Athena Asamiya
Game series	The King of Fighters series SNK vs. series
First game	Psycho Soldier
Voice actor(s)	Haruna Ikezawa Kaori Shimizu (Psycho Soldier) Reiko Fukui (1994) Moe Nagasaki (1995) Tamao Satō (1996) Yukina Kurisu (1997) Robyn Gryphe (Maximum Impact)
In-universe information
Birthplace	Japan
Blood type	B
Fighting style	Psychic kung fu

Athena Asamiya (麻宮アテナ, Athena Asamiya^?) is a character originally from the former SNK's video game Psycho Soldier and a descendant of Princess Athena in its Athena. She later appears in The King of Fighters series of fighting games as a female fighter character and has appeared in each of its eleven editions. She was also given her own RPG game Athena: Awakening from the Ordinary Life in 1999 released only in Japan for the Sony PlayStation. The King of Fighters ), officially abbreviated KOF, is the premiere series of fighting games by SNK Playmore, formerly SNK. The series was originally developed for SNKs Neo-Geo MVS arcade hardware, which served as the main platform for the series until 2004, when SNK retired the MVS in favor... The SNK vs. ... Psycho Soldier is an action arcade game developed by Japanese software company SNK that was released originally in 1986 and internationally in 1987. ... Haruna Ikezawa (池澤 春菜 Ikezawa Haruna) is a fairly recent seiyÅ«. She was born on December 15, 1975 in Tokyo, Japan [edit] Notable voice roles Hiroko Haruna and Torahamu-Chan in Tottoko Hamutaro (Hamtaro) Yoshino Shimazu in Maria-sama ga Miteru Porun in Futari wa Pretty Cure Noriko Ukai in Gravitation Athena... Shimizu, Kaori (清水香織) is a Japanese idol who was born on January 15, 1968 in Shizuoka. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Japan. ... It is popularly believed in Japan that a persons ABO blood type or ketsu eki gata is predictive of their personality, character, and compatibility with others, similar to the Western worlds Astrology. ... Alternative meaning: Kung Fu (TV series) Kung fu or gongfu (功夫, Pinyin: gōngfu) is a well-known Chinese term used in the West to designate Chinese martial arts. ... SNK Playmore (formerly SNK) is a Japanese video game hardware and software company. ... “Computer and video games” redirects here. ... Psycho Soldier is an action arcade game developed by Japanese software company SNK that was released originally in 1986 and internationally in 1987. ... Princess Athena ), also known as Goddess Athena, is a fictional character from the SNKs arcade game Athena (being the protagonist of this game), which is later ported to the NES platform. ... Screenshot Athena is a arcade game, produced and published in 1987 by SNK. It was later ported to the NES. Only the NES version has been released in North America. ... The King of Fighters ), officially abbreviated KOF, is the premiere series of fighting games by SNK Playmore, formerly SNK. The series was originally developed for SNKs Neo-Geo MVS arcade hardware, which served as the main platform for the series until 2004, when SNK retired the MVS in favor... Screenshot of The King of Fighters XI (2005, SNK Playmore). ... A roleplaying game (RPG) is a type of game in which players assume the roles of characters and collaboratively create stories. ... This article is about the year. ... Sony Corporation ) is a Japanese multinational corporation and one of the worlds largest media conglomerates with revenue of $66. ... The Sony PlayStation ) is a video game console of the 32/64-bit era, first produced by Sony Computer Entertainment in the mid-1990s. ...

Athena is perhaps best known for changing her outfit and hair style for virtually every new KOF game.

History

Athena is a modern day high school girl in Japan. Her psycho power is a legacy from her ancestor Princess Athena through her mother and it seems no other one in her family possesses the same power. She is a typical protagonist of Japanese animation culture with strong sense of justice and will to fight evil, help the weak and exercise hard for self-progress. Objectively, she also has gained lots of popularity to make her an idol because of her energetic exterior and warm soul, both inside and outside fictions.

