Yuri Sakazaki

Yuri is also a playable character in The King of Fighters series first as part of the Women Fighters Team along with Mai Shiranui and King participating in the annual King of Fighters tournaments. Her character was not meant to be added to the game, developers wanted to create the English Team composed of Billy Kane, Mai and Big Bear but they found problems making the sprite from Big Bear. In The King of Fighters 96, Yuri is requested to participate in the Art of Fighting along with Ryo and Robert as Takuma decided to retire from the team. The King of Fighters '98 also features Yuri playable with her Art of Fighting 2 moveset as hidden character. Due to the new rule that teams must be composed of four members, Takuma returns to the Art of Fighting Team in The King of Fighters 99. By The King of Fighters 2000, Yuri returns to the Women Fighters Team along with Mai, Hinako Shijou and Kasumi Todoh, having asked King to replace her in the Art of Fighting Team wanting more independece. Yuri once again returns to the Art of Fighting Team in The King of Fighters 2001 wanting to win the prize money to help Robert with several economical problem his company has. Although The King of Fighters 2002 does not feature a storyline, Yuri is once again in the Women Fighters Team with Mai and May Lee. In The King of Fighters 2003, Yuri continues in the Art of Fighting Team, but only with Ryo and Robert as the tournament once again requires only 3 fighters per team. King replaces Robert in The King of Fighters XI as Robert was once again having problems with his company and Takuma was too weak to participate. However, Yuri, Takuma and Robert use this as a chance to intensify the relation between King and Ryo. Yuri has also appeared in the spin-off game The King of Fighters Neowave with the original Women Fighters Team. After a long discussion, Kyo purposes a fight with them to decide if Yuri can leave. Yuri later appears helping Kyo to find his kidnapped girlfriend Yuki along with Ryo and Robert. She appears as an assistant character in The King of Fighters EX for the Art of Fighting Team, and appears as a playable character along with Ryo and Takuma in The King of Fighters EX2. She is also featured in the 3D games KOF: Maximum Impact and Maximum Impact 2 participating in new tournaments from Southtown.

Although Yuri is not playable in the first Art of Fighting game, she plays a big role in the plot as she is kidnapped by the Southtown criminal Mr. Big, causing Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia to search for her during all the game. In the end, Ryo and Robert fight Mr. Karate, a soldier from Mr. Big taking Yuri as a hostage. In Art of Fighting 2, Yuri becomes a playable character, being trained by Takuma after the events from the previous game. In Art of Fighting 3, Yuri is once again unplayable, who was helping a childhood friend. Yuri also appears in the Art of Fighting anime adaptation which retells the story from the first game but with Mr. Big wanting to obtain a diamond that Ryo and Robert found. She is voiced by Ayumi Hamasaki in the Japanese version and by Veronica Taylor in the English dub.