Home > Ryo Sakazaki

According to the King of Fighters biography, Ryo Sakazaki was born on August 2, 1971. According to the Art of Fighting timeline, he was born on August 2, 1957. Ryo is the oldest child of Takuma Sakazaki and heir of the Sakazaki-led Kyokugenryu Karate, taking after his father, although he has not yet learned the Shoran Kyaku technique.

In 1977, Mr. Big kidnapped Ryo's kid sister, Yuri against her will mainly because his father, Takuma Sakazaki, refused to kill Jeff Bogard because Takuma believed that it would be a violation of the Kyokugenryu standards to perform a devious act. Yuri's kidnap was a sign that Geese made Takuma cooperate and made threats against the Sakazakis unless Takuma obeys Geese at all corners. Ryo and Robert managed to get through Ryuhaku Todoh, Jack Turner, Lee Pai Long, King, Micky Rogers, John Crawley, and the big boss Mr. Big, finally pointing Yuri's whereabouts to the Karate Gym where Mr. Karate was waiting to fight both Ryo and Robert. Mr. Karate was strong, but was defeated and Ryo threatened to finish Mr. Karate off unless he knows that Yuri was alive. As Ryo prepared to throw a Haoushokouken at Mr. Karate, Yuri tells Ryo not to do so. Ryo wanted to know whether or not Yuri was alright, and Yuri said that she's fine. Yuri informed that Mr. Karate was INDEED their father Takuma, who was asked by Mr. Big to fight both Ryo and Robert in exchange for Yuri's life.

2 years later, Ryo, Robert, and Takuma vowed to take revenge against Mr. Big and Geese Howard for the 1977 Yuri incident. Yuri learned a personalized version of Kyokugenryu Karate not only to defend herself, but to exact justice against the wrongdoings of Geese and Mr. Big. This was when Eiji Kisaragi, who hated Kyokugenryu Karate the most, vowed to rid the Sakazakis and Robert Garcia at all corners. Eiji failed since Kyokugenryu Karate was much superior to his Ninja Techniques.

In a sad day in 1982, Jeff Bogard was killed by Geese Howard, 3 years after Art of Fighting 2 took place.

Ryo, Robert, and Takuma would then go back to the fighting scene in 1994 in The King of Fighters 1994. Yuri sought to join Ryo and Robert in 1994, but Ryo did not allow that, thus Yuri felt left out. In 1996, Takuma told Ryo that he (Takuma) was too old to compete, thus Ryo had to allow Yuri within his ranks in future King of Fighters tourneys. Ryo had to chase after Robert sometime in 1995 during Art of Fighting 3, which was also a time when Kasumi Todoh had her first run-in with Ryo.

During the NESTS Saga (King of Fighters 1999-2001), a team of four was permitted. Takuma would be back with the team thanks to the modifications of the team configurations. Yuri was on the AOF ranks in 1999 and 2001, but was with the Princesses of Punch ranks of 2000 (the year when Zero destroyed the first Southtown with the Zero Cannon). King joined Ryo on the AOF ranks in 2000. When King was nearly killed by the second wave of Zero Cannon blasts, Takuma used a Haoushikouken (an old-fashioned and seemingly faster version of Ryo's Haoushoukouken blast) to save King from suffering the wrath of the Zero Cannon blast because Takuma claimed that he can't afford to allow a Kyokugen heir to die so easily. This proved to be of comic relief as Takuma took a likening of King since the Art of Fighting 1 and 2 era, assuming that King would one day give birth to a Kyokugenryu Scion.

Ryo also participated in a world grappling tourney called Buriki One, which he fought fairly without the Zanretsu Ken, Kou-Ou Ken, and Haoushoukouken attacks. Silver, the mysterious participant from Germany, was "one tough cookie" as an unknown contestant had to do everything to outlast Silver since Silver's power seemed to be devastating for a competitor interested in the Buriki One tournament.

Takuma Sakazaki isn't alone when donning the Mr. Karate mask because in Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition, Ryo Sakazaki appeared as Mr. Karate, donning the silly Tengu Mask to become Mr. Karate. Ryo also had a student named Marco Rodriguez (Kushnood Butt), a character in Garou: Mark of the Wolves.

Kyokugenryu Karate, though it has rivals from the light side (Kasumi Todoh) and the dark side (Eiji Kisaragi), is considered to be the ultimate rival of the Bogard Boys (Terry and Andy), but believes that rivalry is of honor and not of hate, as both the Bogards and Sakazakis share the same common enemy (Geese Howard), though the Bogards are considered to be much stronger and more motivated than the Sakazakis. Ryo, although 47 years old as of 2004 (Terry is 35 years old at the time of Garou: Mark of the Wolves), remains Terry's chief rival (although Robert Garcia is also a rival of Ryo's) today. Ryo has always been voiced by Masaki Usui, who did the voiceovers for Goro Daimon, Earthquake from Samurai Shodown, and the Haoumaru voiceovers from Samurai Shodown 1-4, including Samurai Shodown 5 (Haoumaru's voice is shared between Masaki Usui and Daiki Nakamura).