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Ryo Sakazaki

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Ryo Sakazaki
Art of Fighting, Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters character
Promotional artwork for Ryo Sakazaki Eisuke Ogura which acts as his design for Art of Fighting and all The King of Fighters games
First appearanceArt of Fighting (1992)
Created byHiroshi Matsumoto
Voiced byEnglish
Alden Crews (AOF anime)[1]
In-universe information
Fighting styleKyokugenryu Karate
FamilyTakuma Sakazaki (father)
Yuri Sakazaki (sister)
OriginJapan
NationalityJapanese-American

Ryo Sakazaki (Japanese: リョウ・サカザキ, Hepburn: Ryō Sakazaki, sometimes written as 坂崎 亮, Sakazaki Ryō) is a video game character developed for the 1992 fighting game Art of Fighting from SNK. His name is most often written in kana, although in some games, kanji is used to write parts of his name. In the series, Ryo is a skilled martial artist who practices his family's fighting style, Kyokugenryu Karate, acting as the top disciple, alongside his sister Yuri, his father/sensei Takuma and his best friend Robert Garcia. While Art of Fighting follows Ryo's journey as a warrior to protect those he loves, he is also a regular character in the crossover series The King of Fighters, in which he participates in fighting tournaments. He also appears in other SNK games under the alias of "Mr. Karate" (Mr.カラテ, Misutā Karate) with an older fighting form inspired by his father Takuma. Additionally, he stars in manhua adaptations of several series and appears in the anime original video animation version of Art of Fighting.

SNK developer Hiroshi Matsumoto created Ryo as an homage to the Street Fighter characters as the staff who produced the first game in the franchise left Capcom to join SNK to produce other games. Ryo's inclusion in The King of Fighters series was decided immediately by the staff as SNK wanted to employ characters from other series they created so they could fight in crossover games. SNK artist Hiroaki Hashimoto was responsible for his alterego Mr. Karate's design as he wanted to create a new design distinctly different from the original. Multiple voice actors have provided their talent during Ryo's different appearances.

Ryo has been well received by gamers; his character has been highly ranked in several popularity polls conducted by journals. Video game publications have praised and criticized Ryo's character. Although Ryo has been criticized for his similarities to the Street Fighter video games' characters, several reviewers have praised his development in several games from SNK such as his introduction in Fatal Fury Special and The King of Fighters as one of the first crossover characters. His older Mr. Karate alter-ego was also praised for coming across as a more likable character. Ryo served as a model for the development of Dan Hibiki, a joke character in the Street Fighter series.

Creation

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Patrick Swayze served as the model for Ryo.

Ryo Sakazaki was created by Hiroshi Matsumoto as an homage to the Capcom fighting games' characters because during the release of the game some members from the original Street Fighter video game from Capcom moved to SNK.[3] His character inspired game designer Nobuyuki Kuroki to join SNK and oversee his animations in the third game of the series.[4][5] He was modeled after American actor Patrick Swayze.[6] Artist Shinkiro has said he had no problems with designing Ryo because he himself had not been rich. Designing Robert Garcia, who was rich, caused him "trouble".[7] In several games, the Kyokugen style is depicted as a struggling family business, funded almost entirely by prize money earned from KOF and Robert's vast wealth.[8] SNK staff members Youichiro Soeda said that Ryo and Robert's debut was unique to other games based on the company because the story did not focus on fighting tournaments but instead on the duo's quest to save Yuri Sakazaki.[9] Matsumoto has stated that he felt he was appealing to people who did not usually play games by showing the story in the game instead of just media such as magazines and comics.[10] Ryo's movements were changed across the Art of Fighting series. In the third game, SNK wanted to make his actions look more realistic when performing a technique.[11] In the planning stage of Fatal Fury Special, another SNK fighting game, Hattori Hanzo of World Heroes was being considered as a hidden boss. However, Hanzo was a character developed by another company. Even though ADK was a subsidiary, the staff decided instead to place Ryo as a hidden character; they found him more interesting as a guest character. Ryo's addition to Fatal Fury: Special was done with the approval of Hiroshi Matsumoto.[12]

