Kyo Kusanagi/Trivia


 * Kyo and Iori were designed by Shinichi Morioka. He would later depart from the company to work on The Fallen Angels (堕落天使, Daraku Tenshi) a game that would heavily influence the designs for K' and Maxima.


 * Early artwork shows Kyo and Saisyu having the Kusanagi symbol on their foreheads. This idea was referenced in one of the KOF Manhua's.


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


 * When Daimon uses Jirai Shin in KOF '95~ '98, Kyo and Benimaru are the only background characters who'll jump.


 * Kyo is the only hero/protagonist with total control of their powers.
 * Ash Crimson, the hero/protagonist of the third story arc of the mainline series, also had control of his own powers until the events of KOF XIII, when he began to be controlled by his ancestor after stealing their powers.


 * Kyo, Benimaru and Daimon are the winners of all The King of Fighters tournaments hosted in the Orochi Saga, and most recently in XIII and XIV. Their victories are confirmed in Team Stories, Light Novels and cutscenes. However after the tournament is over, the canon team for KOF '97 is the Three Sacred Treasures Team.
 * His win in XIII is considered given the canonical events of the game, with the team having an cannonical ending which confirms their victory.
 * According to the true story of The King of Fighters '97, Kyo, Iori and Chizuru 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.


 * In Neo-Geo Freak 1998, the characters in KOF '98 have their own interviews. Here are Kyo's response to the questions.
 * What is your aspiration in this competition? - "It's only about dealing with the person standing on opposite side."
 * Who would you like to fight the most? - "No one really. But there are quite a lot of guys who want to try me out?"
 * Who would you like to team up with? / Who would you not like to team up with? - "They are the people I'm most comfortable with. Who do I not want to team up with? I don't want to answer that."
 * What is "KOF" for you? - "A big time killer."
 * Finally, please give a word to your fans. - "It's definitely me who resolves things in a blink of an eye. I don't have time to sleep!"


 * In Gamest's 1997 Heroes Collection, Kyo was voted as the staff's second favorite character. In the Neo Geo Freak's 1997 Volume 8 character poll, he was voted as the favourite character overall, with a total of 2,160 votes, with 620 votes from the male fans and 1,540 votes from the female fans.
 * And in Neo Geo Freak's August 1998 issue, he was ranked as the 3rd best character.
 * In a 2005 poll made by SNK-Playmore USA, he was voted as the sixth fan favorite character with a total of 176 votes. In the character popularity poll on Neo Geo Freak's website, he was voted as the third favorite character with a total of 2,574 votes.


 * In an interview with one of the manhua artist and authors, Wing Yan, he replies that Kyo is his favorite original character in the series.


 * Garou: Mark of the Wolves planner and The King of Fighters XIV/XV producer Yasuyuki Oda states that Kyo and Leona Heidern are his favourite characters in The King of Fighters series.


 * Yuichiro Hiraki was the pixel artist for Kyo in KOF '94 and Iori in KOF '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.


 * In the Maximum Impact games, Kyo is the only character whose select-number-of Stylish Arts are styled akin to a majority of crouching light kick-to-light punch normal attacks in the original 2D games (though the input windows are fairly tight).
 * At Vigamus, a museum of videogames sponsored by the municipality of Rome, a special illustration lists Kyo as the mascot of the mid-90's era of Neo Geo.


 * Kyo earning a moniker Mr. King of Fighters, as shown in Story Mode's individual Round 1 intro of The King of Fighters XV is a reference to how Nintendo's Mario earning a moniker Mr. Video Game.