is a character from SNK's The King of Fighters video game series. The character first appeared in The King of Fighters '95 as the leader of the Rivals Team, as the initial enemy and later rival of Kyo Kusanagi. Iori is the heir of the Yagami clan, who use pyrokinetic powers and sealed the Orochi devil along with the Kusanagi and Yata clans. Iori suffers from a curse – – under which he becomes faster, stronger and wilder, exhibiting a deadly tendency to indiscriminately attack everyone in close proximity. In this state, Iori is commonly called "Wild Iori" or . Aside from the main series, Iori appears in several other media series, including spin-offs, crossover video games and comic adaptations of the series.
Iori was created as Kyo's rival; his name and abilities were designed to relate him with the legend of Yamata no Orochi. The designers ended up liking him so much they are careful of the character's development as the series expands. As a result, Iori sometimes helps Kyo to have the opportunity to fight him. Finding his design appealing, new outfits presented the SNK staff with difficulties as they devised new appearances for the character that would retain his popularity.
Video game journalists have praised Iori Yagami as one of the most powerful characters in the series. Reviewers have also cited Iori as one of the best characters from the games, labeling him as a veteran character and praising his appearance as one of SNK's best creations. "Miss X", Iori's crossdressing form from SNK Gals' Fighters and the additional female one of SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy, also received attention for its humor. A series of collectible items based on Iori's likeness, including key chains and figurines, have been manufactured.
Conception and creation Iori Yagami was created by Yuichiro Hiraki who aimed to create an ideal rival to Kyo Kusanagi's character; Since Kyo hot-blooded in some ways, the development team just assumed Iori would be the opposite, cool and blue-blooded. Iori's name is loosely based on the Japanese mythological creature Yamata no Orochi. In contrast to Kyo's life, SNK decided to keep Iori's life as private despite some related material mentioning the fact that Iori has relatives. Though Iori and Kyo first meet in KOF, writer Akihiko Ureshino decided to take freedom in his novelizations to foreshadow more their meetings in novels. After watching fan reactions at initial location testing for King of Fighters '95, several staff members predicted Iori would be popular. Iori was created not only to the yang to Kyo's ying but also inherit the popularity of the Art of Fighting and Fatal Fury series. In order to stand out besides being Kyo's rival, the plot of the Orochi arc would give Iori a unique Desperation Move that symbolizes his clan's past when being corrupted by Orochi: the Forbidden Method 1211: Eight Maidens. The King of Fighters '96 was created to explore more the Orochi lore through the new host Chizuru Kagura who wants help from the protagonist and his rival.
Iori was originally introduced in The King of Fighters '95 as the leader of a team composed of Billy Kane, Eiji Kisaragi and himself. Each member shares a rivalry with another character in the game. Although the staff members worked hard to impress their superiors at SNK, Iori's characterization caused them to discard the team in the next game in the series. In the rival team's ending, Iori betrays Billy and Eiji, generating anger from the Art of Fighting developers for what Iori did to their character.
Iori is a berserker due to the Orochi demon blood within him. This version of the character, officially named "Orochi Iori", is hinted to have existed before his debut in The King of Fighters '97 as one of the game's mid-bosses. This form of Iori was designed to easily overpower other characters. Series' flagship director Toyohisa Tanabe states that the staff were initially reluctant to add this version of Iori to the series' roster; they were worried about fans' reactions but did so to add more impact to the Orochi saga's climax. Tanabe was particularly pleased to see surprised reactions from female fans to this form during KOF '97s location testing. Another minor development of the character was his change of "most valued possession/valued treasure" information. A girlfriend was also listed in The King of Fighters '95, The King of Fighters '99, and The King of Fighters 2000. Starting with The King of Fighters 2001 and every entry after that, however, the space is listed as "None". The SNK staff commented that it is curious that he does not have a girlfriend anymore.
Portrayal After working in 10 KOF novelizations, Akihiko Ureshino noted that SNK used Kyo and Iori too much and believed they should be given a rest after The King of Fighters '97. Kyo and Iori were supposed to disappear due to business reasons or the requests of enthusiastic fans, but in the end they have continued to appear ever since. After taking a step back in the "Nests Saga" they are then playing important roles in the "Ash Saga". The problem is the positioning of these two within the Maximum Impact series. In the "Ash Saga" Kyo, Iori, and Chizuru's Three Sacred Treasures play a major role in the "Orochi demon Returns" type story, and in the previous "Nests Saga," Kyo was involved in the story to some extent, but not Iori, in terms of the connections with the new protagonist K'. However, the Miera brothers were the main focus of the Maximum Impact spin-offs relegating Kyo and Iori for the first time 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. While Kyo and Iori are always arguing with each other, Ureshino was careful with how writing them to the point their introduction in The King of Fighters '99 added a subtext of happiness of the two rivals meeting again, believing they had died when fighting Orochi and remained as hidden characters. By The King of Fighters XV, Ureshino aims to make the relationship between Iori and Kyo important, claiming that should something bad happen to Kyo's life, Iori would find no reason for existing. However, he refuses to make Iori act friendlier with Kyo and not mature as it would ruin his original appeal.
