him to the Japanese legend Yamata no Orochi, which was the inspiration for the plot. After watching fan reactions at initial location testing for King of Fighters '95, several staff members predicted Iori would be popular. One staff member was happy that at an event for The King of Fighters XIII on March 25, 2010, several fans reminded him that day is Iori's birthday according to his official profile. 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. Iori was originally introduced in The King of Fighters '74 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. Development During the early development stages of The King of Fighters '99, SNK