BIO:

Born in Germany, Rugal is a wealthy arms dealer who operates aboard his aircraft carrier called the BlackNoah. He's an influential figure and is feared throughout the political and fighting world. After defeating those who oppose him, Rugal preserves their bodies in liquid metal to add to his trophy room. When Rugal was 25 years old, he battled an 18 year old Goenitz, who managed to take out his eye with one strike. Impressed that he survived the attack, Goenitz gave him a small portion of Orochi's power. Since then, Rugal has used a bionic eye. Adelheid is Rugal's son and Rose is his daughter.

Sometime in 1986, Rugal wanted to show his power at a base in Brazil and murdered everyone he found inside. Heidern was the only survivor of the fifty man massacre, and lost his right eye during the attack. Rugal wasn't pleased with his victim enough to add him to his "collection" so he decided to kill Heidern's wife and child instead. It's speculated that Rugal later regrets this act.

Before the events of KOF '94, Rugal hired Mature and Vice as secretaries. With their help, Rugal organized the King of Fighters tournament, in order to find worthy opponents and expand his trophy room. While he was sending out invitations to the tournament, Saisyu Kusanagi arrived at the BlackNoah and challenged Rugal. Although Rugal won the battle, he was not able to add Saisyu to his trophy room because Kyo, Saisyu's son, arrived with his teammates and defeated him. Rugal refused to accept defeat and blew up his ship.

After this event, Rugal was believed to be dead, but he used the Orochi power to survive. Rugal replaced his destroyed right forearm with cybernetics, making him more powerful. Rugal revived Saisyu, brainwashed him, and then organized another King of Fighters tournament. Rugal used an abandoned missile silo as his base in 1995, and abducted Kyo's team to fight Saisyu, and then himself. Rugal used the Orochi power to become "Omega Rugal," but Kyo's team still managed to defeat him. After being defeated again, Rugal tried to use more of the Orochi power, but it consumed him and his body disintegrated. As he was being consumed by the Orochi power, Rugal saw Iori Yagami, who told him that only those "of the bloodline" could control Orochi's power.

Omega Rugal is an alternate version of Rugal, making his first appearance as a boss in KOF '95. When Rugal Bernstein was trying to channel Orochi's power, Goenitz came to him and attacked him, taking off his eye. Rugal survived the attack and Goenitz gave him some extent of power and warned him not to use his full power. Goenitz left Mature and Vice to watch him. In KOF '94, Rugal sponsored the King of Fighters tournament but lost to Kyo Kusanagi. He returned the following year and decided to use 80% of his full power. Even with that power, Rugal lost to Kyo, Benimaru Nikaido and Goro Daimon. With hatred in his heart, he activated his full power, but it was too much for his body to withstand and he exploded from inside.

In the Capcom VS SNK 2 storyline, Rugal becomes "God Rugal" (or "Ultimate Rugal") after he defeats Akuma in the tournament finals. Invigorated from gaining Akuma's powers, he decides to test his new found strength on the winners of the tournament. If the player defeats him, Rugal will be overwhelmed by the Hado power, which creates an entirely new entity (or possibly an entity merged with Shin Akuma).
 
                                           
 
                                           
 

                                           
 

Page Updated:  Mar. 22nd, 2022
The original KOF boss is no doubt an SNK classic, whether you love him or love to hate him. Rugal's appearance in the early KOF series was memorable... but in my opinion, his in-game persona needed some work. His original 2D sprite and animations certainly weren't the greatest around. His original "fighting attire" with the mesh black shirt is a bit generic, in my opinion. Later in the year 2000, Capcom took Rugal's in-game appearance to another level when he appeared in Capcom VS SNK. Now fighting in his badass coat, and with a crisp new sprite and fluid animations, Rugal never looked more badass. SNK gets credit for the original design, but Capcom's in-game Rugal is still unmatched. Omega/God Rugal is also one helluva badass boss in CVS2 (love that sprite). SNK somewhat redeemed themselves with Rugal's KOF2002 incarnation. Too bad we never got to see a "KOF XIII-style" Rugal. :( On one final note, Rugal's "Kaiser Wave" is no doubt of the coolest fireball techniques in fighting game history! That's one big-ass fireball, I tell you. KAIIZAAAH WAIIIVE!
	Fighting  Style  /  Moveset
	Personality  /  Charisma
	Outfit(s)  /  Appearance
	Effectiveness  in  series
	Overall Score

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