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
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 Double Reppuken, the input would either be special + special or ↓ ↘ → + 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.
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 and Ken, Terry'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 | - | |
| Forward tilt | - | |
| Up tilt | - | |
| Down tilt | - | |
| Dash attack | - | |
| Forward smash | - | |
| Up smash | - | |
| Down smash | - | |
| Neutral aerial | - | |
| Forward aerial | - | |
| Back aerial | - | |
| Up aerial | - | |
| Down aerial | - | |
| Grab | - | |
| Pummel | - | |
| Forward throw | - | |
| Back throw | - | |
| Up throw | - | |
| Down throw | - | |
| Floor attack (front) | - | |
| Floor attack (back) | - | |
| Floor attack (trip) | - | |
| Edge attack | - | |
| Neutral special | Reppuken/Double Reppuken | - |
| Side special | Hard Edge/Rage Run (Type Dunk/Shift) | - |
| Up special | Rising Tackle | - |
| Down special | Crack Counter Jou-Dan/Ge-Dan | - |
| Final Smash | Neo Deadly Rave | - |
