Rock Howard
Encyclopedia
is a video game character
appearing in various games from SNK Playmore
(formerly known as "SNK"). Rock makes his first appearance as a playable character in the fighting game
Garou: Mark of the Wolves
, the last chapter in the Fatal Fury series, as the new lead character from the series. Rock appears in the series as the son of Geese Howard
, the main antagonist from the previous Fatal Fury games, who was killed by Terry Bogard
. However, Terry started to take care of Rock to the point he teaches him to fight. Besides his appearance in Mark of the Wolves, Rock is featured in few games from The King of Fighters series as well as various crossovers from SNK. He is voiced by Eiji Takemoto
. In the English editions from KOF: Maximum Impact
and its sequel
he is voiced by Mike Lane.
Rock has also been featured in manwhua adaptations from the games he has appeared as well as the anime The King of Fighters Another Day. Rock's character has received various responses from video games publications. His debut in Mark of the Wolves has been highly praised by reviewers although some of them considered his character to be too strong in comparison to the others. However, his development in the KOF: Maximum Impact series has been criticized due to his English voice actor and his new outfit.
, and Kain R. Heinlein, the final boss from Garou: Mark of the Wolves.
His move list is an amalgam of Terry and Geese. He possesses several of Geese's trademark moves such as the and the , in which he throws various energy waves to the ground. He also has the that sends energy to an entire area, the Shinkunage throw, reversals, and the . Moves loaned from Terry include the , a series of ascendent kicks, variants of various moves from Terry, including the , which is a DM version of Terry's . Also, his is a reversal that can be directed high or low akin to Geese, where upon succeeding, Rock slams an opponent with a kick that resembles Terry's . In comparison with his father, Rock still lacks the control over his "evil blood", which boils from time to time hurting him after ending a combat with the Raging Storm and the Deadly Rave. Thus, most of moves taken from his father take him more time for recovering or are less powerful. However, the precedent of his lineage states that Rock has not reached the top of his game yet.
, in which is revealed how he becomes friends with Terry Bogard
. After Terry kills Geese, he adopts Rock, whom he takes care of like his son. Rock becomes a playable character in Garou: Mark of the Wolves
, having lived with Terry for ten years. During this time, a new King of Fighters tournament arose under the name "Maximum Mayhem", which Rock and Terry both decide to compete in. By the end of the tournament, Rock finds his final opponent is Kain R. Heinlein, who reveals himself to be both the host and Rock's uncle. Kain, aware that Geese Howard's will held presumably valuable secrets but unable to discover them without assistance, wins Rock's aid in working through the document by offering information regarding Rock's mother—whom Kain claimed was still alive. Terry accepts Rock's decision to become Kain's new partner, with Rock promising to return. In his development blog for KOF: Maximum Impact 2
, Ureshino states that he doesn't know about Rock's mother or the true inheritor of Geese's legacy but hints that it would most likely conflict with Terry.
Despite making several cameos in games from The King of Fighters series, Rock is only playable in the spin-off games KOF: Maximum Impact
and Maximum Impact 2. Both games feature Rock entering into King of Fighters tournaments developed in Southtown prior to the start of Maximum Mayhem. Rock also appears as a playable character in the crossover video games NeoGeo Battle Coliseum and Capcom vs. SNK 2
.
Rock also appears in the 2006 original net animation
The King of Fighters: Another Day
. In the second episode Rock finds Lien Neville fighting Billy Kane
, Geese's former right-hand man, in the Geese Tower. As Lien is about to be killed, Rock saves her, which enrages Billy as he cannot believe that he is Geese's son. As Billy attacks Rock, Lien shoots a laser that takes Billy out of the tower. Memories of Stray Wolves, a twenty-minute featurette
serves as a retrospective of the Fatal Fury series, with Terry narrating the events of the games to Rock. The first seven volumes from the manhua The King of Fighters 2003 by Wing Yen features a short chapter from Garou: Mark of the Wolves based on Rock's training with Terry. In the last of the chapters, Rock fights Grant, who is revealed to be a childhood friend who always protected him. Despite feeling sad for fighting his friend, Rock defeats Grant in order to meet the host of the Maximum Mayhem tournament, his uncle, Kain.
