BIO:

The son of Takuma Sakazaki, Ryo started martial arts at an early age and is the successor to the Kyokugen style of Karate. His mother's name is Ronnet Sakazaki and his younger sister is Yuri. His father instilled the principle of self-reliance in Ryo, teaching him that person's strength can form their worth in the world. When Robert Garcia joined the dojo, he soon became Ryo's sparring partner and best friend.

On Ryo's 10th birthday, his mother died in a tragic car accident. Later, Takuma left their home, leaving Ryo in charge of taking care of Yuri. Ryo worked in construction as a teenager and strived to defend his family's dojo. He also did some street fighting on the side to further his training, and soon established himself as a fearsome and renowned fighter.

During the events of Art of Fighting, Yuri was kidnapped by Mr. Big, a criminal mastermind of Southtown, by the orders of Geese Howard. Ryo and Robert set out to find answers, and ran into a bouncer named King, who gave them information on Mr. Big's location. After Ryo defeated Mr. Big, he was lead to a karate dojo where a mysterious man named Mr. Karate challenged him. When Ryo prevailed, he threatened to kill Mr. Karate unless he told them about Yuri's safety. Before he dealt the final blow, Yuri revealed the man's identity as their father. After eleven years of separation, the whole family was reunited.

Before the events of Art of Fighting 2, Ryo trained deep in the mountains. He received an invitation to a King of Fighters tournament and accepted it to test his skills and strength. When he made it to the finals, the tournament's host, Geese Howard, expressed his desires to recruit Ryo into his organization. Ryo refused and defeated him soon after. Geese managed to escape (and afterwards is when the Fatal Fury storyline begins). Ryo didn't do much during Art of Fighting 3 besides gaining Kasumi Todoh as a rival. At the end of Art of Fighting 3, he handed Yuri a ticket for Robert's flight home and wished them the best. After the conclusion of the Art of Fighting series, Takuma retired from fighting and entrusted their two dojos to Ryo. Many years later, one dojo was run by Marco Rodriguez. This is supported by the fact that Ryo took over the Mr. Karate mantle that his father once held in Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition and Buriki One. Ryo also shares a friendly rivalry with Terry Bogard.

Throughout the King of Fighters, the family dojo was struggling and Ryo, Robert, and Takumi joined the tournaments in order to win prize money to help the situation. With each passing year, the Kyokugen dojo gained popularity and students due to the strong performance of the team. Yuri later joined their KOF team to help out also, however, Ryo didn't like her joining and urged her not to, despite what their father things. In The King of Fighters 2000, Ryo welcomed King into the team, even though Robert wanted Yuri to stay because he was in love with her.
 
                                            
 
                                            
 
                                            
     

                                                        
 

Page Updated:  Aug. 13th, 2024
At first glace, Ryo was clearly inspired by Ryu and Ken of Street Fighter, not only from his appearance, but also his fighting style. Ryo might've been called a "rip-off" by some in the early days, but Ryu and Ken aren't the only fighters allowed to wear a Karate uniform and throw fireballs (they weren't exactly the first either). Ryo proudly sports his orange Karate Gi (somewhat reminiscent of Goku from DBZ) and rides around on his motorcycle while wearing it (which in real life is actually pretty disrespectful to his uniform, but whatever, lol). No doubt Ryo has had some cool appearances  over the years, my personal favorites being his CVS and KOF XIII incarnations. His karate-based fighting style was always naturally cool and has evolved rather nicely over the years, but still stayed very true to its original AOF roots. While he'll always sort of "lack" originality as a design, his place in fighting game history is legendary... and his evolution over the years is a cool thing to look back on.
	Fighting  Style  /  Moveset
	Personality  /  Charisma
	Outfit(s)  /  Appearance
	Effectiveness  in  series
	Overall Score

    
                                               
 
 
                                               
 
 
                             

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