the iconic characters of the series and regularly appears on publicity material and merchandise. His name and...
will be his next victim. He also appears as an available fighter in the KOF: Maximum Impact 2
KOF: Maximum Impact 2
KOF: Maximum Impact 2, released in North America as The King of Fighters 2006, is a 3D competitive fighting game produced by SNK Playmore and released for the PlayStation 2 in...
update titled KOF Maximum Impact Regulation A as well as The King of Fighters XII
The King of Fighters XII
is the twelfth installment of The King of Fighters series. SNK Playmore announced that it is abandoning the Atomiswave system and is moving its most popular game franchises to the Taito Type X2 arcade system. KOF XII uses newly-drawn 2D sprites on 2D backgrounds...
, games which do not have a storyline.
For The King of Fighters XIII
The King of Fighters XIII
is the latest installment of The King of Fighters fighting game series developed and published by SNK Playmore. The game is set after the events from The King of Fighters XI and is also the conclusion of Ash Crimson's story arc, which started in The King of Fighters 2003...
, Ash appears as the only character who does not belong to a defined team. Ash's role in The King of Fighters XIII reveals that he has working for the organization Those From the Past, seen in 2003 and XI. However, he comes into direct conflict with the organization's leader, Saiki, at the end of the game. Ash acts as the final boss of The King of Fighters XIII as , which is imbued with power stolen from Saiki, who is attempting to possess him. He ultimately sacrifices himself to destroy Saiki.
Aside from the main series, Ash has also appeared in other media from The King of Fighters series. In the anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
The King of Fighters: Another Day
The King of Fighters: Another Day
The King of Fighters: Another Day is an animated series based on the popular fighting game series The King of Fighters. It was produced by Production I.G, and revolves around the plot of the 3-D version titled The King of Fighters: Maximum Impact, along with some touches of the current 2-D series...
, he is featured in the fourth chapter, in which he is revealed as the creator from a city's fire, seeking to lure Kyo into a trap. Ash also appears in the manhua
Manhua
Manhua are Chinese comics originally produced in China. Possibly due to their greater degree of artistic freedom of expression and closer international ties with Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan have been the places of publication of most manhua thus far, often including Chinese translations of...
adaptations of The King of Fighters 2003 created by Wing Yang and King Tung. Paticipating in the 2003 tournament, Ash's team is defeated in the final, but later assists in the defeat of the demon Mukai. In The King of Fighters XII manhua
Manhua
Manhua are Chinese comics originally produced in China. Possibly due to their greater degree of artistic freedom of expression and closer international ties with Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan have been the places of publication of most manhua thus far, often including Chinese translations of...
, Ash is absent from the recurring tournament, but briefly confronts Kyo in an attempt to steal his powers. He is also featured in the CD drama KOF: Mid Summer Struggle, which shows a fake King of Fighters tournament.
Creation and development
Ash was designed with the intent of creating an "attractive evil character" in contrast to the previous King of Fighters hero characters. The superviser designer created to fit the desired appearance to a "T," little changes done to him since conception. Because of his recent introduction by The King of Fighters 2003, the staff did not want to reveal more information about him, and told fans to look forward to his "exploits." FalcoonFalcoon
Tatsuhiko Kanaoka, better known by the art-name Falcoon , is a Japanese artist formerly working for SNK Playmore. He has been involved in several iterations of The King of Fighters franchise....
adds that the main goal for Ash was to make him an ambiguous protagonist that purposely makes players "feel bad" for cheering for him. Ash's character design was not made by Falcoon. However, he did add extra details to Ash while he was illustrating him to better fit his character. As a result of Ash's final appearance, the staff joked that his teammate Shen Woo appeared to look more like the series' main character than him. For The King of Fighters XIII, Producer Kei Yamamoto wants gamers who played previous titles from Ash's story wonder what are the character's motives for his actions as well as whether they could relate with him. KOF: Maximum Impact 2 Regulation "A" earned its title for three reasons with one of them being the character of Ash introduced in the spin-off series for the first time. Falcoon also labelled the character as "really wild" because of his role within the series and personality. Nona, another artist in charge, stated that from the original King of Fighters characters, Ash was one he liked as he looked forward to his development.
In The King of Fighters XII, Ash was the character who the staff worked the most. They reworked his moves and speech to be more consistent with the rest of the cast. Producer of The King of Fighters XIII Kei Yamamoto commented that Ash was a character players could use to "show off" comically adding it was as a result of his personality. His EX version from such game tends to perform more multiple hits than his regular form. Particularly, his technique was commented to fit well within his character due to its "disgusting" style. Ever since his introduction, Ash gained new moves in accordance to his actions in the series. After The King of Fighters 2003, Ash gained Chizuru Kagura's special move which allows him to seal his opponents' special moves. After defeating Iori Yagami, Ash gained the Neo Max move which works as his strongest attack from The King of Fighters XIII. During development from the game, the staff thought about changing the animation style of Fructidor for an early one they used in a location test.
