The King of Fighters Orochi Collection/Mature

Mature is a videogame character from the King of Fighters series.

Origin
Mature was modeled as a sexy character in homage to Marilyn Monroe. She looks and acts a bit like Monroe and one of her win poses resembles a pose Monroe struck during her modeling career. Both Orochi Assassins, Mature and Vice, are named with "adult" themes in mind. In Mature's case, her name refers to "mature content" or perhaps even sexual maturity.

Story
Mature is one of the two Orochi assassins (the second being Vice) that work for Goenitz, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Orochi.

Mature disposes of those who oppose the Orochi as commanded by her master Goenitz. Her ultimate goal was to liberate the Orochi power and she accomplished this when Goenitz killed the heir of the Clan of the Yata. The Orochi power, however, was still weak so they decided to bide their time. Some time later, Rugal Bernstein, hungry for power, tried to take control of the Orochi power. Upon learning this, Goenitz went to face Rugal and gouged out his right eye as punishment. Surprised that he was still alive, Goenitz allowed him to possess a small part of the Orochi power, but warns him not to use it until necessary since it would eventually kill him.

Goenitz then assigned Mature and Vice to keep an eye on Rugal to make sure he doesn't do anything to jeopardize the Orochi clan. Mature and Vice became Rugal's secretaries and aided him in the organization of the first two King of Fighters tournaments that had team battle rules. Mature was assigned to take care of the details of the first tournament in 1994. Mature did not see any display of Orochi power from Rugal during that year, but he unleashed it in the tournament the following year. As scheduled, Rugal died from the overwhelming power. With their mission accomplished, Mature and Vice returned to Goenitz.

Once reunited with their master, Goenitz assigned them a new "client". He was Iori Yagami, bearer of Orochi blood and a candidate for joining their cause. Mature and Vice both went to meet Iori and decided to play with him before offering their help. Afterwards, Iori and his two female assassins formed a team for the new King of Fighters tournament. During the tournament, however, Mature noticed how powerful Iori could be from his display of strength and his determination. Mature even considered him to be more powerful than Goenitz. The two assassins decided that it was in their best interest to side with Iori against Goenitz. When the finals came up, Mature and Vice knew that Goenitz was going to strike, so they warned Iori who went after Goenitz. As planned, Iori fought against Goenitz since he considered Kyo to be his to kill. Goenitz quickly realized that he had been betrayed by Mature and Vice. Upon his defeat, Goenitz cursed both assassins and told them that they would die at the hands of their "savior". Not understanding what their former employer meant, Mature and Vice went to assist Iori, but Iori began to enter the Riot of Blood. Realizing too late that Iori was unable to control his Orochi power, Mature and Vice suffered the cutting edge of Iori's hands and were left to die. Mature's current status is unknown.

Personality
Mature is determined to kill anyone who opposes her goals. She freely sided with Iori in order to awaken Orochi without Goenitz's help. Mature usually enchants men before she goes in for the kill. In Mature's eyes, any method that guarantees victory is viable, even if it means using her considerable charms. She, along with Vice, has the intention to purge the world by releasing Orochi from its seal. If Vice was to be the cruel woman, then Mature is definitely the ruthless woman. She manipulates Iori and betrays her master Goenitz in order to achieve her goals.

Mature is evidently into snowboarding, given a special ending in KOF '98 teamed with Shingo and King. All three characters share the same birthday, according to their profiles.

Gameplay
In King Of Fighters '96, Mature was a top-tier character. She, along with Iori and Leona, had severe advantages over most other characters while Vice took a back seat to the action. In KoF '98, she was toned down reasonably. She was also given new sprites which look much better than her awkward looking '96 sprites. Her provocative taunt was also changed. Many consider Mature as the bottom tier of character of KoF 2002. Her damage pales in comparsion with Vice, who has grown to surpass Mature in terms of gameplay. For some reason, Mature's Ebony Tears move has a command normally reserved for DM/SDM moves.

Trivia

 * During Vice's special intro with Rugal in the Capcom vs. SNK series, Mature makes a small cameo by bowing before Rugal and then jumping away. Mature also has a special intro with Rugal in which she blows a kiss to him.
 * Being Rugal's secretary at one time, Mature probably learned (or plagiarized) her master's Gigantic Pressure DM, which was renamed Heaven's Gate for her DM. Also, Vice taught her the Deicide move which throws an opponent from long range and lands on the opposite end of the screen.
 * Like her partner Vice, some of Mature special moves are music references. Donors for her move names include Despair, Deicide, Ebony Tears, and Nocturnal Rites. Also, Metal Massacre is not only a very early song by Metallica, but it is also the name used for various compilation albums dating back to the early 80's. Her Death Row was likely named for Death Row Records.
 * Mature and Vice appear as Iori's Other Strikers in KOF 2000. They are the only Strikers to ever attack simultaneously. They clap each others hands in triumph, suggesting that they do indeed work as a team.
 * Mature's KOF '02 HDM bears a lot of resemblance to a move belonging to Morrigan Aensland from the Darkstalkers series. Interestingly enough, the moves even bear similar names: Mature's is called Eternal Illusion, and Morrigan's is called Darkness Illusion.  Both moves involve splitting into two and performing a large mirrored combo.
 * In KOF '96, there was an unused DM animation viewable in the debug mode. She would perform her Despair special attack three times in a row.  This move was likely scrapped due to its relatively bland look in comparison to her Heaven's Gate DM.  In KOF '98, and later '02, the move remained unseen, scrapped this time for the addition of the Nocturnal Rites DM.
 * Mature can be considered to have a better relationship with Rugal compared to Vice. This is shown, as in KOF 1998 and KOF 2002, when pitted against Rugal, Mature will give him a flying kiss, compared to Vice that does no special action at all. During the CVS versions also proved this, as when Vice is pitted against Rugal, Mature will appear and bow down to Rugal, where Vice just stand as what could be considered an act of disrespect (even if her tone suggests no enmity; she may simply regard Rugal as something of an equal).
 * Many of Mature's attacks bear a large resemblence to the attacks of Eiji Kisaragi. For example, Mature's Ebony Tears attack not only looks and works the same as Eiji's Steel Wave Slasher attack, but has the exact same button combination. Eiji's Bone Cutter attack also looks and works like Mature's Metal Massacre attack.