Adelheid Bernstein (アーデルハイド・バーンシュタイン, Āderuhaido Bānshutain), also known simply as Adel (アーデル, Āderu), is a major character in The King of Fighters series, first appearing in The King of Fighters 2003 as the alternative final boss.
He and his younger sister, Rose Bernstein, are the only known children of the infamous crime mogul, Rugal Bernstein. As such, he is exceptionally gifted in the art of fighting and, while still young, is introduced as a very powerful and talented fighter. Together with Rose, Adel commands the flying fortress SKY-NOAH, where he confronts the winners of the 2003 King of Fighters tournament.
When Rose falls under the control of an impending esoteric inhuman threat known only as Those From The Past, Adel coordinates with Heidern, his father's mortal enemy, to stop them from releasing Orochi and save his sister.
Appearance
In the official story, Adelheid is established as a tall young man, standing at 183 cm (6 ft),[2] with an extremely muscular, well-proportioned build and a gentleman’s poise. He has blonde hair, red eyes, and pale skin due to albinism,[a] and his appearance is generally reminiscent of that of a nobleman. Additionally, he wears red earrings shaped like small rounded rectangles and is often depicted with a somewhat androgynous face, occasionally complemented by slightly long, pink-colored fingernails and red lips, the latter detail being particularly prominent in his in-game sprite.
He is almost always seen wearing a combat uniform with a dark green color scheme. This uniform includes a sleeveless turtleneck, wide-legged pants tucked into his combat boots and secured by two thin belts, and long fingerless gloves adorned with gold studs on the back and knuckles. Additionally, his gloves feature two gold stripes and an emblem with a golden letter "R" on a red background framed by a golden border. He also sports black suspenders secured by gold clips attached to his belt, along with two gold chains clipped onto his belt loops that hang down at his sides.
In The King of Fighters XIII, Adel returns with a slightly updated look. He now wears thicker, pink-colored belts, a black sleeveless turtleneck, and matching pants and gloves that maintain their original design. Additionally, his suspenders now attach to his belt loops and his usually pale skin appears slightly less so, though his KOF XIII trading card sprite maintains his ghostly pale complexion and, strangely, his original design entirely.[8]
Personality
Adelheid is an aristocratic young man who, despite sharing several traits with his father Rugal, is a calm, self-disciplined young man and an honorable fighter who exhibits good sportsmanship. This is demonstrated when he is defeated at the end The King of Fighters 2003.[9]
While he does not like his father, he loves and dotes on his younger sister, but is troubled by her arrogance and hot temper, which are very similar to their father's, and sometimes has his own doubts about her sincerity. Even so, upon realizing something is wrong with her in KOF XIII, he cooperated with one of his father's victims, Heidern, to get to the bottom of Those From the Past's plot, and at the then-strange behavior of his sister. He does not exhibit the evil ways of his father and has helped those Rugal has wronged on many occasions, particularly and most notably with Heidern.
He also has developed a complex about his feminine name.
History
Abilities
Athleticism
Adelheid is particularly noted for possessing a natural talent for fighting, so much so that even Magaki, known for his sarcastic, nasty, hateful behavior, highly values his abilities and praises him quite frankly. While still relatively young and lacking experience, his talent as a fighter is no less than his father's; Adelheid fights using a comprehensive self-taught combat technique that masters all combat arts, and his talent is further shown by Adelheid's ability to mimic Rugal's techniques nearly perfectly and even chain them together with greater speed and efficiency.
As a mid-boss in KOF XI, Adelheid demonstrates incredible durability in taking Super Special and Leader Super Special Moves with minimal damage. He has also performed impressive feats of strength, such as forcefully grabbing and turning someone multiple times bigger than himself around and punching them to the ground, easily dragging them across an arena. His strength extends to his legs, as he can kick opponents into the air with minimal effort, slide across the ground, kick with such force that he can create wind projectiles, and leap through the air easily and gracefully.
Attacks
Adelheid has a rather small arsenal of fighting techniques, most inherited from Rugal but with weaker priority, suggesting that his mastery of his father's skills still has a long way to go. Some are his original creations, most starting with "G", which is short for "grosse," an alternate form of "groß," the German word for "great" or "grand," while his original moves begin with "A," likely from his own name.
Adelheid's primary method of attack. He throws a fast kick that launches a forward-moving wind projectile that travels along the ground. First used by Geese Howard as the "Gale Fist" (烈風, Reppū Ken), the attack involves swiping a limb forward and upwards (in Adelheid's case, the leg) to create a wave of wind that targets the opponent. Adelheid can also perform this in the air while incorporating a jumping axe kick.
Adelheid dashes forward to grab and drag his opponent to slam them against a wall.
Adelheid has the ability to utilize energy to create a barrier strong enough to reflect most projectiles, while also functioning as an attack.
Adelheid swings his leg around in a circle, performing an overhead outward-crescent kick. He can also slide along the ground towards his target first in order to close the gap between them.