in a popularity poll from such game developed by SNK. Video games publications have commented on Rock's character, with most of them praising his debut and development in various game. Anthony Chau from IGN
noted Rock to be one of the most notable characters from Mark of the Wolves. However, he commented that his moveset was very unbalanced in comparison to the ones from other characters, becoming one of the strongest characters from the game. Gamesarefun.com writer Andrew McClure labelled Rock's moves to be a cross between Terry Bogard
and Geese Howard
with the exception of Geese's "pretzel" strongest moves. He additionally liked Rock's development in various games, praising his appearance in Capcom vs. SNK 2
. Greg Kasavin from GameSpot
agreed on this, praising him to be one of the most notable additions from Capcom vs. SNK 2.
Kurt Kalata from Armchairempire liked the creation of NeoGeo Battle Coliseum as it allowed players to use both Geese and Rock for the first time due to how story is behind these two characters and how popular they are. Like Chau from IGN, Kasavin from GameSpot also complained on how much powerful and fast was Rock but in KOF: Maximum Impact
, commenting that he has "no real weakness" even though if the player uses his moves several times. Mike Lane, Rock's English voice actor for KOF: Maximum Impact has been criticized by Ryan Genno from Gamingtarget.com to be one of the worst from the game as gives Rock "as much emotion as a block of cheese." The alternative costume for his character in KOF: Maximum Impact 2
has also been criticized by Luke Albiges from Eurogamer
who noted it to just look "plain wrong", ruining Rock's "seminal badass" appearance.
Player character
A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
appearing in various games from SNK Playmore
SNK Playmore
SNK Playmore Corporation is a Japanese video game hardware and software company. SNK is an acronym of , which was SNK's original name. The company's legal and trading name became SNK in 1986....
(formerly known as "SNK"). Rock makes his first appearance as a playable character in the fighting game
Fighting game
Fighting game is a video game genre where the player controls an on-screen character and engages in close combat with an opponent. These characters tend to be of equal power and fight matches consisting of several rounds, which take place in an arena. Players must master techniques such as...
Garou: Mark of the Wolves
Garou: Mark of the Wolves
, known as Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves on Dreamcast, is a 1999 fighting game produced by SNK, originally for the Neo Geo system. It is the ninth and final game in the Fatal Fury series, set ten years after the death of Geese Howard in Real Bout Fatal Fury...
, the last chapter in the Fatal Fury series, as the new lead character from the series. Rock appears in the series as the son of Geese Howard
Geese Howard
is a fictional video game character appearing in SNK Playmore's Fatal Fury fighting games series. Debuting in Fatal Fury: King of Fighters, Geese is the local crime boss of the fictional city of South Town. Geese hosts a fighting tournament named "The King of Fighters", in which he faces the...
, the main antagonist from the previous Fatal Fury games, who was killed by Terry Bogard
Terry Bogard
is a video game character created by SNK Playmore , and is the main character of the Fatal Fury series. In the series, he is an American fighter who enters the worldwide tournaments called The King of Fighters to kill Geese Howard, a criminal who killed Terry's father. Terry becomes a formidable...
. However, Terry started to take care of Rock to the point he teaches him to fight. Besides his appearance in Mark of the Wolves, Rock is featured in few games from The King of Fighters series as well as various crossovers from SNK. He is voiced by Eiji Takemoto
Eiji Takemoto
is a Japanese voice actor. His name is sometimes mistranslated as and also sometimes credited as being Hidefumi Takemoto . Takemoto's nickname is Takepon...
