Kyo Kusanagi


Kyo Kusanagi is a character and the protagonist of SNK's The King of Fighters series of fighting video games. The character was first introduced in the 1994 video game The King of Fighters '94 as the leader of the Japan team from the series' title tournament. Kyo, head to the Kusanagi clan, is first introduced as a cocky, delinquent high school student who has pyrokinetic powers. His clan is one of three who banished the legendary snake demon entity Yamata no Orochi. During the series' story, Kyo meets rivals and enemies who seek to take his flame abilities and prevents chaos like Orochi to rise. Aside from the main series, Kyo appears in several crossovers and spinoffs with other games. Besides reprising his role in printed adaptations, Kyo is also the central character of the manga The King of Fighters: Kyo and The King of Fighters Zillion with the former exploring his personal life and the latter giving him an alternate arc facing an organization known as NESTS.
Kyo was created by Yuichiro Hiraki and Shinichi Morioka as a young hero in The King of Fighters '94 which gathers games from different SNK IPs. He rivals guests from Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting among other games. Kyo's designers took inspirations from several rebellious icons when creating him, most notably the late singer Yutaka Ozaki. His role in The King of Fighters received a large positive response by fans, making Kyo return in The King of Fighters '99, where he was originally not available in early versions. His outfit was redesigned throughout the series; since his original appearance, featuring a high school uniform, became popular with fans, designers created clones of his original costume in later games. The same occurred with his moves, changing from a standard fighting character that relies on distance to hand-to-hand combat.
Video game journalists have praised Kyo's design and fighting style as among the best of the series and in fighting games in general. His constant changes of designs and moves were praised and has stood out as one of the protagonists from the series with the exception of The King of Fighters XIV. Kyo's role in the story has been praised for his heroic portrayal while facing villains, while also forming relationships with other characters, most notably Iori Yagami as both rival and ally. A variety of Kyo collectibles, including key chains and figurines, have been created.