In an interview with Iori's Japanese voice actor, Kunihiko Yasui comments that he feels responsible as a voice actor for his performances as Iori, taking care to sound different in each installment as a means of developing and protecting his character's humanity. Yasui was replaced by Takanori Hoshino starting in The King of Fighters XIV; Hoshino said he was delighted to be the new voice actor of the character, thanking SNK. Chisa Horii voices Iori's female incarnation in SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy.
Design One of the planned objectives for The King of Fighters '95 was to properly introduce Iori as Kyo's rival. According to his creators, Iori's personality and other aspects of his character such as his phrases and unique moves "broke the mold for characters in fighting games at that time" resulting in a unique design from the point of view of the fans. Like Kyo, several aspects of Iori, including his surname and abilities, were designed to relate him to the Japanese legend Yamata no Orochi, which was the inspiration for the plot. The pixel art of Iori was made by Yuichiro Hiraki who, despite leaving SNK to work in another project a few years later, was asked by Capcom's Kaname Fujioka to once again work on the character's design for the crossover fighting game Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000. During the early development stages of The King of Fighters '99, SNK planned to exclude Iori and Kyo from the game because the company wanted to focus the story on the new protagonist, K'. They reversed this decision because of the characters' popularity. The repeated appearance of Iori, Kyo, and other SNK regular characters in the series is at the insistence of the marketers and main planners, making it a challenge to decide the story for each title. Because of his popularity among fans, some of the series' main designers have said Iori is "difficult to draw for". Illustrator Shinkiro said he thought Iori was one of the series' wildest characters because of his hairstyle; similar sentiments were expressed by Last Blade illustrator Tonko. KOF: Maximum Impact producer Falcoon stated that attempting to change an "untouchable" design such as Iori's put him under severe pressure. He stated that creating Iori's alternative design that appears in the Maximum Impact series almost felt "unforgivable" because he felt unsure of fans' reaction to the change.
For the Maximum Impact spin-off games, Iori's characteristic hairstyle was changed dramatically. Throughout the series, his normal costume consists of a short jacket and bondage pants; without changing his design and adjusting only his coloring, a diverse number of image variations can be brought about. In The King of Fighters XII and The King of Fighters XIII Iori and Kyo were meant to wear new outfit that emphasized their sexual appeal but due to time constraints, they were removed. As a result, they sport similar outfits to the ones seen in Ash arc though there was emphasis in giving Iori the same style. During the making of The King of Fighters XIV, Nobuyuki Kuroki wanted Iori, except the character's hair, to be redesigned. Character designer Eisuke Ogura created a new outfit for Iori and asked the modeler to focus on his masculinity and to pay close attention to the way the design of the character's eyes. This new design, alongside Kyo's, provoked controversy when it was revealed. KOF XIV director Yasuyuki Oda said the team wanted the characters to have new looks because the game is set in another story arc. A new design was created by Tomohiro Nakata for the next game, The King of Fighters XV; He expressed pressure of giving him a proper appeal that makes it worth of the character's fame. The new outfit focuses on red and black clothes and continue focusing on drawing the Yagami Crest of the moon in his back as usual.
Gameplay When fighting, Iori employs the "Yagami style of ancient martial arts" as well as an art labelled as "Pure instinct" which involves the usage of purple flames. His strongest technique is known as which was created out of the need of making lore of the Orochi arc where Yasakani were revealed to have learned this skill from the antagonist alongside the Hakkesshu serving the main antagonist. Iori's brutal moves were also noted to be made in parallel with Mortal Kombat franchise due to the amount of blood loss victims of Iori's attacks suffer. In The King of Fighters XIII, Iori's gameplay mechanics were modified to become a close-range fighter. Despite losing his flaming techniques temporarily during KOF XIV, he continued fighting by using his fingernails like claws to scratch his opponents. Iori's strongest technique is , a new move that focuses on violent combinations and serves as a reference to the character's ending from The King of Fighters '96, in which he murders his teammates. Iori's 10th color scheme in the game matches that of his classic outfit. During development of the game, details were added to increase the similarities. This version, featuring his classic techniques, was designed to avoid surpassing the current Iori so players could choose the fighting style they prefer in the game. This was further emphasized in the console version of The King of Fighters XIII, in which Iori had his moveset were adjusted for better balance by not using flaming techniques. Meanwhile, the Orochi Iori version was designed to be more overpowered than regular playable character as result of being originally set as a boss.