According to SNK writer Akihiko Ureshino, compared to Robert and Yuri, who show flashes of genius, Ryo is not depicted as having had any outstanding talent since childhood, and the techniques he uses are orthodox, with few flashy special moves aside from Ryuko Ranbu and Haoh Shoko Ken. He has the image of being far removed from arrangements and ideas of his own, and has simply continued to hone the techniques he learned from Takuma in a straightforward manner. Akihiko Ureshino wrote he thinks that the one thing that he can say with confidence that Ryo is clearly superior to the other two of Takuma's three direct disciples is his talent to "continue training endlessly without finding it difficult." Putting aside the speed of improvement and the brilliance of his techniques, when considering who is the strongest among the three, Ureshino thinks that many fans would probably recommend Ryo, and that is probably thanks to Ryo's qualities. By the time of Garou: Mark of the Wolves about a quarter century after the era of Art of Fighting Ryo is still in his position as the head of Kyokugen-ryu karate, and he still retreats to the mountains to train. For this, SNK drew an homage to the 1973 martial arts film Enter the Dragon starring the Kyokygen-ryu fighters with Ryo being depicted with silver hair. However, even if Ryo is the strongest karateka in Kyokugen-ryu, Ureshino does not think Ryo himself is the type to be obsessed with being the strongest. His goal is not to reach the goal of being the strongest, but rather he is the type who wants to keep getting stronger, even if it is just a little at a time. As a result, Ureshino describes Ryo as a man who will find it difficult in modern society and never marry his love interest King.[13]

Ureshino had his own ideas for Ryo's story but were rejected by his superiors of Shinseisha during his earñy desire to become a writer. However, looking back on it later, he thinks it was only natural that his scenario was not selected by the manufacturer. After all, it was just a story about how Ryo and Geese were just "ridiculously cool". The concept would have been Geese reviving. Ryo has aged normally in line with the flow of time from the Art of Fighting to the Fatal Fury era, meaning he has become an old man in his late 30s. Moreover, having turned his back on an ordinary life and continuing to train single-mindedly in the pursuit of strength, he has gained incredible strength, but his body is already afflicted by illness. Now that Ryo knows his time is up, he comes down from the mountain to settle things once and for all with Geese, whom he has only fought once before. As Terry is about to head to Geese Tower, Ryo appears, defeats him, and heads off to Geese himself. This is the end of the story for the main character. Terry's highlight really ends here.[14]

Afterwards, Terry, who had collapsed after being defeated by Ryo, wakes up saying "Huh!?" and rushes towards the tower, only to find that Ryo has already died in the fight with Geese. Seeing this, Terry follows Ryo's will and the story ends. Looking back now, this was no good. It was so terrible of me back then to make an important character age and die off. It was way too much with someone else's IP. Or rather, the editorial department should have just dropped this, not taken it to the final selection with the manufacturer involved- In other words, even though he still had the strength to spare, Geese simply decided to declare himself defeated and left the scene, and if he had intended to fight Geese all the way, wasn't it him who lost. Ryo had been thinking about this for a long time, and wanting to settle the question, he stood before Geese one last time before his death -- that must have seemed cool to me. Ureshino changed the wording quite a bit because it would be a bit weird to have Ryo die, but he wrote about Ryo's conflict here in the character story for the second Mr. Karate in Maximum Impact, so he had a punchline in my own mind, but even so, he cannot imagine Ryo getting married like everyone else and starting a peaceful family. Ureshino wants Ryo to live a brutal life filled with fighting. By the way, although age missed out on the grand prize, that experience led me to start frequenting the editorial department at Shinseisha, and as a result he created "The Mystery of Fatal Fury 3" and wrote a novelization of a certain hunter, and I got the chance to novelize KOF for Famitsu Bunko, so he was happy.[14]

Alternate characterization in The King of Fighters

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For The King of Fighters '94, along with Robert, developers of the game had problems balancing Ryo with the other characters from the series without removing any of his special moves. However, Ryo was said to be one of the game's strongest characters.[15] The developers added that this game was created with the idea of having Ryo fighting against Terry Bogard, the lead character of the Fatal Fury series.[16] Ever since The King of Fighters '96, Ryo was given a new stance which the staff referred to as neutral since they did not find it superior or inferior to the original one. His shape and colors of his projectile technique, "Torakuken", was altered across The King of Fighters.[11] Though SNK artist Falcoon said that Ryo's characterization between Art of Fighting and The King of Fighters is different, he was unable to explain it.[17]