. In the English editions from KOF: Maximum Impact
KOF: Maximum Impact
The King of Fighters: Maximum Impact is a fighting game for the PlayStation 2, produced by SNK subsidiary Noise Factory published by SNK Playmore in 2004-2005. An enhanced version was released for Xbox and PlayStation 2 under the title KOF: Maximum Impact — Maniax...
and its sequel
KOF: Maximum Impact 2
KOF: Maximum Impact 2, released in North America as The King of Fighters 2006, is a 3D competitive fighting game produced by SNK Playmore and released for the PlayStation 2 in...
he is voiced by Mike Lane.
Rock has also been featured in manwhua adaptations from the games he has appeared as well as the anime The King of Fighters Another Day. Rock's character has received various responses from video games publications. His debut in Mark of the Wolves has been highly praised by reviewers although some of them considered his character to be too strong in comparison to the others. However, his development in the KOF: Maximum Impact series has been criticized due to his English voice actor and his new outfit.
Conception and design
Rock has blond hair and red eyes. He appears in most games wearing a red, black and white leather jacket. Under the jacket, he has a black t-shirt with short sleeves. He additionally sports black gloves, black leather pants and black shoes. Several of the Miera brothers' prototype designs were assigned to other characters' alternate outfits; in this case, Alba's prototype design became Rock's alternate outfit. Such extra outfit shows him with a brown jacket similar to Terry's in Mark of the Wolves. He also sports jeans and gloves from different colors. His hair is additionally more spiky than how it is normally is. Two of his extra outfits from KOF: Maximum Impact 2 are also cosplays from Kaede, the lead character from The Last BladeThe Last Blade
, is a fighting game series created by SNK for the Neo Geo system. The Korean version of the game is known as "The Last Soldier". The Last Blade and its sequel are widely considered to be two of the most accomplished games available for the Neo Geo system, with fan opinion divided as to which is...
, and Kain R. Heinlein, the final boss from Garou: Mark of the Wolves.
Attributes
In spite of his father's ways, Rock is a warm, friendly and compassionate young man, possessing Terry's strong sense of justice and heroism. Every day, Rock fights off his evil side and tries to get out of the shadow of his father. He is the middle term between Geese's excessive evil and Terry's excessive festive personality. Rock is also a very compassionate man, offering to help those in need such as helping Hotaru Futaba to find her older brother. He also tends to be very uncomfortable and nervous around women, having been raised by men nearly all of his life.His move list is an amalgam of Terry and Geese. He possesses several of Geese's trademark moves such as the and the , in which he throws various energy waves to the ground. He also has the that sends energy to an entire area, the Shinkunage throw, reversals, and the . Moves loaned from Terry include the , a series of ascendent kicks, variants of various moves from Terry, including the , which is a DM version of Terry's . Also, his is a reversal that can be directed high or low akin to Geese, where upon succeeding, Rock slams an opponent with a kick that resembles Terry's . In comparison with his father, Rock still lacks the control over his "evil blood", which boils from time to time hurting him after ending a combat with the Raging Storm and the Deadly Rave. Thus, most of moves taken from his father take him more time for recovering or are less powerful. However, the precedent of his lineage states that Rock has not reached the top of his game yet.
Appearances
Rock makes his first appearance in Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final VictoryFatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory
is a 1995 head-to-head fighting game released by SNK for the Neo-Geo arcade and home platforms. It is the fourth game in the Fatal Fury series after Fatal Fury Special . Console versions of Fatal Fury 3 were released for the Neo Geo CD, Sega Saturn, Windows 95-based computers and on the Wii Virtual...
, in which is revealed how he becomes friends with Terry Bogard
Terry Bogard
is a video game character created by SNK Playmore , and is the main character of the Fatal Fury series. In the series, he is an American fighter who enters the worldwide tournaments called The King of Fighters to kill Geese Howard, a criminal who killed Terry's father. Terry becomes a formidable...
