Ryuji Yamazaki

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Ryuji Yamazaki
Ryuji Yamazaki in King of Fighters: Neo Wave
Game series	Fatal Fury series King of Fighters series SNK Vs. series
First game	Fatal Fury 3
In-Universe Information
Birthplace	Okinawa, Japan
Blood type	A
Fighting style	Personal art of combative homicide

Ryuji Yamazaki (山崎竜二, Yamazaki Ryūji^?) is a video game character from both the Fatal Fury and King of Fighters series.

According to his official biography, Yamazaki's favorite food is basashi (horse meat), and he has no favorite sports of his own. His treasured possession is anything that financially benefits him, and dislikes labor.

1 History
- 1.1 Fatal Fury
- 1.2 The King of Fighters
2 Trivia
3 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Fatal Fury

In contrast with most of the other fighters in combat video games, Yamazaki does not use any particular martial art - he is a self-taught brawler, and uses a wide variety of attacks in his fighting, including unfair and dishonest moves such as kicking sand in his opponent's eyes, and his ever-present knife. He also rarely takes his right hand out of his pocket unless he is using his knife.

Yamazaki never had parents to look up to when he was growing up, so he quickly fell in with the wrong crowd at a young age. Eventually, after years of petty crime, he fell under the tutelage of a crime boss, where he soon climbed the ranks of crime until he became the boss's right-hand man. One day, Yamazaki and his boss went to a warehouse where an illegal deal was taking place. Yamazaki felt that something wasn't quite right with the situation, and told his boss so. The boss laughed Yamazaki's feeling off and ordered him to stay with him. Unfortunately, the deal was a setup, and both Yamazaki and his boss were ambushed by rival criminals. Yamazaki's boss was killed, and seeing the only "parent" that he ever had die before his eyes drove Yamazaki to insanity. He is now completely psychotic and is extremely mentally unbalanced.

In 1995, Yamazaki was signed up by Jin Chonrei and Jin Chonshu to protect them and the scrolls of immortality.

[edit] The King of Fighters

As he was having fun at a local dojo, Yamazaki was faced by an Englishman named Billy Kane, who worked as the bodyguard of Geese Howard, main crime leader of Southtown. Yamazaki refused Billy's offer to join him and participate in the King of Fighters tournament at first, but after terribly mauling one of the warriors, he felt an adrenaline rush through his blood. Feeling a need to fight and kill, he accepted Billy's offer.

During the subsequent tournaments, Yamazaki did not enter, and its unknown what he did during this time. He finally returns in the 2003 tournament to participate with Billy and Gato to engage on another of Geese's attempts to take over Southtown.

At the end of the tournament, tensions between the team members increase somewhat, and culminate in a fight. Gato, disgusted with his team members (whom he is obviously not friends with), simply takes his leave... and appears in the follow-up title KOF XI. However, Billy and Yamazaki continue to fight each other, and neither made an appearance in KOF XI. Whether or not this ending in canon remains to be seen, although is does somewhat explain the characters' disappearance.

[edit] Trivia

Part of the Orochi bloodline story arc for King of Fighters '96 and King of Fighters '97, his sheer will and stubborn attitude allowed him to retain the powers of the Orochi without sacrificing his autonomy, unlike Iori Yagami.
One of his main attacks is the Hebi Tsukai (Snake Charmer/Serpent Slash), a blurred, quick strike of the hand, not unlike the rapid strike of a cobra. This coincides with the fact that Orochi is an 8-headed serpent, the messenger of Gaia/God.
Yamazaki is, arguably, one of hardest KOF characters to master, as his fighting style revolves primarily around counter-attacks, manually aimed strikes, and short-ranged yet damaging techniques. Yamazaki's moveset also includes a somewhat difficult-to-use projectile countermove. Despite all of these moves to learn, there is no shortage of Yamazaki players, his outright "madman" appeal has been enough to make him a popular inclusion on many players' teams.
His hairstyle is suspiciously identical to Leopold Goenitz, who also belongs to the Orochi bloodline. Furthermore, Yamazaki made his King of Fighters debut in 1997, one year after Goenitz's disappearance in 1996. Rumors has it they are related by blood as relatives, but no such confirmation exists. Bonus art in the Sega Saturn version of The King of Fighters '97 shows a bald Goenitz and Yamazaki fighting each other over a toupee.
He's an amalgam of different mobster types from Yakuza movies made during the 1960s.
In the King of Fighters series, Yamazaki is always seen wearing black long sleeved shirt and a black vest over it. However, in King of Fighters 2003, he no longer wears his vest, plus he wears a short sleeved black shirt instead. This isn't his first time seen with such top; it was his original outfit in his first appearance in Fatal Fury 3. He also wears this in the Capcom vs. SNK series.
Yamazaki appears as Blue Mary's Another Striker in KOF 2000, and appears as an unlockable Striker in the Dreamcast version of KOF 99 and KOF EX for the Game Boy Advance.
Kouji Ishii has voiced Yamazaki since his debut.
For unknown reasons, Yamazaki has a special win pose against Yuri Sakazaki in Capcom vs. SNK 2.
The only instances when Yamazaki takes his right hand off his pocket is when he uses his Hydra's Judgment, Double Return, Sand Spray Kick(NOTE:NOT on King of Fighters 2003) and Sado-Masochism moves. The rest of times, he only punches with the left hand (disconsidering the mirrored palette). This seems to be due to the fact that he's hiding his knife in his pocket, and keeps his hand on it at all times. He also seems to have a fondness for his knife.
Yamazaki will laugh hysterically at all three members of the New Face Team (Yashiro, Shermie and Chris) in his pre-fight intro, in any of their coinciding appearances, possibly due to their Orochi lineage.
Yamazaki's counterblow move has been named Sado-Masochism since his debut, because it involves Yamazaki taunting his opponent and countering after receiving a blow to his face. The only exceptions were the Capcom developed "Capcom vs. SNK" series, where the move's name was watered down to Taunt and Counter.
Yamazaki's knife moves (Judgment Dagger, Drill Special) cause a lot of blood effects in KOF '02, but in '03 the blood effects are gone.
Although he's somewhat hard to spot due to his positioning, Yamazaki is indeed in a background in Maximum Impact. He can be seen in the Downtown (day) stage, but only from a certain area of the battle arena. Yamazaki stands with his back to the metro bridge, hidden behind a pillar from most of the arena's view... he's also wearing his trademark white fur-coat that he's known for violently throwing off in his intro scenes.
Yamazaki made his first appearance in a non-KOF game (Fatal Fury 3), unlike the other characters with Orochi blood, who all made their debut in the KOF series.
Kyouken Maniac Freak-Out Fist on KOF2003 (a.k.a Evil Diabolical Flesh Eviscerator!! on KOF2002) is a very gory and deadly move where Yamazaki throws his opponent to the ground and spazes out, then rears his arms back and moves two knifes into his hands and uses his Hebi Tsukai with both hands alot of times with multiple dagger slashes, then bites his opponent's neck and throws them across the stage. In KOF '02, Yamazaki starts the move by grabbing the opponent through the head and throwing him/her downwards (just like in his Shime Age throw), but in KOF '03, he starts by running a few metres ahead and stabbing him/her twice if reaching. Both versions are unblockable.