Iori Yagami/Trivia


 * Iori and his rival Kyo were designed by Shin'ichi Morioka. He would later depart from the company to work on The Fallen Angels, a game that would heavily influence the designs for K' and Maxima.


 * Iori and Kyo are the only main rival characters who continue with their rivalry through the years.


 * Iori is the only rival/deuteragonist of the series who has no control of his own power.


 * Iori, Yashiro Nanakase and Kukri are the only male rivals/deuteragonists of the series.
 * Iori is also the only main male deuteragonist of series (all the other main deuteragonists are female).


 * Iori of the Kusanagi/Yagami clan's fighting style, has the most amount of "Ura Shiki" (Reverse Method) techniques by far in his moveset, even in his normal attacks.


 * In Neo Geo Freak 1998, the characters in KOF '98 have their own interviews. Here are Iori's response to the questions.
 * What is your aspiration in this competition? - "Don't know."
 * Who would you like to fight the most? - "Don't want to say."
 * Who would you like to team up with? / Who would you not like to team up with? - "No one."
 * What is "KOF" for you? - "It's boring."
 * Finally, please give a word to your fans. - "No."


 * In Gamest Mook Vol.197, Hiroaki comments that Iori reminds him of Yujiro Hanma from Baki the Grappler.


 * In Neo Geo Battle Coliseum  's fan Q&A section, a fan wished Iori happy birthday. When asked what he wanted in an "interview", he answered with a death threat addressed to Kyo.


 * Iori appears to visit graveyards a lot. He has done this twice in the The King of Fighters XI team story and again in his XIV team story. He lights a cigar and places it on a particular grave facing up, then he pulls out another for himself under the moon. It is not revealed if he's particularly visiting a person's grave or if he visits graveyards in general. Interestingly, it is in graveyards where Mature and Vice will sometimes manifest themselves in front of Iori.Iori_yagami_-_kof97.jpg
 * In media that doesn't tie into the main story, most notably, the webcomic, Part Time Stories: Kyo & Iori, it is hinted that Iori likes cats a lot. This may be in reference to a promotional artwork made by Shinkiro for The King of Fighters '97, where Iori is feeding a stray cat with milk.
 * This is referenced again in The King of Fighters: Awaken, where he is feeding a stray cat before learning that Kyo has "died".


 * From The King of Fighters 2001~The King of Fighters 2003, Iori's walking animations still uses Iori's pre-The King of Fighters 2001 sprites. This was fixed in The King of Fighters XI.


 * Despite popular belief, Iori has no relation to Genjuro Kibagami, a character from Samurai Shodown series and, like he, a rival/deuteragonist.


 * Yū'chirō Hiraki was the pixel artist for Kyo in The King of Fighters '94 and Iori in The King of Fighters '95. Although he left SNK in 1997 to work on The Fallen Angels, he was asked by Kaname Fujioka to do Kyo and Iori's pixel art once more for Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000.


 * His eyes are naturally blue. The red eyes visually represent the Riot of the Blood within Iori.


 * According to the true story of The King of Fighters '97, Iori, Chizuru and Kyo are pointed as the winners of the tournament, with the trio facing Orochi and his Heavenly Kings in the climax of the tournament. However, this could be considered an alternative ending for the game.


 * During the Ura 1131 Shiki Hozuki in The King of Fighters XV, Iori manifests his Riot of the Blood in almost all characters of the game, and after this he burns his opponent with his flames. The only exception is the Orochi Team (and his awakened version), due to the obvious fact the team are composed by Hakkesshus, Orochi's loyal servants.


 * Iori's "Riot of the Blood" super in Neo Geo Battle Coliseum has its animations modeled after the final scene shown in his The King of Fighters '96 team's ending, when he killed his teammates Mature and Vice.


 * A majority of his clan's techniques have nods to the legends of Orochi as a possible foil to Kyo:
 * Ura 108 Shiki Ya Sakazuki is named after and based off of the Orochi legend when each of Orochi's eight heads drank a cup of wine; each cup would then leave each a head drunk and unconscious (which, in the myth, was part of Susanoo's plan to slay the monstrous serpent). Since it is a "Reverse Method" move, it serves Iori's direct counterpart of Kyo's Ura 108 Shiki Orochinagi via the Kusanagi clan's arts, as both are derived from the Yami Barai.
 * His most iconic super, Kin 1211 Shiki Ya Otome, is based off the legend when Orochi had eaten eight maidens who were daughters of Ashinazuchi and Tenazuchi. The move often composes of eight blows, barring the finisher, and Iori uses it often as his signature DM/super. It is also the very technique which most of the Yagami several years ago used against the Kusanagi, and the first of the clan's many newly-added "Kin Shiki" (Forbidden Method) techniques to their repertoire.
 * The successor to the aforementioned Ya Sakazuki is the Ura 1018 Shiki Yashiori, which is a reference to the Yashiori/Yashio'ori no Sake (Sake of Eight Salt Snappers), the type of wine used by Susano'o to intoxicate the Orochi (hence the reference to the Ya Sakazuki). Unlike the original product, Iori's is written differently and thus gives off a different translation altogether.


 * Iori's infamous dropkick sweep attack, Ura 98 Shiki, is notable for an oddity; while it is treated like a low-hitting attack when blocking it normally, it is instead treated as a mid-hitting attack when countered/reversed or against anything with low-level invincibility.


 * While yet to make a canon appearance, the presence and existence of Iori's younger sister, first alluded to in story concepts, then illustrated in The King of Fantasy manga carries the following implications:
 * If she is his biological sibling, this would mean his younger sister also carries the potential for the Riot of the Blood as well, including the flames of the Yagami. Outside twin births, this puts in question the traits of the maternal mortality curse inflicted at the Yagamis, as it is not revealed who among Iori's parents carried the Orochi blood. This would also mean the Yagami bloodline is not yet in dire danger of extinction.
 * Due to lack of details, it may be also possible they are not related by blood (and may not possess the Yagami blood and by extension, the Orochi blood), possibly from a different father or possibly half-siblings, sharing the same father.


 * In the Neo Geo Freak's 1997 Volume 8 character poll, he was voted as the sixth favourite character with a total of 1,292 votes. 209 votes from the male fans and 1,083 votes from the female fans. In Gamest's 1997 Heroes Collection, Iori was voted as the staff's favorite character, claiming 1st place out of fifty other characters. And in Neo Geo Freak's August 1998 issue, he got 1st again in the 10 best character poll. He also received the same rank on Neo Geo Freak's website with a total of 3,792 votes. In a 2005 poll made by SNK Playmore USA, he was voted as the eighth fan favorite character with 145 votes.


 * Iori's Sanjingi no Ni is the very attack used to pin down Orochi in which Kyo manages to followup the finishing blow in the Sacred Treasures Team's ending of The King of Fighters '97. The very sequence is seen in Kyo and Iori's Special D-Assault in Neo Geo Battle Coliseum. Also, the technique is often named "?????" in Orochi Iori's moveset.