. After Terry kills Geese, he adopts Rock, whom he takes care of like his son. Rock becomes a playable character in Garou: Mark of the Wolves
Garou: Mark of the Wolves
, known as Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves on Dreamcast, is a 1999 fighting game produced by SNK, originally for the Neo Geo system. It is the ninth and final game in the Fatal Fury series, set ten years after the death of Geese Howard in Real Bout Fatal Fury...
, having lived with Terry for ten years. During this time, a new King of Fighters tournament arose under the name "Maximum Mayhem", which Rock and Terry both decide to compete in. By the end of the tournament, Rock finds his final opponent is Kain R. Heinlein, who reveals himself to be both the host and Rock's uncle. Kain, aware that Geese Howard's will held presumably valuable secrets but unable to discover them without assistance, wins Rock's aid in working through the document by offering information regarding Rock's mother—whom Kain claimed was still alive. Terry accepts Rock's decision to become Kain's new partner, with Rock promising to return. In his development blog for KOF: Maximum Impact 2
KOF: Maximum Impact 2
KOF: Maximum Impact 2, released in North America as The King of Fighters 2006, is a 3D competitive fighting game produced by SNK Playmore and released for the PlayStation 2 in...
, Ureshino states that he doesn't know about Rock's mother or the true inheritor of Geese's legacy but hints that it would most likely conflict with Terry.
Despite making several cameos in games from The King of Fighters series, Rock is only playable in the spin-off games KOF: Maximum Impact
KOF: Maximum Impact
The King of Fighters: Maximum Impact is a fighting game for the PlayStation 2, produced by SNK subsidiary Noise Factory published by SNK Playmore in 2004-2005. An enhanced version was released for Xbox and PlayStation 2 under the title KOF: Maximum Impact — Maniax...
and Maximum Impact 2. Both games feature Rock entering into King of Fighters tournaments developed in Southtown prior to the start of Maximum Mayhem. Rock also appears as a playable character in the crossover video games NeoGeo Battle Coliseum and Capcom vs. SNK 2
Capcom vs. SNK 2
Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001, known as Millionaire Fighting 2001 in Japan, is a sequel to the fighting game Capcom vs. SNK. This game was released on NAOMI hardware in the arcade...
.
Rock also appears in the 2006 original net animation
Original Net Animation
An original net animation is an anime that is directly released onto the Internet. ONAs may also have been aired on television if they were first directly released on the Internet. The name mirrors original video animation, a term that has been used in the anime industry for straight-to-video...
The King of Fighters: Another Day
The King of Fighters: Another Day
The King of Fighters: Another Day is an animated series based on the popular fighting game series The King of Fighters. It was produced by Production I.G, and revolves around the plot of the 3-D version titled The King of Fighters: Maximum Impact, along with some touches of the current 2-D series...
. In the second episode Rock finds Lien Neville fighting Billy Kane
Billy Kane
is a video game character created by SNK Playmore . He makes first appearance in the fighting game Fatal Fury: King of Fighters as the sub-boss from the game. In the Fatal Fury series Billy is the right-hand man from Geese Howard, the crime lord from Southtown...
, Geese's former right-hand man, in the Geese Tower. As Lien is about to be killed, Rock saves her, which enrages Billy as he cannot believe that he is Geese's son. As Billy attacks Rock, Lien shoots a laser that takes Billy out of the tower. Memories of Stray Wolves, a twenty-minute featurette
Featurette
Featurette is a term used in the American film industry to designate a film whose length is approximately three quarters of a reel, or about 20–44 minutes in running time - thus midway between a short subject and a feature film; thus it is a "small feature"...
serves as a retrospective of the Fatal Fury series, with Terry narrating the events of the games to Rock. The first seven volumes from the manhua The King of Fighters 2003 by Wing Yen features a short chapter from Garou: Mark of the Wolves based on Rock's training with Terry. In the last of the chapters, Rock fights Grant, who is revealed to be a childhood friend who always protected him. Despite feeling sad for fighting his friend, Rock defeats Grant in order to meet the host of the Maximum Mayhem tournament, his uncle, Kain.