By 1997, when KOF was at its peak with the Orochi story arc, new works in the Art of Fighting series had already stopped being released. As a result, he recalls fans believing Ryo and Yuri being original KOF character. However, Ryo and Yuri are genuine characters of the Art of Fighting series, and are not the "comedians" of the KOF series. They tend to be unable to get involved in the main story and end up in comical roles, but Ryo and the others are actually more serious characters. For this reason, Ureshino thinks there are many fans who do not want to accept Ryo and the others in KOF. However, regardless of what they were originally like, they have been in KOF for over decades years with that style. Ureshino considered the duo going back to their original characterizations with the KOF: Maximum Impact and 2 spin-offs. If they did that, the generation that does not know the original Art and Warriors would just think, they have become different characters. Ureshino's personal opinion is that the comical acting that the members of Kyokugenryu have shown in KOF up until now doesn't really suit the Maximum Impact series, where the performances are performed by polygon models with realistic head proportions. Should they continue with the image of Kyokugenryu in KOF, he wonders which direction should they go and which would fans want. If possible, it would be helpful to get some data to help us make a decision on this matter, such as a user survey for Maximum Impact 2.[18]

Ryo's fighting style is known as the Kyokugenryu Karate (極限流空手, lit. "Utmost' Limit Style Empty Hand") which he practises with Robert and his family. He earned the nickname, "The Invincible Dragon" (無敵の龍, Muteki no Ryu) because of his remarkable use of his fighting style.[19] For The King of Fighters XIII, the team wanted to distance Ryo's style from those of Robert Garcia and Takuma Sakazaki since both employ the same techniques such as the Haohshokohken (覇王翔吼拳), a projectile move. Ryo's moves were designed to show his strength. His moves leave him open, but the EX version of Tiger Fist does not leave him as open and it allows for easier combos. His "Neo Max" move, the strongest type of move in the game, has the image of being One Blow Guaranteed Kill (一撃必殺, Ichigeki Hissatsu), so his moves were finalized without difficulty. Director Kei Yamamoto mentions in a blog about how he favors it.[20]

Alter-ego

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SNK artist Hiroaki Hashimoto redesigned Ryo as an older fighter in several spin-off games often called Mr. Karate in reference to his father Takuma.[21]

In some games, Ryo goes by the nickname of "Mr. Karate". Falcoon says this was a reference to how Ryo manages to defeat his father Takuma Sakazaki and thus became worthy of that title.[22] His Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition design received a favorable response from Falcoon who wanted SNK to use Ryo more in their video games, most notably in crossover games.[22] His Buriki One older persona also received this response especially with older gamers based on Falcoon's illustration of him of his black gi.[23] He is specifically written to be in his 32 in Buriki One. It was pointed out that there was a discrepancy between his age calculated backwards from his date of birth published in Art of Fighting, but the answer was that he was deliberately set at 32 years old because "he is physically and mentally accomplished as a fighter".[24]

For Buriki One, SNK regarded Ryo as one of the games' strongest characters. However, due to his lack of ability to aim, the team said that players should be careful when using Ryo.[25] Ryo's redesign in his older persona was created by SNK artist Hiroaki Hashimoto who oversaw the character designs in Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition and Buriki One as he disliked the original orange gi and wanted to mix it more with black colors. Hiroaki did this with his superiors' approval. The biggest change was Ryo's clothes, which now featured more black and giving him more facial hair symbolizing his older age.[21] In the 2016 game The King of Fighters XIV a costume depicted to Ryo’s appearance in Wild Ambition was originally supposed to appear as one of the DLC alternate costume but was debunked.[26]

According to SNK staff, Ryo is an embodiment of fortitude and vigor that shines even when he is compared to other fighters. His normal costume for the Maximum Impact series is the same as the martial arts uniform he has always worn. The design is the same, but there is a change of mood with respect to his Color F. It is reminiscent of Haohmaru in Samurai Shodown. Regarding his Color G~H, his refined sense is shown through his braided hat, ruler, and mountain ascetic style.[27] For the "Mr. Karate" incarnation of Ryo, his Normal has been given a tengu mask, which is reminiscent of his father Takuma. With his "Another" incarnation there is a stylish change of clothing based on his Wild Ambition look. The color combination of his shirt is standard, but there is also a version just like his "Color E" with a design on his back. Color G appears as a style that brings to mind the clothing of the strong tiger Robert.[28]

