User:TotallyNotAutomated/Rock Howard

Rock in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Universe	Fatal Fury
Availability	Downloadable
Final Smash	Neo Deadly Rave

“	Rock Spreads his Wings!	”
—Introduction tagline.

WORK IN PROGRESS; FEEDBACK APPRECIATED

Rock Howard is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and the second third-party representative from SNK.

Yuuma Uchida, who voiced Rock in The King of Fighters XIV and onwards, reprises his role as the character in all regions.

Attributes

Rock is a tall, middleweight fighter, weighing around the same as Joker that uses special inputs for his special moves, much like Ryu, Ken, and Terry before him. He also shares their trait of always facing the opponent in 1v1 matches. His walk, air, and run speeds are all average and the mechanics surrounding him reward players for keeping their distance and attacking in short, powerful bursts.

Much like Terry, Rock has special inputs to add more power to his special moves, complete with a second side special. Also like Terry, there are four variations to each special move depending on how the inputs are done, but Rock handles them much differently. Most of Rock's special moves change drastically between the weak and strong versions, so instead of how long a button was pressed determining between the weak and strong variations, they can simply be switched out by pressing the special button (or attack button when doing an input with an attack button) again before a certain time to "break" the special move into its variant. Usually this involves mashing the attack button. For example, to do a strong Hard Edge, the input would either be → + special + special or ↓ ↘ → + attack/special + attack/special This is based off a similar mechanic from Garou: Mark of the Wolves where certain special attacks could be "broken" to help carry out combos. Reppuken will become Double Reppuken, Hard Edge adds an extra hit like in its strong variant, Rage Run Type "Dunk" becomes Rage Run Type "Shift", and Crack Counter Jou-Dan becomes Crack Counter Ge-Dan. The only exception is his Rising Tackle which "breaks" traditionally like in The King of Fighters XIV to set up combos. To make up for this, his Rising Tackle is naturally better than Terry's. However, when broken in the air, it goes even higher than normal.

Additionally, he has a special mechanic that will give him access to more special attacks like Terry. In his case, Rock brings the S/P-power gauge from Garou: Mark of the Wolves. It consists of three meters that each fill up slightly quicker than the Final Smash meter and are carried between KOs. The meter is filled up through attacking, getting attacked, and even taunting. The first "meter" isn't truly a meter itself but rather "fills up" to get the real meter to appear, which can then be filled to S-power and then P-power. It will stay unless the game detects players using his S/P-power moves too quickly, where it will then reset and force the player to get it back. With the S-power meter full, Rock will unlock Raging Storm and Shine Knuckle. With the P-power meter full, Rock's hidden special moves will be upgraded into Neo Raging Storm and Rising Force, which are able to kill at much lower percents. Using any of these hidden special moves will make the meter start draining. Before the meter runs out, the moves can be used as many times as the player wishes. Once it runs out, no matter if the gauge was at S-power or P-power, the meter will return to an emptied state, forcing the player to build up the S/P-power again.

Rock's main weakness is that he, ironically, has little combo potential with the way his specials reward a "hit-and-run" mentality. His best combo tool is his admittedly pathetic break Rising Tackle. He also fares badly against speedy characters who can catch up to him from afar and evade his quicker attacks. While his S/P-power moves are very powerful, the time it takes to earn them and their timed availability in comparison to Terry's Super Special moves make them very risky despite being an integral part of his playstyle.

Moveset

• Like Ryu, Ken, and Terry, Rock always faces his opponent in one-on-one matches.
• Rock has three meters which can be filled up by doing attacks, taking attacks, or taunting. 2 meters brings him to S-power and unlocks Raging Storm and Shine Knuckle. 3 meters brings him to P-power and unlocks Neo Raging Storm and Rising Force. "S-power" and "P-power" icons straight from Garou: Mark of the Wolves appears next to his character portrait
• Uniquely, Rock's moves don't have traditionally weak and strong variants, but rather regular and break variants, activated by pressing the attack/special button again before a certain part of the executed special move. The break variants either extend or radically change the moves.
  • Also like Ryu, Ken, and Terry, Rock's input specials utilize "negative edge", where specials can be performed on the release of a held attack button after performing certain stick motions.

