Kyo Kusanagi

Kyo Kusanagi is the main protagonist of the King of Fighters games.

Kyo begins as an ordinary high-school student who enters the first tournament both to prove his strength to the world (having already won the All-Japan Martial Arts Tournament) and to find his missing father Saisyu. After defeating Rugal for the first time, he encounters Iori Yagami who proclaims himself as Kyo's eternal enemy. Kyo makes it to the finals again and fights his brainwashed father, and then Rugal once again. He learns of his destiny to seal away Orochi from Chizuru Kagura, and in  '96  defeats Goenitz along with Iori. In  '97  he, along with Iori and Chizuru, battle the last remaining forces of Orochi and reseal him, but he disappears afterward, and he is found by NESTS and cloned. A year later he decides to find out about NESTS, and joins K' in combating the organization. In the Tales of Ash saga, he joins with Iori and Chizuru once again to stop a group of people trying to resurrect Orochi, but Iori and Chizuru have their powers stolen by Ash Crimson, leaving Kyo as the final target. Due to Ash fully managing to unfurl his plan, however, Kyo never has his powers stolen.

In  XIV, Kyo learns that a friend of Saisyu, Tung Fu Rue, is participating in the tournament with some new students. Kyo is asked to participate in order to 'show the ropes' to these newcomers.

Personality
Kyo is the over-confident but well meaning protagonist of the series, more interested in enjoying life than having to partake in any particular responsibilities. He is quick to dismiss subjects that don't interest him and will often carry out his actions with a devil-may-care attitude. Despite his seemingly arrogant and rude demeanor, he treasures his friends and family, enjoying their presence and particularly doting on his girlfriend, Yuki. His extreme disinterest in studies has led to his chronic inability to graduate from high school (which has become subject to in-jokes). Although he is confident in his poetic talent, most of his poems aren't considered to be good by his listeners.

Kyo takes his clan's responsibilities on a more personal level, disregarding ancient legends and predestined events as any reason for his actions. His strong sense of justice and his zeal to fight stronger opponents are what he believes to drive him to carry out his destiny. His rivalry with Iori is one of mutual hatred and was hardly spurred by their clans' history. When Kyo and Iori join forces, it is often begrudgingly and as a last resort solution to the conflict at hand.

Abilities
Kyo fights using the Kusanagi style of ancient martial arts, a Japanese style of empty handed combat taught only to the Kusanagi clan members. Like most of the clan members in modern times, these are labeled as Method/Style with numbers; numbers that actually use alternate kanji different from their originals. These examples are 108 Shiki: Yami Barai (Method 108: Darkness Sweeper), etc. with "Reverse Methods" being stronger versions of other attacks such as Kyo's signature DM, Ura 108 Shiki: Orochinagi (Reverse Method 108: Great Serpent Mower) being an example. In some sources, this even applies to his "unnamed" normal attacks.

Kyo also knows Kenpo, and uses it in most of his normal attacks. Kyo's moveset emphasizes Kenpo from KOF '96 onwards, discarding his 108 Shiki: Yami Barai and 101 Shiki: Oboroguruma (Method 101: Hazy Wheel), instead focusing on two of the clan's other techniques, the 114 Shiki: Aragami (Method 114: Wild Bite) and 115 Shiki: Dokugami (Method 115: Poison Bite). However, Kyo adds varying amount of original followup techniques from these moves that range from kicks-to-elbow dropping attacks which are also types of notable moves in Kenpo. The names of these new moves are anything but vague and simple names (such as 402 Shiki: Batsu Yomi/Method 402: Punish Recital and 125 Shiki: Nanase/Method 125: Seven Rapids), possibly due to Kyo's taste for poetry.

Powers

 * Pyrokinesis - Due to his Kusanagi heritage, Kyo can control fire. He can create fire from thin air, create fire balls, deliver punches of fire, create pillars of fire and put his own body on fire. However, he is neither immune to other types of fire nor able to control other fires that he didn't create. Also, the flames he wields are nothing more than just ordinary fire: it does not have the mystical 'trapping' ability of Iori's purple holy flames.

Trivia

 * Kyo and Iori were designed by Shinichi Morioka. He would later depart from the company to work on The Fallen Angels (Daraku Tenshi) a game that would heavily influence the designs for K' and Maxima.
 * Early artwork shows Kyo and Saisyu having the Kusanagi symbol on their foreheads. This idea was referenced in one of the KOF Manhua's.
 * When Daimon uses Jirai Shin in KOF '95-'98, Kyo and Benimaru are the only background characters who'll jump.
 * Kyo, Benimaru and Daimon are the winners of all The King of Fighters tournaments hosted in Orochi Saga. And the most recent ones in XIII and XIV. Their victories are confirmed in Team Stories, Light Novels and cutscenes.
 * In Neo-Geo Freak 1998, the characters in KOF '98 have their own interviews. Here are Kyo's response to the questions.
 * What is your aspiration in this competition? - "It's only about dealing with the person standing on opposite side."
 * Who would you like to fight the most? - "No one really. But there are quite a lot of guys who want to try me out?"
 * Who would you like to team up with? / Who would you not like to team up with? - "They are the people I'm most comfortable with. Who do I not want to team up with? I don't want to answer that."
 * What is "KOF" for you? - "A big time killer."
 * Finally, please give a word to your fans. - "It's definitely me who resolves things in a blink of an eye. I don't have time to sleep!"
 * Yuichiro Hiraki was the pixel artist for Kyo in KOF '94 and Iori in KOF '95. Although he left SNK in 1997 to work on The Fallen Angels, he was asked by Kaname Fujioka to do Kyo and Iori's pixel art once more for Capcom vs. SNK.
 * In the Maximum Impact games, Kyo is the only character whose select-number-of Stylish Arts are styled akin to a majority of crouching light kick-to-light punch normal attacks in the original 2D games (though the input windows are fairly tight).