She started her experience of Psycho Soldier as one day, while returning home from school, Athena saw a couple of Chinese fellows about to defend themselves from a local tough guy, whom she immediately knocked out with her powers before he threw a single punch. After introducing herself to the travelers, she discovered that the teenage boy, Sie Kensou, likewise had psychic powers while the aged man, Chin Gentsai, was a venerable master of many Chinese martial arts. Recognizing a good thing, they joined forces to become the Psycho Soldiers. Since then, Kensou has persisted in trying to make Athena his girlfriend, though she thinks of him as a good friend and nothing more (as of yet). Sie Kensou is a character appearing in the SNK video game Psycho Soldier and the King of Fighters video game series. ... Chin Gentsai is a 89-year-old master of kung fu and suiken (drunk fist style). ... Hawaiian State Grappling Championships. ...

Orochi Saga

While Chin trained Athena and Kensou in kung-fu, Athena led their efforts in crime fighting and conquering the world of team combat in the annual The King of Fighters tournament. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with wushu. ...

By KOF '96, Athena had become just as big a sensation in the fighting world as she was on the pop scene for her charm, unique style, and amazing powers. Though she had never led her team to an overall championship win, she and her powers--along with those of other major heroes in KOF — played a crucial supporting role in helping Kyo Kusanagi, Iori Yagami, and Chizuru Kagura defeat at various times Rugal Bernstein, Geese Howard, Goenitz, and Orochi. For popular forms of music in general, see Popular music. ... This article or section on a video game-related subject may need to be cleaned up and rewritten because it describes a work of fiction in a primarily in-universe style. ... Iori Yagami ) is a video game character who made his first appearance in the Neo Geo fighting game, The King of Fighters 95. ... Chizuru Kagura is a videogame character from the King of Fighters series. ... In order to meet Wikipedias quality standards, this articles trivia section may require cleanup. ... This article or section on a video game-related subject may need to be cleaned up and rewritten because it describes a work of fiction in a primarily in-universe style. ... Leopold Goenitz is a video game character who made his first appearance in the Neo Geo fighting game, The King of Fighters 96 as the last boss, following Chizuru Kagura. ... The Orochi in The King of Fighters is a version of the Kusanagi legend. ...

In KOF '97, Athena was forbidden to take part in the KOF tournament by her master Chin. After presenting him a letter from a fan, Kaoru Watabe, a crippled girl who took inspiration to learn to walk again by watching Athena's determination in the tournament, master Chin had no choice but to join the tournament once again along with Athena and Kensou.

In the aftermath of KOF '97, the Psycho Soldiers met Kaoru, who now travels with them to most of their engagements and was even a striker in KOF 2000.

NESTS Chronicles

Before KOF '99, she met Bao, an adopted student of Chin and perhaps the most gifted psychic youngster she'd ever met. She also liked the boy very much since he was so cute and friendly, so he became the fourth Psycho Soldier. About this time, Kensou mysteriously lost most of his psychic powers. Bao character in the King of Fighters series. ...

In KOF '99, after K' defeated Krizalid, the collapsing NESTS base split Athena and Kensou from Chin and Bao as they fled. Just as Athena discovered an exit, falling debris trapped her leg. Kensou could not budge it, but just as another cascade of falling debris threatened to crush Athena, Kensou managed a massive burst of telekinesis to deflect it and finally extract Athena. Once they were safe and reunited with the other Psycho Soldiers, Kensou collapsed from exhaustion while Bao, who had barely a scratch from the ordeal, mysteriously went unconscious. This article or section on a video game-related subject may need to be cleaned up and rewritten because it describes a work of fiction in a primarily in-universe style. ... Krizalid ) is a video game character in the King of Fighters series. ... Psychokinesis (literally mind-movement) or PK is the more commonly used term today for what in the past was known as telekinesis (literally distant-movement). It refers to the psi ability to influence the behavior of matter by mental intention (or possibly some other aspect of mental activity) alone. ...

In KOF 2000, not advancing to the final round, the Psycho Soldiers remained on the streets of Southtown while K' and his team fought against Zero, a renegade NESTS agent. When the orbital laser cannon above, which Zero had planned to use to destroy NESTS, went haywire and began blowing up all of Southtown, Bao managed to deflect one of the blasts back into the cannon, which helped destroy it. The incident injured him so badly, though, that not even Athena's potent vitakinesis could help him. This article or section on a video game-related subject may need to be cleaned up and rewritten because it describes a work of fiction in a primarily in-universe style. ... Zero is a video game character in The King of Fighters series. ... For pseudoscientific uses (such as psionic abilities), see Psychokinesis. ...