	Name	Description
Neutral attack	Jab/Low Kick/Hook	Rock throws out a jab, a low kick, and finishes with a left hook. The last hit has decent knockback and the jab combo is a decent option to cancel into special moves like with Terry. Based on his standing light punch, standing light kick, and standing close heavy punch in Garou: Mark of the Wolves respectively.
Forward tilt	Middle Roundhouse	A mid-level Roundhouse kick. Based on his close standing heavy kick in Garou Mark of the Wolves.
Up tilt	Sok Ngat	A rising elbow strike in Muay Thai, based on his close standing light punch in in Garou Mark of the Wolves. It's noticeably angled slightly more upward than the original move it's based on.
Down tilt	Shin Kick	A crouching hapkido-style shin kick, based on his crouching light kick in Garou Mark of the Wolves.
Dash attack	Elbow Spike	Rock skids into an elbow. Based on a command normal in Garou Mark of the Wolves and The King of Fighters XIV.
Forward smash	Parabola Kick	A 360 inner crescent kick. Based on a command normal in Garou Mark of the Wolves and The King of Fighters XIV.
Up smash	Wild Upper	A squatting uppercut, notably inherited from Terry. Based on his crouching heavy punch in Garou Mark of the Wolves.
Down smash	Front Sweep	A short yet powerful sweep with his leading leg while crouching. Based on his crouching heavy kick in Garou Mark of the Wolves.
Neutral aerial	Air Elbow	A downward aerial elbow. Based on his air light punch in Garou Mark of the Wolves.
Forward aerial	Side Kick	An aerial side kick. Based on his air light kick in Garou Mark of the Wolves.
Back aerial	Jump Roundhouse	An aerial roundhouse kick, done with the leg behind Rock. Based on his air heavy kick in Garou Mark of the Wolves.
Up aerial	Overhead Kick	An aerial bicycle kick. Based on his T.O.P attack in Garou Mark of the Wolves, albeit slightly modified to better suit an up aerial.
Down aerial	Jump Karate Punch	A downward angled cross. Based on his air heavy punch in Garou Mark of the Wolves.
Grab	-	Rock reaches out with both arms.
Pummel	Knee	Rock knees the opponent in the abdomen while grabbing them. Based off his close standing light kick in Garou Mark of the Wolves.
Forward throw	Fangs and Claws	Rock does a right hook and a high roundhouse kick out of the grab. Based on a throw in The King of Fighters XIV.
Back throw	Rasetsu	Begins with a Shinkuu Nage similar to one of Geese's before blasting the enemy out of the air with a powerful ki blast once they're behind him. Based on a command throw he has in Garou Mark of the Wolves and The King of Fighters XIV.
Up throw	Axe Kick	An axe kick that knocks the opponent upward. Based on the second hit of a command normal in Garou Mark of the Wolves.
Down throw	Kokusen	Rock brings the enemy behind him and throws them over his shoulder and into the ground. Based on his throw in Garou Mark of the Wolves and a throw in The King of Fighters XIV.
Floor attack (front)		Does a spin kick from the ground starting from in front of him before getting up. Not based on anything for once.
Floor attack (back)		Same as his front floor attack.
Floor attack (trip)		Same as his front floor attack.
Edge attack		Climbs up and fires and brief ki blast.
Neutral special	Reppuken/Double Reppuken	Rock sends out a small gale of wind to travel along the ground in front of him. If the attack/special button is pressed before the Reppuken is fully launched, it gets broken into Double Reppuken, where he keeps the Reppuken by him for a little longer, and giving it a hitbox to attack nearby opponents while adding another Reppuken to it, before launching it to create a bigger, yet ironically less damaging, Reppuken. He will either shout "Reppuken!" or "Double Reppuken!" depending on which variant is used. In the air, Rock simply creates a large wing of ki in front of him that does about equal damage but greater knockback than a regular Reppuken.
Side special	Hard Edge/Rage Run (Type Dunk/Shift)	Rock charges into the enemy in a quick short dash with his elbow, dealing good damage and knockback. If the attack/special button is pressed before the attack ends, it gets broken into Strong Hard Edge, where a palm strike infused with ki is added at the end. The motion is ↓ ↘ → + attack or special/Rock runs up to the enemy and does a quick Power Dunk while blue wings of ki sprout from his back briefly. The dunk is very effective against crouching opponents and the wings do very little damage and knockback, about equal to a forming Double Reppuken, but it's enough to deter most attackers from behind. Rock will shout "Dunk!" during the Power Dunk portion of this attack. The attack can be broken into Rage Run Type Shift during the initial dash before Rock initiates the dunk, where Rock will instead dash behind the enemy. This attack works best when the opponent is completely not expecting it, or used as a horizontal recovery, as the initial dash into the actual Shift still covers a good amount of distance in a relatively short time. The motion is ↓ ↙ ← + attack/special.
Up special	Rising Tackle	Rock jumps into the air, preforming an upside-down double clothesline with his arms and a drilling kick with his legs. This is Rock's main recovery tool, and even the ground unbroken version goes slightly higher than Terry's. The motion is c.↓ ↑ + attack/special. When it comes to breaking, this move is unique in that it has more than one break variant to make up for the fact that charging in the air is impractical. When broken before Rock ascends into the air, the move is cancelled, though anyone caught in the startup still gets affected normally, making a great lead-in to combos. When broken before the Rising Tackle reaches its peak height in the air, the move will be broken into strong Rising Tackle which covers about the same height as Mr. Game & Watch's Fire special and grants brief invincibility. Of course, any version except the ground break variant will put Rock into a helpless state. Rock will shout "Rising Tackle!", though the ground break variant will cut this off.
Down special	Crack Counter Jou-Dan/Ge-Dan	Rock positions himself ready to counter an attack. If he's hit with a physical attack that doesn't hit his legs, he counters with a Crack Shoot. The move can be broken at any time into Crack Counter Ge-Dan, where he's positioned to counter low attacks but is vulnerable to high ones. The counter can't be turned back Jou-Dan, meaning Rock players have to actually be smart about their counters. For once. The motion is ← ↙ ↓ ↘ → + attack/special, though it's not recommended to use this in most cases.
Final Smash	Neo Deadly Rave	Rock will shout "DEADLY RAVE!" while striking a pose before dashing forward, and anyone who's hit is then treated to a series of extremely powerful punches and kicks before finishing with a ki blast. Like final smashes such as Triforce Slash, the first person or people to get hit by the dash will then be subjected to the full Final Smash. Anyone who ends up caught in the final smash while it's going on will also take the full damage of the hits but may have a chance to escape.