Conception and creation

Origin and influences

In the making of the game The King of Fighters '94, director Masanori Kuwasashi expressed pressure about creating a young lead who would clash with SNK veteran fighters but after talking producer Takashi Nishiyama, he thought it would be beneficial for sales. Kyo Kusanagi was created by SNK employee Yuichiro Hiraki and designed by artist Shinichi Morioka. When designing characters for the first King of Fighters game, developers wanted a new, "snazzy" hero who would fight against characters from other SNK series, Fatal Fury, Psycho Soldier, Ikari Warriors and Art of Fighting, eventually outshining them. His design was inspired by the main character of Katsuhiro Otomo's manga and film Akira, Shotaro Kaneda. When it came to his personality, Hiraki was inspired by Joe Yabuki from the boxing manga Ashita no Joe as he believes hotheaded fighters like Joe were popular. The designer also cited Akira Fudo from Go Nagai's Devilman manga series. Artist Nona said he found it difficult to design Kyo as a heroic character due to his dark traits, noting the character was also inspired by the darker Akira Fudo. Another planned name before Syo was Ryo Fang, but no design was elaborated from it. However, in the end, SNK chose the name Kyo as they felt it more fitting. While Kyo's girlfriend Yuki was also created by Morioka out of jealousy, Kuwasashi was against using her in a romantic scene, believing it would not fit the narrative.
Kyo is as a 19-year-old teenager who passes a year in high school in the next game. Unlike Art of Fighting and Fatal Fury, time in The King of Fighters never passes, resulting in Kyo always repeating a grade due to insufficient attendance in the Orochi arc. This is often referenced in game dialogue for comic relief, most notably in Maximum Impact. While in charge of writing the character, Hiraki sought to contrast Kyo with Street Fighter lead Ryu, as he believed the latter was a popular character in international markets and that Kyo's characterization and design could benefit from appealing to as broad a demographic as possible. In contrast to Terry and Ryo, Kyo was given a natural life in his debut. However, the death of his father Saisyu at the hands of Rugal Bernstein was executed to make him more tragic and serious when it came to his training, leaving Japan in his ending to become stronger in future battles.
Through most of his development, Kyo was named Syo Kirishima and was dressed in martial arts clothing common in fighting games of the time. Late in production, his name was changed to Kyo Kusanagi, as a means of relating the character to the Yamata no Orochi legend, which was the basis of the story arc of the series. The name Syo would later be used for Kyo's Another Striker in The King of Fighters 2000. Director Masanori Kuwasashi was responsible for the handling of the Orochi arc and how Kyo's traits are addressed in the narrative. The inclusion of the rival Iori Yagami and the revived Saisyu in The King of Fighters '95 wree meant to give Kyo a more coherent story as the first game was written as a more all-star game. The rivalry between Kyo and Iori resulted in game designer Eisuke Ogura claiming despite having the two characters having differences, they still have respect for each other, making their team-ups with fellow Sacred Treasure Team member Chizuru Kagura to defeat a common enemy feel natural. Chizuru was created as a means to expand the Orochi arc and bring Kyo and Iori together as the "Three Sacred Treasures Team", which represents the three Imperial Regalia of Japan.
Kyo's repeated appearances in every game in the series, at the insistence of SNK executives for marketing purposes, made story planning for each title challenging. Kyo and Iori were supposed to be removed due to business reasons after The King of Fighters '98, but in the end, they have continued to appear ever since due to fans' demands. In the NESTS arc, Kyo is then involved in the story to some extent in terms of the connections with the new protagonist K'. Though K' was consistently promoted in each port, Kyo was added to the Neo Geo CD's cover alongside the new lead since he became easier to access. The developers of the series for The King of Fighters 2001, Eolith, noted that Kyo and Iori were also popular in their country, which led to their immediate inclusion in their game when compared with the two previous installments where they had no official teams and were hidden. In the "Ash Saga", Kyo, Iori, and Chizuru's Three Sacred Treasures play a major role in the story. The Miera brothers were the main focus of the Maximum Impact spin-offs, relegating Kyo and Iori to minor characters. Both the Ash arc and Maximum Impact games were developed at the same time, which resulted in Kyo and Iori still playing a major role in the Another Day original video animation that promotes Maximum Impact 2. Furthermore, despite Ash being the protagonist of The King of Fighters XIII, the PlayStation 3 port of the game had Kyo instead used in the cover as a means to promote more familiar characters.

Characterization and voice actors

In his introduction, Kyo debuted as a slightly hot-blooded and somewhat egocentric character, but then the outline of the character gradually develops with the introduction of new protagonists that make him act more calm in comparison. By The King of Fighters XV, Ureshino refers to Kyo and Shun'ei as the most mature protagonists in KOF history, which makes their interactions feel natural, especially because the former is looking after his successors. While Kyo and Benimaru's relationship was initially that of rivals, it eventually became like that of siblings, with Benimaru acting as the older one as he was heavily overshadowed by Iori. The romance between Kyo and Yuki remains stable across the franchise according to the novelist. Ureshino noted the rivalry between Kyo and Iori stood out early in the 1990s because it was weird to see characters interacting before a fight started. The King of Fighters '99 added a subtext of happiness of the two rivals meeting again, believing they had died when fighting Orochi. Their exchanges in The King of Fighters XI, where they remained in a far more experienced relationship, are as if the two now teammates seek fighting to kill their boredom. However, Ureshino does not see the idea of Iori developing his social skills as it would ruin the appeal he has with Kyo as well as the charm he has on his own.
Kyo's Japanese voice actor Masahiro Nonaka was first called to work in The King of Fighters '94 after meeting sound designer Yasumasa Yamada. When first reading of the game, Nonaka had poor impressions of his work, as he believed it would not be as appealing as other SNK IPs. Nonaka was inspired by rock singer Yutaka Ozaki, as he was impressed by his rebellious personality, who appealed to Japanese people by writing inspiring lyrics for his songs. Seeing the similarities between Ozaki and Kyo's personalities, Nonaka wanted the latter to be like Ozaki. Despite the actor's early negative impressions, Nonaka's performance was notoriously well received, as he recalls having several fanletters involving several lines he made the character say, to the point Kyo became a more popular character than those from Art of Fighting and Fatal Fury. While recording The King of Fighters: Kyo, Nonaka noticed had a more sensitive side when dealing with his girlfriend Yuki whom the actor favored as coming across as more unique relationships in SNK's works. Nonaka related to his character as being young and reckless until he "grew up" in his later appearances. He then expressed some difficulty accepting Kyo on the same level. Nonaka befriended Iori's actor Kunihiko Yasui and both noted that despite fans wanting their characters to become friendlier with each other, it did not appear to happen with Nonaka claiming that seems to be more common in action anime.
Tomoaki Maeno replaced Nonaka for The King of Fighters XIV and said he was putting in all his efforts and expected the fandom to enjoy his work as the new voice of Kyo. Maeno noted the impact of Kyo was challenging as he was the main character from a famous series of fighting games. He often played the demo of The King of Fighters XIV as Kyo in order to fully appreciate the character. For The King of Fighters for Girls, Maeno was careful with his performance as he understood how beloved his character is. He was careful in his songs and took a liking to the catchphrase "Moetaro?". Yuichi Nakamura portrayed Kyo in a commercial promoting the cellphone game The King of Fighters All Stars.

