Sagat vs King (Capcom vs SNK)


 

(Br3ndan5)

(Studio8558)

(Koopakirby)

“In Muay Thai, the true essence lies not in defeating our opponents but in conquering our own selves and being the best version of ourselves that we can be.” - Abhysheq Shukla
 
Sagat, The Emperor of Muay Thai from Street Fighter.

King, The Beautiful Kick’s Illusion from King of Fighters.

The origins of Muay Thai stretch far back into history, and throughout its centuries of existence this “Art of Eight Limbs” has been used by many people. Whether it’s to train soldiers and upcoming rulers or for your own self-improvement, this martial art has endured to this day as one of the most notable. And few martial artists in fiction embody these uses more than these two.

Originally under the employ of a dangerous crime syndicate, these Muay Thai masters eventually struck out on their own and cleaned up their act, going from merciless thugs to more honorable fighters. But when they go head to head, which one will come out on top? Let’s find out which of these warriors will come out on top as we dive into a DEATH BATTLE!


Before we begin

This blog will be using a soft composite for both characters. Sagat will be using the Street Fighter games, UDON comics, Street Fighter III: Ryu Final manga, the Street Fighter IV manhua, and the multiple anime, movies, and series. King will be using her appearances in Art of Fighting, King of Fighters, and their various manga, manhua, and anime adaptations.



Born in Thailand on July 2, 1955, Sagat spent his youth engaging in street brawls to indulge in the love of fighting he’s had even when was a child. While skilled, his constant fights left him with a damaged right eye, and he eventually turned to the art of Muay Thai to give him strength and discipline. By the time he was 15 Sagat’s training had allowed him to climb his way to the top, but in his first battle the next year, he would be challenged by a masked man named Go Hibiki. Go would give Sagat a challenging fight by targeting his weakened eye and eventually gouged it out with a powerful blow. Enraged by this, Sagat summoned a powerful energy from within and unleashed a devastating fireball that killed Go.

Despite killing a man in his first official match, Sagat was allowed to continue his career as a fighter, eventually defeating the ultimate Muay Thai master Nuakan. His victory would lead to him being proclaimed the Emperor of Muay Thai, and in his first action as champion he took on an eager student named Adon. However, this good fortune would end when Sagat witnessed a fighter named Ryu defeat 20 Muay Thai users one after the other. Seeing a potential challenge, Sagat stepped up as his next opponent. After an extremely close fight, Sagat believed himself the victor and dropped his guard, offering the exhausted Ryu a hand to help him up. In an unexpected response, Ryu lashed out in rage and tore Sagat’s chest open with a powerful uppercut, leaving him victorious over Sagat’s nearly dead body.
 
After this humiliating defeat, Sagat’s world came crashing down. Considered a disgrace by his student and infuriated by his loss, Sagat planned to avenge his honor with a rematch. His hatred was further stoked when he was discovered by M. Bison, leader of the terrorist organization Shadaloo. Having his own interest in Ryu, Bison convinced Sagat to work under him as his bodyguard, and in exchange he’d be given the rematch he craved. Agreeing to these terms, Sagat eventually tracked Ryu down and forced him to do battle, this time ending in Sagat’s victory. But even though he’d gotten the revenge he so desperately craved, Sagat realized it was a hollow victory. Ryu had been holding back the entire time and threw the fight.
 
Shortly after this realization, Sagat was confronted by Dan Hibiki, the son of Go who sought revenge for his father’s death all those years ago. Seeing this gave Sagat an epiphany, and like Ryu had done to him, Sagat threw the fight in the hopes that Dan would realize the futility of revenge. 
 
Now stripped of his main reason for joining, Sagat quit Shadaloo and freed Ryu from Bison’s brainwashing, allowing them to leave on better terms. Sagat would continue his training with the goal of defeating Ryu, not out of revenge, but to satisfy his love of fighting. Though he still lost their next fight, Sagat had now gained a mutual respect for Ryu, hoping to discover “the true purpose of the fight” by challenging him again.

After defeating Adon in a Muay Thai match, Sagat returned to his home village and rigorously continued training, ready for the day he and Ryu will once again cross paths.


King

("I won this time, but next time, who knows? That's what makes a good fight.”)

The woman who would later be known as King was born in 1957 in France. For reasons unknown, she spent a large part of her early life in Thailand. Here she would learn the art of Muay-Thai, and quickly became a natural in the style. She even managed to defeat a notable champion. However, due to the backlash and danger she experienced as a woman in the world of martial arts, she chose to begin hiding her gender and started going by the professional name “King.”

Some time after this, King was approached by the underworld kingpin known as Mr Big. Pursuing funds to support herself and her younger brother Jan, King agreed to work for him in Southtown. Big set “him” up as the bouncer at one of the many restaurants that was a front for criminal activity. King worked for Big for an unknown amount of time, believing that the only reason she fought was to be the provider for Jan. However, during the events of the first Art of Fighting game she was confronted by Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia.

Mr Big had kidnapped Ryo’s sister Yuri and forced Ryo’s father Takuma to be an enforcer for his criminal reign. In order to locate Yuri, the two karate masters confronted King at Big’s restaurant to learn where Yuri was being held captive. After a fierce battle, King’s shirt was ripped open, exposing her gender to the world. However, King was not upset. Perhaps she sensed how Ryo and Yuri’s relationship paralleled Jan and her own. She decided to guide Ryo and Robert to Mr Big’s hideout.

During the second Art of Fighting game, King resurfaced again as a street fighter, although no longer concealing her gender. After Jan had been injured in a car accident, she entered the King of Fighters tournament in order to win the cash prize and pay for his treatment. Ultimately, she ended up fighting against the mastermind of the tournament, Geese Howard, and did not receive the prize money. However, Ryo and Robert decided to pool together their own money and paid for Jan’s operation themselves. With the Kyokugenryu Karate Students as close friends, King retired from fighting.

