The 'The King of Fighters (KOF)' series originally took its name from the martial arts tournament featured in the game. In the debut title, KOF '94, we were introduced to the final boss who hosted the spectacle: Rugal Bernstein. He was a notorious arms dealer and black-market kingpin who effectively ran the underworld. To top it off, the man had his own personal aircraft carrier—a level of influence that feels quite absurd by any real-world standard.

Yet, for reasons that left many fans scratching their heads, this man vanished from the official canon after KOF '95. A final boss who bows out after just two outings feels like a missed opportunity. By the time KOF '98 rolled around, he was relegated to the humiliating status of one of the 'Ha-Bu-Ru-Shin'—a quartet of bottom-tier fighters. Today, KookminTree takes a look at Rugal’s triumphant return to glory in 'The King of Fighters AFK (KOF AFK)'.

A Final Boss with No Allies

Rugal’s past was a well-kept secret. His public rap sheet is dominated by two grim milestones. First, his vendetta against Heidern: Rugal slaughtered Heidern’s entire unit and his family. When Heidern’s mercenaries pursued the arms dealer, Rugal retaliated by murdering 50 subordinates, along with Heidern’s wife Sandra and daughter Clara. A distraught Heidern charged him, only to lose an eye in the process—a rather brutal 'warning' from a classic villain.

The second event involved his hunger for the power of Orochi, which led to his humbling defeat at the hands of Goenitz, who took his eye. It felt like cosmic justice for his own past sins. Goenitz initially intended to dispose of him but decided to grant Rugal a taste of Orochi’s power, purely out of curiosity: 'What happens when an ordinary human gains this power?' He then assigned Mature and Vice as his secretaries—but their story is a tale for another time.

Rugal had a rather macabre hobby: turning defeated fighters into statues. You might think, 'How eccentric for a billionaire,' but the reality is chilling; the statues were stuffed with the corpses of his victims. Players in KOF '94 were rightfully horrified when they discovered this. His signature lines—threatening to turn male fighters into statues and preserve female fighters as specimens—were just the cherry on top of his wicked cake.

Eventually, this menace met his match in Kyo Kusanagi, who was understandably furious after Rugal kidnapped and brainwashed his father. The defeat must have stung, because Rugal proceeded to self-destruct his own aircraft carrier, the Black Noah. A bit dramatic for a tournament host, don't you think? Thankfully, thanks to the miracle of protagonist armor, the other fighters managed to escape.

Rugal resurfaced in KOF '95 as 'Omega Rugal.' Perhaps due to the self-destruction, he arrived as a cyborg, fully tapping into the power Goenitz had bestowed upon him. He lost again to Kyo, and rather than another explosion, he went out with the ominous promise: 'As long as the world needs me, I shall return!' If you were playing as the Psycho Soldier team, including Athena Asamiya, you’d be treated to a unique retort: 'The world doesn't need someone like you!'

After that, Rugal was effectively written off as a ghost. Years later, in KOF 2003, his children—Adelheid and Rose Bernstein—made a surprise appearance. Fans were genuinely shocked to see that, unlike his father, Adelheid was an incredibly stand-up guy. Perhaps that’s why he treats his father as a dark chapter in his life and has even forged ties with Heidern.

His daughter, Rose, inherited more of her father’s arrogant streak, though she is completely wrapped around her brother Adelheid’s finger. Later lore revealed that Rugal actually wanted his firstborn to be a daughter, which might explain why he doted on her while constantly clashing with his son.

Time marched on, and in the latest entry, KOF XV, Rugal made a grand return as Omega Rugal, resurrected by the power of the game's final boss, Verse. It will be interesting to see how his children react in future titles. As a side note, early drafts considered making him the brother of Wolfgang Krauser, which is why he was programmed with the 'Kaiser Wave'—but that’s a scrapped concept best left in the past.

No Longer a Ha-Bu-Ru-Shin!

Outside of the titles where he served as the final boss, Rugal rarely stood out as a high-performance fighter. In the beloved KOF '98, he was famously part of the 'Ha-Bu-Ru-Shin'—a derogatory acronym for the weakest fighters in the game, alongside Heidern, Brian, and Shingo. To say, 'I can beat you even while playing as a Ha-Bu-Ru-Shin,' was the ultimate insult.

However, KOF AFK is a different story. The shift from a fighting game to an AFK genre has done wonders for his viability. He is now a top-tier support unit, providing defense buffs to allies in the same row, increasing finish skill damage for others, and debuffing enemy attack power at the start of battle. It’s a complete turnaround from his previous reputation.

Perhaps nodding to his KOF '98 roots, his finish skill is the 'Dead End Screamer.' Once considered a 'humiliation move' in the original series, it now functions as a powerful grapple that ignores enemy evasion. Maybe the developers selected it with a wink and a nod? After all, since the victims are just AI monsters, a bit of humiliation is perfectly acceptable, isn't it?