| “ | Come! Come! | „ |
| ~ Ryo Sakazaki. |
| “ | Osu! | „ |
| ~ Ryo's victory cry. |
| “ | Kokyugen secret technique! | „ |
| ~ Ryo as he unleashes (one of) his super move. |
| “ | You're still not strong enough to defeat me. If you can't accept that, then train! There's no shortcuts! | „ |
| ~ Ryo's win quote. |
Ryo Sakazaki is the main protagonist in Art of Fighting, and one of the recurring 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 (坂崎 亮, Sakazaki Ryō). He earned the nickname, The Invincible Dragon.
He is a mascot for SNK, with the other four being are Terry Bogard, Mai Shiranui, Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami.
He is voiced by Masaki Usui between The King of Fighters '94 and The King of Fighters XI and The King of Fighters XIII, Masayoshi Kozaki in the Japanese version of The King of Fighters XII, Subaru Kimura in The King of Fighters for Girls, Daiki Tamura for the rest of his appearances, and Curt Gebhart in the English versions of the Maximum Impact series. In the animations, he was voiced by Akira Kamiya in Dengeki Bunko drama CD, and in the Art of Fighting anime, he was voiced by Tetsuya Bessho in the Japanese version of the anime, and by Aiden Crews in the English version of the anime.
Biography[]
Art of Fighting[]
Trained in the Kyokugen Style of Karate by his father Takuma, Ryo was forced to care for himself and his younger sister when he was 10 after their mother, Lonette, died in a car accident and their father disappeared shortly afterward. He makes his living by earning money on street fights. Whenever she saw Ryo in such condition, Yuri's desire to run away became greater.
When Yuri is kidnapped by Mr. Big, Ryo and his friend, Robert, scour Southtown while battling its toughest enforcers and Mob bosses to rescue her, finding out that his father was still alive under the guise of Mr. Karate. After the incident, Ryo went to the mountains to train himself in combat, only to return to to Southtown a year later to participate in the King of Fighters tournament sponsored by Geese Howard. Despite beating him, Geese had managed to escape.
After these events, Ryo goes to Mexico in search of Robert.
The King of Fighters[]
Ryo is Takuma's son and Yuri's brother and best friend of Robert Garcia. He rescued Yuri with Robert, who was kidnapped by Mr. Big and Geese Howard to get Takuma to do their bidding, thus freeing his father from said bidding as well. Now he promotes the fighting style by competing in tournaments. He later takes up his father's title of "Mr. Karate."
In XIV, he and his teammates heard rumors about a fake Kyokugenryu school. To clear the legitimacy of the Kyokugenryu school (and to advertise the new Kyokugen Barbeque side business Takuma opened), Ryo entered the King of Fighters tournament. In XV, growing increasingly discontent with Kyokugen Barbeque becoming the main focus of the family business, he boots Yuri from the team and enters the tournament with Robert and King to show off Kyokugenryu Karate at it's finest.
Personality[]
Ryo takes fighting seriously and is loyal to his friends and family. Martial arts are his life, and his primary motivation is to train hard, improve both himself and his students, and to promote the Kyokugenryu style. He has been given discipline through his Karate training by his father, Takuma. He treats Robert as his rival, but they are best friends. He is a little old fashioned and blunt, which sometimes alienates him from his trendier sister and stylish rival. He's also admits to not being very smart or talented but he believes that these are obstacles for him to overcome. Compared to Yuri and Robert's ideology on training, Ryo believes he can attain greatness in his art through hard work and experience. Having raised both himself and Yuri during their childhood, he struggles with his own wishes to protect his sister and his own wishes to see her grow up. He accepts her growing maturity with bittersweet acquiescence.
Ryo has an interesting relationship with King. Formerly enemies, Ryo has gained great respect for her fighting prowess, and he has made several attempts to recruit her to the Kyokugen dojo as an instructor. King has thus far refused all of his invitations, but she has joined the Kyokugen team for a few of the KOF tournaments. King herself seems to have developed a romantic attraction to Ryo after he contributed to her brother's recovery in Art of Fighting 2. She tends to flush, smile, and act flustered in Ryo's presence. There is a long running joke in the games where Ryo will compliment King, and she will blush, thinking he is about to ask her out, just to get yet another invite to join Kyokugenryu.
Abilities[]
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 demonstrates his signature move on Robert in King of Fighters XV.
Ryo was taught to be the "tiger" of Kyokugenryu Karate, ironic since his nickname calls him the dragon. In Buriki One, he seems to use ordinary Karate. His main strength relies on his fierce punching attacks, which is closer to his father's style. His (in)famous Tenchi Haou Ken (Heaven & Earth Supreme Sparkle Fist) is a good result of this type of style as such a punch often was able to automatically put opponents in stun upon impact, despite the low damage it did compared to other DM's (KOF XIII amps this up with a stronger version of this technique as his Neo Max).
His Art of Fighting and KOF incarnations tend to differ from one another such as his fighting stance. His Kohou (Tiger Roar) often either faces towards the screen (KOF) or the background (Art of Fighting). In KOF '96 onwards, his signature Ko'ou Ken (Tiger Sparkle Fist) turned into a close range attack afterwards.
During the NESTS Saga, Ryo adds defensive touches to his style. His Joudan and Gedan Uke (High-Level and Low-Level Reception) parrying command normals enable him to shave off attacks and press the offensive as Ryo is able to cancel into attacks should he block via this method. Both of these types of parries are based on traditional types of basic blocking seen in most martial arts dojos.
Other Media[]
Super Smash Bros.[]
Ryo appears in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a background character on the King of Fighters Stadium stage, his Mii costume for the Mii Brawler was added on the wave 4, Ryo is one of the spirits on Terry's DLC spirit board, an ace primary grab spirit that increases the user's fist attacks. His spirit battle is a stamina battle on the omega form of the Suzaku Castle stage against a Mii Brawler with Isaac's hair and orange fighter uniform (Ryo's costume if the said costume got purchased) that will charge up a powerful final smash with both fighters reduced jump.
Gallery[]
Gallery[]
Videos[]
External Links[]
- Ryo Sakazaki on the SNK Wiki
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