Well, at least as far as the Art of Fighting series is concerned. While she did retire to open the Illusion bar in England (and Southtown) in both canons, in the King of Fighters games she once again took to the battlefield. Her reasons were threefold: 1. Jan was hospitalized again, and she was looking for more money. 2. Mai Shiranui and Yuri Sakazaki needed a third member of their proposed team. And finally. 3. She wanted to prove the strength of women in martial arts. This was the genesis of the Women Fighters Team!

King and the Women Fighters Team (or many variants of it) would be frequent competitors in the KoF tournaments from that point forward. She even teamed up with Robert and Ryo a number of times to save the tournament from forces like NESTS, Orochi, and even Geese and Mr Big’s old criminal syndicate. Takuma and Yuri even think that Ryo and King’s relationship may surpass that of mere teammates. Whatever it is, King has fully returned to the world of martial arts to be the Queen of Fighters!


Experience, Intelligence, and Skill

Sagat


Prior to joining Shadaloo, Sagat was a decorated fighter with numerous championships who never lost a fight and defeated the previous King of Muay Thai at age 15, being declared as a national hero of Thailand and the strongest man in the world. His skill in Muay Thai is enough that both Ryu and Adon consider him its greatest fighter, with Bison considering him worthy enough to join him as one of Shadaloo’s Four Kings.

King


King spent her childhood in Thailand mastering the art of Muay Thai. During her time as a bouncer for Mr. Big, she spent her time roughing others up and even killing them if the situation called for it. In the Art of Fighting OVA, King is the one who comes up with the plan to kidnap Yuri. After leaving Mr. Big’s employ, King spent a long time working as leader and coordinator of the Women Fighters Team in the King of Fighters series. However, she did not lose her touch in regards to subterfuge, as shown in the KoF Zillions manga, where she outwits several other fighters while blackmailed into working for NESTS. She’s also a talented bartender.



Equipment & Allies

Sagat

Eyepatch




Sagat’s eyepatch covers his missing eye from his duel with Go Hibiki. It doesn’t have many special features, simply covering his wound (or maybe something else in Street Fighter: The Movie: The Game. More on that later). It doesn’t serve much purpose other than covering his wound (which was taken advantage of by Go, after all). At the very least it’s iconic to his character, when it’s not coming off when he’s KO’d or switching location due to sprite mirroring.

Shotgun



Exclusive to the Street Fighter cartoon, Sagat used this to threaten Sawata and one of his soldiers… and that’s it. He doesn’t even fire it.

Willa Maiu



Sagat’s pet tiger, whose full name is Phicit Willa Maiu. This literally means “victorious courageous cat” in Thai, though it is formatted somewhat clumsily. Sagat found him as a cub and raised him. He initially only referred to him with the Thai word for cat, but he was named by the children of the local village Sagat protects.

Battle Items



In Street Fighter V’s Survival Mode, characters can obtain a variety of items that give boons for further battles. While there are a variety of items, they fall into six main categories. There are Health Recovery items that restore health, either all at once or gradually. There are Critical Gauge Up items that allow for Special Moves to be performed with less cooldown or to start with meter. V-Gauge Up items do the same for the V-Gauge. Attack-Up Items increase the percentage of damage done by attacks. Defense Up Items do a similar percentage decrease for damage received. Finally, Special Effect Items instill unique effects like letting the character survive fatal hits with one HP, imbue attacks with ice or poison effects, reduce enemy critical gauge, negate chip damage, or automatically perform certain actions.


King

Suits




King battles in a variety of suits and dress clothes. Originally she started battling in them to conceal her gender, but she gained a fondness for them and is rarely seen not wearing them. The suits come in a variety of styles but are tailored specifically for fighting. Most of her outfits come with fingerless gloves meant for punching, but she also wears white gloves. Her suits do have a tendency to tear around the chest area, though, especially earlier on when she was hiding her gender.

Accessories




King brings a lot of objects into battle that aren’t weapons or armor. She’s very much keyed into the image of the gentleman pugilist, which means she often uses props that evoke that image. She often can be seen with a rose, hat, or handkerchief before, during, and after matches, tossing them to her opponents. She can also be seen partaking in alcohol as well. Where does she get these mixed drinks from? Look below.

Sally and Elizabeth



Sally and Elizabeth are twin bartenders that work at King’s bar Illusion. While they don’t fight themselves, King has brought them to fights in the King of Fighters tournament before. What do they do if not fight? Serve her martinis right before the match, obviously.

Abilities

Sagat

Muay Thai



As the emperor and undisputed master of Muay Thai, you can certainly bet that he lives up to his title. Sagat emphasizes his large build and long reach of his punches, elbows and knees to gain advantage over smaller opponents. Making him quite a beast or well… tiger in both close and long combat, he even utilizes throws to deliver repeated knee strikes.

Ki Manipulation



Within all things in the Street Fighter universe is Ki. Ki is said to be the origin of all things. Even forces like the Satsu no Hado and Dhalsim’s religious devotion techniques are composed of Ki. One can manifest their ki to augment their physical moves and even launch projectile attacks. Ki typically comes in multiple elemental types. Sagat chiefly forms his Ki into fire attacks, but he can also create an aura that surrounds his body. Other Ki users have sensed the Ki of their opponents as well.

Satsui no Hado/Power of Nothingness



In Street Fighter V, an apparition of Kage/the Satsui no Hado appears before Sagat. Its power is presented to Sagat and Sagat even channels the Power of Nothingness to fight off its temptation. Is this legitimate to use? See before the verdict for more answers.

King

Muay Thai




Having spent her childhood training in Thailand, King has become an expert in the art of Muay Thai. Using her slender body and light weight, she fights using a kickboxing style of Muay Thai that focuses on quick, damaging kicks and incorporates spinning, somersaults, and flips to move swiftly around the battlefield. She’s pretty talented with it, even being able to use it to serve drinks at her bar.

