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The character featured in this page is sometimes called Clone Kyo.

Kusanagi (officially rendered as KUSANAGI in all caps with no kanji) is a character in The King of Fighters series. He was first introduced in The King of Fighters 2002 as a hidden character, while canonically re-introduced in The King of Fighters 2003 as a mandatory mid-boss.

Development[]

Due to Kyo's design constantly changing, some of the developers desired the return of his old look. As a result, Kusanagi was added to the cast as a last minute decision.[1]

Personality[]

Kusanagi lives only to fight and wants to find a strong fighter for him to test his skills. He enjoys battling pyrokinetic hand to hand combatants (including a weapon user, Mai Shiranui), especially battling the original Kyo.

Similar to Kyo-1, he's serious at most times. He has special quotes against characters like Kyo, Iori, K' and K9999 in KOF 2002.

Powers[]

As a clone, his powers are derived from Kyo Kusanagi, whose pyrokinesis he has inherited, but has no control over it. It is also important to note that he is not a descendant of the Kusanagi clan, and thus, has no control of the family heirloom, nor the authority/ability to seal Orochi if necessary.

As a generated shade by Chizuru Kagura, he is potentially able to mimic Kyo Kusanagi perfectly, but whether he can truly stand in for Kyo Kusanagi in terms of his clan's abilities remains unknown.

  • Pyrokinesis - Kusanagi has control over fire, but not immune to other types of fire he didn't create.
    • Create Fire - Kusanagi can create fire from thin air.
    • Fire Attacks - Kusanagi can deliver attacks of fire.
    • Fire Projectiles - Kusanagi can fire a projectile of fire through the ground.
    • Pillar of Fire - Kusanagi can create a powerful pillar made of fire.
    • Fire Body - Kusanagi can put his own body on fire without burning himself.

Fighting Style[]

Kusanagi fights using a modified version of Kyo's original fighting style from KOF '95. Oddly though, he has an altered version of Kyo's Mu Shiki known as instead the Saishuu Kessen Ougi: Zero Shiki (Final Play-Off Secret Skill: Zero Method). Unlike the other two Kyo clones, the style/method theme naming of the three clans is consistent in Kusanagi's attacks, and his shared moves with the original Kyo tend to be the exact same with minor alterations in damage. Kusanagi was also given some of Kyo's techniques from KOF '97 and onward that were never seen in the classic moveset, such as the 910 Shiki: Nue Tsumi (Method 910: Nue Plucker) and its counter-based moves.

His preferred method of fighting is more focused on offense as seen in The King of Fighters 2003, where he aggressively keeps the player at bay with a number of attacks and will often use his Yami Barai projectile, thus making the player rely heavily on defense such as blocking, evasions, and parry based techniques. While his aggressive A.I in KOF 2003 makes him a worthy challenge as a mid-boss, it should be noted that he can be defeated if defense is used to the player's advantage. Defeating Kusanagi with a Super Special Move can access the route to fighting the actual final bosses of KOF 2003, Chizuru & Maki then Mukai. If the player simply defeats him without using a Super Special Move, the final boss will end up being Adelheid Bernstein, who also fights aggressively like Kusanagi, albeit slightly overpowered.

Music[]

  • Esaka? - The King of Fighters 2002
  • Esaka? 03 - The King of Fighters 2003
  • Niritsuhaihan (Antinomy) ~Mutually Exclusive Dichotomy~ - The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match, KOF Sky Stage, Neo Geo Heroes: Ultimate Shooting, The King of Fighters All Star

Voice Actors[]

Japanese[]

Mitsuo Iwata Masahiro Nonaka
Mitsuo Iwata
List of Roles:
Mnvak
List of Roles:

English[]

Peter von Gomm
Petervongomm
List of Roles:

Appearances[]

Games[]

Mobile[]

Cameos[]

Similar Characters[]

Trivia[]

