It is revealed during
the King of Fighters XIII tournament that Ash
and Saiki are two separate people, with the latter being the ancestor of the
former. Saiki appears as the
acting leader of Those from the Past, speaking to Mukai
about the disappearance of
Shion,
and the "death" of
Magaki.
In another cut scene, taking place after the sixth stage, he is seen with the
overall championship victory and Rose's congratulations. He later confers with
the members of Those from the Past on their progress to gather enough energy to
initiate the ceremony. Displeased at the lack of developments, he dismisses them
as useless for his cause.
Saiki makes his move at
the end of the tournament finals in KOF XIII, freezing time and appearing
before the winning team. A large gate with time-bending powers appears in the
distance, and he sends his underlings to gather more energy for the gate. Mukai
wants to avenge the defeat that he suffered in KOF 2003, but Saiki
instead kills him, absorbing his power and transforming into a large, muscular
form.
Despite his new form, he
is defeated by the tournament champions. Ash Crimson then appears, but is soon
after possessed by Saiki. The two fuse into Dark Ash, a being of
massive power. Even with this power, he proves no match for the champions. As
the time gate begins to close, Ash retakes control of his body. Saiki begs for
him to walk through the gate, stating that they can "start over," but
Ash refuses. The gate closes, which creates a time paradox: as Saiki is now
trapped in the present, it is impossible for Ash to have ever been born. Thus,
Ash ceases to exist, taking Saiki with him.
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Page Updated:
Apr. 1st, 2022
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Human Saiki is a
pretty shameless Ash palette swap. His
alternate boss version reminds me (and everyone else) a lot of Gill...
and he sure is an asshole to fight against. Classic SNK Boss Syndrome. lol. Visually, I will say that Saiki looks pretty damn cool in some of the official artwork (both versions) - and yeah, his sprite is pretty sharp-looking too.
It's satisfying to finally kick his
ass at the end of KOF13, but that's probably the extent of this design. I'm guessing we won't see Saiki again in future KOF installments. As a conclusion of the Ash saga, I guess Saiki has a purpose. Even so, I can think of many other more interesting (and more interesting-looking) fighting game bosses.
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Fighting
Style / Moveset |
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Personality
/ Charisma |
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Outfit(s)
/ Appearance |
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Effectiveness
in series |
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Overall
Score |
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