Ryuji Yamazaki

Ryuji Yamazaki is a character from the Fatal Fury and King of Fighters games.

Ryuji is a criminal known as "Dark Broker". In the game, Yamazaki is hired by the Jin brothers into recovering their Sacred Scrolls, which are able to give immortality to its user. In the following titles from the series, Yamazaki does not work for anybody, normally committing crimes just to entertain himself.

Appearance
Yamazaki has black hair, but above his forehead it is blonde. He has a total of two outfits, both with black clothes. Before fighting and in cutscenes, Yamazaki sports a white fur coat which covers almost all his body. In Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory, Yamazaki wears a blue T-shirt with short sleeves and black pants. He also sports gloves which do not cover his fingers and shoes, both of the same color. In Real Bout Fatal Fury, this outfit becomes black. He also appears with this outfit in all the games from the Fatal Furyseries, the SNK vs. Capcom series and The King of Fighters 2003. The King of Fighters '97 and all its subsequent titles except KOF 2003 show Yamazaki with a black shirt which also covers his neck. He also sports a black sleeveless jacket which covers his shirt. He returns to his Fatal Fury 3 outfit in The King of Fighters XIV, but without the gloves and with white shoes.

Personality
Yamazaki has psychopathic tendencies with a love for materialistic articles and money. He is the calm and confident gangster at one time, and a hysterical killer in another. He likes to bash, smash, cut, and kill everyone and anyone whom he confronts. These savagely cruel mannerisms were borne out of witnessing his father figure die in the worst way possible.

While not completely amoral, he is not above toying around as much as he likes to emphasize his dominating demeanor to anyone he encounters.

Of curious note is how Yamazaki subconsciously keeps his right hand in his pocket because his idol once praised the power of that particular fist, and only uses it for special techniques.

He doesn't want to be involved with Orochi and the Hakkesshu, and has been rebuked for his disinterest during the events of KOF97. Through his own sheer will and stubbornness, he manages to retain his mind against the Riot of the Blood's influence, something that others born under the Orochi blood cannot accomplish. Whenever he encounters any version of the '97 New Faces Team in any of their game appearances, Yamazaki laughs hysterically at them during their special introduction sequences, perhaps because he thinks of them as "weak" or "pathetic" for being under such influence.

Abilities
In contrast with most of the other fighters in combat video games, Yamazaki does not use any particular martial art - he is a self-taught brawler, and uses a wide variety of attacks in his fighting, including unfair and dishonest moves such as kicking sand in his opponent's eyes, and his ever-present-prized knife. He also rarely takes his right hand out of his pocket unless he is using his knife or other certain moves that involve his powers (especially his Desperation Moves; it is said his idol passed on the idea of praising one's dominate fist to Yamazaki which is why he normally doesn't make too much use of it), and a majority of his moves display quite an amount of strength from him.

Yamazaki fights with his instincts, much like a wild animal. He has little interest in technique, instead relies on brutal, vicious tactics to win his fights, such as headbutting and stomping his opponent repeatedly (though one technique he has involves an axe kick of possible karate origin). He also relies on messing with his opponent's head with the nature of his attacks, as well as even using hints of his powers as an Hakkesshu occasionally. Yamazaki is also known for his motif towards snakes, and is often compared to one himself.

Many of his techniques are rarely written in kanji, as a majority of them are written with a mixture of both kanji and katakana, leaving some of their meanings to be a bit ambiguous at best; however, a number of them are named after a variety of Japanese onomatopoeias. His Bakudan Pachiki (Bomb Headbutt) technique also possesses the Korean term for "headbutt" in its katakana.

Powers

 * Elongate Arms - Yamazaki can increase the range of his strikes with his arms. This move is extremely fast, making it nearly impossible to actually see Yamazaki's arm - only a blur can be seen, denoting the area of the attack. He can also use the speed of this attack to strike several times at his opponent in a barrage of almost inescapable punches or knife slashes.


 * Explosive Headbutt - Yamazaki can headbutt his opponent with such force that he can create a small explosion with its impact. This has also been shown in some games to stun Yamazaki.


 * Energy Strikes - Yamazaki can infuse his strikes with an unknown source of energy. This power takes two forms: a weaker and a stronger version. Both versions take the form of a golden energy halo surrounding his hands, with golden arcs circling his striking path. The stronger version seems has the arcs spin around his arm, making it appear like an 'energy hurricane'.


 * Absorb Energy - Yamazaki has the ability to absorb the chi or kinetic energy of projectiles thrown at him. To do so, he hits the projectile with his arm, feeling pain, but receiving no damage and increasing his own power - an evidence of his inherent masochism.


 * Blood Projectile - An alternative to the power described above, if Yamazaki receives a wound from the projectile he tried to intercept, he can infuse his own blood with dark energies and fire it at his opponent as an extremely fast dark red projectile.


 * Hakkesshu: Death - The powers of death grant him merciless, feral brutality with unknown variable effects. It is likely that this is responsible for the majority of his powers.

Skills

 * Sleep Resilience - Yamazaki can easily stand up to three consecutive nights without sleeping, in a similar way to Elisabeth Blanctorche.


 * Orochi Resistance - Yamazaki somehow possesses a strong and stubborn willpower that grants him complete invulnerability to Orochi's influences - something that even other strong individuals such as Iori Yagami and Leona cannot accomplish.

Trivia

 * In Neo-Geo Freak 1998, the characters in KOF '98 have their own interviews. Here are Yamazaki's response to the questions.
 * What is your aspiration in this competition? - "... kill ... kill everything Oh! Hyacha HotHatHatHatHatHat ... !!"
 * Who would you like to fight the most? - "I will kill all this !! (Yamazaki's serpent slash. Ruptures the skull of the cameraman)"
 * Who would you like to team up with? / Who would you not like to team up with? - "There is no such thing! This trash is ah!! (Yamazaki's sand kick caused corneal inflammation in the soundman's eyes)"
 * What is "KOF" for you? - "... lick. Shoes, lick it ... I'll teach you to lick ... Hey! Be sure to lick it or else !! (Reporter licking the shoes of Yamazaki) Hyacha HotHatHatHatHatHat ... I'll teach you as promised, my mop! (Reporter with head caught)"
 * Finally, please give a word to your fans. - "Go away-!! Ukyukyukyakyakyukyakyakyakyaky ... !! (Yamazaki's bombshells, reporter's face, big hit) Uhy ... Ukyakyukyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyakyat !!
 * In Capcom vs SNK, Terry and Yamazaki's special intro is a direct reference to Bunnoshin Inagi vs Kaoru Hanayama from Baki the Grappler. The scene can be found here.
 * Yamazaki's hairdo is somewhat identical to Goenitz's, an undercut with blonde top hair, though it is unknown if the resemblance is meant to be intentional.