Ki Manipulation



King has the ability to manipulate and manifest her fighting ability into projectile attacks. It’s never specifically stated what this is, but she has the same Ki charging abilities as Ryo, who channels power from the Earth. Speaking of…

Ki Charging



Originating in the Art of Fighting games, this allows King and all the other fighters to enhance the strength and effectiveness of their attacks mid-battle.

Movesets

Sagat

Tiger Shot




tiger… tiger….

Sagat unleashes his ki into a fireball that he can fire high and low. He loves to spam it. Even a casual Tiger Shot is strong enough to kill a man.


Tiger Knee




Sagat jumps to deliver a rising knee. It can be used to pass through projectiles if timed right.

Tiger Uppercut



Sagat jumps into the air with a rising uppercut. He can even channel ki into it for extra power and to manifest flames on his fist.

Tiger Claw



A duo of kicks are unleashed that strike the opponent’s legs to trip them.

Angry Charge



Sagat clutches his chest and charges his fist with ki. This move does no damage, but it will enhance Sagat’s next Tiger Uppercut.

Focus Attack



Sagat reels his arm back, then simultaneously slams his elbow overhead and a knee strike to the jaw. This automatically breaks the opponent’s defenses, leaving them open for follow-ups.

Tiger Hang



Sagat grabs the opponent with both hands, hits them with a knee to the stomach, then lifts them by the head and slams them into the ground.

Tiger Tornado



Sagat dodges an opponent’s attack and rushes back in with a swinging kick that sends his enemy flying.

Tiger Assault



Sagat charges his legs with burning ki, giving him access to two extra moves, Tiger Spike and Tiger Rush. Spike is a spinning roundhouse that knocks the opponent down and can be charged to completely shatter an opponent’s defense. Rush is a knee strike that sends the opponent into the air, allowing him to start combos or chain into Tiger Spike.

Hanuman Charge



Sagat performs a wai khru that surrounds his feet and shins in ki, enhancing his next Tiger Knee.
 

Tiger Charge



Sagat charges his fists with glowing, burning ki. When active, Sagat can perform Tiger Cannon twice in a row with extra hits, or he can cancel the move into different combos.

Evil Eye



Exclusive to the arcade edition of Street Fighter: The Movie: The Game, this attack has Sagat lift his eye patch and fire a large wave that paralyzes his opponent.


Tiger Cannon



The Emperor of Muay Thai can fire a souped-up Tiger Shot that hits multiple times.


Tiger Raid



Sagat delivers a quick flurry of kicks, before imbuing his final attack with flames.

Tiger Genocide



The Shadaloo King chains a Tiger Knee into a Tiger Uppercut.


Tiger Destruction



Sagat unleashes a stronger Tiger Genocide that ends with a fiery Tiger Uppercut that hits multiple times.

Tiger Crossfire



Another move found in Street Fighter: The Movie: The Game, this is a rapid series of Tiger Shots fired high and low.

Tiger Storm



Sagat does an overhead punch, knocks the opponent into the air with an uppercut, then sends them flying with a knee strike to the stomach. As they fall to the ground, he leans over and charges his ki, slowly dragging himself and them up before sending them flying with a Tiger Cannon.

Tiger Rampage



Sagat performs a Tiger Knee, and if it hits, he’ll deliver two roundhouse kicks to the head and an elbow to the face that makes his enemy spin around twice. Sagat then launches them into the air with an elbow strike, winds up his fist, charges it with fire, and unleashes a devastating Tiger Uppercut that causes a tiger to roar in the background.


King

Venom Strike



King uses her ki to fire a blast from her feet via a kick. This can be done on the ground and in midair. It can even be spammed to anger her opponent and trick them into getting closer.

Top Venom



King jumps into the air and performs a Venom Strike.

Under Venom



King can do a sweeping kick that fires a Venom Strike at the opponent’s feet.

Slide Kick



Lets King get closer to the opponent and avoid projectiles.

Gale Kick



King does a flurry of kicks that launches her opponent into the air.

Two-Layer Flying Kick


King flies across the screen with a ki-infused knee strike and follows with a kick to the face.

Tornado Kick



Depending on the game, this move is either a duo of kicks from across the stage or a series of ascending kicks.

Trap Shot



King performs a somersault kick, and if it connects, she does a barrage of kicks before knocking her opponent away.

Moushuu Kyaku



Yet another attack where King uses a swift barrage of kicks.

Mirage Kick



King runs forward, does a spinning roundhouse kick, and throws out a trio of kicks.

Mirage Dance



This is a series of kicks descending from the head to the feet, ending with a slide kick that sends the opponent back.

Silent Flash



King performs a barrage of somersault kicks followed by a high backflip kick that sends the opponent into the air.

Double Strike




King quickly unleashes a duo of Venom Strikes.

Surprise Rose



King leaps into the air and does a flurry of kicks as she descends. Some games have her start the move with a knee kick into a backflip. There’s also an EX version that’s even stronger.

Phantom Strike



King fires a barrage of Venom Strikes at different heights.

Illusion Dance



King backflips away from her enemy before jumping toward them and assaulting them with a combo of kicks, ending with a somersault into a Tornado Kick.

Venom Shot



King leaps into the air and performs a kick that sprays out a scattershot of Venom Strikes.

Secret Mirage



This powerful super move is a barrage of 20 ki-infused kicks, ending with a Venom Strike that blasts the opponent back.


