So I am curious. For those of you who have a main(s) like myself,why is it that character? Is it the gameplay? Design? Story? Personality? In fact,are you attached to your character? What makes a good character for you? For those who don’t have a main,what do you like in a character? As a Fulgore main,I have stuck with him because his design is awesome and gameplay as a plus. I can’t imagine KI without Fulgore. I like characters that have this “WHOA” factor to them. I had this reaction when I first used the Hype beam on someone and now that is my favorite thing to do as Fulgore. Same reaction with his level 50. Same but not to a degree includes Jago,Omen,Aganos,and Aria. For bonus points,how important are the characters in a fighting game to you?
As another Fulgore main I basically feel the same as you. I remember back before he was revealed I thought “I’m gonna be a Thunder main”. After the first Fulgore trailer I was like " Thunder is really cool and all… BUT LOOK AT THIS GUY!!" He has lasers and blades and he is this cool freaking evil robot. Instantly fell in love with the Fugbot.
Aria because of everything. With her personality she’s better than you and she knows it. Everything from her walk, her win pose, her character select animation, and her ultra ender shows that without making her seem annoyingly cocky. Then gameplay wise I’m a Marvel player so having a three character team with assist calls that work wonderfully together was just the perfect fit for me. I also love the fact that she gets weaker as the fight goes on, I love being at a disadvantage, it makes my wins all the more satisfying.
Glacius means a lot to me, he’s the reason I got into KI to begin with. After I saw my brother play the game for the first time against him on Kyle. glacius got a perfect and ultra’d so bad that the game froze on the last hit and got kicked off to the dashboard, ever since then I knew me and him were gonna be best friends.
Glacius has been my favorite since KI 1 in the arcade, his new style is neat but it never really did it for me. I’ve never really liked zoning characters either but I overlooked his new design and adapted to his new style of play just to enjoy my favorite character. Right now I’m kind of not sure what to do, I’m kind of loosing interest in the new Glacius and it kills me to say it. He’s just not what I wanted him to be.
I’m really hoping when Eyedol comes back that he’s somewhat faithful to the original because he will likely be my new main.
I Main Omen so far, but i havent played that much. I was a late starter, and KI is my FIRST fighting game.
I Main Omen right now because he is a pretty “Fundamental” character that ISNT Jago.
I also have this weird thing where i like to use the “worst” things in video games, and make them good.
I figure, if i can get to Killer tier with Omen, than once i learn every other character, i should be unstoppable.
If i had to pick a character that i liked JUST for the personality etc…
ARIA for sure. I was screaming like a little girl when i saw her teaser.
First she started out as the black silhouette you see at the end of the game, which i hated because i dont like the “mysterious alien intelligence ‘i control everything’” trope. But then when i saw that she was a bad a** Robot CEO with WINGS and GUNS IN HER LEGS, I was like 
Omen’s actually pretty good, so you should be alright @MrxFlutterShy
For me, it’s a mix of character design (must be cool or pleasing) and playstyle, with playstyle being the more important factor. Sadira grabbed me because I loved her aerial mobility and mix-up game. Hisako grabbed me just because she is insanely fun to play. The counters manage to be super powerful without being cheap, and the command grabs and their relative strengths and weaknesses just really grab me on a fundamental level.
Fighting game wise, I pick characters I click with when using. For instance, Riptor, Hisako, and Aria, then to a lesser extent Orchid, are the ones I play the most.
However, if Spinal played more like any of the others, I’d drop everything for him. His story, his look, and his laugh are all gold.
I’m so happy a topic like this exists. I love seeing how people have grown attached to their characters, love hearing stories like this. I’m going to share mine, sorry for the incoming TL;DR, just skip to the bottom if walls of text bother you!
SO, Glacius. Let me just start this off by saying that I tend to gravitate towards the characters that I thing have strong, unique visual designs, and usually the less human something is, the more likely I am to enjoy it. It comes from the artist in me; creature design is my jam. I played the old Killer Instinct games when I was young and while I did like Glacius a lot, he basically just looked like a snowman so I think I passed over him for the more ferocious, non-human looking characters: Sabrewulf and Riptor. Time passed, I grew older and KI faded from the fighting game scene and I gave other games my focus… until it was resurrected in 2013.
I’ve already told this story before but it’s always fun to reflect on it again, so. My first exposure to Killer Instinct 2013 (Season 1) was at my Uncle’s house. My Uncle is an avid gamer, always has all of the current-gen consoles plus state-of-the-art displays to play and appreciate them on. I was visiting and he mentioned that he had this launch title that he thought was really cool looking and fun to play and he wanted to show us, so we sat down on the couch and fired it up. I scrolled through all of the Season 1 characters. Each one was rendered and animated so damn well, (being displayed up on a massive high-definition projector that covered the wall in front of me only made it more impressive!) I was immediately enthralled. I scrolled from Jago to Sabrewulf and was really impressed; he looked so fierce and intimidating and the way he panted and twitched in his idle animation really added to his bestial nature. I almost picked him but I wanted to see all of the characters before I made my choice, so I scrolled to the right one more time.
