| Ryuji Yamazaki | Story | Move List | Gallery | Quotes |
"This lunatic is a real, venomous snake! Pray he doesn't use both hands! RYUJI YAMAZAKI." - The King of Fighters XV
Ryuji Yamazaki (
Personality
Yamazaki has psychopathic tendencies with a love for materialistic articles and money. He has two distinct (and equally malevolent) personas, being most of the time a calm and calculating gangster, while sometimes turning into a hysterical, deranged and lunatic killer who likes to bash, smash, cut, and kill everyone and anyone whom he confronts. These savagely cruel mannerisms were born out of witnessing his father figure die in the worst way possible.
While not completely amoral, he is not above toying around as much as he likes to emphasize his dominating demeanor to anyone he encounters.
Of curious note is how Yamazaki subconsciously keeps his right hand in his pocket because his idol once praised the power of that particular fist, and only uses it for special techniques.
In the KoF series, Yamazaki is a member of the Hakkesshu, but he has not yet awakened. At the end of the '97 tournament, he crossed paths with other members of the Hakkesshu who revealed his connection to Orochi. However, due to his independent nature, Yamazaki showed little interest in this revelation and chose to continue living life on his own terms.
Fighting style
In contrast with most of the other fighters in combat video games, Yamazaki does not use any particular martial art. He showcases little to no formal technique, and instead fights with his instincts in an extremely pragmatic form of street fighting. Yamazaki uses a wide variety of attacks while fighting, including unfair and dishonest moves such as splashing and/or kicking sand in his opponent's eyes, viciously headbutting and stomping his opponent repeatedly, and pulling out his pocket stashed ever-present-prized knife which he uses to slash opponents (from the Fatal Fury series until The King of Fighters 2003). His most ionic attacks involve him extending his arm strikes with incredible speed, creating a blur that marks the attack's range.
He also rarely takes his left hand out of his pocket unless he is using his knife or other certain moves that involve his powers (especially his Super Special Moves; it is said his idol passed on the idea of praising one's dominate fist to Yamazaki which is why he normally doesn't make too much use of it), and a majority of his moves display quite an amount of strength from him.
Music
- C62 ~Shirokuni~ (C62 ~White Country~) - Fatal Fury 3, Real Bout Fatal Fury, The King of Fighters 98: Ultimate Match (as EX Yamazaki)
- C62 ~Shirokuni Ver.2~ (C62 ~White Country Ver.2~) - Real Bout Fatal Fury Special, Real Bout Fatal Fury 2, The King of Fighters 97, The King of Fighters 98, The King of Fighters 98: Ultimate Match, The King of Fighters All Star
- Black Rose - Fatal Fury Wild Ambition
- Yuuwaki no Toki (The Alluring Time) - The King of Fighters 2002
- Villainous - The King of Fighters 2003
- Masquerade - The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match
- C62 -KOF XIV ver.- - The King of Fighters XIV
- Soy Sauce and a Dash of Sake for Geese - The King of Fighters XV
- Dance de Peace! - Fatal Fury shared image song
Voice Actors
- Kōji Ishii - Fatal Fury 3~The King of Fighters 2003
- Tsuguo Mogami - The King of Fighters XIV~present
- Kenjiro Tsuda - The King of Fighters for Girls
Appearances
Etymology
- The name Ryuji means "dragon" (竜) (ryu) and "two" (二) (ji).
- Ryuji's surname Yamazaki means "mountain, hill" (山) (yama) and "cape, peninsula" (崎) (saki/zaki).
Trivia
- Yamazaki is known for his motif towards snakes, and is often compared to one by many characters, including himself.
- Before it was likely established that Yamazaki is a southpaw/left-handed, Yamazaki's 3D model in Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition had him be right-handed instead.
- Yamazaki is the only Hakkesshu who hails from another SNK game series (in that case, the Fatal Fury series).
- Yamazaki and Gaidel (and by extension, Leona) are the only Hakkesshu who doesn't care about their master's resurrection.
- Yamazaki is the only character in The King of Fighters XIV with various versions of the same Climax Super, even depending on the stage being played.
- Many of his techniques are rarely written in kanji, as a majority of them are written with a mixture of both kanji and katakana, leaving some of their meanings to be a bit ambiguous at best; however, a number of them are named after a variety of Japanese onomatopoeias. His Bakudan Pachiki (Bomb Headbutt) technique also possesses the Korean term for "headbutt" in its katakana.
- In Neo-Geo Freak 1998, the characters in KOF '98 have their own interviews. Here are Yamazaki's response to the questions.[1]
- What is your aspiration in this competition? - "... kill ... kill everything Oh! Hyacha HotHatHatHatHatHat ... !!"
- Who would you like to fight the most? - "I will kill all this !! (Yamazaki's serpent slash. Ruptures the skull of the cameraman)"
- Who would you like to team up with? / Who would you not like to team up with? - "There is no such thing! This trash is ah!! (Yamazaki's sand kick caused corneal inflammation in the soundman's eyes)"
- What is "KOF" for you? - "... lick. Shoes, lick it ... I'll teach you to lick ... Hey! Be sure to lick it or else !! (Reporter licking the shoes of Yamazaki) Hyacha HotHatHatHatHatHat ... I'll teach you as promised, my mop! (Reporter with head caught)"
- Finally, please give a word to your fans. - "Go away-!! Ukyukyukyakyakyukyakyakyakyaky ... !! (Yamazaki's bombshells, reporter's face, big hit) Uhy ... Ukyakyukyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyat !!
- In the Capcom vs SNK series, Terry and Yamazaki's special intro is a direct reference to Bunnoshin Inagi vs Kaoru Hanayama from Baki the Grappler.
- Yamazaki's hairdo is somewhat identical to Goenitz's, an undercut with blonde top hair, although it is unknown if the resemblance is meant to be intentional. In artwork present in KOF 98 UM's gallery, they are seen fighting over a single toupee as a joke.
- Yamazaki's Theme, C62 ~Shirokuni~, is a Japanese pun:
- C62 = Train
- C roku-ju ni = C sixty two
- Shi roku ni = C six two
- Shirokuni = The White Country
- In Gamest's 1997 Heroes Collection, Yamazaki was voted as the staff's fifteenth favorite character. He shared the spot with Samurai Shodown character, Galford, and Street Fighter character, Ken. In the Neo Geo Freak's 1997 Volume 8 character poll, he was voted as the seventh favourite character with a total of 1,206 votes.[2] And in Neo Geo Freak's August 1998 issue, he was ranked as the 6th best character.[3]
Cards
Sprites
Gallery
..jpg "Yamazaki (Ryuji Yamazaki)..jpg (58 KB)")
References
- ↑ https://archive.org/details/Neo-Geo_Freak_1998-08_Geibunsha_JP/page/n31
- ↑ Neo Geo Freak 1997-08 archive Neo Geo Freak character popularity poll results.
- ↑ Neo Geo Freak 1998-08 archive Neo Geo Freak 10 best character set original image collection.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||
| This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors). |