Profile
| Fighting Style: | Kyokugen-ryuu Karate (Extreme Style Karate) |  |
| Birthday: | 8 / 2 |
| Age: | 24 |
| Birthplace: | Japan (but he's half-American) |
| Blood Type: | O |
| Height: | 179cm |
| Weight: | 75kg |
| Hobby: | Doing carpentry on weekends |
| Favorite Food: | Mochi (rice cake), and natto (fermented soybeans) |
| Best Sport: | Sumo Wrestling |
| Most Important: | Restored motorcycle and his horse, 'Tatsumaki' |
| Dislikes: | Multi-legged insects |
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| Backstory (Fenix's Summary) |
| Ryo is the primary hero of the Art of Fighting series. He is the legitimate son of Takuma Sakazaki, and heir to the Kyokugenryu style. He is the long-time friend and rival of Robert Garcia. Yuri Sakazaki is his younger sister. |
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| Tournament Participation |
| Art of Fighting 1: | Travels to Southtown to rescue his sister from Mr. Big. He saves her and defeats Mr. Karate, only to learn that he is in fact their father in disguise. |
| Art of Fighting 2: | Met up with Geese Howard at the conclusion of the tournament. They fought, but Geese managed to escape. It is unknown wether he technically claimed victory in the tournament, but it is assumed that at this point he and King became an "item".(*) |
| Art of Fighting 3: | Ryo set out in search for Robert. In the end Ryo found him. |
| KoF '94: | Member of "Mexico" team. |
| KoF '95: | Still a member of "Mexico" team. |
| KoF '96: | Still a member of "Mexico" team. |
| KoF '97: | Still a member of "Mexico" team. Was also searching for Ryuji Yamazaki, who had recently destroyed one of the Kyokugenryu Dojos. |
| KoF '99: | Member of the "Art of Fighting / Kyokugenryu" team. |
| KoF '00: | Still a member of the "Art of Fighting / Kyokugenryu" team. |
| KoF '01: | Still a member of the "Art of Fighting / Kyokugenryu" team. |
| MOTW: | Though he does not officially participate in this tournament, at some point before MOTW, he fought with Marco Rodriguez / Kushnood Butt, and defeated him. Since then, he taught Marco the art of Kyokugenryu, which makes him the official new head of the Kyokugenryu Dojo by this time, and not Takuma. |
| Current Status: | Unknown.(*) |
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| Other Facts and Information |
| In the early years of his existence, Ryo was largely considered a blatant Ryu (of Capcom's Street Fighter fame) rip-off. As a result, he is the majority inspiration for the Street Fighter joke character, Dan Hibiki. His gi with black undershirt combo, one armed projectile toss, short arm uppercut, and Ryoku Ranbu dm have all been parodied with reckless abandon by Capcom throughout Dan's existence. |
| During his bout with Geese at the end of Art of Fighting 2, Ryo was actually losing, until he unleashed the Ryoko Ranbu technique. The Ryoku Ranbu is the same desperation technique he had used to disable Mr. Karate in AoF1, and from a storyline standpoint he was the only one of the Kyokugen (not even Robert) able to execute it. |
| Like Kyo, in KoF '96 Ryo underwent a massive transformation, in both looks and functionality. Most of his moves were changed dramatically, and he was granted the crazy "wide" stance that is now his trademark in KoF. |
| Ryo has an ongoing rivalry with Terry Bogard. The true reasons have never been stated, but plot wise I am led to believe it began somewhere around or before Fatal Fury 1. While Ryo does not appear in Fatal Fury 1, he makes a cameo as Mr. Karate in Fatal Fury : Wild Ambition, which is a retelling of Fatal Fury 1 (though it's canonicity cannot be confirmed right now). Ryo also had a cameo in FF2's "remake" Fatal Fury Special, though FFS is most definately not canon. (*) It is ironic that they should butt heads, considering both of them share a common enemy (Geese). |
| From a plot standpoint, Ryo should be a lot older than he actually is in KoF. The first two Art of Fighting games take place several years before Fatal Fury 1 (when Geese was still young), so it is impossible for him to be the same age as Terry when KoF'94 takes over. For some reason, SNK thought it would be better to use his younger AoF 1/2 equivalent, rather than his older grizzled AoF3 or Buriki One self, thus creating the time rift. To make matters worse, when Ryo does cross over to the Fatal Fury games (WA, FFS), he appears to be as old as he naturally should be at the time, despite the fact that in the parralel KoF games he is way younger.(*) |
| Ryo and King's relationship dates back to AoF1. Ryo came to one of Mr. Big's bars to request information on Yuri's kidnapping and was challenged by King, the bouncer. He defeated her with a Ko-oh Ken which tore her outfit, and revealed that she was a female. |
| Ryo and Robert bear a great deal of similarity with the heroes from the Hong Kong Comic, ???. This includes their association with the Tiger and Dragon. At current, Ryo is represented by the Dragon and Robert is represented by the Tiger, but originally it was the other way around. Despite the switch, their attack names remain unchanged from AoF1, with Ryo's attacks being named after the Tiger, and Robert's named after the Dragon.(*) |
| On his cameo level in Fatal Fury Special, the several members of the AoF cast of can be seen in the background. |