Designs

Kyo's pixel art was created by Hiraki, who, despite leaving SNK to work on another project a few years later, was asked by Capcom's Kaname Fujioka to once again work on Kyo's design for the crossover game Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000. Several of the series' designers said Kyo is one of the most difficult characters to illustrate because of his popularity. As the "face" of The King of Fighters, Kyo's sprites were made by Toyohisa Tanabe, who aimed to be careful in designing him. In contrast to the other fighting game characters featured in The King of Fighters, Kyo was given a more realistic and stylish look, as Tanabe found the others too cartoony. In his first appearances, Kyo wears a modified version of his school uniform with a sun mark that represents his heritage.
For the NESTS story arc starting in KOF '99, Kyo wears a new outfit said to be made by the character himself in an attempt to be more casual. This design was made by Toshiyuki Kotani, also known as "styleos". The staff claimed fans enjoyed the design for how fashionable it was and how distinctive Kyo was still without his school uniform. In contrast to the fashionable designs, in Shinsetsu Samurai Spirits Bushidō Retsuden, Kyo wears his father's green-themed traditional martial artist outfit with prayer beads around his neck while keeping his original bandana with the Kusanagi crest. Falcoon redesigned Kyo's clothes for the spin-off game KOF: Maximum Impact 2; his jacket was redesigned while keeping the appeal of the original costume. The King of Fighters 2003 sees Kyo sporting a new outfit with a focus on belts and classical gloves by Reiko Masuyama. The Kusanagi Sun sign still remains in Kyo's leather jacket. In The King of Fighters XII and The King of Fighters XIII, Iori and Kyo were meant to wear new outfits that emphasized their sex appeal, but due to time constraints, they were removed. As a result, they sport similar outfits to the ones seen in the Ash ars. While Kyo often wears different outfits for each game's story mode, he was given a more masculine appearance for The King of Fighters XIII while staying true to his 2003 outfit. Artist Eisuke Ogura expressed pressure when designing this incarnation of the character, saying it had to live up to an enduring reputation.
With designers believing he had become a more traditional fighter, they gave him a simpler, more modern appearance for The King of Fighters XIV. Character designer Nobuyuki Kuroki said the staff wanted to captivate new fans with Kyo's larger design regardless of negative backlash. His appearance in The King of Fighters XV was altered to resemble his previous appearance while altering other parts of his design, like his jacket and gloves according to the newer artist Tomohiro Nakata.