Feats

Sagat

Overall



  • Became champion and emperor of Muay Thai at age 15
  • Joined Shadaloo as one of its four bosses
  • Stated that no one in the world comes to close as him in fighting ability
  • Easily defeated the giant Hugo
  • Overcame the temptation to use the Satsui no Hado

Strength




Speed




Durability



King

Overall



  • Became the bouncer for Mr. Big
  • Reformed after being defeated by Ryo and opened her own bar
  • Formed Team Women Fighters with Mai and Yuri
  • Unintentionally foiled the Anti-Kyokugenryu Team’s plan to ambush Ryo, Robert, Yuri, and Takuma
  • Defeated Terry Bogard while brainwashed and amped by the Black Crystals
  • Defeated Saisyu Kusanagi, Kyo Kusanagi, and Clark Still in the manhuas

Strength



Speed




Durability



Scaling

Sagat

Ryu
(and any of the other Street Fighter shotos)



Ever since Sagat quite literally suffered a scarring defeat against Ryu, he has strived to take that win back in a rematch, leading to Ryu and Sagat regularly battling each other. Ryu considers Sagat one of his greatest foes and Sagat has sometimes even beaten the ever living hell out of Ryu on more than one occasion (other examples of his fights include 1, 2 and 3), even knocking him out of the influence of the Satsui no Hado.


Ryu

Evil Ryu

Ken

Akuma

Sakura

Dan

Group Feats

Four Heavenly Kings



During his time in Shadaloo, Sagat served as one of its Four Heavenly Kings, a title reserved only for its high ranking and most powerful members. Given his status as a powerhouse in the world of martial arts and how they all share the same position, it would be natural to assume Sagat is at least comparable to the other Heavenly Kings in power. And with his ability to consistently rival Ryu, Sagat might even be above them since Ryu makes the other 4HK members like Vega and Balrog look like chumps and has consistently fought their leader M. Bison.


M. Bison

Vega

Balrog

Misc. Street Fighter characters



These are characters Sagat would naturally compare to from fighting Ryu or fodder that he would scale above.



King

Ryo Sakazaki
(and other Kyokugenryu practitioners)




The Kyokugenryu school of karate is the group King has had the most frequent run-ins with, going all the way back to Art of Fighting. Ryo, Yuri, Takuma, and Robert have been in King’s life for years now, ever since she cut ties with Mr. Big. She’s even fought on the Art of Fighting team a few times. As such, she should be comparable to any of these karate practitioners.

Ryo

Yuri

Takuma

Robert

Group Feats

Team Women Fighters



Team Women Fighters (also known as Team Female) (also known as Team Queens) (also known as Team Heroines) (also known as Team Super Heroines) (also known as Heroines Team) (not to be confused with Team Pretty Girls Fighters or Team High School Girls, which spun off from it) is the team founded by King to show the fighting potential of women in the tournament. King is their anchor and leader and generally considered on par with everyone else on the team. Their most common other members are Mai Shiranui and Yuri, but Chizuru Kagura has been a member before.

Mai

Mary

Athena

Chizuru

Others

Group Feats

Misc. King of Fighters characters



Everyone listed here is someone King either naturally upscales from, directly scales to by defeating them in a fight, or is at least portrayed as comparable to.

Team Ikari Warriors

Kula

Chang and Choi

Kensou

Todoh

Bao

Shingo

Others

High tier King of Fighters characters



This one’s honestly a bit of a surprise. While it isn’t prominently done in the games, extended media like the manhuas depict King and her partners regularly holding their own against the series’ higher tier characters. Examples include King beating the shit out of the Kusanagi family, Ryo fighting on even ground with Iori and forcing him to retreat, Blue Mary kicking Shermie’s ass, Xiangfei defeating an Orochi powered Leona, and several of the fights listed below.


For a more in-depth explanation, see the “Before the Verdicts” section.


Terry

Kyo and his clones

Iori

K’

Geese (and Verse)

Orochi’s Four Heavenly Kings

Others


Weaknesses

Sagat



His pride and honorable nature has led to him becoming overconfident and dropping his guard when he gains the upper hand, which cost him his eye and gave him a scar on his chest. His arrogance caused him to fight recklessly before this, but now it causes him to doubt himself during fights. He can sometimes struggle to fight at his full potential because of Ryu shaking his confidence.


King



Her fighting style focuses on speed and agility over power, meaning most of her moves are lacking in strength. She’s also somewhat of a jack of all trades but master of none, being above average in most skills but below the verse’s peaks. Also, while not likely to come up in a 1-vs-1 fight, King is fiercely devoted to her brother Jan’s safety and will abandon her morals and fighting spirit to provide for him and keep him safe.


Before the Verdicts

Street Fighter EX Scaling?



The use of Street Fighter EX has certainly been a subject of debate around vs circles, primarily because of its ambiguous status in SF canon with the inclusion of Arika’s own characters and some of its more crazy feats. Though for this particular blog, IMO it should be fine to use. And it’s no less different from what people use for other fighting games like Tekken in particular.

First off, in the All About Street Fighter Zero 3 book, a series timeline about Street Fighter is compiled up to 2nd Impact at the time. While the EX games are indeed not included within said timeline, it is still stated that the games specifically are positioned as side stories taking around the same time as Street Fighter 2, just with the addition of Arika characters. This is also supported by the game’s original title being “gaiden” (which directly translates to side story).

And sure. EX definitely isn’t a super heavy story game, but many of the details we get about its story more or less remain in line with the Street Fighter characters in their original games. One of Arika’s own characters like Darun Mister has even canonically played a part in Street Fighter V’s story, with him being stated to be Zangief’s old chess partner.


Cracker Jack’s Home Run King



While we might’ve just finished explaining why Street Fighter EX is usable, there are two feats in the EX series that particularly stand out. In EX 2 Plus, the character Cracker Jack has a move called “Home Run King,” where he kicks the opponent into the air and hits them with a bat hard enough that they’re sent flying into space. This move can launch the opponent into Jupiter or Uranus, which both get results that are thousands of times faster than light. That’s a major step up compared to Street Fighter’s other speed feats, which only come out to a small percent of the speed of light at most.

So what does that mean for Cracker Jack’s feats?