And there was Glacius.
I was simply stunned. The creature designer in me immediately went berserk; I had never seen a more unique alien design. The way his icy skin shone and reflected everything. The piercing, glowing green eyes. The way his gills and hands pumped freezing mist out into the air that gently dissipated. His stern disposition, his upright and proud posture. I remember it so clearly–my boyfriend turned to me and said “Dude. That character has ‘you’ written all over it.” And he couldn’t have been more right. I picked Glacius and button mashed my way through a few rounds with my uncle and cousins; I hadn’t touched fighting games in YEARS so I didn’t really know what I was doing, but KI felt approachable and I had a lot of fun learning how to do proper combos. After that I went back home and I just couldn’t get Glacius out of my head, he was so damn cool. I wanted to learn more about him so that I could write and draw for him so I hit up google and scoured Wikis, devouring every scrap of information on the ice alien that I could find. He looked so fierce in-game that I was expecting him to be a ruthless sort of fighter that wouldn’t hesitate to put anyone down who so much as looked at him funny… turns out that wasn’t him at all.
And that was the second thing that struck me about Glacius, and what really allowed me to connect with this character. His backstory. He wasn’t cold or ruthless, he was peaceful in nature. He fought in self-defense, to protect his people and win his freedom. He was imprisoned and brutalized by a corrupt megacorporation but he never gave up hope. He persevered even when all the odds were stacked against him and managed to emerge triumphant, winning his freedom. That… man. To me, that was so uplifting. Reading that he went back to earth to protect not only his people but humanity as well–despite everything we put him through–proved that he had an incorruptible spirit, and that was inspiring as well.
When you get right down to it, Glacius has been through so much–faced so much adversity and so many obstacles–and he still remains strong. He still remains good (well, unless you force him into his bad ending by making him behave in a manner that he literally would never even consider without player influence, but that’s a talk for another day lol). And usually those sort of characteristics are reserved for the more human “hero” characters, so to see that portrayed in a more creature-like character resonated with me very deeply. It may sound odd (and maybe even a little cheesy or sappy ha), but I grew up feeling like something of an outcast, so I tend to identify more with monsters and creatures because they don’t quite “fit in” like more human characters do.
So that’s what Glacius means to me: aside from just having one of the most unique and impressive designs of any character I’ve seen to date, he reminds me to persevere and never give up hope even when things are at their darkest!
If it’s a good guy then Tusk is all I want. I luv dem two handed swords!! Cloud, Siegfried, Ninja Gaiden Rachel, …
But I also like the arrogant baddass boss like Rugal, Bison, Geese, the Illusive man (lol) . In this sense only Aria comes close. From a gameplay point of view, I really enjoy SFIV Seth’s trickiness, and that’s why again Aria comes closest for me. And for all the reasons mentioned here:
Well I’ve waited for Cinder to be announced since the game was announced at E3. I didn’t even care if I never go to play the game ever, I would still want to see Cinder.
He had almost everything I liked as a character when I saw him in the old game. He had fire, he was fast, he kicked a lot, and his theme was sick (Can you imagine what it was like when they brought it back?)! The only thing missing was that he didn’t have a sword.
As for the importance of characters in fighting games, if there isn’t at least one character that I can get attached to and enjoy progressing with (3rd Strike), then I probably won’t enjoy the game at all. That sounds pretty important if you ask me.
having fun, and i have the most fun with SPINAL! he is awesome! 
Fulgore main here, it’s because when I first played KI on the super nintendo that was the character I was drawn to. Because of his design, his theme, and the name…Fulgore. Overall he maybe my favorite fighter in gaming history.
And @MrxFlutterShy I sub main Omen and found him to be fun and I love his gameplay style, stick with the Herald of Gargos.
Jago, TJ & Kim Wu mean a lot to me.
I first played KI2 in the Arcades. Not knowing who to pick because of all the amazing characters, I went with the Lovely Redheaded Kim Wu, because a Female Dragon Warrior with Nunchucks sounded Badass… Lol. I was really good with her! (You had to, one of her endings required you not to lose) Then after, I played KI 1, and The Tiger Spirit Master Himself, Jago as well as TJ Combo. So all of these characters I love so much, Because they are my childhood. The characters I grew up with. 
For me it was Riptor
Her reason was the design. When I first saw her in KI I was impressed. Since I was taking a liking to reptiles she was an instant pick for me. Even as me and Jeff were playing the game as Riptor not knowing what to do of course. At the same time, trying to figure out what she is. Though at the time we had no idea she was female and like all animals at the time we assume they were male unless confirmed otherwise. Then there was a moment were I was wondering what side she was on since good guy and bad guy had relevancy until I saw my older brother reaching her in the single player mode and saw blood on the floor. Despite that, she became my favorite and ever since then, I always mained the reptilian creature.
