Things Yamazaki does...
And then there's Yamazaki, first name Ryuji. This crazy zany guy made his first appearence in Fatal Fury(Real bout or 3, I don't know). He is a very greedy man with a violent nature, in other words "He'd slit his mama's throat for a nickel" (where have we heard that before). I believe that, when he made his first appearence, he was hired as a body guard by the Jin twins, Chonrei and Chonshu, to help them find the supa-dupa scrolls of immortality or something. They believed he would be a great asset on their side because of his greedy and violent nature. Naturally the whole plan was thwarted by Tery and co, but since then Yamazaki has been turning up everywhere! He was one of those mid-bosses you fight again and again, Kefka style, which gets really annoying, but makjes Ryuji kinda cool. Don't let his laid back appearence fool you,(especially in KOF '97) this guy has lost it completely and will smite anyone in his vicinity when he feels like it.
KOF '97? Yes Yamazaki makes appearences in both KOF '97 and '98 as a playable dude who is just too good. Not only that but he is tied up in the storyline REALLY well. He enters with a strange team- Blue Mary, and Billy Kane. (I believe that, in japan, a poll was taken on what three characters you would most like to see in KOF. Mary, Ryuji and Billy won, I saw that in a local magazine and flipped, I had heard of Mary and Ryuji, but not only did the mag have KOF in it-which is not common in that mag- but Billy was back! Notice how all of the winning characters were from Real Bout Fatal Fury. That goes to show how popular that game was and how much of a flop Art of Fighting 3 was.) Anyway, in comes Ryuji with an outfit revamp. This team is very crazy because neither member WANTS to be with Yamazaki (because of his greedy violent nature). Yamazaki is more tolerable of people than they are of him. So how did he end up on the team? Well, Geese wants to know more about the Orochi power, so he sends in his dog-I mean Billy to do his dirty work as usual. He wasn't very confident in Billy's skills after the '95 incident, so he hired Yamazaki(because of his greedy violent nature) to join a unwilling Billy, a large sum of money to be paid if they succeed.(It is revealed in the game that Geese had no intentions on paying). Also, Mary is investigating him, but he doesn't know it. He's liable to turn on each one or both at any given moment.
Now no one likes good ol' Ryuji (except Chang and Choi) but why? Because of his greedy violent nature(he probably talks about peoples mama's). It's natural for the Fatal Fury characters to be sick of him, and I guess everyone else had second-handedly heard anecdotes on Yamazaki's greedy vi.... well you know,(ah never mind). All he does is kill mercilessly and then laughs REAL loud(contrary to most evil people)-as Geese and Billy observed, that could be why Billy might be a little uneasy- and he's really cheap. Lets take his character into the Actual KOF storyline. I believe that one day the Kyokugen members on KOF went to the Kyokugen dojo one day only to find all of its practitioners worked over and beaten into shindigs, (OK so they visit everyday). Anyway, they don't know who did it, but a lot of evidence points to Yamazaki. This alone demonstrated his buffness, (either that or the Kyokugen were training a whole lot of... Weenie Kings). Ryuji probably spazzed out like he does, being that he's in sort of an eternal Riot of Blood(or heathen mode as it's sometimes reffered as). Heathens, The Lot Of Them!! ahem... yes I did say Riot Of Blood. The neatest thing about KOF Ryuji is that he is an Orochi, but not a KOF exclusive character(way to tie in strory lines SNK).
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Those neat Jin Twins. If it were up to me, they would be on Yamazaki's team in KOF '00 (Mary and Billy would still be around). If you want to know about Yamazaki, just look at his moves. He stomps on People, literally! He just kinda lets the arm go swingin' to the Jazz music and Pow! It hits you from half-way across the screen in less than a second and you go sliding across the ground real crazy like. "I know" you say, "I'll blast him" but then all he'll do is return the fireball, even if he was going to hit you with that crazy arm. Only the fireball will go two times as fast and it will look all bloody and stuff. Maybe you'll get lucky(glauber) and he'll just whip out his knife all ghetto style and slash you up a bit. That's probably why Chang and Choi like him, they like...Toys, (like razors and big ol' metal balls!). If Yamazaki wins(very likely, I've heard of some crazy long winning streaks with him on the team) he will quickly throw the knife onto the ground where it sticks into the ground. Then he'll yell at you in japanese (the getting rid of the knife ought ta cover up his lust for blood quite nicely...)
When you do play as Yamazaki, take note of the descriptions just mentioned. use that arm to really tear up projectile-impaired opponents. If they have a fireball, just be on guard and cancel the arm delay and do the Snake Fake(?)to return the flavor, I mean favor. Don't guess with the arm. Do it straight out, it'll still nail people who jump from a full screen away, where you want them to usually be at most times. If they're short or they roll a lot, use the low snake arm. If they get too close, use the four-hit knife( I beat Orochi with only Yamazaki, and only this move). His DMs are two too good ones. La Guillotine has a high invincibility startup and is a sight to be seen, especially when powered up! The other is a throw(perfect) which can be powered up at the beginning. This means it can be powered up TWICE, although I think the Powered up normal one looks cooler. His DMs are among my sister Roo's and my own favorites (aside from Iori's super DM... egh). Have a fun and long winning streak!
Newness. I found out that Yamazaki was sane. He got involved with some mob leader, thus his gangster knowledge and way of dressing. The guy was killed in a set-up that was sensed by Yamazaki, and since the guy was almost like Ryuji's father (doesn't anyone have their own?) Ryuji went mad. This is what triggered his eternal "Heathen Mode" or Riot Of Blood type way of acting.
More new: 1/22/00 courtesy of Koh Si Rong- Ryuji's hand in the pocket. 1:It's his left hand (in 2-D fighters, the hand, of course, switches when the fighter faces the other direction). Yamazaki liked the mob-leader a lot. He thought he was cool. The mob leader always told Ryuji he had a "good" left hand, probably saying it was strong (or he had a good left-hook) or something. Yamazaki liked this, and since the guy was killed, the sight of his left hand made Ryuji angry and mad (more so than natural), so it stays in his pocket (just happens to be gripping a concealed knife). Take note of one of his KOF win poses, where he puts BOTH hands on his face, laughing, for a split second, then throws both arms back and howls crazy. It's that left hand, I tell ya...
-Sho Reppadan-
Ryuji:"This worthless scum! It's just too much! Yaraghhahahahaahahaha!!!"
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