To start with the positives, you could easily make an argument for Sagat scaling to him. Cracker Jack is basically a nobody in the grand scheme of Street Fighter while Sagat is far more prevalent and relevant. And the EX games are no stranger to having its characters go to space for some super moves, so you could argue for it being consistent.

It’s just that there’s the sliiiiight problem that even the lowest end of Jack’s Home Run King is well beyond anything else shown in the franchise. Even with the EX games taken into account, the highest feat in Street Fighter that isn't Jack batting people into planets is Nanase jumping into space. That only gets a little over 3% the speed of light, meaning there’s a 40,160 times gap between this and Jack’s super. And just as a reminder, that’s if we’re using the minimum value of Jack batting people into Jupiter.

Haggar’s Gamble Slam Piledriver



In the game Final Fight Revenge, Mike Haggar has a super move called “Gamble Slam,” where the player summons a roulette wheel and causes one of several outcomes. The most visually impressive of these is when you land on a star. If the opponent’s health is low enough, it will trigger a sequence where Haggar performs a piledriver through Earth, which has been calculated at an insanely high output of 10.456 petatons of TNT.

This is easily one of the most powerful feats in Street Fighter/Final Fight, and it’s also the most controversial. With something this powerful, it would easily give Sagat the edge in Attack Potency, but it begs the question: would he scale to this feat, and should it be used at all?

To answer the first part, it’s rather easy to argue for Sagat scaling to this. Haggar is far from the top dogs in Street Fighter, and his only interactions with the cast are defeating Zangief early in his career and teaming up with him and R. Mika to fight Hakan and E. Honda. According to the win quotes in Street Fighter IV, Zangief has fought Ryu before. Considering Sagat is seen as one of Ryu’s strongest opponents and has even knocked him out of the Satsui no Hado, a state well beyond anything Zangief’s pushed Ryu to, it would be natural for Sagat to upscale from both Haggar and Zangief. This is only made more consistent when you factor in how Ryu’s sparring partners Ken and Sakura have defeated Zangief in the past.

Now for the other half. Should this feat be considered for this debate? That depends.

Arguments against it

There are multiple problems with this feat, the biggest being that it comes from a game that heavily contradicts canon. Its final boss, Belger from the original Final Fight, shows up as a zombie here, yet he’s alive and well when we see him in Street Fighter 5. Cody is shown getting arrested at a graveyard after being framed by Poison and the Mad Gears, when his canon arrest happened after he beat up some drug traffickers. Or there’s the fact that Guy’s ending has him get infected by Belger, which couldn’t have happened in canon since- again- Belger isn’t a zombie when he appears in Street Fighter.

Even ignoring the game’s canonicity, the output is another factor that makes it unusable. Haggar’s Gamble Slam piledriver is well beyond anything shown in either series, being 28,505 times stronger than the output of Bison’s suicide explosion. And that’s without going into how the calc is likely inflated, or how its output regardless would be an outlier for both series. It’s especially bad in the context of Final Fight since its presentation is well beyond any of the series’ other feats. To put it bluntly, there’s an astronomical gap between destroying walls and piledriving someone through Earth so hard you can see it from space.


Arguments for it

While the feat is certainly a jump compared to Bison’s gigaton level suicide explosion, it’s not too drastic compared to some of the feats on King’s end. If we go by the arguments used above about the piledrive feat being a massive jump compared to feats in Street Fighter, then we’d have to apply the same standard to KOF, Art of Fighting, and Fatal Fury.

Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting, at least in mainline games, never show feats above wall level (like the tree kicking or the destructible environments in FF3 and Real Bout) unless it’s outside media like the OVAs, manga/manhuas, or KOF. And if we’re using the same logic as the above section, we’d need to apply the same level of scrutiny for the Verse feat. That is also many times greater than the one for the Zero Cannon satellite, being 17,744 times larger.


Sagat and the Satsui no Hado?



In Street Fighter V, Sagat’s story features a small bit where he taps into the Satsui no Hado, the dark force that powers characters like Akuma and Evil Ryu. He sees children as monsters, as well as a vision of the Murderous Intent’s avatar, Kage. It tries to get him to kill the other fighters, but he fights off these urges. He even unknowingly taps into the Power of Nothingness to do so. After this, Kage fights Akuma, and this is referenced in all three’s character stories, suggesting the event is canon.

Given Sagat’s frequent encounters with Ryu and other Ansatsuken practitioners, it might be tempting to grant Sagat the Surge of Murderous Intent’s full powers or even the Power of Nothingness. Characters even less connected to Ankatsuken, like Oro and Lily, are said to have potential for the art. However, Sagat never performs any techniques associated with the Hado or even has a fight while it was affecting him. Even if he could technically harness it or the Power of Nothingness, he’s never been shown using these in a fight. Also, the exact nature of Kage and the Hado in Sagat’s section is unclear, as the two are not always considered one and the same. For these reasons, the Hado and Power of Nothingness will not be included among Sagat’s abilities on this blog.

Also Kage is confirmed dead by the devs anyway lol


What are the Black Crystals?



We’ve mentioned the Black Crystals a few times throughout King’s analysis, but what are they if it’s so important to single them out?

Introduced in the animated series The King of Fighters: Destiny, the Black Crystals are the central tool used by the main antagonists Geese Howard and Rugal Bernstein. They’re a series of gemstones that can absorb energy and emit a radiation that temporarily enhances their wielder. This enhancement comes from the power of Orochi, greatly boosting the user’s strength and pain tolerance while also affecting the soul.

Early on in the series, we see several examples of these enhancements from the American Sports Team. After Benimaru breaks his neck and his head gets embedded in the corner post, Brian rips it out and snaps it back into place. During the next match, Daimon breaks Lucky Glauber’s leg, yet he can still run and jump high into the air, and he even throws his basketball hard enough to knock Daimon out. These boosts are so unnatural that Benimaru, Mai, and Yuri all notice and assume the Sports Team is using steroids.

