Kula Diamond is a former agent of NESTS who first debuted in the 2000 arcade title of The King of Fighters series, The King of Fighters 2000. She joins Dead or Alive 6 as a guest DLC character, accompanying the recurring SNK guest character, Mai Shiranui.
Contents
Biography[]
The Sixth Tournament[]
At some point, NiCO discovered an alternate dimension via a quantum computer she had developed and decided to try to open a portal to it. As a result of the experiment, she dragged over a shocked Kula Diamond from her home dimension. NiCO, evidently glad at the success of her project, then approached her and made clear she had been expecting her. Kula accused her of working for NESTS, although NiCO neither confirmed nor denied the accusation, saying it was irrelevant before deciding to fight her. Kula agreed to the fight, although not before warning NiCO that she shouldn't blame her for what would happen next. After the fight, NiCO supplied her with a lollipop as gratitude for granting her "interesting data", although she made it very clear that Kula was not to tell anyone about what had transpired.
Character[]
Appearance[]
- See also: Kula's costumes
She has fair skin with long flowing bottom length blue loose hair (which was a side effect of NESTS' experiments on her) with the bangs covering the forehead and magenta eyes, with blunt short Hime sidelocks stopping at the length of her mouth. An icy aura effect also constantly surrounds her due to her ice properties. In her default outfit, she wears a black, white and red coat and matching pants with a line through the front of the feet, and also wears gold-tipped gloves and boots. She also has two recolors of her default outfit in white and black, and her DLC costumes include a pink nurse uniform, a pirate costume and a maid dress. She also has a unique bunny costume consisting of a long-sleeved leotard, as well as a wedding costume.
Personality[]
While working for NESTS, she would not fail to kill anyone she found unworthy. During her time with NESTS, her feelings were repressed, as she was portrayed as a cold girl executing her mission. Her personality later warmed, with her becoming more childish. Kula is trying hard to establish herself as a humane person, so people don't look at her as if she is some kind of weapon. She doesn't use her powers to their full extent and prefers close combat instead to avoid killing anyone by accident, because she fears that it would make her go back to her previous ways. After beating her opponents Kula is usually worried about them. Despite being this sweet innocent girl, Kula has some anger management issues. They are mostly the results of people either talking down to her, underestimating her, or reminding her of her origins and calling her a weapon.
In Dead or Alive 6, she carries herself the same way as she's not afraid to fight, and seems confident in her abilities. She cheerfully sometimes apologizes to her foe due to being too strong for them, and will even yawn before waving and saying bye to her defeated foe. She will also taunt her foe when performing her break blow, and will gleefully laugh and taunt them from specific throws and holds showing her carefree and relaxed attitude in the midst of battle. She also seems to fear her former employers, as when encountering NiCO, she asks if she's affiliated with NESTS in a fearful tone.
Relationships[]
NiCO[]
NiCO was responsible for sending Kula Diamond over to MIST Labs as part of an experiment on accessing alternate dimensions. She then confronted the girl, who fearfully asked the scientist if she had been affiliated with her former employers, NESTS, with NiCO neither confirming nor denying it. After briefly sparring with her, NiCO gave Kula a lollipop as thanks for supplying her with interesting data, although she told her not to divulge what had happened to anyone else.
Gameplay[]
- See also: Kula's command list
Much like with Mai, Kula carries over mechanics such as special cancels and jump attacks. Many of her moves utilize the use of her signature ice powers and ice skates. One of her iconic special moves, Diamond Breath (
), has a unique property of briefly "freezing" the opponent, leaving them vulnerable to any additional attacks and follow ups. Her Ray Spin move has 2 variants, Stand (
) and Sit (
), which cover heights of high to mid/low, respectively. Her Crow Bite () has Close Hit properties and is very useful as a high crush due to its damage output.
Some of Kula's attacks have elements of ice skating. This is especially evident in her dash animation, in which she skates across the ground with her retractable ice blades. In gameplay with all of these abilities in mind she's a straightforward character who's amongst the fastest, easy to pick up, and her combo game is very rewarding while being more than simple at high level. She has great wall carry and useful attacks that can be used to fool and trip up the opponent and she does well both up close and from a distance. She struggles however due to being punishable after alot of her attacks and her safe attacks are usually predictable and easy to defend against, and she doesn't have many safe ways to open her opponent up without taking a few risks. Her throw game is also average, having throws that can deal decent damage but she doesn't any specific ones that are useful besides as punishes. Her holds are also average as well.
Despite her few shortcomings she's a very solid character who has the ability to play a multitude of ways.
Appearances[]
Dead or Alive series[]
- Dead or Alive 6 (playable DLC, 2019)
Non-Dead or Alive appearances[]
The King of Fighters[]
Kula debuted in KOF’s NESTS Chronicles of 2000 game and had been a recurring character in the series except 2003 (where she is an NPC in the form) and XII .
SNK vs. Capcom Card Clash[]
Kula is one of the The King of Fighters representatives to only appear in SNK vs. Capcom Card Clash games
Shinobi Master Senran Kagura: New Link[]
Kula appeared in this gacha game alongside her fellow SNK fighter Mai Shiranui, and three Dead or Alive characters Ayane, Honoka and Marie Rose, who are all recurring guests in Senran Kagura games: Ayane first appeared in Estival Versus, while both Honoka and Marie debuted in Peach Beach Splash. As for Mai, she was included in this game recently before Kula and two other SNK fighters, thus marking the second time she and Mai are together since Dead or Alive 6.
Fighting quotes[]
Gallery[]
| Promotional images |
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Trivia[]
- Kula’s inclusion in the Dead or Alive series was foreshadowed in the wallpaper collaboration between The King of Fighters XIV and Dead or Alive 5: Last Round.
- Just before using her Power Blow, she has her left index finger droop her lower eyelid while sticking out her tongue, referring to a childish Japanese gesture called Akanbe (あかんべえ Akanbē).
- Kula is the third character to have originated alternately from the present day, after SPARTAN-458 and Naotora Ii. She is also the only one of the three to originate from an alternate dimension (as the former two hailed from the future and past, respectively).
- Despite her height listing her as 169 cm (5' 6½"), Kula in gameplay and cutscenes has the same height as Marie Rose and NiCO.
- Kula is one of if not the only character in Dead or Alive 6 who does not have her own unique fatal attack.
- Kula will not run towards her foe at long distances, instead she'll ice skate quickly towards them leaving an icy power trail along the ground in her wake.
- In The King of Fighters, her hair notably is free flowing and will somewhat levitate and float in her idle stance, in both her 2D sprites and 3D models. This is excluded however in Dead or Alive 6 as her hair remains stationary when left idle.
- Her character select idle pose is her render pose taken from King of Fighters XIV.
