Kim Kaphwan

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Kim Kaphwan
Kim Kaphwan in Neo Geo Battle Coliseum
Game series	Fatal Fury series King of Fighters series SNK Vs. series
First game	Fatal Fury 2
In-Universe Information
Birthplace	Daegu, South Korea
Blood type	A
Fighting style	Taekwondo

Kaphwan Kim^[I], usually written surname first as Kim Kaphwan, is a character in both the Fatal Fury and King of Fighters series by SNK.

Kim is a master of taekwondo, and also considers himself a fighter of justice. Since Kim was young and during his taekwondo training sessions, he was always reminded to fight for justice, and use the martial art as a way to accomplish this.

[edit] History

[edit] Fatal Fury

Kim is the reigning Tae Kwon Do champion of the world. Kim has been able to use this in his favor and fight against the best fighters on the planet. He first traveled to fight Krauser, who was looking for some decent challenges. On the way, he encountered the "Hungry Wolf" himself, Terry Bogard. They soon became very good friends, and ever since, Kim always agrees to help Terry in all that he can, but that doesn't mean that they won't fight once in awhile! Kim always takes care of his free time to pass time with his wife and two sons, Kim Dong Hwan and Kim Jae Hoon. He trains both of them in taekwondo, as well as many others in his dojang.

[edit] King of Fighters

Kim is considered as both a sport and national hero in his native Korea. This status is what enabled him to convince the authorities to give him custody over Chang Koehan and Choi Bounge to rehabilitate them out of their criminal ways. Although both men resented Kim for his actions, they have since grown to grudgingly respect him. In most of his King of Fighters appearances, he has been team captain of Team Korea.

In The King of Fighters XI, Kim appeared as a member of Team Fatal Fury in place of Mai Shiranui. Terry Bogard and Duck King convinced Kim to join the Fatal Fury team in King of Fighters XI upon Mai's refusal to join, because Mai was mad at Terry for not telling her the whereabouts of Terry's brother Andy. It is assumed that Kim's original team, Team Korea, has been disbanded or dissolved.

[edit] Personality

One of Kim's defining characteristics is his strong, inherent sense of justice. It is to the point where he has the innate ability to tell whether or not someone is evil or holds dark intentions just by looking at that person. As such, whenever Kim fights against an evil character (e.g. Rugal Bernstein, Geese Howard, etc.) or someone somehow influenced by Orochi or any other sinister power (e.g. Iori Yagami, etc.), Kim has a special opening pose. In this pose, he glares menacingly at the evil opponent, which shows his strong dislike for evil, and he slowly raises his hand and points at the opponent, saying "Aku wa yurusan..." (Japanese for "Evil is unforgivable...") "Hah!" and jumps into his fighting stance (in previous instances, Kim just did not point at the opponent). Watching Kim's intro against a character is a good way to tell if the character is considered evil in the canon of the story. Something to note about that intro: In Capcom vs. SNK 2, he does it against Akuma, Shin Akuma and Evil Ryu but in SVC Chaos: SNK vs. Capcom, he doesn't against either form of Akuma, giving the impression SNK/Playmore doesn't regard Akuma as "evil" per se.

Kim strives for excellence and righteousness in everything he does, be it his fighting or personal life. He is a loving husband and father, and a strict disciplinarian. He is deeply respected and admired by his acquaintances for his honesty and bravery, and has many friends amongst the characters in both King Of Fighters and Fatal Fury (chief amongst them being Fatal Fury's main protagonist, Terry Bogard).

[edit] Trivia

• Ever since KoF 99, Kim's DMs/supers would always be the Hou'ou Tenbu Kyaku (Phoenix Tornado) & Hou'ou Kyaku (Phoenix Flattener). In the Capcom vs. SNK games & in KoF 2001, he was given his Hou'ou Hiten Kyaku (Heavenly Phoenix Kick) from KoF 97/98 as an additional super/DM.

• In KoF 2002, Kim has 2 color palettes that resembles the outfits of his 2 sons from Garou: Mark of the Wolves.

• Kim Kaphwan and Terry Bogard are the only two characters from the Fatal Fury franchise to appear in every King of Fighters game. If not appearing in every KoF (Maximum Impact comes to mind), then Kim, alongside Terry, at least has undoubtedly the highest attendance record of any character from the Fatal Fury roster. Curiously, they're also voiced by the same seiyu, Satoshi Hashimoto.

• In Garou: Mark of the Wolves, Kim is replaced by his two sons Kim Jae Hoon & Kim Dong Hwan. There's a rumor that by the time of the Maximum Mayhem tournament, he would be severely injured by the madman Freeman. However, this rumor came from Jae Hoon's victory quote against Freeman in arcade mode, saying "You evil villain! My father is avenged!". In actuality, this is a mistranslation; in the Japanese version, Jae Hoon's win quote is "この悪人め！父に代わってお仕置きだ！", which roughly translates to say, "You evil villain! This is the punishment in the name of my father!". Whatever the case, Kim also makes a cameo appearance in the game. It is during one of Dong Hwan's victory poses; When Dong Hwan finishes a round with a Super move, he will laugh with his hands behind his head giving cocky remarks, when Kim appears from out of nowhere behind him, shouting "Amai!" (roughly "Not enough"), scaring the wits out of him. Kim seems unamused by his son's manner.

• Ever since the demise of SNK, Kim stopped being referred to by his full name; he is called simply "Kim", even though other characters are called by their full name (especially in the case of Ralf Jones and Clark Steel, whose surnames became officially part of their names - SNK had not used these before).

• He is named after the president of a company which distributed Neo Geo in early 90s in Korea, VICCOM. That Kim Kap Hwan is also the founder of Uno Technology which his son, Kim Jae Hoon is the president. [1] [2] [3] [4]

• In his first battle background, for his debut back in Fatal Fury 2, a woman and two small boys can be seen. It is widely believed that they are his "still unnamed" wife and his kids.

• Kim also has a descendant many years later, and his name is Kim Sue Il

[edit] Related Characters

• Kim Dong Hwan (elder son)
• Kim Jae Hoon (younger son)
• Kim Sue Il (descendant)
• Chang Koehan (Teammate)*see above*
• Choi Bounge (Teammate) *see above*
• May Lee Jinju (student)
• Chae Lim (student)
• Seo Yong Song (student)
• Jhun Hoon (friendly rival)
• Terry Bogard (close friend)
• Duck King (teammate)

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• The King of Fighters 10th Anniversary Official Website
• The MultiMediocre Church of Kaphwan! - A fan site dedicated to Kim Kaphwan. Includes information, pictures, sound bytes, and fan fiction. Also includes references between Kim and the lesser-known SNK game Kizuna Encounter.

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