Ryo Sakazaki

Ryo Sakazaki is the main character in Art of Fighting, and one of the main characters in The King of Fighters, both fighting game series from SNK. His name is most often written in kana, however, in some games kanji is used to write parts of his name. In Gamest's 1997 Heroes Collection, Ryo was voted as the staff's twenty-fourth favorite character. In a 2005 poll made by SNK-Playmore USA, he was voted as the fifth fan favorite character with a total of 193 votes.

Art of Fighting


The story of Ryo begins in the first Art of Fighting in a traditional damsel in distress story. Yuri is kidnapped by Mr. Big, a local criminal mastermind. With the help of best friend and rival Robert Garcia, Ryo manages to confront Mr. Big, leading him to a karate dojo where a mysterious man (originally unnamed in the game, but was named "Mr. Karate" by fans, and officially named as such in later games) challenges the two to a fight. When Ryo prevailed, he threatens to kill Mr. Karate unless he knew that Yuri was alive. As Ryo prepared to kill him, Yuri appears, telling Ryo to stop, for Mr. Karate was their father.

During this journey, Ryo met a bouncer named King, a Muay Thai expert. There has been some unspoken romantic tension between the two.

The realization that Mr. Karate was indeed Takuma was not in the original Art of Fighting ending (except for the Super NES port of the game, where it was clearly shown), but was merely speculation that was made official in the introduction to the second game, when Takuma was formally introduced. In the second game, Takuma reveals how he became Mr. Karate: when Geese Howard wanted Takuma to kill Jeff Bogard, adoptive father to Andy and Terry Bogard. Takuma refused, and in order to force Takuma to cooperate, Yuri was kidnapped. Takuma was forced to do things that were against his moral standards through repeated threats to kill Yuri, including fighting his two students. With the Sakazaki family reunited, the family, along with Robert, focused on exacting their revenge on Geese, and providing justice to all others who were wronged by him. Part of this preparation included, to Ryo's initial opposition, teaching Yuri the Kyokugen techniques.

Although their plan was successful to an extent, their victory was short-lived: Geese had managed to escape, and had ordered the killing of Jeff (but had killed Jeff by himself later). This ending effectively closed out the Art of Fighting series and brought forth the beginning of the Fatal Fury story, one that does not directly involve Ryo.

Although Art of Fighting had a third game to the series, Ryo's role in that game was largely insignificant, as he acts as a supporting character to Robert. However, one plot thread from Art of Fighting 3 that carried over into the King of Fighters series was the introduction of Kasumi Todoh, the daughter of Ryuhaku Todoh, whom Ryo fought and defeated in the first Art of Fighting.

The King of Fighters
The appearance of Ryo in Fatal Fury Special as a secret final boss was perhaps inspiration to SNK's most notable fighting game series, The King of Fighters. Indeed, much of the appeal of the first KOF game, The King of Fighters '94, was that characters from Art of Fighting and Fatal Fury could fight alongside and against each other. However, Ryo (and his Fatal Fury counterpart, Terry) would only play supporting roles in the series. For the series, much of the details were retconned so as to make the characters of Art of Fighting coexist with the Fatal Fury ones while keeping their ages similar, but it's now currently accepted that the KoF timeline is separate from that of other series.

Although the King of Fighters tournament has its roots in Fatal Fury, the 1994 tournament was the first tournament in the story to use a team fighting system, which was essentially the gimmick that was used to sell the series: three fighters could form a team, and when one fighter was knocked out, a new fighter could replace the fighter that was knocked out, continuing until one team was out of fighters. Ryo was the core of the Art of Fighting Team in this first game, one that was composed of Ryo, Robert, and Takuma (much to the displeasure of Yuri, to which Ryo was opposed to letting her even join the tournament, although she would find her own team).

Throughout the series, the Kyokugen style was depicted as a struggling family business, funded almost entirely by prize money earned from KOF and Robert's vast wealth. Each year, at the conclusion of KOF, the Kyokugen dojo would often have many applicants due to the strong performance of the team, but most of these applicants would later quit, due to either the strenuous training regime (much of which were thinly-veiled disguises to do work around the Sakazaki house) or mysterious people who appear and trash much of the dojo, creating the impression that the Kyokugen style was an inferior one. Despite all this, the family manages to keep two gyms running, one in South Town (setting of many SNK games), and a second in Mexico on his already deceased Mexican mother Home.