Later on in the series, Mai, Yuri, and King are all infected by the crystals, with Yuri and King using this power boost to kick Terry and Joe’s asses (5:47-6:17). So does this mean that we should give King access to these crystals? No, not really. She only received this power boost during a brief period of brainwashing, the crystal gets destroyed later, and she’s never shown accessing its power again.

Would this mean she only scales to Terry with this amp? Well, first we need to answer another question…

Does King scale to Terry or any of the other high tiers?



King of Fighters has its fair share of reality bending threats and magical cults, but most of the characters play around with just normal fisticuffs. However, one character who gets to play around with all the Orochi stuff is Terry Bogard himself. He’s the mascot of the company, so he gets to be in those plotlines in all the adaptations and is generally shown to be as strong as Geese Howard, who absolutely wrecks the storm-summoning Verse in the XIV manga. Think of him as a gate, separating King and all the lower tier KoF fighters from the highest levels of the verse. Can King scale to Terry without the Black Crystal amp?

It seems likely! Art of Fighting has many ways into higher tier Fatal Fury and King of Fighters through feats like Takuma’s redirection of the Zero Canon. King can casually meet Kyokugenryu practitioners in strength all the time. She can even fight Geese in AoF2, but that’s likely not the canon ending to her story. In the OVA, she and the rest of the cast scale to a skyscraper being shaken by a wrecking ball. In Zillions, she goes evenly with Andy Bogard. While Andy is likely not as strong as Terry, it’s pretty close to his level. But there are also feats that imply higher levels of power than even Terry.

In King of Fighters, the strongest are probably those related to the power of Orochi. The Three Sacred Treasures (Kyo, Iori, and Chizuru) are usually the only ones that can step up to Orochi’s level, so surely King is way below them? Well, in Zillions King is a constant menace to Kyo Kusanagi and even participates in knocking out Chizuru. Considering that Chizuru is also a member of Team Women Fighters who constantly works alongside King, this level of power doesn’t feel too outside her dominion. King fighting Rugalwhile he had Orochi powers is even suggested to be canon.

Other manhua only make this more consistent, with King and her teammates repeatedly going up against some of the higher tier fighters. King’s shown fighting a long battle with Terry’s brother Andy, staggering an Orochi powered Leona with a kick, and casually knocking out Clark Still, who was able to break K’s spine and suffered little damage from Shermie slamming him into the ground in previous series. Her teammates get similar buffs, like Blue Mary curbstomping Shermie, Xiangfei defeating Orochi Leona, or Chizuru having some solid scaling to a berserk Kyo, Iori, and even Orochi himself!

However, the ones that benefit the most from these adaptations are the main protagonists of Art of Fighting and KOF. There’s Terry defeating Kyo’s clones, Krizalid, and Orochi Iori and Leona at the same time, Kyo-2 fighting Iori “beyond the speed of light,” Iori creating a massive hole in the sky, and K’ creating giant explosions of fire; among many other examples.

But by far the greatest example of characters getting buffed is Ryo Sakazaki. While he might be treated like a joke in the games, the adaptations go the opposite route by consistently portraying him as a total badass! The New Beginning manga has him defeat a berserk Shun’ei, whose power is directly connected to Verse and said to be on the same level as Kyo. And the Chinese manhua consistently portray him as a major threat to the other KOF protagonists. He defeats Terry in a brawl while they were both pissed off, is an even match for K’, and is so dangerous that Iori would rather run than be defeated by him.

Seeing how King is one of Ryo’s occasional teammates and she’s treated as comparable to him physically, it would make sense to give her this same leeway. That being said, there are also plenty of examples of King struggling with people at that level. Athena’s team clears out Team Women Fighters in another manga, with King only managing a double KO against Kensou, and she only wins against Kyo in Zillions due to hit and run tactics. This could make the scaling a bit harder to swallow, but with what we’ve brought up here, King has several scaling chains to the series’ high tiers. Going in descending order from most powerful to least, we have:

Option A: “King is comparable in power to Ryo. Ryo defeated Shun’ei, whose power is on the same level as Verse, who created a storm across a stadium.”

Option B: “King is comparable to Ryo, who fought Terry on even ground and defeated him. Terry defeated Geese, who killed Verse, who created a storm across a stadium.”

Option C: “The manhuas have King defeat Kyo and Chizuru during fights, and both of them are capable of fighting and killing Orochi.”

Option D: “King is the leader of Team Women Fighters, and is regularly shown to be on par with her partners. As seen with Xiangfei’s fight with Orochi Leona and the one-sided beatdown Blue Mary gave Shermie, the Women Fighters can dominate beings empowered by Orochi.”

Even if you disagree with this kind of scaling, you could still make an argument that King would at least downscale from Terry. While she is a competent martial artist who is certainly more disciplined than Terry’s friend Joe Higashi, she’s only around their level. King displays little issue fighting people at Terry’s level like Raiden, but never actively pursues the higher level threats in the universe and is just as often shown dwarfed by the most mystic fighters as she is handling them. With this in mind, King is likely around the same level as Terry, who is also at the same level as Geese and his storm feat.

Samurai Shodown Scaling?



Okay, this one might feel like a tangent, so let me explain. Nakoruru from Samurai Shodown has made multiple guest appearances in King of Fighters, being featured heavily in its official manga adaptation, and shows up in the massive company wide crossover SNK Heroines, which is canon according to its producer (and KOF XIV’s director) Yasuyuki Oda.

The final boss of KOF XIV, Verse, is an amalgamation of souls across time, and its win quotes showcase several of the souls contained within. More specifically, it references the previous protagonist Ash Crimson, as well as past antagonists like Orochi, Igniz, Rugal Bernstein, and Krizalid. But the one we’re focusing on here is this reference to Mizuki Rashojin from Samurai Shodown.