Adelheid's most powerful attack. Similar to his father's Gigantic Pressure, Adelheid rushes forward to grab the opponent and slam them opponent into the nearest wall, creating a pillar of energy that engulfs the opponent. The energy produced by this technique can flow straight through victims.
Charging energy into both of his hands, Adelheid can create a forward moving wave of energy.
Creation and Development
In order to broaden the world of KOF, developers sought to create a side story independent of the main story, thus leading to Adelheid and Rose's addition to the series.[2] He was deliberately crafted as a character who exists one step apart from the main story; in contrast to Ash, who is depicted as an antihero, Adel is the "hidden protagonist" of the Tales of Ash story arc.[citation needed] Curiously, concept artwork in the art gallery found in the PlayStation port of The King of Fighters '99 depict characters strongly resembling Adel, Rose, and their panther mascot Gwan,[10] indicating that they were saved for later usage. The background music for Adelheid's stage in KOF 2003 begins with Chopin's Revolutionary Etude, but trying to make this piano sound realistic on the Neo Geo required an enormous amount of data, which ended up taking up space on the voice data for other characters.[2] In The King of Fighters ALLSTAR, this theme was remixed for his KOF 2003 version, adding more elements from the Revolutionary Étude.
Casting
In all of his voiced appearances, Adelheid has been voiced by Tetsuya Tanaka. His lines in KOF ALLSTAR are reused from KOF 2003. However, on December 28, 2023, the KOF XI version of Adelheid was added as a UE fighter, with old voice lines being re-recorded, and entirely new ones being added as well.[11]
Trivia
- Based on unused artwork in KOF XIII, Adelheid was meant to be a playable character, with fully drawn character select and victory screen poses, but this idea was scrapped early on.
- Adelheid's nationality and heritage are currently unconfirmed. However, his family is strongly hinted to be of German descent; unlike his father's moves, the names of Adel's techniques are all in German (e.g., "G. Wand" and "G. Kreis"), but they are read and pronounced in English (e.g., Vier (ヴァイア, vaia) should be written as "フィアー" (fiā) in katakana, which would be faithful to the actual German pronunciation).
- According to the German pronunciation of Adelheid, the kana spelling "アーデルハイト" (Āderuhaito) is more faithful to the original language.
- The identity and whereabouts of his and Rose's mother have remained hidden. Due to the fact his Leader Super Special Move, G. Slaven, has an effect reminiscent of the power of the Orochi clan — the Hakkesshu — it is possible that Rugal, who obtained the power of Orochi through a past encounter with a young Goenitz, passed on his dark powers to Adelheid. It has also been speculated that the identity of Adel and Rose's mother is Rugal's former secretary, Mature, a member of the Orochi Hakkesshu possessing a similar move to Rugal's Gigantic Pressure and Adelheid's G. Slaven.
Notes
- ↑ According to concept art for KOF 2003.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "THE KING OF FIGHTERS 2003【アーデルハイド＆ローズ】", SNK, Accessed on 2024, November 17.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 "Adelheid - KOFキャラクター：THE KING OF FIGHTERS OFFICIAL WEB SITE" (Archived), SNK, Accessed on 2017, October 12.
- ↑ ALL ABOUTシリーズ Vol.7 ALL ABOUT ザ・キング・オブ・ファイターズ'94. Japan: Denpa Shinbunsha, 17, November 1994. (p. 86)
- ↑ A.A.GAME HISTORY SERIES VOL.2 ALL ABOUT SNK対戦格闘ゲーム 1991-2000. Japan: Denpa Shinbunsha, 08 December 2000. ISBN 4-88554-677-X. (p. 388)
- ↑ "KOF Year-end Party 2005 Ainori Bus Tour Group Report (in Japanese)" (Archived), geocities, Accessed on 2018, October 08.
- ↑ "The King of Fighters 2003", Behind The Voice Actors.
- ↑ Netmarble [@KOF_ALLSTAR] (2020, April 27), "Adelheid Reveal Trailer", on Twitter.
- ↑ "KOF XIII Trading Card: -Adelheid Bernstein-".
- ↑ SNK-Playmore (2003-12-12). The King of Fighters 2003 (Neo Geo). SNK-Playmore. Scene: Adelheid ending. Rose: ...My brother...you lost! It cannot be! ...I will not release you! you will not go back alive!/Adelheid: Stop! Rose! Return them to the Earth... and land SKY-NOAH./Rose: Brother, you're mistaken again! You must fight again!/Adelheid: Rose, defeat is defeat. To fight over and over until victory is meaningless...
- ↑ D.J. Tatsujin [@gemubaka] (2020, December 10), "The King of Fighters '99 (PS1) Unused Character Art Menu", on Youtube.
- ↑ The King of Fighters ALLSTAR [@TheKingofFightersALLSTAR] (2023, December 26), "KOF ALLSTAR New UE Fighters 2001 Heidern & XI Adelheid", Netmarble.