@Ceehoff  
No we all knew it was Tetsuo from Akira we were just interested in finding out who K9999 was as I and a couple of others had never heard of him before, Akira is a very well known movie.

Well, to to break it to you guys, it ain’t the K9999 character. It’s Tetsuo Shima from Akira.
 
It just kind of makes me sad how not very well known “Akira” is nowadays.

@Tetrominon  
he got replaced by a slightly less obvious knockoff (basically a knockoff of the knockoff)

@Roy-of-Asturia  

 
Don’t forget, in the original KoF 2002, they added Kusanagi. Not directly an Akira reference, but he happens to be voiced by Mitsuo Iwata (Kaneda), so they couldn’t help but add another Akira nod if you pit the two together.
 
https://youtube.com/watch?v=d7HlGbgcAtQ
 
I’m on my tablet, otherwise I’d add a time to the url, it’s at 2:32

@Cyborg_pony  
 
That’s official art, by the way. While I genuinely do appreciate your wanting to give them the benefit of doubt, I fear this case has already been long since closed.

@Cyborg_pony  
Well I don’t know enough about the game to really say whether or not it’s a rip-off I just had a hunch, the game may be paying homage but I wouldn’t really know.

@Cyborg_pony  
There is a trope in TVTropes.org called Bruce Lee Clone.

@Pagan  
Does he have to be a rip-off? I mean link of all the Bruce Lee-like characters in fighting games, are they rip-offs or paying homage to a famous martial artist?

@Cyborg_pony  
@Pagan  
Actually it’s The King of Fighters 2001.  
For the fear of SNK being attacked by lawsuits from Akira’s author, they dropped K9999 (pronounced K Four Nines) in their re-release game 2002 Unlimited Match and replaced him with Nameless.
 
Incidentally, both Tetsuo and K9999 have one voice actor  
 
Nozomu Sasaki || 佐々木 望

@Cyborg_pony
 
@Tetrominon  
Ah so I was justified in my assumption of him being a rip-off.

@Cyborg_pony  
King of Fighters something something, early-/mid-90s. Point is, yeah, the characters’s pretty much universally acknowledged to be a total rip-off.

@Cyborg_pony @Pagan
 
Okay, yeah, he’s from KoF 2002, which means they drew inspiration (heavily) from Akira to make this character. No big surprise I guess, many characters are based on real people.

@Pagan  
Well Akira was made in the 80s early 90s right? When was the game K9999 comes from, or even what’s it called?

@Cyborg_pony  
That’s what I thought as well I wonder which one was made first.

@Pagan  
He looks a lot like Tetsuo.

@Cyborg_pony  
I looked it up apparently he’s a character in a fighting game.
 

@Pagan  
seriously, who’s K9999?

@Cyborg_pony  
I know that feel.

The moon, my Lord?

@Choppasmith  
I don’t. ;_;

@OptimusPrimevil
 

KANEDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

freakin BRILLIANT!!!

Akira Belle…