In her home series, Mizuki's resurrection had the side effect of creating a storm that spread across the world, and her defeat dispersed it. (31:29-31:50) This storm has been calculated at 4.8 teratons, and much like with Haggar’s feat, it raises the question of “Can we scale King to this feat from another series made by the same developer?”

Well, as stated in the above section, King is in a bit of a weird spot scaling wise, but you can argue for King scaling to Verse through Ryo or Terry. As for this feat coming from a different series, there’s multiple pieces of evidence that King of Fighters, Samurai Shodown, and several other SNK franchises share the same universe.

The King of Fighters manga adaptation places Nakoruru’s sacrifice as occurring in the distant past, Haohmaru’s ending in the original SamSho has him fighting Mai Shiranui (or at least a distant ancestor), and SamSho 2019 features Hibiki Tanake from The Last Blade as a guest character, with her story mode revealing she was sent to the past. The Last Blade also has ties to KOF since it’s implied one of the characters, Zantetsu, is an ancestor of KOF’s Eiji Kisaragi.

And it’s not like SNK having a shared universe is anything new. Just to list a few examples, Ralf and Clark from Ikari Warriors are playable in Metal Slug 6’s story mode and acknowledged in the manuals, Team Ikari Warriors and Team Psycho Soldier are made up of characters from their respective series, the manual and in-game biographies for Metal Slug XX reference Ralf, Leona, and Clark’s participation in KOF tournaments and Leona’s backstory from the games, Leona has her own dedicated story mode in Metal Slug Attack, and Fio from Metal Slug shows up as a playable character in KOF: Maximum Impact. Even without the connections to Ikari Warriors and Metal Slug, KOF regulars like Ryo and Terry first appeared in previous series like Art of Fighting and Fatal Fury. The manhua also get in on this connected universe by turning Rocky from the game Robo Army into one of Maxima’s partners.

Planet and Star Level Metal Slug?



Since we’ve gone over the shared continuity of SNK, there are some characters from Metal Slug we should address. In the mobile game Metal Slug Attack, the playable cast is able to damage the Metzelei Commanders. This includes Geweih, who is said to have highly concentrated energy comparable to a miniature sun, with his presence causing asphalt to melt, making the oceans boil, and killing a man just by getting near him. His in-game profile and character sheet even state that he can melt a planet in less than a day, which would require him to output at least 9 exatons of TNT per second, or 38 zettatons per hour. His Grieving form buffs him even further, with his profile stating he can burn up stars.

Additionally, the sister of King Geweih, Eis Monstrum, is stated to be a planet collector, with it being implied that the way she collects said planets is by freezing it over with her ice powers. We’re even given a timeframe for this, as she states she could do so in the blink of an eye.

That kind of power is certainly impressive, but why are we bringing it up here? Does this mean King has any way of scaling to him?

Well, the argument is there considering the playable cast in the game includes the aforementioned Team Ikari Warriors and even some King of Fighters regulars like Terry, Athena, Mai, Kula, and K’, all of whom King can already be scaled to. But whether or not this holds up to scrutiny is another matter entirely.

The gap between these statements and the feats shown from other SNK series is insanely high. The best feats we get on screen only get into the low teratons at their highest, which is over 1 million times smaller than Geweih melting planets, let alone burning stars!

Even if you want to argue the events of Attack are canon since its characters show up in later Metal Slug entries, that doesn’t necessarily mean the same for Terry, Mai, or the other KOF guest stars that appeared there. Unlike with the statements connecting Ikari Warriors to KOF and Metal Slug, the crossover with MSA has never been acknowledged as canon.

In short, you can make an argument for scaling King to Eis or Geweih, but it’s a major stretch and has multiple holes.


Star Level King of Fighters?



At the start of the King of Fighters ‘99 manhua there’s a massive fight scene between Kyo-1 and Kyo-2, culminating in their flames creating a black sun. Other scenes throughout the next few chapters show that this sun is real, but it doesn’t receive much focus after that. The last we see of it is when it fires lightning at the heroes and Ryo counters it with a punch. It never shows up past this point, and any time we see the sky after, it just has the regular sun. Does this mean Kyo and Ryo are star level because one’s clones created this sun and the other (presumably) destroyed it? No. Considering it fired lightning, which real life stars can’t produce, it’s unlikely this is a legitimate sun.


Fight Script


Click here.


Verdicts




Stats

When it comes to direct feats, King and Sagat are easily neck and neck. Both have killed grown men in a single strike, destroyed trees, and busted open training dummies and punching bags with their ki blasts. However, Sagat’s higher end feats like splitting rocks with an uppercut and destroying a giant Buddha statue while fighting Ryu are ultimately superior to anything King has done. And while neither one has too many speed feats to go off of, Sagat crossing 100 meters to blitz Runpao gets well over the speed of sound, something King has never come close to on her own.

But when we factor in scaling, things get a bit different. Given his frequent fights with Ryu, ability to knock him out of the Satsui no Hado, and Ryu considering him one of his greatest foes, it goes without question that we can scale Sagat to Ryu. This would let him scale to feats like Ryu tanking Bison’s suicide explosion or surviving the destruction of an island, which would require over 13 megatons and 119 megatons of TNT, respectively. 

That’s just from scaling to Ryu’s durability feats. Factoring in Ryu’s attack potency, an early Ryu could directly power the Psycho Drive, which at its highest would require over 1 gigaton of TNT, and was able to defeat Bison, whose Psycho Power could unleash explosions worth over 360 gigatons! And Ryu’s only gotten stronger since then!

Scaling to Ryu would also let Sagat upscale from Bison intercepting a satellite laser, which would require at maximum 1.66% the speed of light. There are even side characters who’ve performed feats with similar results, like Zangief piledriving the opponent from space or Nanase jumping into space, which both yield sub-relativistic speeds.

