Characters of the Art of Fighting series
The third Art of Fighting game takes place in the fictional Mexican town of Glasshill Valley as several fighters travel around the area for their own purposes with Ryo and Yuri searching for the missing Robert.
Ryo Sakazaki and his allies are also featured as guest characters in other games such as Buriki One, Neo Geo Battle Coliseum and Capcom vs. SNK.
From the marketing side, SNK wanted to show the characters as big sized as possible on screen, leading to the zoom ins when they get close.
This eventually resulted in the creation of King created to be strong as modeled after was the actress Grace Jones famous for the James Bond franchise.
[6] SNK developer Yasuyuki Oda reflected that both Art of Fighting and the other IP Fatal Fury seemed to appeal to fans of male-oriented series like Fist of the North Star and Dragon Ball.
[7] Yuri's popularity led to the creation of unique characters related to her but none of them made it to the actual game until her ending sequence.
Yuri's popularity led to the creation of unique characters related to her but none of them made it to the actual game until her ending sequence.
In Art of Fighting 3, when Robert disappears looking for Freia Lawrence, Ryo travels to Glasshill Valley to find him.
Ryo was created as an homage to the characters from Capcom's Street Fighter series, which members of the development team previously worked on.
[19][20] The second Art of Fighting game features Robert joining the Sakazakis in entering first King of Fighters tournament.
[21] In Art of Fighting 3, Robert visits Central America to help his childhood friend Freia Lawrence, who is being pursued by Wyler.
Mickey Rogers (ミッキー・ロジャース, Mikkī Rojāsu) is a former professional boxer who was expelled from the ranks after he accidentally killed a man in the ring.
John Crawley (ジョン・クローリー, Jon Kuraurei) is a martial arts instructor, and with his brutal and aggressive fighting style was known to his friends as "The Madman" and "The Killing Machine".
Although it is not mentioned in the game, John seems to be assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Independence, since a large "62" is visible on the ship's island.
The plan backfired when Ryo and Robert fought their way through South Town's crime to find both of them, beating Big senseless to rescue Yuri and Takuma.
It is later revealed that Takuma was forced to work for Geese Howard and that his right-hand man, Mr. Big, kidnapped Yuri to put him under control.
By the time of Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, Yuri has started her own fitness club, where her brother's disciple Marco Rodrigues trains after his dojo's sign is stolen.
Finding the job paid $25 an hour, Temjin stayed on, earning money for the small school in Mongolia where he dreams of teaching one day.
Karman Cole (カーマン・コール) is a long-time employee of the Garcia family, acting in a personal assistant-like role to Robert since he was a child.
The Garcias send Karman to find their son after he disappeared to look for his old childhood friend Freia Lawrence, which has led him to Glasshill Valley.
When Ryuhaku left for South Town to settle an old score with Takuma Sakazaki, Kasumi remained waiting for her father's return.
[25] Ryo and Robert were compared by VentureBeat to the Street Fighter protagonists Ryu and Ken Masters due to physical similarities and moves; However, their morals and bonds were praised.
[32] The release of Art of Fighting 2 led to more positive responses as SNK added more playable characters besides the two original leads.
[38] HardcoreGaming101 compared Art of Fighting 3 and Robert's story to "a Jekyll and Hyde based on the final boss being large man with supernatural strength.
[40] The character of Dan Hibiki from the Street Fighter series is deemed to be a parody of Ryo's similarities with Ryu and Ken, but his design is more like Robert's while he is showing mannerisms like those of Yuri Sakazaki.
James Chen from Capcom among other staff members said that Dan was meant to be a joke about both Ryo and Robert as SNK stole the talent from their own company when they started making their own Street Fighter sequels.
The Kyokugenryu the main cast uses in Art of Fighting instead comes across as a fantasy version of the "knockout" Kyokushinkaikan created by Mas Oyama who serves as an influence for both Ryu's and Yuri's characters.
[49] Ureshino originally aimed to give Ryo a bigger role in the Fatal Fury series where he would fight a revived Geese Howard but was rejected by Shinseisha.
[50] SNK noted The King of Fighters XIV lacked characters from Art of Fighting and attempted to add Jack Turner and John Crawley.
[51] For The King of Fighters XIV, GNN Gamer praised the long-standing rivalry between Ryo and Geese Howard as they keep having special interactions like in Art of Fighting 2.
