Hwa Jai

Hwa Jai is a character from the Fatal Fury series and The King of Fighters series. He first appeared in the original Fatal Fury game and appeared as a playable character once more in The King of Fighters XIII.

The producer for KoF XIII stated that he was added to be the "surprise character" for KoF fans, keeping true to their theme of not always adding popular characters for the newer cast's balance. He thought Hwa Jai would be one of the most interesting characters for an appearance in KoF, due to his detailed background history and previously lone playable appearance.

Fatal Fury
A former Muay Thai champion, he was defeated by Joe Higashi. Vowing to overcome the Tiger Kick with his own Dragon Kick, he was convinced his style should be more violent and brutal to defeat his rival. Killing thugs as he trained, he was eventually shunned by the martial arts world. Noticing Geese Howard's strength, he became his subordinate soon after.

During the King of Fighters tournament, he seeks to triumph over Joe for all the despair his rival caused him since his loss. However after Joe defeats him again, he realizes that he had lost due to his weak mind and spirit. Reformed, he leaves Geese's employment and becomes good friends with Joe and supports him as Muay Thai's unbeatable champion.

He is one of the many fighters beaten by Wolfgang Krauser in Fatal Fury 2. Joe avenges Hwa Jai in his ending.

The King of Fighters
Hwa Jai's past employment with Geese is elaborated to have started due to him winning a tournament in Japan. After cutting his ties with Geese, he went back to his homeland. Despite what earlier accounts have implied, Hwa Jai hasn't made a comeback to the Muay Thai ring since then. Both he and Raiden were called to Southtown by Kim Kaphwan, who believes that they are wasting their talents and need to be "reeducated". Though Hwa Jai replies that he has already abandoned his "evil ways", he is convinced by the masked wrestler that entering with the famous Kim might be a good way to revitalize his reputation to the public. Hwa Jai also wants to use this opportunity to take another shot at his rival, Joe. He and Raiden secretly proven to Chang and Choi that they are better on fooling Kim than Kim's first teammates.

Personality
Hwa Jai longs to be the best Muay Thai fighter there is. To accomplish that, he must defeat his sworn enemy Joe Higashi. After being defeated by Joe in 1992's KOF, he and Joe eventually became friends. Now, he realizes that life isn't about winning and he and Joe support each other all the time.

His KoF counterpart is rougher than his Fatal Fury counterpart, talking in a more brutal and intimidating manner. Even though he claims to have changed, he is rather cocky of his skills and is ready to start a fight at any time. His friendship with Joe has also been abandoned, thinking that he still needs to defeat his rival in a match. Considering that Raiden is "acting" like a villain in order to partake in the tournament, it can't be truly ruled out that Hwa Jai isn't just faking his cruelty in The King of Fighters for the sake of giving Kim something to work on.