Like Season 1 of its DLC, King of Fighters 15 has thrown in a free bonus that has made its older fans suffer flashbacks. Last time, it was the addition of Omega Rugal and a special Vs Boss mode where players fought him at max difficulty. Now they’ve added Goenitz, the boss of King of Fighters 96, to do the same as both a new character and a way for players to really test their mettle.
SNK was infamous for its “SNK Boss Syndrome,” where the final fighters on the arcade ladder would plumb new depths of cheapness to get coins out of unsuspecting players. These near-impossible bosses were commonplace in their premier franchises, like Fatal Fury and Samurai Shodown. However, it was King of Fighters’ most difficult bosses that made it infamous. Here are the toughest of the bunch ranked by difficulty.
6 Krizalid
At first, King of Fighters 99’s final foe doesn’t seem like much. A cyberpunk in a frilly coat? Krizalid barely seems to have any normal attacks, let alone special moves. Most of the time, players won’t have trouble taking him down. But then he loses the jacket, says he'll fight the player at full power, and gains a host of painful moves, like his large Typhon’s Rage projectile, and Rising Dark Moon to catch anyone trying to jump over him.
Though it's better to be hit by that than his End of Heaven DM that toasts them with fire. Or get taken to the wall for a pummeling by his Desperate Overdrive. KOF 99 tried to throw players a bone with the new Continue Service, which offered perks that nerfed the final boss' health and attacks or boosted their own. But due to an oversight, they only applied to his easy, coat-wearing form. Players had nothing but their own skills to help them against the real Krizalid.
5 Goenitz
What makes Goenitz such a scary addition to KOF 15? He seems pretty low on this list. But compare that to King of Fighters 97's Orochi, the god Goenitz serves. He had the tools to be a menace, yet his AI never took advantage of it, ending up as a rather easy fight. King of Fighters 96’s Goenitz, the Heavenly King of the Wind, did take advantage of his tools. He had an infinite super gauge and is more than happy to use it whenever he gets the chance.
Get too close, and he’ll use his Yamidōkoku to throttle players in a tornado. Stay too far, and he’ll close the distance with his Shin Ya Otome, which does more damage when he’s low on health. It’s no use rolling all over the stage either, as he’ll summon a small tornado to smack them wherever he likes. He spammed it so often that his catchphrase "Koko desu ka?" ("Is it there?") got imprinted into the brains of anyone who got stuck fighting him.
4 Rugal (1994)
Of course, the most iconic boss in KOF is Rugal Bernstein. Created as a cross between Geese Howard’s blonde crime boss and Wolfgang Krauser’s giant German frame, he was planned to be "the cheapest b****** ever." Needless to say, they succeeded with his debut in King of Fighters 94. Like future boss Krizalid, Rugal lulls players into a false sense of security with his fancy red suit, where he isn’t any more difficult than the other characters.
Then he throws off his jacket and turns on the rave music. Aside from reading inputs like a telepath, his Genocide Cutter special did so much damage that it could leave players at death's door with one strike. He rarely needed to break out his Gigantic Pressure super because his specials did enough as they did. Producer Toyohisa Tanabe would later admit they had gone overboard with the Cutter's damage and would tone Rugal down in the next game.
3 Omega Rugal (2002)
In lore, Omega Rugal was a souped-up version of regular Rugal after Goenitz artificially infused him with the Orochi’s power. But in practice, it made his King Of Fighters 95 appearance a fair fight instead of BS, and his King of Fighters 98 return was arguably kind of easy. Eolith and Playmore (SNK before their early 2000s revival) must’ve agreed as, when the companies made a new dream match battle in King of Fighters 2002, they made him a monster.
He regained his move-reading shenanigans, throwing out Genocide Cutters the moment players go airborne. Baiting it out of him does no good, as the Heavy Attack version has an overhead strike to stop any anti-air strikes. He could also bounce players off the walls now to juggle them to death, usually with one super or another at the end. KOF 2002 Unlimited Match even replaced the ability to continue against him with some advice: “Do the best you can!!”
2 Magaki
Fans are split over who is the hardest KOF boss. It usually comes down to two choices, one of whom is Magaki, King of Fighters 11’s odd, bug-eyed, gangly final boss. He’s one of “Those From the Past” alongside the more liked Mukai from King of Fighters 2003 and Ash Crimson’s prissier ancestor Saiki from King of Fighters 13. He may do some button-reading nonsense like prior bosses, and some of his normals may have messed-up frame data.
They just play second fiddle to his main tactic of filling the screen with guff. He fires regular projectiles, teleporting projectiles that zip behind the player to stuff their attacks, a static one to keep close-up foes away, and big, translucent ones to block them in. If all else fails, his Universe Distortion super fills the screen with enough blobby, pink energy that, on top of dealing over-the-top damage, risks giving the player an epileptic seizure.
1 Igniz
Ultimately, King of Fighters 2001’s Igniz gets the nod as KOF’s hardest boss. The other bosses can usually be overcome if players use the Continue Service (bar KOF 99’s oversight) or take the difficulty down a setting. Online play is a better way of building e-pride than arcade ladders. However, Igniz remains a headache-inducing obstacle no matter how many perks the players give themselves.
His light attacks are near instant, and he has both high and low projectile attacks. His Transaxial Blade can infinitely juggle players with just the right timing, and the AI knows it. Players can try to bait its anti-air version to attack him from behind. But if they guess wrong, they’ll be set up for his seemingly never-ending Brutal God Project super, where he pummels the foe with strikes and fireballs until they're dead. Igniz is the best gift for fighting game masochists.