| Kuroko | Story | Move List | Gallery | Quotes | Trivia |
Kuroko (
Story[]
Not much is known about him or from where he comes from. He was forced to judge matches as a servant of Amakusa in Samurai Shodown because his other brothers were held hostage. After Amakusa's defeat, he reunites with his family. One of the brothers had a previous working relationship with Nicotine Caffeine and is well versed in necromancy.
Personality[]
He is an enigma. It's hard to tell which brother is under the Kuroko alias at what time. He may not even be human.
Powers[]
- Mimicry - Kuroko is notorious for parodying special moves of SNK characters from series such as Art of Fighting or King of Fighters. He can also morph into a copy of his opponents.
- Pump Up - Kuroko can temporarily project a topless and muscular version of himself to hurt his opponents. He has a distinct big dipper scar on his chest.
- Flag Fighting - Kuroko makes use of his flags as weapons.
- Multiple Attacks - Kuroko can kick his opponents a lot of times.
Fighting Style[]
He dons a red flag and a white flag (used in martial arts competitions to denote when a player hits an opponent) as his weapons, and these cannot be destroyed or lost in battle. His stance is identical to that of Tung Fu Rue's from the Fatal Fury (Special onward) and The King of Fighters series in Samurai Shodown II and Samurai Shodown VI.
- In the handheld version of Samurai Shodown (the only game where uses his own moves and can be disarmed) he uses a boomerang flag toss and a "backstage" teleport.
- In Samurai Shodown II, Kuroko parodies moves from other SNK characters, mainly from those in Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting (particularly sporting an array of projectiles lined into discipline called Kuroko's Eight Ultimate Projectiles (黒子八極弾, kuroko hakkyoku dan). Unlike every other character in the game, it is his outfit that becomes red as his rage bar is filled up. He also can't be thrown normally, like Earthquake.
- He morphs into his opponent in Samurai Shodown III, and can be only used by CPU.
- In Samurai Shodown 64 he abandons his flags and relies on close-ranged martial arts (parodying the attacks of the rest of the game's cast) and grappling (parodying Hanzo and Hanma Yagyu) to fight, with his special discipline now being called Kuroko's Eight Ultimate Fists (黒子八極拳, kuroko hakkyoku ken) and consisting of combos.
- He morphs into a random character in Samurai Shodown! 2, and can only be used by players, essentially being a random select icon.
- In Samurai Shodown VI, he uses flags again, and his special moves further parody The King of Fighters characters. Kuroko's Eight Ultimate Projectiles (黒子八極弾, kuroko hakkyoku dan) discipline returns, being also The King of Fighters-themed and having an unlockable 9th "projectile number zero" (Terry's Triple Geyser).
He is deemed as extremely powerful character in all of his playable incarnations (aside of handheld), and therefore is banned from competitive play.
Music[]
- お調子六句, Ochoushi Rokku (The Tune of Six Sentences) - Samurai Shodown II, Samurai Shodown (2019). The name of the theme is a pun, since it sounds as "Freestyle Rock" in Japanese.
- 舞闘劇, Butougeki (Dance of Battle) - Samurai Shodown III
- True Garage Spirits (Spiritual Black Men Mix) - Samurai Remix VA
Voice Actors[]
- Masaki Usui - Samurai Shodown and III
- Eiji Yano - Samurai Shodown II (while judging)
- Toshikazu Nishimura - Samurai Shodown II (during battle)
- Kaori Minami - Samurai Shodown 64
- Takumi Satō - Samurai Shodown VI
- Hiroshi Naka - Samurai Shodown (2019)
Appearances[]
Games
Mobile
Cameos
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Etymology[]
- The term kuroko (黒子) means "black clad", and refers to stagehands in traditional Japanese theatre.
Trivia[]
- Kuroko is an alias; his real name is shown in the credits of the second game; but it, keeping with the kuroko theme, is blurred with mosaics. His "real" name is revealed to English fans nearly a decade later as Dueling Judge: "Slick" Sukihiro.
- On his card in the English version of Card Fighters Clash he is called "The Ump".
- Although he appears as his own character in the series, real life kuroko are meant to be anonymous and "invisible" stagehands in traditional Japanese theatre (most notably Kabuki), dressing all in black (kuro), head to toe, in order to imply that they are invisible to the audience and not part of the action onstage. In Noh theatre, a kōken, wearing black but no mask, serves much the same purpose.
- Similar characters appear in the Power Instinct series, though they have no relation to Slick, aside from a common occupation.
- When asked "The path of the sword is?", Kuroko's response is "An opportunity to witness a great match." [1]
Cards[]
Sprites[]
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Official character profile from Samurai Shodown anniversary website.
