Kyo Kusanagi/Move List

In The King of Fighters '94 & The King of Fighters '95, Kyo is a All Rounder Character. He has a simple moveset that is great for beginners. His 108 Shiki Yami Barai is a projectile that travels across the floor, 75 Shiki Kai, a forward moving double axe-kick, and both 100 Shiki Oniyaki and 101 Shiki Oboro Guruma acts as anti-air moves.

Due to Goenitz nearly killing him prior to the events of the '96 tournament, starting with The King of Fighters '96, Kyo completely revamps his fighting style. He has now become a offensive Rushdown Character who specializes in close combat and pressure. Kyo discards both his 108 Shiki: Yami Barai and 101 Shiki: Oboroguruma, instead focusing on two of the clan's other techniques, the 114 Shiki: Aragami (Method 114: Savage Bite) and 115 Shiki: Dokugami (Method 115: Poison Bite), both of which serves as the start of Kyo's Rekka moves. However, Kyo adds varying amount of original follow-up techniques from these moves that range from kicks-to-elbow dropping attacks.

Due to this, Kyo is a strong combo character that takes a while to master as his moveset from KOF '96 and following games explodes to ridiculous levels. Mastering it though allowed players to more easily adapt to use other characters that had more diverse movesets. Kyo made way for archetypes with moves that not only had multiple inputs, but each followup had its own unique features. This would also pave way for powerful mixups and combos if pressure was well-setup.

When Kyo returned in KOF '99, Kyo didn't returned with a new look, but also returned with new moves. He applies more personal touches derived from his father's techniques of the Kusanagi style, via his Hikigane (Plowing Iron) mimicking Saisyu's Kamukakari (Divine Consult) and even adapting his father's Nata Guruma (Hatchet Wheel) attack in KOF: Maximum Impact 2.

In The King of Fighters XII and The King of Fighters XIII, his default self switches back to his old KOF '94/'95 moveset.

KOF XIII also retuns "NESTS Style Kyo", although he does not play like his XI counterpart, instead plays like his KOF '98 counterpart.

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