Reception
Ash Crimson's character has received negative comments from video game publications. When first introduced, GameSpyGameSpy
GameSpy Industries, Inc., known simply as GameSpy, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet Quake server search program named QSpy. The current...
's Christian Nutt stated that Ash was a "clone" of Guile
Guile (Street Fighter)
is a fictional character in Capcom's Street Fighter series of fighting games.-Street Fighter series:Guile made his first appearance in Street Fighter II as one of the eight selectable characters featured in the first release of the game...
from the Street Fighter
Street Fighter
, commonly abbreviated as SF, is a series of Fighting Games developed in Japan in which the players pit the video games' competitive fighters from around the world, each with his or her own unique fighting style, against one another...
series because of their similar movesets. Nevertheless, Ash's team was praised for standing as new characters from the series with new elements. Lucas M. Thomas writer from IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
commented that a major fan complaint was the character's strength in the video games which caused him to become one of the strongest opponents despite his apparent lack of effort within fights. Thomas himself shared similar comments, commenting that Ash is "nothing if not strange" in regards of stereotypes, and lamented how many times he appeared in the KOF 2003 manhua
Manhua
Manhua are Chinese comics originally produced in China. Possibly due to their greater degree of artistic freedom of expression and closer international ties with Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan have been the places of publication of most manhua thus far, often including Chinese translations of...
in comparison to more popular characters. When the playable characters for the arcade version of The King of Fighters XIII was revealed, Anime News Network
Anime News Network
Anime News Network is an anime industry news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, Japanese popular music and other otaku-related culture within North America, Australia and Japan. Additionally, it sometimes features similar happenings throughout the Anglosphere and elsewhere in the...
's Todd Ciolek wondered about Ash's lack of teammates and joked that it was possible he was alone since "no one likes Ash now." Marissa Meli from UGO Networks commented on Ash's design, placing it sixteenth in a list "The Most Androgynous Video Game Characters". The notable androgynous appearance was jokingly mentioned by Meli to have been done on purpose by the Japanese designers in order to confuse Western gamers regarding their sexuality. Similarly, while placing Ash's voice as one of "Gaming's Top 10 Deepest Voices", Dan Howdle from Now Gamer joked about him, referring to him as a female character. Writers from Game Informer
Game Informer
Game Informer is an American-based monthly magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of popular video games and associated consoles. It was formed in August 1991, when FuncoLand started publishing a six-page magazine, free in all its retail locations...
also commented about this, joking about their surprise to realizing that he is a male character. When UTV Ignition Entertainment started a poll in which fans voted which artbox would be used in console versions from The King of Fighters XII, an official press release noted that the fans' negative reaction to Ash reduced the number of covers to only two featuring Kyo and Iori.
In an interview with Ignition Entertainment's Director of Business Development Shane Bettehausen, Alex Lucard from Die Hard Game Fan stated that SNK fans from the Pacific simply hated the character and complained about his inclusion in The King of Fighters XII although such title did not have a storyline related to him while they wanted other popular characters from the series to star there. In response to this, Bettehausen commented that he had problems understanding what were the problems regarding aside from his design which he did not find appealing for fans outside Japan. Nevertheless, he commented that as his gameplay mechanics were improved for the game, it would be possible that Western fans would like him now. In June 2009, Stephen Totilo from Kotaku
Kotaku
Kotaku is a video games-focused blog. It is part of Gawker Media's "Gawker" network of sites, which also includes Gizmodo, Deadspin, Lifehacker, io9 and Jezebel. Named to CNET News' Blog 100, Kotaku is consistently listed in the top 40 of Technorati's Top 100...
had an interview Betehausen who asked him when playing what was Ash's gender. Totilo replied female to which Betehausen replied that KOF was progressive with introducing cross-dresing characters. He also commented that fans appeared to be "warming up to him" despite his design. Michael Grimm from GamesRadar
GamesRadar
GamesRadar is a multi-format video game website featuring regular news, previews, reviews, videos, and guides. It is owned and operated simultaneously in the UK and US by worldwide publisher Future Publishing...
noted the inclusion of Evil Ash in The King of Fighters XIII was suitable for the game as it was meant to conclude the character's storyline and pointed it was not common to have an "evil version" of a character in a fighting game.