Then in the year 2000’s I was on the verge of rediscovering KI and then learned that Riptor was in fact a Raptor human hybrid but with snake DNA (or at least it looked like it) I always stuck with her because of her design and as a kid I was disappointed when she wasn’t in KI2. I didn’t grief about it but I was disappointed.
and while I appreciated Glacius and Sabrewulf they only kept me playing KI2 for just a bit. Sadly it also ahd its draw backs a sI grew to hate TJ combo back then since he was the reason Riptor did not return in KI2. But that was then I’ve grown to respect TJ back then and even when I still hated him during the E3 release of the trailer I still pushed for wanting him in KI as I felt everyone should get their favorites.
Then after years of waiting, rumors and other things KI finally made a comeback and Riptor was revised and boy did I like the new design of her. Riptor was now literate as a raptor human hybrid. I didn’t mind the cybernetics much but then recalled that no one has made a cybernetic dinosaur playable which has her standout from all the other reptilian fighters in fighting games.
Riptor had made na impact on everything form my mains in other FG’s like Reptile, Lizardman/Aeon Calcos, Heck I’d probably main the chameleon guy from Bloody Roar if I had the chance to play the game.
Her gameplay and Theme music though it felt like I was vicious creature going crazy. I didn’t get that exact feeling as Sabrewulf.
Riptor is very important to me as a fighting game character and I think she should always be in KI even in future sequels.
As far as fighting games go with characters. Whether or not a character I want to play as gets in a game determines whether or not I would buy the game. I also have belive that no one should be denied the right to play the game by keeping the character opt out. Even if I didn’t want a certain character in, it would be a pity to not have their favorites in which could add the player to the game. Characters are important to fighting games.
For me it’s these two:
Fulgore and Riptor.
For me, Riptor was a great example of showing just how amazing and diverse the cast of KI was. She was a symbol of not just love for dinosaurs, reptiles and other stuff, but in turn I also ended up becoming more dedicated to KI as a whole. Both her and Fulgore were the iconic symbols of KI to me.
When KI2 came alon the only reason I even bother remebering KI2 somehwat fondly was because of Fulgore, who I’ve also liked because of my love for robots and stuff that stemmed way back from watching Gigantor movies at kindergarten age.
Because of this, included with Cinder, I found the roster to be so amazing.
When KI2 came and RIptor wasn’t around I was pretty upset and was also feeling lost by Cinder not being included in KI2.
Two of my favorirtes were replaced by two humans characters who really didn’t look that fascinating design wise to me, so I consider KI2 to be the most lacking in roster diversity compared to the rest of the series.
When Fulgore came out in S1, I found he was hard to work with at first. But considering that Fulgore stuck with me I personally felt like I owed the big guy so I kept practicing and learning and I eventually got pretty good with Fulgore. Almost to the point where almost every match I can win with him. The same with Riptor and I’m still trying this with Cinder to.
Unlike some who didn’t want to even main Fulgore anymore when they realized how hard he was in season1 I was one of the folks who stuck by him because he and Riptor meant so much to me.
That being said both these characters mean alot to me, so I hope in future instalments Riptor will continue to be in the next games to come as well as Fulgore.
I’d of never been into KI if were not for these two characters.
Hey bro, you and me both with Omen. I thought he was fairly cool and my interest was piqued, but when I heard people really didn’t like him I was like “That’s it, he’s mine”. If you guys won’t take him I will, and I may lose more than I win but I’ll have a lot of fun with it.
Also, Fulgore and Cinder have been my heroes ever since I played the first game as a kid.
Well let me first start by saying that characters are important to me in fighting games. I only just started playing fighters in attempt to get good recently, but have been playing fighters my whole life since MK/MK2 and Primal Rage on my parents Sega as a kid. So all these years until recently I was always playing because I liked the characters and/or lore. It’s one reason why I am not a huge SF fan, very few of the characters appeal to me, so I have a hard time getting motivated to play and learn them. Most of them also (to me) lack interesting stories, so without a design or a story that interests me, I really have a hard time getting into it. Though there are some characters I like (Necalli, Akuma, Juri, Twelve, Q, Necro, Ibuki)
Anyway the character designs was one of the main things that attracted me to KI in the first place. They are all so unique and just about every single character has an awesome design IMO. I am new to the game but so far I think I am maining Spinal. What attracts me to him in particular…
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I absolutely love all things horror and/or Halloween themed, so him being a skeleton does it for me in that department. (As do Sabrewulf and Hisako)
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As a One Piece fan, I have become very fond of things relating to Pirates, and he obviously has that covered as well
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Lastly, there is something about Spinal to me that while cool, is still very goofy. Once I won my first match with him and saw his win pose I was sold. After his maniacal little laugh he pauses, and then it seems like he notices a camera on him/the player looking at him and he like strikes a pose with a smile on his face and mouth open, to me it was kind if funny so that was the icing on the cake for me lol