Special Gauge Moves

When Rock's gauge is filled to either S-power or P-power, he will be able to activate the meter and preform special moves for a limited time. Neither move can be preformed in the air, and the input for both moves is ↓ ↘ → ↓ ↘ → + attack/special. The move changes based on which button is pushed. The attack button will give (Neo) Raging Storm and the special button will activate Shine Knuckle/Rising Force.

	Input	Description
(Neo) Raging Storm	↓ ↘ → ↓ ↘ → + attack	Rock will cross his arms and bend over, unleashing a huge flurry of extremely powerful purple winds from around him. A great anti-air and best used against opponents close to Rock in a position where Shine Knuckle can't connect, like behind or above him. When activated with the P-power gauge full, the winds will become larger, more powerful, and be tinted a shade of light blue. He will shout "RAGING STORM!" or "NEO RAGING STORM!" depending on which move is used.
Shine Knuckle/Rising Force	↓ ↘ → ↓ ↘ → + special	Rock will do a quick, short dash in front of him. If he connects, he'll follow through with a yellow ki-infused punch that deals multiple hits. When activated with the P-Power gauge full, the short dash will instead lead into a powerful shoulder tackle which will then lead into a devastating Rising Tackle. Rock will say "Kurai na!" ("Eat this!") when activated and follow through with a battle cry if the attack connects in both versions.

On-screen appearance

Rock dashes onto the stage, presumably using his Rage Run Type Shift, and unzips the cuffs of his jacket's sleeves while saying "Genkai made...tobasu ze!" ("Until my limit... I'll fly on!").

Taunts

All three taunts are taken from Garou: Mark of the Wolves. The up taunt is his normal taunt and the other two are his hidden taunts.

• Up taunt: Stretches his arm out forward and says "Shan toshi na!" ("Do it properly!").
• Side taunt: Turns away and runs his hand through his hair.
• Down taunt: Shrugs, then facepalms.