Gameplay

The game's developers decided Kyo's main abilities would be fire-based, inspired by the manga and anime Getter Robo by Go Nagai and Ken Ishikawa. The elements and the personalities were also a homage to a Japanese phrase about giving birth to fire: "lightning strikes the earth which sparks the flame". In his debut, Kyo fights with the Kusanagi Style of Ancient Martial Arts, attacking opponents using flames and a personal style of kenpō. This was developed by animator Mitsuo Kodama. Kyo was created originally as an all-rounder with a projectile, "108 Shiki Yami Barai", an easily used anti-air move, being SNK's answer to Ryu's Hadoken among other famous projectile techniques seen in fighting games. Several other moves were renamed during game development coming from simple styles to more elaborated. Despite the character's lazy demeanor, SNK made him develop new moves per game such as the 212 Shiki Koto Tsuki You where he grabs a foe with his hand and creates an explosion, to show that he actually takes fighting seriously.
Kyo's signature Desperation Move is the Ura 108 Shiki: Orochinagi, a massive slash of fire he creates with one hand which was carefully animated. The Orochinagi was conceptualized as the move Kyo would use to defeat the demon known as Yamata no Orochi. This was given a mid-air variation for The King of Fighters XIII; designers kept in mind the concept of coolness and the small difficulty in performing it. Starting in The King of Fighters '96, this was changed as part of the series' overhaul to make Kyo's character more unique, removing his projectile in favor of hand-to-hand combat. Kyo's gameplay was modified again for The King of Fighters '99 onwards with Kyo doing variations of his father's moves again like the 427 Shiki Hikigane flaming punches.
In The King of Fighters XII, Kyo's moves were modified to those from the first two games of the series to rely on his projectile. Kyo's Neo Max from XIII technique, the "Ura 121 Shiki: Ama-no-Murakumo", in which he covers the enemies with walls of fire, was the first move of this category to be made for KOF XIII. The DLC "NESTS Kyo" focuses on his hand-to-hand combat labeled as "Rekka" in gaming community. SNK ensured neither Kyo version would be superior to the other. Besides retaining the Orochinagi, NESTS Kyo has the "Saihsuu Kessen Ougi: Mushiki", a move where he consecutively punches the enemy while adding increasing flame damage to each strike originally used in The King of Fighters '97. Mastering the technique in the spin-off The King of Fighters: Kyo, makes Saisyu approve his son as the proper Kusanagi successor. NESTS Kyo's Neo Max is a new technique named "Saishuu Kessen Hiougi Totsuka", which covers the entire screen in flames. For The King of Fighters XIV onwards, Oda wanted to keep Kyo's kenpō gameplay intact in order to avoid fan backlash, using hand-to-hand combat in a more aggressive fashion.

Appearances

In video games

In ''The King of Fighters''