  • Kusanagi was believed by many fans to have been originally created as a NESTS experiment due to a special intro he has with K9999. This introduction is, in fact, a homage to Akira, as K9999 and Kusanagi have the same voice actors as Tetsuo and Kaneda, respectively.
    • In KOF 2002, he has a special intro against characters that use weapons in battle such as Chang Koehan, Choi Bounge, Billy Kane and Whip (save for Mai Shiranui and Malin, whom he is unaware that they use hidden weapons): "Temee! Sude de shoubu shiyagare!" (You (bastard)! Fight me with your bare hands!), which is also taken even further in Unlimited Match when fighting against almost anyone who wields weapons; this is also another Akira reference.
    • As Kusanagi is mentioned by Krohnen McDougall (K9999's alias) in The King of Fighters XV, this means that Kusanagi is one of the canonical nemeses of K9999/Krohnen.
  • Kusanagi's voice actor, Mitsuo Iwata, also voiced the striker character Syo Kirishima (likely to allude to Syo being Kyo's prototype). His voice actor in KOF Sky Stage, Masahiro Nonaka, originally voiced Kyo Kusanagi from The King of Fighters series up until The King of Fighters XIII.
    • It is possible that since he does not have the same voice as Kyo (except KOF Sky Stage, where he was voiced by Kyo's voice actor), they gave him the voice of Mitsuo Iwata to make him significantly different from his fellow clones as a unique doppelganger to Kyo.

Cards[]

Kimi Wa Hero

Sprites[]

The King of Fighters 2002: Challenge to Ultimate Battle

Gallery[]

This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors).

References[]

The King of Fighters characters
KOF '94 Logo Sprite Kyo KusanagiBenimaru NikaidoGoro DaimonTerry BogardAndy BogardJoe HigashiRyo SakazakiRobert GarciaTakuma SakazakiRalf JonesClark StillHeidernAthena AsamiyaSie KensouChin GentsaiKingMai ShiranuiYuri SakazakiKim KaphwanChang KoehanChoi BoungeHeavy-D!Lucky GlauberBrian BattlerRugal Bernstein
KOF '95 Logo Sprite Iori YagamiBilly KaneEiji KisaragiSaisyu KusanagiOmega Rugal
KOF '96 Logo Sprite Leona HeidernMatureViceKasumi TodohGeese HowardWolfgang KrauserMr. BigChizuru KaguraGoenitz
KOF '97 Logo Sprite Shingo YabukiYashiro NanakaseShermieChrisBlue MaryRyuji YamazakiOrochi IoriOrochi LeonaOrochi YashiroOrochi ShermieOrochi ChrisOrochi
KOF '99 Logo Sprite K'MaximaWhipBaoLi XiangfeiJhun HoonKyo-1Kyo-2Krizalid
KOF '99 Evolution Logo VanessaSethSyo KirishimaAlfredFiolina GermiGai Tendo
KOF 2000 Logo Sprite RamónLinHinako ShijoKula DiamondClone ZeroFoxyCandy DiamondAnother K'Another IoriAnother BenimaruAnother RobertCosplayer KyokoKang Bae DalSmart ChangCool ChoiKaoru WatabeBaitangDuck KingLilly KaneKim Jae HoonKim Dong HwanUnknownKing LionKim Sue-ilKaedeDuke EdwardsRockyAthenaNeo & GeoG-Mantle
KOF 2001 Logo Sprite May Lee JinjuK9999ÁngelZeroRonGluganIgnizMistyNests
KOF EX Logo Moe Habana
KOF 2002 Logo Sprite Kusanagi
KOF EX2 Logo Reiji OogamiJun KagamiMiu KurosakiSinobu Amou
KOF 2003 Logo Sprite Ash CrimsonDuo LonShen WooTizocGatoMalinMaki KaguraAdelheid BernsteinMukai
KOF MI Logo Alba MeiraSoiree MeiraLien NevilleMignon BeartChae LimDukeRock Howard
KOF XI Logo Sprite OswaldElisabeth BlanctorcheMomokoB. JenetShionMagakiSilberSho HayateJyazuHotaru FutabaItokatsuTung Fu Rue
KOF MI2 Logo Luise MeyrinkNagaseJivatmaNinon BeartHyenaHanzo HattoriKyo Kusanagi ClassicWild WolfMr. Karate IIArmor RalfRichard Meyer
KOF MIRA Logo Xiao LonMakoto Mizoguchi
KOF '98UM Logo Nightmare Geese
KOF 2002UM Logo Nameless
KOF XII Logo Raiden
KOF XIII Logo Hwa JaiSaikiEvil AshMr. Karate
KOF XIV Logo Shun'eiMeitenkunGang-ilLuongXanaduSylvie Paula PaulaKukriMianNelsonZarinaBandeiras HattoriKing of DinosaursHeinNakoruruMamahahaMui MuiLove HeartAlice Garnet NakataAntonovVerseNajd (Aila)
The King of Fighters XV Logo Isla (Amanda) • DoloresKrohnen McDougallRe VerseOtoma=RagaHaohmaruDarli Dagger
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