In regards to the masked Mr. Karate, Ureshino decided to give him the age of 49, making him the oldest character of the spin-off. Ureshino was trying to imagine Ryo Sakazaki, the head of Kyokugenryu Karate, who appears only by name in the story by Marco Rodriguez in Garou when writing Maximum Impact 2. So, just as Terry grew older and became "Wild Wolf", Ryo also grew older and became "Karate". He made him 49 years old because there is a gap of about 14 years between the original Ryo and Terry -- in other words, between the world of Fatal Fury and the world of Art of Fighting. He is 14 years older than Wild Wolf, who is equivalent to 35 years old, so he is 49 years old. Takuma was around this age when he called himself Mr. Karate, so in that sense so he gave him his father's age. He wrote carefully the game to explore the Southtown lore and the legacy of Geese Howard.[29] For Neo Geo Battle Coliseum, Ryo was featured in his older persona "Mr. Karate" but with the title "2nd" as SNK said they wanted to distinguish him in a comical way from Takuma.[30]

Ryo's appearance changes among games. He is normally Ryo's hair is blonde, inherited from his mother (though the blonde hair can be ochre-colored, and the color of his hair varies slightly depending on the work). Blonde hair is a dominant gene, and black or brown hair is more strongly inherited, so it is quite rare for Ryo, born to a father with black hair and a mother with blonde hair, to be born blonde. In the anime version of Art of Fighting, his hair is changed from blonde to black. His hair length (short hair or long hair at the back), hair type (straight or curly), and hairstyle (spiky, bangs down, slicked back, center parted, messy, etc.) vary depending on the work and illustration. He wears a vermilion or orange gi. The color is chosen because it is the color his mother first tailored him for him. When he first challenged a street fight, Ryo was so scared that he put on the gi that was a keepsake from his mother to motivate himself.[31] Since then, he has worn the same color gi, but when he is older (e.g., Buri), he wears a black (gray) gi.[24]

Voice actors

[edit]

Ryo was first voiced by Masaki Usui. Starting in 2016 with The King of Fighters XIV, Usui was replaced by Daiki Takakura who wanted to promote his character's appearances.[32] Takakura believes his role as Ryo is important because the character appeared on multiple generations of consoles and he wanted to keep its traditional style despite having a different voice.[33] For the otome game, The King of Fighters: For Girls, Subaru Kimura voices the character.[34] Alden Crews voiced Ryo in the English dub of the anime special.[1]

Appearances

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In video games

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In the first Art of Fighting, Ryo's sister, Yuri, is kidnapped by Mr. Big, a local criminal mastermind.[35] With the help of his best friend, Robert Garcia, Ryo manages to confront Mr. Big, leading him to a karate dojo where a man challenges the two to a fight. When Ryo prevails, Yuri appears, telling Ryo to stop, for Mr. Karate is their father.[36] In the second game, Takuma reveals that the crime lord Geese Howard turned him into the assassin Mr. Karate. With the Sakazaki family reunited, they, along with Robert, are focused on exacting their revenge on Geese and providing justice to all the others who were wronged by him.[37] While entering into Geese's tournament, The King of Fighters, Ryo is able to defeat Geese and become the first champion of KOF tournament. However, Geese manages to escape with help from his assistants before Ryo could finish him.[38] In Art of Fighting 3: The Pact of the Warrior, Ryo acts as a supporting character to Robert, where the game is more focused as he and Yuri travel around the world to find their missing friend and ultimately approves of their apparent relationship in his ending.[39] Ryo reprises his role from Art of Fighting in a slot machine game.[40]

Ryo also appears in Fatal Fury Special, an updated version of Fatal Fury 2. He appears as a hidden opponent at the end of the single-player mode and is playable in the home versions.[41] In the PlayStation version of Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition, Ryo uses the title of "Mr. Karate", as an aged and more powerful Ryo. As a playable character, his ending involves him facing Terry Bogard after defeating Geese.[42] Although he has appeared in no other unrelated games, he is often referenced indirectly in Garou: Mark of the Wolves, he has his own student, Khushnood Butt.[43]

