Kyo Kusanagi (The King of Fighters)

BIO:

In 1994, Kyo was a cocky
high school student and the heir of the Kusanagi clan. Kyo could wield flames
naturally at the age of 15, and soon surpassed his father Saisyu’s
fighting abilities. Destined to fight the Orochi, he
became the clans leader. He eventually met a girl named Yuki,
who became his girlfriend.

Shortly after the completion of his training, Kyo competed in a preliminary
tournament in Japan to determine the members of the country’s representative
team in the KOF tournament. He defeated Goro
Daimon and Benimaru
Nikaido to become the leader of the Japan Team. Afterwards, the three became
teammates and good friends, and won the first three KOF tournaments together.

Before the KOF ’97
tournament, Kyo was pestered by fellow high school student, Shingo
Yabuki. Shingo begged Kyo to teach him how to create flames. Though annoyed
by Shingo’s persistence, Kyo partially agreed to mentor him as a means of
gaining free meals. In
the KOF ’97 tournament, he ended up joining with his
rival
Iori Yagami and Chizuru
to fight Orochi as destined.
In 1999, Kyo was attacked and taken by the NESTS syndicate. NESTS used his DNA to create various
“clones” of Kyo. K’ was also infused with Kyo’s
DNA at this time. He awoke one day and managed break out of captivity.
He forcibly questioned a few of his captors and tried to investigate what
happened to him, but wasn’t able to learn much. In The King of Fighters 2001,
Kyo reunites with his old teammates, along with Shingo, to once again form the
Japan Team.


In KOF 2003, Chizuru
appeared in front of Kyo and Iori, requesting that they investigate the Orochi’s
recent suspicious activities. At first, Kyo was reluctant to ally with Iori, but
he eventually agreed and they formed the Sacred Treasures team. After defeating Mukai,
the team investigated the weakening Orochi seal that they had been transported
to. They were then ambushed by Ash
Crimson, who stole the power of the Yata no kagami or Yata mirror from
Chizuru, and threatened to go after Iori next. Ash managed to escape and Kyo
swore vengeance.

In The King of
Fighters XI, Kyo, Iori, and Shingo teamed up to try and stop Ash. However,
the growing presence of the Orochi (from Magaki)
caused Iori to lose his mind and enter the Blood Riot state. Iori attacked Kyo
and Shingo in a berserk fit. Ash appeared soon after, and stole the Yasakani no
Magatama within Iori’s body (and Iori’s flames). Kyo was hospitalized after
Iori’s attacks, and stubbornly leaves the hospital before fully recovering. He
met up with Goro and Benimaru to form the Japan Team once again.

 


           
                   
               

  

            
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Page Updated: 
Sept. 1st, 2022

Kyo Kusanagi… SNK’s poster boy for KOF since the very beginning of the series. Kyo debuted as sort of a “vanilla” and easily-likeable protagonist. In the mid 90’s, Kyo’s moveset and special moves were definitely original and offered something unique from the standard fare of 2D
fighters fans come to expect. Kyo has evolved quite a bit since his early “schoolboy” design, obtaining a variety of alternate looks – most of which have him donning some kind of cool jacket. Kyo set the benchmark of “male fashion” throughout the series… the dude dresses well. As his outfits improved, Kyo’s fighting style, animations,
and personality all followed suit. 

I must say, SNK has done a great job with keeping Kyo’s design fresh – while not ever changing too much about his design. Kyo’s newer moves & mannerisms did a lot for his design in the later sequels and crossovers. He’s obviously been in a ton of games, and is a fun
to use character in pretty much all of them – a great feature for a FG protagonist to have.

Fighting 
Style  /  Moveset

Personality 
/  Charisma

Outfit(s) 
/  Appearance

Effectiveness 
in  series

Overall
Score