Ryuji Yamazaki

Ryuji Yamazaki (リュージ・ヤマザキ 山崎 竜二, Yamazaki Ryūji?) is a video game character appearing in the Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters series of fighting games developed by SNK Playmore (formerly known as SNK). Yamazaki is first introduced as the sub-boss character of Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory, where he 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 making crimes just to entertain himself. He has also become a character from The King of Fighters, in which he participates in the annual tournaments from some games being hired by the Southtown crime lord Geese Howard.

Yamazaki's introduction in The King of Fighters series was made as a result of three popularity polls developed by three video games journals in which players voted which character they wanted to see in The King of Fighters '97, the upcoming game from the series at that time. Yamazaki has also appeared in the crossover games Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 and Capcom vs. SNK 2 as a playable character. Video games publications have commented on Yamazaki's character, with some praising his introduction in Fatal Fury 3 and development in titles from The King of Fighters. However, other reviewers criticized how hard defeating him is in the Fatal Fury games and how strong he is in Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 in comparison to other popular characters.