Luckily, Kensou somehow unleashed his hidden "Dragon's Spirit", which saved Bao. Since then, Athena and Chin have determined that Kensou and Bao share some sort of psychic connection, especially because as Kensou's new psychic power has waxed, Bao's psychic power has waned. Chin thinks they simply share the same power, but Bao reveals to us after KOF 2001 that he secretly knows the true nature of their relationship, one not yet made clear to KOF fans.

Tales of Ash

For the first time since the beginning of KOF, the Psycho Soldiers did not enter the tournament in KOF 2003 since Kensou and Bao went on a year long training mission with Chin to master Kensou's unreliable "Dragon's Spirit". Not wanting to miss out on her annual fix of tournament competition, though, Athena joined forces with Hinako Shijou and Malin to form the High School Girls team, a strange but rather successful partnership. Hinako Shijou is a character in the King of Fighters series. ... Malin is a video game character in the King of Fighters series. ...

For KOF XI, Athena reunites with Kensou after his year of training, and Momoko, one of Chin's growing cadre of psychic students, joins them to form the Neo Psycho Soldier team. Momoko , モモコ) is a Japanese name for girls. ...

Though neither Athena nor the other Psycho Soldiers have much connection with the major plot in KOF 2003 through KOF XII (not yet released, but presumably the climax of the latest KOF plot arc), it seems she is destined to soon struggle alongside Kensou against the evil and powerful Ron and his henchmen, who intend to steal Kensou's power of the Dragon's Spirit. In episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books and comic strips a story arc is an extended or continuing storyline. ... Ron is a character in the King of Fighters video game series. ...

The King of Fighters: Kyo

In the PlayStation game KOF Kyo, Athena had a mild crush on its main character Kyo Kusanagi, although she respects how he's already in a relationship with a young girl named Yuki, who becomes Athena's closest friend at school. That crush stems from their fight in the KoF'95, where Athena was extremely impressed by Kyo's powers and good looks, and then transferred to his school to know more about him. The Sony PlayStation ) is a video game console of the 32/64-bit era, first produced by Sony Computer Entertainment in the mid-1990s. ... This article or section on a video game-related subject may need to be cleaned up and rewritten because it describes a work of fiction in a primarily in-universe style. ... Yuki is a secondary character in SNK Playmores King of Fighters videogame series; she was first introduced in the The King of Fighters 97 and King of Fighters: Kyo games. ...

This crush is not mentioned in the main The King Of Fighters series, most likely since it comes from Masato Natsumoto's manga The King of Fighters: Kyo, which wasn't considered canon until later.

Athena: Awakening from the Ordinary Life

In this role-playing game, Athena has to find answers about strange things that happened in her school, and later in various parts of Japan. Different from her other appearances, this game is played in similar way to Capcom's Resident Evil series. Also, in this game her friends Kaori and Kensou appear as support characters. This article is about games in which one plays the role of a character. ... For the original NASA meaning, see capsule communicator. ... This article is about the video game series. ...