Kyo is the head of the Kusanagi clan who can create fire to create a martial art, having surpassed his father and mentor Saisyu at the age of 15, years before his debut as a fighter. Several years before the games, the Kusanagi and Yasakani clans were allies until the latter made a pact with the snake demon Orochi, creating a cridged. Kyo's rivalry with the Yasakani descendant Iori Yagami is one of mutual hatred rather than history. In the first King of Fighters video game, Kyo stars in the famous fighting tournament as the leader of the Japan Team with Benimaru Nikaido and Goro Daimon, becoming rookie champions to defeat the host, Rugal Bernstein, in revenge of Saisyu's death, Kyo's father. In the next title, Rugal has revived and brainwashed Saisyu in revenge but Kyo makes him regain his sense. Rugal uses the power of Orochi to face Kyo but following his defeat, it consumes his entire body. For The King of Fighters '96, Kyo trains alone to develop a fighting style to defeat the mysterious Goenitz. In Chizuru Kagura's tournament, the host wants Kyo and Iori on her team to help defeat Orochi, eventually taking down its servant Goenitz together. In The King of Fighters '97, Kyo faces Orochi's remaining followers, the New Faces Team, who aim to revive Orochi by sacrificing Kyo's girlfriend, Yuki. Kyo and Iori eventually defeat the revived Orochi. In KOF '98, Kyo appears in the classic Japan Team and as an alternative version with moves used in previous games.
Kyo is a secret character in The King of Fighters '99 which reveals he was kidnapped by the NESTS syndicate following Orochi's defeat, resulting in the creation of clones of himself as well as experiments including the new protagonist K' and the villain Krizalid. If the player has accrued enough points, Kyo can be faced in a bonus fight. He continues his fight alone in The King of Fighters 2000 where he meets Krizalid's superior Zero in his last moments, but in The King of Fighters 2001, he reunites with his old teammates and his self-proclaimed student Shingo Yabuki to face the remaining NESTS agents. In KOF 2002, Kyo is a playable character on the original Japan Team.
In The King of Fighters 2003, Kyo and Iori join Chizuru's to investigate Orochi seal which is weakened by Botan and Mukai from Those From The Past, while Chizuru's powers are stolen by the mysterious fighter Ash Crimson. Kyo and Iori join forces in The King of Fighters XI, where Iori becomes instead the new victim after wounding Kyo. The PlayStation 2 port of XI added an alternative version of Kyo that has his NESTS saga moves while the KOF XII instead has no narartive. In The King of Fighters XIII Kyo escapes from the hospital despite not being fully recovered to join the Japan Team in new tournament, eventually becoming the champion following Ash's disappearance. Additionally, an alternative version of himself with different moves called "NESTS Style Kyo" is available as downloadable content. In a new saga starting The King of Fighters XIV with his old comrades at Saisyu's request of his father to meet Tung Fu Rue's students who need help controlling their powers, with Chizuru once again reunites the Sacred Treasures in The King of Fighters XV to protect the seal.
Kyo appears in multiple spin-offs like The King of Fighters: Kyo, in which he travels around the world to prepare for the King of Fighters tournament until the events of KOF '97. This game reveals events of Kyo's personal life, like his life with Yuki how he replaces his cousin Souji as the Kusanagi representative after he was cursed by Orochi. The King of Fighters R-1 again reprises the events of KOF '97, while he teams up with his father and Shingo in The King of Fighters R-2. He is present in the spin-off Neowave with the original Esaka Team. During The King of Fighters EX: Neo Blood, Kyo stops South Town lord Geese Howard from manipulating Iori, while in EX2: Howling Blood, he and other Sacred Treasures try to stop Goenitz's revival. In Maximum Impact Kyo fights in tournaments from South Town but is more worried about his romance with Yuki in the first installment, and wonders what will happen to Iori's life once they settled their rivalry in the sequel. He is present in the Chinese mobile phone games named KOF: WORLD and KOF X Arena Masters. In the role-playing game The King of Fighters All Star, Kyo is playable in multiple forms. For the otome game King of Fighters for Girls, Kyo can be dated.

In other games

Kyo has also appeared in video games outside The King of Fighters series. He is a playable character in the shooter games Sky Stage, its expansion Neo Geo Heroes: Ultimate Shooting, NeoGeo Tennis Coliseum, and the rhythm-action mobile game The Rhythm Of Fighters. He is featured in the 2018 augmented reality game The King of Fighters Orochi Go and the Korean fighting game The King of Cyphers. He is present in the crossover video games Neo Geo Battle Coliseum and the SNK vs. Capcom series. A past persona of Kyo also appears in Shinsetsu Samurai Spirits Bushidō Retsuden, in charge of protecting the Orochi seal with the assistance of the protagonist Hisame Shizumaru and Iori's predecessor.
He is featured in the card-battle video games Lord of Vermillion Re:2's Tie-Ups and Core Masters and the fighting game Lost Saga. Despite not being playable in SNK Gals' Fighters and SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy, he appears in the endings. He is present in the RPGs Kimi wa Hero in his regular persona and in a vampire outfit in Brave Frontier, and in the Chinese mobile phone game Wangzhe Rongyao. He is available in the mobile games The King Fighters X Fatal Fury, Puzzle and Dragons, Boku & Dragon, and Crusaders Quest. He is present in the dating sim part of the Days of Memories series, Metal Slug Defense, and the beat-em-up Fighting Days. A shooting game named Beast Busters has Kyo as a guest character, as does Lucent Heart. He is also used in the action role-playing game Phantasy Star Online 2. He also appears in Another Eden as a guest character.