Idle poses

• Quickly fixes his hair. Done when crouching too.
• Leans over and puts his hands on his hips before getting back into his regular stance. Inspired by one of Blue Mary's idle animations.

Victory poses

All three victory poses are taken from Garou: Mark of the Wolves.

• Left: Turns around and lets wings of blue ki flourish from his back, saying "Doko mademo...agaiteyaru" ("It doesn't matter where...I'll fight"). Based on his regular round 2 victory pose.
• Up: Takes off his jacket and tosses it in front of him, saying "...abayo" ("...later"). Based on his round 2 victory pose when finishing with a Shine Knuckle. Will always play when Rock finishes a battle with Shine Knuckle or Rising Force.
• Right: Grabs his arm, surging with ki, in pain and gasps in agony before the ki extinguishes and he slumps over, panting and exhausted. Based on his round 2 victory pose when finishing with Neo Raging Storm or Neo Deadly Rave. Will always play when Rock finishes a battle with Raging Storm, Neo Raging Storm, or Neo Deadly Rave.

Universe

Rock brings with him both updates and new additions to the Fatal Fury universe.

Music

Rock comes with nearly every track from Garou: Mark of the Wolves as well as a few other select tracks from The King of Fighters series. They are:

Original Tracks

• "Spread the Wings - Garou: Mark of the Wolves": A new arrangement on Rock's stage theme in Garou: Mark of the Wolves.
• "Sunrise on the Train - Garou: Mark of the Wolves": A new arrangement of Terry's stage theme in Garou: Mark of the Wolves.
• "Invincible Mask - Garou: Mark of the Wolves": A uniquely new arrangement of Tizoc's stage theme in Garou: Mark of the Wolves, specifically remixed to sound like a pro wrestler's theme.
• "Destruction Maniac - Garou: Mark of the Wolves": A remix of Grant's stage theme in Garou: Mark of the Wolves. It's notably much faster paced than the original and even more intense to make it more fitting of Smash's more frantic gameplay.

Source Tracks

• "Loose Genius - Garou: Mark of the Wolves
• "Fullmoon - Heartful - Garou: Mark of the Wolves"
• ""From Brazil - Garou: Mark of the Wolves"
• "Ninja or Monkey? - Garou: Mark of the Wolves"
• "Wilderness Policeman - Garou: Mark of the Wolves"
• "All Over With Blood - Garou: Mark of the Wolves"
• "Bad Girl? - Garou: Mark of the Wolves"
• "Fullmoon - A Groan - Garou: Mark of the Wolves"
• "Too Honest - Garou: Mark of the Wolves"
• "Kiss of Poison - KOF XI"
• "Emergence - KOF XIV"

Stage

(TBA)

Spirits

(TBA)

Other

The King of Fighters Stadium still includes Rock as a background character but he will never appear if Rock is being played with on the stage. Instead, if he's chosen to appear, he will be replaced with Tizoc, who is the character with easily the most staying power in the King of Fighters series, appearing playable in 3 KoF games, as opposed to runner-up Gato who has only been in two. His animations consist of him spinning once and raising a fist, taken from a taunt, and him leaning back with both arms raised and his mouth open, taken from one of his victory poses. Sometimes he'll appear randomly or if a certain music is playing. If Tizoc and Rock have both been selected as a background character and Rock is fighting on the stage, the background Rock will be replaced with a random other character.

The new music added also ads some new music-specific cameos, mostly referencing the connections certain characters have to the ones represented by the music of Garou: Mark of the Wolves.

Cameo	Songs
Rock Howard	Spread the Wings - Garou: Mark of the Wolves Emergence - KOF XIV
Tizoc	Invincible Mask - Garou: Mark of the Wolves Kiss of Poison - KOF XI Spread the Wings - Garou: Mark of the Wolves (When Rock is fighting) Emergence - KOF XIV (When Rock is fighting)
Andy Bogard	Ninja or Monkey? - Garou: Mark of the Wolves
Ryo/Yuri Sakazaki	From Brazil - Garou: Mark of the Wolves
Blue Mary	Wilderness Policeman - Garou: Mark of the Wolves