She later appears in The King of Fighters series of fighting games as a member of the Psycho Soldier Team alongside her friend Sie Kensou and her teacher Chin Gentsai.

[1][2] In retrospective, character designer Ogura felt Athena's marketing as an idol was ahead of its time, citing things such as her songs and anime-like illustrations.

The staff from the series has been requested by fans to return her Japanese school uniform in several games, but they only made her wear it only in her introductions as they thought it would not be well received by gamers from other countries.

[6] In the Maximum Impact series, her normal costume (from The King of Fighters '98) as the basis for it, it is piece of "cute clothing that she has per her heart and soul into".

[9] Director Kei Yamamoto explained many of Athena's mechanics are based on psychic moves with Psycho Ball (サイコボール, Saikyō Bōru) being one of her most famous ones.

Her strongest move in that game, the Psycho Medley 13 (サイコメドレー13, Medurei 13) brought multiple difficulties to the team but in the end SNK were satisfied with the result.

[12] Sound director Asakana found Athena as character who remained faithful to previous incarnations to the point the staff had fun designing her.

[13] According to SNK, Athena's appearance from The King of Fighters '98 remains as the most popular within the fanbase which led to her inclusion in XIV as downloadable content.

[14] For the spin-off SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy, Athena was given a magical girl-like outfit that would also fit her characterization.

[17] Athena first appears in the video game Psycho Soldier, fighting against several creatures attacking Earth along with her friend Sie Kensou.

The team would be present in most King of Fighters tournament as Chin wanted to train more Kensou and Athena as well as searching for evil forces such as the demon Orochi.

[21] By The King of Fighters 2003, the Psycho Soldier Team retires from competition as Kensou and Bao needed to train their new powers.

[22] The Psycho Soldier Team returns in The King of Fighters XI with Athena, Kensou and Momoko, a young girl able to use Psychic powers.

[34][35] Other two scrolling shooters, KOF: Sky Stage and Neo Geo Heroes: Ultimate Shooting, feature her as a playable character,[36][37] while the role-playing game for mobile phones The King of Fighters '98: Online had her as part of the cast.

[49] She also makes a short appearance in the 2006 original net animation The King of Fighters: Another Day helping citizens from Southtown in a fire.

[52] Her character is also featured in various types of merchandising such as figurines from KOF: Maximum Impact and SNK Beach Volley.

Athena Asamiya has received generally positive reception, with authors Brian Ashcraft and Shoko Ueda describing her as "one of the pioneering female video game action stars.

She discussed how Asamiya's design is a "snapshot representation of the sexualization of young girls," and that it "feed(s) the lower part of the intellectual faculty.