Meanwhile, King’s scaling is a bit tricky to figure out. Using what’s shown from the in-game story modes, she and the rest of her team have pulled off feats like powering the Zero Cannon, which can generate over 49 megatons of TNT by destroying a city; defeating Rugal while he was empowered by Orochi’s energy, defeating Orochi Iori, or awakening Orochi himself with their combined energies.

Considering beings empowered by Orochi can create storms and massive eruptions of lava, this would require energies worth nearly 33 megatons and 35 gigatons, respectively. When it comes to speed, we can scale King to Takuma intercepting the Zero Cannon, which would require over 11% the speed of light.

You could argue against scaling to the game’s bosses by saying she only performs these feats in non canon story modes, but this high tier scaling is backed up by, surprisingly enough, the manhuas.

Thanks to the various manhua series, King’s depicted as being more consistently on par with the higher tier characters in the series, like Kyo, Chizuru, and Orochi Leona. People she fights in the manhua like Clark Still and Andy Bogard are portrayed as being able to break K’s spine, survive attacks from Shermie, and defeat clones of Kyo. Her teammates show off similar levels of power. Blue Mary directly overpowers Ralf and completely thrashes Shermie, Xiangfei defeats Leona’s base and Orochi forms, and Chizuru is depicted as holding her own against a berserk clone of Kyo, stalemating Iori, and landing decent damage on Orochi.

Even King’s Art of Fighting partner Ryo is given some high level scaling by defeating Terry, fighting evenly with K’, and forcing Iori to retreat after fighting him. The manga King of Fighters: A New Beginning goes beyond even this by having Ryo directly compete with and defeat an opponent whose power is directly connected to Verse.

So with all that said, where does that leave King’s stats? Considering the above examples, we could easily give King a scaling chain to feats like Iori creating a massive hole in the sky worth 2 gigatons and fighting a Kyo clone “beyond the speed of light,” which would be enough to overpower and blitz the feats Sagat would scale to. While Sagat can still outmatch that with Bison’s 360+ gigaton suicide blast, scaling to the likes of Verse creating a stadium-destroying storm would need at least 870 gigatons to pull off, and King could still get higher. Whether it’s Clark and Ralf damaging an alien that created a massive explosion or one of Verse’s souls creating a storm that spread across the world, either feat would be worth upwards of teratons of TNT.

Taking both at their best, this would make King 13 times stronger and over 27 times faster.

Tertiary Factors

Experience blatantly goes to Sagat. While King might’ve spent her childhood training in Thailand, Sagat has consistently been stated as one of the most skilled Muay Thai fighters. He became a champion and representative of Thailand at 15 and was undefeated until adulthood. Even with King’s annual participation in the King of Fighters tournaments, she doesn’t have anything on that level.


Arsenals and Support

Like experience, this category easily goes to Sagat. King’s got some stylish suits and is known to carry items like roses, hats, and handkerchiefs on hand, but those aren’t really useful for combat. Meanwhile, her opponent is carrying a shotgun and multiple power-ups that keep him in the fight, boost his offense and defense, let him survive fatal hits, and imbue his attacks with status effects.

Support is much the same. While neither have been shown participating in combat, it goes without saying that a fully grown tiger is way more useful than two waitresses.


Abilities

Surprisingly, both Sagat and King are rather sparse in terms of abilities and they share what little they have. Both are experts in Muay Thai and both are capable of manipulating their own ki for attacks, but that’s where the similarities end. Sagat uses his Muay Thai training to emphasize his size and overwhelming power, while King’s version prioritizes her agility and speed. And despite manipulating their own ki, Sagat uses his more actively by empowering his physical attacks and projectiles, unlike King, who strictly powers up her projectiles outside of a few rare exceptions.

However, King has one extra ability that Sagat doesn’t: charging her ki. With this, she can enhance the power behind any of her attacks, and while Sagat can pull off similar effects, these are only done with consumable items or are limited to only improving one attack.


Conclusion

This was a fight that came down to the wire in terms of overall factors. For two side characters with very few abilities (and in King’s case, fewer screen time), things ended up going a lot deeper than expected, and much to our surprise, King was just barely able to scrape by with her higher scaling.

That’s not to say Sagat would go down easy. With his various buffs, defensive items, and status effects, he’d certainly make things difficult for King. Combine that with his greater experience and skill, and King would be in for an incredibly difficult battle.

However, as shocking as it may be, King had just enough strength, speed, and natural power boosts to overcome Sagat’s advantages, leaving the Emperor defanged.

In his attempt to tiger her out, Sagat proved to be a high bar above the rest, but his hopes of victory were nothing more than a dillusion.

The winner is King.



Summary

Sagat



"I must be strong. That is the responsibility of the king."


Advantages:
  • Far more experienced and skilled
  • Arsenal and support are more combat applicable
  • Stronger and faster direct feats


Disadvantages:
  • Gets demolished in AP
  • Somewhat slower or gets blitzed depending on what ends you use
  • King’s ki charging naturally enhances all of her attacks, whereas Sagat’s ki enhancements are limited to one move or rely on external items
  • Still not in SF6

King



"Bring it on, baby!"


Advantages:
  • Has a sizable AP advantage when taking both at their best scaling
  • Slightly faster at worst, and blitzes horribly with her highest scaling
  • Can naturally enhance any special attack with her ki charging, while Sagat’s methods are limited to one attack or rely on consumable items
  • Has some good looking suits


Disadvantages:
  • Less experienced
  • Arsenal and support aren’t combat applicable


Tally


Sagat (1)- T0m


King (3)- Br3ndan5, Sharaku, Koopakirby










Credit


Street Fighter calcs: Spider-Gwen vs Sakura G1 Blog, Tommy’s Street Fighter calcs


King of Fighters calcs: Geese vs Heihachi G1 Blog, VS Battles Wiki, Rina Antiqua, Hugh Mann

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