Reception
Rock was voted as the number one favorite character with 190 votes at the time of his debut in Garou: Mark of the WolvesGarou: Mark of the Wolves
, known as Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves on Dreamcast, is a 1999 fighting game produced by SNK, originally for the Neo Geo system. It is the ninth and final game in the Fatal Fury series, set ten years after the death of Geese Howard in Real Bout Fatal Fury...
in a popularity poll from such game developed by SNK. Video games publications have commented on Rock's character, with most of them praising his debut and development in various game. Anthony Chau from IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
noted Rock to be one of the most notable characters from Mark of the Wolves. However, he commented that his moveset was very unbalanced in comparison to the ones from other characters, becoming one of the strongest characters from the game. Gamesarefun.com writer Andrew McClure labelled Rock's moves to be a cross between Terry Bogard
Terry Bogard
is a video game character created by SNK Playmore , and is the main character of the Fatal Fury series. In the series, he is an American fighter who enters the worldwide tournaments called The King of Fighters to kill Geese Howard, a criminal who killed Terry's father. Terry becomes a formidable...
and Geese Howard
Geese Howard
is a fictional video game character appearing in SNK Playmore's Fatal Fury fighting games series. Debuting in Fatal Fury: King of Fighters, Geese is the local crime boss of the fictional city of South Town. Geese hosts a fighting tournament named "The King of Fighters", in which he faces the...
with the exception of Geese's "pretzel" strongest moves. He additionally liked Rock's development in various games, praising his appearance in Capcom vs. SNK 2
Capcom vs. SNK 2
Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001, known as Millionaire Fighting 2001 in Japan, is a sequel to the fighting game Capcom vs. SNK. This game was released on NAOMI hardware in the arcade...
. Greg Kasavin from GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
agreed on this, praising him to be one of the most notable additions from Capcom vs. SNK 2.
Kurt Kalata from Armchairempire liked the creation of NeoGeo Battle Coliseum as it allowed players to use both Geese and Rock for the first time due to how story is behind these two characters and how popular they are. Like Chau from IGN, Kasavin from GameSpot also complained on how much powerful and fast was Rock but in KOF: Maximum Impact
KOF: Maximum Impact
The King of Fighters: Maximum Impact is a fighting game for the PlayStation 2, produced by SNK subsidiary Noise Factory published by SNK Playmore in 2004-2005. An enhanced version was released for Xbox and PlayStation 2 under the title KOF: Maximum Impact — Maniax...
, commenting that he has "no real weakness" even though if the player uses his moves several times. Mike Lane, Rock's English voice actor for KOF: Maximum Impact has been criticized by Ryan Genno from Gamingtarget.com to be one of the worst from the game as gives Rock "as much emotion as a block of cheese." The alternative costume for his character in KOF: Maximum Impact 2
KOF: Maximum Impact 2
KOF: Maximum Impact 2, released in North America as The King of Fighters 2006, is a 3D competitive fighting game produced by SNK Playmore and released for the PlayStation 2 in...
has also been criticized by Luke Albiges from Eurogamer
Eurogamer
Eurogamer is a Brighton-based website focused on video games news, reviews, previews and interviews. It is operated by Eurogamer Network Ltd., which was formed in 1999 by brothers Rupert and Nick Loman. Eurogamer has grown to become one of the most important European-based websites focused on...
who noted it to just look "plain wrong", ruining Rock's "seminal badass" appearance.
External links
- Fatal Fury 15th Anniversary Official Website
- The King of Fighters 10th Anniversary Official Website
- Rock's profile and story at Neo Geo Battle ColiseumNeo Geo Battle ColiseumNeoGeo Battle Coliseum is a 2 on 2 tag team fighting game for the Atomiswave arcade board. The game features characters from several SNK and ADK titles. The PlayStation 2 version of the game has been released in Japan, North America and Europe...
Official Website