SNK has released the official The King Of Fighters Destiny Episode 23. Titled “Rugal Bernstein” the episode reveals how Rugal used KOF to take control of the fighters by using the Black Crystals. Kyo and Terry cooperate to try and take down Rugal. However, they are forced into a desperate situation when faced with Rugal’s overwhelming power and stone-cold killer instincts.

Watch and Re-watch the full episode below:

Review:

The King Of Fighters Destiny Episode 23: Rugal Bernstein, is the second episode in a 3 chapters fight between Rugal and our Heroes. The fight itself is a vast improvement from anything we have seen from the series. Episode 23 also offer a big number of fan-service moments, especially to Rugal players. For starters Rugal really shines in this episode, as the KOF boss mops the floor with Kyo and Terry, showing most of his in-game fighting moves. If that is not enough, hearing his KOF94 BGM while he uses his Genocide Cutter and Kaiser Wave is quite the delight.

Fans of Kyo, Terry, Athena, Benimaru, Yuri and Mai will not be disappointed either. As each of these character had a shining moment, even if brief, to show his/her power. Too bad, characters like Ryo and Robert still got the shaft again.

SNK and Idragons also took this episode to show hardcore fans how faithful these characters are to their in game counterpart and SNK vision. For example, when KOF94 was been developed, the devs wanted Rugal to have the ability to steal other fighters’ moves. the KOF94 final boss was supposed to have a large number of special move taken from other characters in the game. Due to the Neogeo limitation at the time, Rugal ended up with only Kaiser Wave and Repuken as borrowed moves. This same concept was fully realized in this episode as we witnessed Rugal stealing Kyo, Terry, and Heidern’s special moves.

Next episode will mark the end of the first season, as well as Iori and Goenitz debut. We look forward to see what the leaked episode really mean, and maybe an explanation to that confusing last scene? Time will tell.