In other media

Aside from the main series, Kyo has appeared in other media from The King of Fighters series. In the anime The King of Fighters: Another Day, he is featured prominently in the fourth chapter as Ash Crimson stages a fight against Alba Miera, both of whom are stopped by Iori. A number of image songs and audio dramas featuring Kyo, including the contents of his own character-image album consisting of a number of his theme songs, have been released.
Kyo also appears in printed adaptations like manhua and light novels. Andy Seto wrote two original stories involving his transformation into a fighter, and a retelling of the NESTS arc from his point of view in The King of Fighters Zillion. The spin-off manga story entitled The King of Fighters: Kyo was created by Masato Natsumoto and deals with Kyo's daily life. In the KOF XII manhua, Kyo briefly confronts Ash after recovering from Iori's berserker attack from XI and undergoing new training. In the manga The King of Fighters: A New Beginning, Kyo once again battles his rival in his corrupted form and other invading enemies.
In The King of Fighters movie, Kyo is played by Sean Faris and is portrayed as a biracial Japanese-American. During the story, Kyo joins forces with Iori and Mai Shiranui to defeat Rugal. Eventually Kyo summons the ancient Kusanagi no Tsurugi weapon, which he wields to kill Rugal. Faris spent a month learning how to use a katana in preparing for his role and took up basic Karate.
In the CGI web series The King of Fighters: Destiny, Kyo goes to his first team tournament with Benimaru and Daimon. The web series has an extra episode that shows Kyo befriending Benimaru during a fight against multiple yakuza. After saving the tournament's fighters from Orochi's power, which causes them to go berserk, Kyo, defeats the mastermind Rugal. Outside SNK works, he also makes a cameo in Street Fighter: Sakura Ganbaru! alongside Shingo who is on fighting competition while Kyo seeks know about Ryu's fighting style.

Reception

Promotion

For the Orochi arc of The King of Fighters, Kyo was always the main focus of Shinkiro's illustrations which were praised by Famitsu for details given to the protagonist. In a restrospective article, Polygon noted The King of Fighters story arcs involving the character fighting across in different eras with the era of K' starting in The King of Fighters '99 where he replaces the previous protagonist Kyo as one of the most marketable characters often seen in promotional artwork from the game. Although Kyo's story arc ends with The King of Fighters '97, he has remained a more popular hero than his successors like Ash Crimson in Western regions, which led to Ignition Entertainment promoting KOF XII using him. Though Kyo did not star as the lead of The King of Fighters XIV, Famitsu noted he was still the center of attention when SNK was promoting the game. In 2020, SNK held the pop-up shop event "Kyo Kusanagi Exhibition", hosted by Indoor Co., Ltd. in Akihabara, which presented to the audience with merchandising featuring the image of the character. In both 1994 and 2025, the character has appeared in polls of the most popular characters in gaming and SNK, respectively.
In November 2024, Tanita made an official collaboration with SNK, which involved merchandising and studying the bodies of Kyo, among other characters from the series. Kyo also gained appeal thanks to the Capcom vs. SNK series, which helped to make a striking rivalry between him and Ryu from Street Fighter. This led to his image being used for Capcom VS SNK 2 on a cross-platform in a Japanese printed ad for that alongside Ryu. According to VG247, early promotion of Capcom and SNK crossover games involving Sakura Kasugano from Street Fighter and Kyo Kusanagi playing the video games was a major surprise to the audience back in the early 2000s. Despite Kyo being in most original Capcom VS. SNK works from the 2000s as SNK's figure, Yahoo! News noticed that he became absent from most promotions of modern collections of the crossovers due to his lack of usage in other games. Anime News Network expressed disappointment that Kyo was not picked as a SNK representative character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, as he had few guest appearances in comparison to Terry Bogard. Dexerto wanted him Smash due to his gameplay being able to properly match other video game icons. IGN enjoyed the character enough to want him playable in Namco's fighting game Tekken 8 based on fellow character Geese Howard's inclusion in the previous game, Tekken 7. In 2025, Turtle Beach Corporation produced a series of gaming controllers featuring Kyo's image.

