Ryuji Yamazaki

Style

Unlike many of the other fighters in the KoF series, Yamazaki does not use any particular martial art style. He is a completely self taught brawler. He uses a wide variety of attacks in his arsenal, also using unfair and dishonest tactics, like kicking sand in his opponent’s face, and he also uses his ever present knife.

History

When Yamazaki was young, he didn’t have any parents to look up to. He therefore fell in with the wrong crowd at a young age. Having delved in petty crimes for many years, he then fell under the tutelage of a crime boss, and he soon began to climb the ranks of crime, until he eventually became the boss’s right-hand man. He and his boss went to a warehouse where an illegal deal were supposed to take place. In the end, it turns out that the deal was a set-up, and as a result, Yamazaki’s boss is killed. Seeing the only ”parent” he ever knew killed before his eyes drives Yamazaki insane. He becomes both psychotic and mentally unstable. In 1995, he was assigned by Jin Chonrei and Jin Chonshu to protect them and the scrolls of immortality.

In the KoF series, while he was training at a local dojo, he was faced by Billy Kane, the bodyguard of Geese Howard, the main crime leader for South Town. Yamazaki refused to join him and participated in the 1997 King of Fighters Tournament. After mauling one of the warriors, he felt an adrenaline rush through his body. Feeling a need to fight and kill again, he accepted Kane’s offer. It is revealed during the tournament that Yamazaki is one of the eight heralds of Orochi, and his urge for entering the tournament is the power from the Orochi resurfacing again. He did not enter the following tournament’s, and his whereabouts where unknown. Then, he enters the 2003 King of Fighters tournament along with Billy and Gato to stop Geese’s attempt to take over South Town. At the end of the tournament, the tensions between the team members increase, and they end up fighting each other. Gato, who is disgusted at the whole situation, takes his leave and reappears in the following game, KoF XI. Billy and Yamazaki however, continue to fight, and therefore neither man made an appearance in KoF XI.