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Rugal Bernstein is more or less the main antagonist in the King of Fighters games and returned so far in all “Dream Match” games as the final boss while he died back in KOF’95 already officially.

Rugal was introduced in King of Fighters’94 as the boss and returned in a stronger form in the sequel. Years later he was also used for the Capcom vs. SNK games as well as being a card in the Card Fighter’s Clash games.

Rugal returned after over a decade as Omega Rugal in an expectations-shattering manner as a free DLC character in The King of Fighters XV (2022) in April. He is also the first boss in the challenge mode that got revealed as a surprise in March 2022. 

Rugal was born in Germany (like myself) and used to be a wealthy arms dealer when Goenitz gave him a bit of the “Orochi Power” which made Rugal stronger than any other human but it also consumed him slowly and made him mad and more power-hungry than ever. In the end, he was consumed completely by the Orochi Power which meant his death. He left a daughter and a son named Adelheid who would become a playable character in KOF 2003 and have some of Rugal’s attacks.

His Genocide Cutter is one of the coolest special moves ever btw.

Adelheid Bernstein (Son)

Rose Bernstein (Daughter)

King Of Fighters 2002

Capcom Vs SNK 2 (2001)

Rugal Bernstein

by PioSantana

Rugal Bernstein

by Jesse J. Griffith

Rugal ’94

by Jamal Campbell

Rugal ’95

by bemannen02