Benimaru Nikaido

Benimaru Nikaido is a character from The King of Fighters game series. His straight hair stays up during fights due to a rather exaggerated case of electrostatics. His official nickname is The Shooting Star.

He was loosely based on the character Jean Pierre Polnareff from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, right down to his outfit in The King of Fighters ‘94 and The King of Fighters ‘95. Even after Benimaru’s name was decided on, the game developers continued to refer to him as Polnareff. Additionally, his taunt in The King of Fighters XI mirrors Polnareff’s stature from the manga. His vocal performance was initially deemed by his original designer to have nothing to do with the character’s original image.

The idea for his electric powers - as well as the other elemental powers for the rest of the Japan team - was derived from the anime Getter Robo.