Trivia

• Athena has made an appearance in Baseball Stars Professional, one of SNK's earliest games for their Neo Geo home console system.
• Haruna Ikezawa, Athena's seiyu since KOF'98, was born in Athens.
• Athena's theme song for KOF'94, '96, '97 and 2002 is a remixed version of the Psycho Soldier theme. In some versions (e.g. the Neo-CD and Sega Saturn ports of '96 and '97), it includes vocals. This is yet another tie-in with the Psycho Soldier game, which also had this feature (a rare trait for its time). KOF XI features PS's ending track ("傷だらけのBlue Moon", "Kizudarake no Blue Moon", A Blue Moon Covered with Wounds), sung by Ikezawa. Incidentally, Athena performs this song in concert as part of the PS and Korean teams' backstories for KOF'99.
• Athena is the only character in KOF that changes her outfit for practically every new title. The only exceptions are SNK Gals' Fighters (KOF'99), KOF Neowave (KOF 2002) and the first KOF: Maximum Impact (KOF'98). While most of her costumes resemble one another in some fashion (and her default color scheme is dominated by red), KOF XI sees her fighting in the classic "sailor" school-girl outfit, as seen in various pre-fight intros as well as her appareances in SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium) and KOF '99 Evolution's alternative striker.
• Many games contain references to her wardrobe-updating habit. In '98, her "first character" pre-fight intro sees her changing into her previous four outfits before ending up in the current one. In SNK Gals' Fighters, her taunt has her producing a short jacket and an Anna Miller-style blouse/dress and looking puzzled over which one to wear.
• One of Athena's trademark special moves, the Phoenix Arrow, references her Psycho Soldier ability to turn into a phoenix. In KOF XI, her LDM is called Super Phoenix Infinity and sees Athena creating wings of pink energy and rising off the top of the screen before diving at her opponent wrapped in a phoenix's aura.
• In 2001, Athena has an SDM called the Psychic-9, where she delievers a series of attacks, changing costumes for each hit (going from the newest to the oldest) and finishing with either a two-handed push (wearing a school-girl uniform), a Psycho Sword (rising uppercut, wearing a bikini as a nod towards her Psycho Soldier incarnation) or the Fire Sword (swinging a flaming sword while dressed in Princess Athena's golden armour). Come 2002, her Psycho Medley HSDM has two different finishers - "Healing Athena", where she dons a vaguely Greek-looking dress and regains some life in a burst of light, and "Momoire-Gatame" (literally, "pink lock") where Athena and two of her friends/fans sit atop the opponent. In 2003, her Psychic-10 can also end with Healing Athena, though her dress is far less conservative here. Alternatively, her friends/fans return in the "Chu! Psycho Bomber" finisher, aiding Athena in launching a large, pink, heart-shaped projectile that explodes into a myriad of smaller hearts upon contact with the opponent.
• For a time, Athena was considered the mascot of SNK. She eventually lost this role to Terry Bogard due to the popularity of Fatal Fury. In her bio, Athena considers Terry to be a very rude person in reference to this.

Baseball Stars is a 1989 baseball video game that was produced for the NES by SNK. It became a major hit in many countries worldwide, particularly in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. ... SNK Playmore (formerly SNK) is a Japanese video game hardware and software company. ... Neo-Geo is the name of a cartridge-based arcade and home video game system released in 1990 by Japanese game company SNK. The system offered huge, colorful 2D graphics, and high-quality sound. ... Haruna Ikezawa (池澤 春菜 Ikezawa Haruna) is a fairly recent seiyÅ«. She was born on December 15, 1975 in Tokyo, Japan [edit] Notable voice roles Hiroko Haruna and Torahamu-Chan in Tottoko Hamutaro (Hamtaro) Yoshino Shimazu in Maria-sama ga Miteru Porun in Futari wa Pretty Cure Noriko Ukai in Gravitation Athena... Athens is the largest and the capital city of Greece, located in the Attica periphery. ... The theme music of a radio or television program is a piece that is written specifically for that show and usually played during the title sequence and/or end credits. ... Psycho Soldier is an action arcade game developed by Japanese software company SNK that was released originally in 1986 and internationally in 1987. ... Gals Fighters is a 2-dimensional 1-on-1 versus fighting game which appeared on the Neo Geo Pocket Colour in 2000. ... The King of Fighters Neowave is a fighting game by SNK Playmore, released in 2004 for the Sammy Atomiswave arcade platform. ... A Striker is a type of character featured in the fighting game series The King of Fighters (KOF). ... A promotional image for Anna Millers, featuring the trademark uniform. ... Terry Bogard ) is a video game character created by SNK, and is the main character of the Fatal Fury series. ... Fatal Fury (餓狼伝説: Garou Densetsu in Japan) is a video game series developed by SNK for the Neo-Geo system. ...

See also

• Princess Athena

Princess Athena ), also known as Goddess Athena, is a fictional character from the SNKs arcade game Athena (being the protagonist of this game), which is later ported to the NES platform. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Athena Asamiya

• The King of Fighters 10th Anniversary Official Website
• psychosoldier.com A site about the Psycho Soldier video game