Critical response

Kyo Kusanagi has received major praise ever since his introduction. In the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die, Kyo is regarded as the most iconic character from The King of Fighters. According to Den of Geek, Kyo's personality felt similar to Ryu's initially as both are driven excited by the idea of competition and later are portrayed in a more serious fashion when facing the bosses of their respective games. Although the first King of Fighters game promoted the possibility of fights between Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting characters, multiple jpounalists regarded Kyo as the most popular character from the game, with IGN addressing his debut was no happy story Kyo sees his father being killed by the villain Rugal Bernstein and thus had to become as powerful as possible to obtain revenge. Den of Geek said the lead becomes more likable the more the Orochi arc is explored when compared to his introduction. Kotaku recalls Kyo as the most heroic character in the series considering his role in the Orochi arc where he faces enemies with both the Hero Team and Sacred Treasures. The formation of the new Sacred Treasure Team was noted to be a proper conclusion to the Orochi story arc and the character as it focuses on the protagonist's personal life, while further improving his dynamic with his rival Iori Yagami. When it came to Chinese comics, Gamer TW said Kyo was not a popular character until Iori was introduced and their rivalry was portrayed in a complex way. The same writer said the duo felt like Dragon Ball Z characters due to how overpowered they were in the first The King of Fighters '99 comic to the point of overshadowing K', resulting in the writer giving them a smaller screentime in the sequel where they are only involved in a personal fight between each other. Game Software Magazine said that despite Kyo's simplistic nature, he is still a charming character which made several of his fans jealous of his girlfriend Yuki as a result of their close relationship.
Developers from Capcom believed that Kyo more impressive in early The King of Fighters games when recalling the franchise's first games. Retronauts claimed that Kyo and Iori being removed from The King of Fighters '99 was shocking upon release which led to their eventual return as hidden due to negative feedback. Furthermore, Excite said that while Kyo stopped being the series' protagonist after the Orochi arc, he remains as a strong figure within the narrative, earning him the title of "honorary protagonist of the KOF series for life!" The book Video Game Audio: A History, 1972-2020 notes the theme song "Esaka" reflects the character's rebelious personality whereas the NESTS arc theme "Tears" instead evokes a sense of sadnesss as a result of the different characterization. Hardcore Gaming 101 and Time Extension appreciated how the visual novel The King of Fighters: Kyo expands on Kyo's social life, exploring more his romantic life with Yuki and deep bond with his cousins Souji and Aoi Kusanagi. Kyo's character was also notorious for his cool personality and looks that helped to promote the otome game The King of Fighters For Girls, according to AnimeAnime, though ItMedia found it out of character in SNK All-Stars for being portrayed as more moral.
The character's first Desperation Move "Orochinagi" was also praised by Prima Games and Kakuchopurei for its visuals and impact produced during its execution. In the book Design, User Experience, and Usability, the original Kyo was noted to be one of the most complex fighting game characters due to the need of large-range actions that demand high levels of skills that can lead to physical burden and frustration. Regardless of other type of moves Kyo's character can demand, the player interaction can remain rich and challenging to motivate more gamers, eventually reaching high levels of satisfaction. In Big Movements or Small Motions: Controlling Digital Avatars with Single-Camera Motion Capture, several writes analyzed Kyo's performance in The King of Fighters XIII to control for people due to his iconic popularity, as players controlling him were given immersion in the fighting game. Successfully recreating Kyo's special moves, or the Orochinagi, was noted to leave a sense of satisfaction in the players. However, there are still several complex tactics the character is given that might result in stress to the player despite retaining a notable challenge factor. Shoryuken noticed the two takes of Kyo's fighting style are highly distinctive due to the original relying on projectile moves while the second one focuses on hand-to-hand combat strong enough to surpass the classic Kyo which came across as one of the most innovative parts of the gameplay from The King of Fighters XIII.
There was commentary about Kyo's design with the book Gaming Cultures and Place in Asia-Pacific noting his popularity in Hong Kong from the mid-1990s onwards as his outfit resulted in several cosplayers. This was especially notable as the character outshined Street Fighter characters who are instead more popular in Western regions. The character's next designs were praised with RPGFan acclaiming The King of Fighters '99 as one of the best from the year of its debut, with Goziline praising its departure from the high school style as he also removes his original bandana during his debut becoming more unique in the process. On the other hand, Kyo received a negative response for his King of Fighters XIV design, as it was not faithful to the original, leading SNK artist Hiroaki Hashimoto to claim it was hard for SNK to keep coming up with equally appealing forms with new installments. As a result, his more nostalgic take in The King of Fighters XV was met with a better response by Excite.