Ryo is a member of the Art of Fighting Team in The King of Fighters series in his young form from Art of Fighting. Despite multiple changes in the team, Ryo remains a core member of the team[44][45] including in games without storylines like The King of Fighters 2002 and The King of Fighters Neowave, and The King of Fighters '98.[46][47][48] Across the series, Ryo develops a close friendship with former foe, Muay Thai fighter King which his family supports.[49] The spin-offs King of Fighters R-1 and King of Fighters R-2 feature Ryo as part of the South Town Team alongside Terry Bogard and Kim Kaphwan.[50][51] In the two games for the Game Boy Advance titled EX: Neo Blood and EX2, King takes Robert's place on the Art of Fighting Team in the former, and Yuri in the latter.[52][53] He also appears in the spin-off The King of Fighters Kyo, in which he helps the main character Kyo Kusanagi find his girlfriend Yuki.[54] The spin-off games KOF: Maximum Impact and Maximum Impact 2 also feature a Ryo as a playable character searching to promote his dojo, with the latter also featuring his "Mr. Karate" version as a hidden character who was given a side-story where he trains with Terry Bogard due toboth having confronted Geese Howard in the past.[55][56] He is present in the mobile-phone game The King of Fighters All Star and Kimi wa Hero with the latter as his older "Mr. Karate" persona.[57][58] and in his regular persona in and the otome game King of Fighters for Girls.[59]

Ryo is also a central character in Buriki One, a game for the Hyper Neo Geo 64. In this game, he appears in his older persona and fighting in a grappling tournament, employing regular karate as his fighting style. He appears as the sub-boss in the single-player mode.[60] More recently, in NeoGeo Battle Coliseum, Ryo goes by the name "2nd Mr. Karate" (二代目Mr.カラテ, Nidaime Misutā Karate), while his look is the one used for Buriki One but disappears from society when ending the story.[61] He is also playable in The Rhythm Of Fighters,[62] and The King of Fighters Online.[63] He once again wears this outfit in The King of Fighters '98 Unlimited Match Online.[64] He also stars in the crossover video games SNK vs. Capcom in his classic look.[65] Despite not being playable in SNK Gals' Fighters, he appears in the ending Yuri,[66] as well as SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy.[67] His appearance serves as a Mii costume for Nintendo's fighting game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[68] and he also appears in the King Of Fighters Stadium stage as a cameo as well as a Spirit.

In other media

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Ryo appears in the anime OVA version of Art of Fighting from 1993 on. While looking for a cat, Ryo and Robert witness a murder related to a stolen diamond. After fighting the murdering mobsters, they discover that the top mobster, Mr. Big, has kidnapped Ryo's sister to exchange her for the diamond which he believes to be in the possession of the protagonists. He is voiced by Tetsuya Besho in the Japanese version, and by Alden Crews in the English adaptation.[69] Two mangas based on the Art of Fighting games also follow Ryo and Robert's journey.[70][71] Ryo also appears in the manhua adaptations from The King of Fighters series, which tell how Ryo participates in the fighting tournaments.[72] Mangas and novels based on KOF also feature Ryo but in a smaller role.[73][74] In the CGI animated series The King of Fighters: Destiny, Ryo reprises his role from The King of Fighters '94 where they meet and befriend the Esaka Team.[75] During the tournament, Ryo and Robert are possessed by the power of the creature Orochi but are saved by the Esaka members.[76] There is also an episode that shows Ryo saving Yuri from King's forces based on the first Art of Fighting game.[77] He also appears in the manga The King of Fighters: A New Beginning where he faces and defeats newcomer Shun'ei.[78]

Reception

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Popularity and cultural impact

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Ryo has been well received by gamers, ranking high on several popularity polls. In Gamest's 1997 Heroes Collection, Ryo was voted by the staff's as their 24th favorite character. He shared the spot with Sie Kensou and Toru Kurosawa, a character from the game series Last Bronx.[79] Gamest also placed Ryo at number 24 on their Top 50 Characters of 1994 list.[80] In a 2005 poll compiled by SNK-Playmore USA, he was voted as the fifth fan favorite character with a total of 193 votes.[81] The scene of Ryo Sakazaki in the first Art of Fighting game where he is driving a bike in his fighting clothes became an internet meme based on how hilarious is that a man is drviving while wearing a karate gi. Merchandise such as clothing based on it was developed. SNK artist Falcoon was caught on it by surpise when a friend showed him wearing a shirt featuring such meme.[82] As part of an official partnership between SNK and Akiba, Ryo has appeared on an Akiba beer bottle label for one of their craft beers alongside other characters from Art of Fighting 3 and Fatal Fury 3.[83] SNK artist Nobuyuki Kuroki regarded Ryo as his favorite Art of Fighting character as he always used to played as him in the first game as a child. He considered his story unique by that time.[84]