Before the events of The King of Fighters '96, however, Takuma decided to retire from competitive fighting, and thus allowing Yuri to join the Art of Fighting Team. In this game, as well in The King of Fighters '97, the Kyokugen trio would always find themselves after the tournament facing Takuma disguised as Mr. Karate, telling them to train harder for the following year. In short, for much of the first storyline of KOF, nothing of consequence happens to Ryo.

In the second storyline to KOF, however, fans were led to believe in an increased role for Ryo and company. Due to a new rule allowing teams of four in The King of Fighters '99, and Takuma's coincidental "sudden urge to fight again", the Art of Fighting Team, for the first time, involved all four members of the Kyokugen family. In the rubble that had ultimately killed Krizalid, it had appeared that Takuma had died. The only trace of him that was found was the tengu mask that was once the trademark of Mr. Karate. Takuma had somehow survived, and the next year, as Yuri left to join another team, King would join the Art of Fighting Team.

The King of Fighters 2000 had South Town (named "Southtown" in later games) destroyed by way of the Zero Cannon, a space-based satellite weapon. In an effort to not get caught in the Zero Cannon's blasts, Takuma saved King's life by using his Haoh Shikou Ken projectile attack to redirect the Zero Cannon's attack. Although Ryo and Robert were surprised at Takuma's ability to redirect the Zero Cannon's blast, they were more surprised at Takuma's reason to save King: Takuma claimed that he could not afford to lose the heir to the Kyokugen style, a statement that shocked the other three team members, as this implied that King and Ryo would perhaps be parents to an heir to the Kyokugen style, a conclusion as of yet is unknown.

It is not known what had happened to the Kyokugen dojo that had brought forth the livelihood of the Sakazaki family after the destruction of South Town. However, it is well known that the Sakazakis kept two dojos in operation, and Takuma had retired, allowing Ryo to take charge of the family business. This is supported by the fact that Ryo takes over the Mr. Karate mantle that his father once held on Fatal Fury Wild Ambition and Neo Geo Battle Coliseum.

Personality
Ryo is very serious about fighting and loyal to his friends and family. He has been given discipline through his Karate training by his father, Takuma. He treats Robert as his rival, but they are best friends.

Powers

 * Gather chi: Ryo can gather ki from Gaia, the mother-earth.


 * Energy Projectile: Ryo can fire the Kouken and Haoh Shou Kouken blast normally.


 * Multiple Attacks: Ryo can channel his ki energy into his arms to deliver multiple punches at a very fast ratio.

Fighting Style
Ryo uses the Kou-Ou principle of Kyokugenryu Karate. In Buriki One, he seems to use ordinary Karate.

Music

 * Uma to Boku (Horse and I) - Art of Fighting 2
 * Ryuuko no Ken - The King of Fighters 94
 * Ryuuko and Ken - The King of Fighters 95
 * Kamikirimushi - The King of Fighters 96
 * Art of Fight - The King of Fighters 98, 2002
 * Ryu-Ko - The King of Fighters 99
 * The Beauty and the Beast - The King of Fighters 2000
 * Fight to the Limit - The King of Fighters 2001
 * Kyoku-gen - The King of Fighters 2003
 * After a Long Absence - The King of Fighters XI

Game Appearances



 * Art of Fighting
 * Art of Fighting 2
 * Fatal Fury Special
 * The King of Fighters 94
 * The King of Fighters 95
 * Art of Fighting 3
 * The King of Fighters 96
 * The King of Fighters 97
 * The King of Fighters 98
 * The King of Fighters 99
 * SNK vs Capcom: Match of the Millenium
 * Capcom vs SNK
 * Capcom vs SNK Pro
 * The King of Fighters 2000
 * Capcom vs SNK 2
 * SVC Chaos: SNK vs Capcom
 * The King of Fighters 2001
 * The King of Fighters EX
 * The King of Fighters 2002
 * The King of Fighters EX2
 * The King of Fighters 2003
 * The King of Fighters: Neowave
 * The King of Fighters: Maximum Impact
 * The King of Fighters XI
 * The King of Fighters 2006
 * The King of Fighters Maximum Impact Regulation A
 * The King of Fighters '98: Ultimate Match
 * The King of Fighters XII
 * Shinsetsu Samurai Spirits: Bushidou Retsuden (Neo-Geo CD version only; cameo)

Anime Appearances

 * Art of Fighting (anime)

Similar Characters

 * Mr. Karate II

Sprites