Bringing Ryo to Fatal Fury was considered a good a idea by Yasuyuki Oda believing he fits the cast and how it revolutioned the idea of the crossover concept that would conceptualize The King of Fighters. However, keeping the inclusion under wraps proved problematic for SNK "Although the developers planning to keep Ryo Sakazaki's appearance secret until the game release, Ryo was announced on a huge screen at Tokyo Game Show. Oda found such unforcasted reveal awkward. Fatal Fury Special had several issues at launch that in every single console and unlocking Ryo as a hidden boss was too challenging.[85]

Critical response

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Reviewers of video games and others in the media have praised and criticized Ryo's character. Wesley Yin-Poole of Videogamer.com commented that Ryo and Robert are "two double-hard bastards",[86] A number of critics compared Ryo and Robert to the Street Fighter protagonists Ryu and Ken; However, their morales and bond were praised.[87][88][89][90][91] Despite noting his similarities with Street Fighter characters to the point they considered him a "clone", ScrewAttack still praised Ryo's character in Art of Fighting.[92] Juan E. Hernandez of IGN also compared both Robert and Ryo to Street Fighter and Dragon Ball characters based on their type of fighting techniques as well as Street Fighter characters. However, they found that the Haoh Sho Hoken was too strategic to use.[93] Gaming Excellence found both Ryo and Robert likable characters in the Art of Fighting trilogy alongside those in supporting roles.[94]

Critics also enjoyed Ryo's inclusion in other fighting games produced by SNK. Simon Wigham of Console Obsession felt that he "planted the seeds for the future KOF series". He also noted that his introduction in Fatal Fury Special was as the "token hard old guy".[95] Greg Kasavin of GameSpot regarded "Haohshokohken" move from Art of Fighting as one of the most influential fireball moves in fighting games' history due to how strong and big is Ryo's fire technique and how it would be notable in Capcom's later games like Marvel vs. Capcom.[96] Hobby Consolas noted Ryo's inclusion in Special came as a surprise and that he was fun to play in the game.[97] Den of Geek regarded his debut in Fatal Fury Special as the "first real fighting game crossover" as people who also disliked the character were given the first chance to properly beat him up.[98] In regards to Wild Ambition, James Melke from GameSpot he makes a surprising appearance as Mr. Karate even as a hidden character that fits the Fatal Fury cast.[99]

The same site noted that Ryo once again faced Terry Bogard in The King of Fighters '94 and surprised fans that the game included these two combatants.[100] Den of Geek critcized as his KOF characterization as one of the worst developed characters due to how he plays the role of the "straight man" in comical scenes.[101] In regards to Ryo's The King of Fighting XV trailer, Gamerfocus noted that like most characters SNK initiallly revealed his silhouettes to let players guess until the official reveal. In the case of Ryo, GamerFocus commented it was more confusing since Ryo shared his silhouette with Robert's and the trailers were shown combined which made focus on how Ryo is always more dedicated in improving his arms while Robert specializes in kicks. Gamers also noted heavy emphasis of deep fighting game mechanic as Ryo and Robert appear to be seen doing parries similars to the ones Capcom employed in Street Fighter IV, Focus Attack.[102] The Gamer noted that while Ryo and Robert kept standing out as Ryu and Ken doppeldangers in their KOFXIV and KOFXV appearances with Ryu still doing Street Fighter-like "Shoryuken" punch movees, his appearance was critcized for looking far bigger than usual. Nevertheless, the website noted that the duo never misses an installment of The King of Fighters franchise.[103] Meanwhile, Mr. Karate's older persona was met with positive response in NeoGeo Battle Coliseum with praise on his redesign.[104][105] Furthermore, Hardcore Gaming regarded Ryo's older persona as one of the main reasons why SNK's spin-off Buriki One is remembered by fans several years after its release as he highly stands out.[106]

Akemi's Anime World found the character in the series' original video animation "downright pathetic" despite noting his skilled martial arts. The reviewer also found Ryo's Japanese voice was "kind of flat" noting his English voice was more appealing.[107] AnimeOnDVD.com enjoyed the contrast between Ryo and Robert as both "are like night and day in some respects".[108] Hard Core Gaming felt the short's version of Ryo was unfaithful to SNK's character design calling it "awful".[109]

The character of Dan Hibiki from the Street Fighter series is deemed to be a parody of Ryo's similarities with Ryu and Ken, but his design is more like Robert's while he is showing mannerisms like those of Yuri Sakazaki. In humorous retaliation, Street Fighter II co-designer Akiman drew an artwork of Street Fighter Sagat holding a defeated opponent by the head during the release of Street Fighter II: Champion Edition. The defeated opponent wore an attire similar to Ryo's: an orange karate gi with a torn black shirt underneath and geta sandals like Ryo; but had long dark hair tied to a ponytail like Robert.[110][111] According to GameRant, in order to poke fun at Ryo, Capcom introduced the overly weak character of Dan, a character whose attacks did very little damage but resembled those of Ryo, even had similar ineffective projectiles.[112] These similarities are addressed in the crossover game SVC Chaos: SNK VS. Capcom with GameSpot's Greg Kasavin stating that fans would appreciate the appearances and the interactions between Ryo, Dan and Takuma.[113] Furthermore, a special demo is provided when fighting Ryu as in the Art of Fighting series, each player jumps back from the center of the screen to create distance. However, in another crossover, SNK vs. Capcom SVC Chaos, Ryu mistakes him for "Tiger" and says, "The poor one was Dragon," which makes him angry.[114] The fact that KOF keeps Ryo in Ryu's shadow according to The Gamer noting that that Capcom kept further parodying Ryo by expanding Dan Hibiki's lore.[103] Milleniumf felt that SNK kept responding to the parody, by giving Yuri techniques from the Street Fighter series including Ryu or Ken Masters' variations of the Shoryuken punch among others which ended up fitting as Street Fighter Alpha 2 newcomer Sakura Kasugano could also recreate Ryu's techniques by seeing them and practising on her own.[115]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Ryo Sakazaki Voices (Art of Fighting)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved May 11, 2021.
  2. ^ "『KOF』の女性向け『KOF乙女』発表。友情あり恋愛ありのイケメン格闘家育成ゲーム". dengekionline.com (in Japanese). June 12, 2019. Archived from the original on September 10, 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  3. ^ "The Man Who Created Street Fighter". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on April 14, 2016. Retrieved March 27, 2016.
  4. ^ Nobuyuki Kuroki [@NobuyukiKuroki] (August 1, 2017). "Happy birthday Ryo. If he doesn't exist I will not make probably the video games. リョウがいなかったらゲームの仕事をしていなかっただろうなー#KOF14 #Art of Fighting" (Tweet) (in Japanese). Retrieved November 8, 2019 – via Twitter.
  5. ^ @TeamPowerGeyser (August 16, 2019). "Happy Birthday Nobuyuki Kuroki! @NobuyukiKuroki has worked on AOF, Fatal Fury and KOF series, including KOF XIV and Samurai Shodown (2019)! His debut work at SNK was the "invincible dragon" Ryo Sakazaki. Congratulations on your birthday and your work that we admire so much!" (Tweet). Retrieved November 8, 2019 – via Twitter.
  6. ^ Gamest. No. 80. Shinsueisha. {{cite magazine}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. ^ "Interview with Shinkiro". SNK Playmore. Archived from the original on April 18, 2008. Retrieved September 8, 2015.
  8. ^ "KOF 94 Art of Fighting team story". The King of Fighters 10th Anniversary Official Website. Archived from the original on July 15, 2008. Retrieved January 27, 2009.
  9. ^ "Art of Fighting Anthology hits PS4 today – find out how the series started". PlayStation Blog. August 29, 2017. Archived from the original on January 26, 2018. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
  10. ^ ストリートファイター アートワークス 極 [Street Fighter Artworks Extreme] (in Japanese). Udon. 2012. p. 436. ISBN 978-4862333810. 松本 当時は、ゲーム中でざっくりとした世界観だけを見せれば、あとは雑誌やコミッ クといったメディアがストーリーを補完してくれるという流れがありました。 でも、どう せならゲームの中でしっかりと物語を見せれば、普段ゲームをあまり遊ばない人たち にも訴求できると考えたんです。 設定資料集を作ったり、 TV コマーシャルをドラマ化 立てで見せたりとか。 SNKに移ってからは、そういったゲーム作りを戦略的にやって いきました。 [Matsumoto: At that time, there was a trend that if you only showed a rough view of the world in the game, media such as magazines and comics would complement the story. However, I thought that if I could show the story in the game anyway, I could appeal to people who don't usually play games. For example, making a collection of setting materials and showing TV commercials as dramas. After I moved to SNK, I strategically worked on making games like that.]
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