Fatal Fury 2 (餓狼伝説２ ～新たなる闘い～, Garō Densetsu 2 Aratanaru Tatakai^?, "Legend of the Hungry Wolf 2: The New Battle") is a 1992 fighting video game released by SNK for the Neo Geo arcade and home platforms. It is the sequel to Fatal Fury: King of Fighters and the second game in the Fatal Fury franchise.

Gameplay[link]

Fatal Fury 2 was the second game in SNK's 100-Mega Shock series, offering improved graphics and gameplay over the original Fatal Fury. The play controls were modified, this time making full use of the Neo-Geo's four button configuration, by including four attack buttons (Light Punch, Light Kick, Strong Punch, and Strong Kick). The player can also dash back from the opponent to retreat by quickly tapping the lever backwards twice.

The two-plane battle system from the first Fatal Fury has been retained. This time, the player can move freely to the adjacent plane by pressing the Light Punch and Light Kick buttons simultaneously for the Plane Move. The player can also perform a Power Attack that will knock the opponent to the other plane. When the opponent is on the other plane, the player can press either a punch button to jump towards the opponent with a Low Plane Move Attack or either a kick button for a High Plane Move Attack. Certain stages have hazards in the background plane, such as electrified wires or a stampede of bulls, and thus the player cannot change planes but can knock the opponent to the other plane to cause extra damage.

Other specialized techniques have been added as well. After the player guards an opponent's attack, they follow it up with a special counterattack technique known as an Evasion Attack. The player can also taunt the opponent by pressing the Strong Punch button from a distance. Fatal Fury 2 also introduces the Desperation Move (or Fury), a powerful type of Special Move which causes massive damage that can only be used when the player's life gauge is at 25% and flashing red.

The Single Player Mode has the player facing against all eight characters (including a clone of the player's character), followed by four non-playable boss characters. After every fourth match, the player will participate in a bonus round for more points.

Plot[link]

After Geese Howard's death in the original Fatal Fury, a mysterious nobleman becomes the sponsor of the new "King of Fighters" tournament. This time, the tournament is held worldwide with fighters around the globe competing. As the Single Player Mode progresses, the mysterious challenger begins defeating the participants from the previous Fatal Fury game, searching for the man responsible for defeating Geese.

Characters[link]

The character roster consists of eight selectable characters: Terry, Andy and Joe from the original Fatal Fury, plus five new playable characters. After defeating all eight playable characters in the single player tournament (including a clone of the player's character), the player faces four non-playable boss characters.

• Playable characters
  • Terry Bogard - an American street fighting champion from Southtown.
  • Andy Bogard - Terry's younger brother and koppōjutsu practitioner.
  • Joe Higashi - a Japanese Muay Thai champion.
  • Big Bear - an Australian wrestler formerly known as Raiden (from the first Fatal Fury).
  • Jubei Yamada - an elderly Japanese judo master once known as "Yamada the Demon" during his youth.
  • Cheng Sinzan - an obese master of taiji from Hong Kong seeking to open his own training hall.
  • Kim Kaphwan - a taekwondo master from Korea.
  • Mai Shiranui - daughter of the head of the Shiranui ninja clan.

• Boss characters
  • Billy Kane - a staff fighting master from the UK seeking revenge on the Bogard brothers and Joe.
  • Axel Hawk - a retired heavyweight boxing champion seeking to make his comeback.
  • Laurence Blood - a former matador who uses a fighting style based on his bullfighting methods.
  • Wolfgang Krauser - a German nobleman seeking to defeat the men responsible for Geese's downfall.

Console versions[link]

In addition to the Neo-Geo AES and Neo-Geo CD versions, ports of Fatal Fury 2 were released for the SNES and the X68000 in 1993, followed by versions for the Sega Genesis, PC Engine Arcade CD-ROM², and Game Boy in 1994. The SNES and Genesis versions were published by Takara, while the X68000 version released only in Japan was published by Mahou Kabushikigaisha (Magical Company). All three versions allowed the player to control the four boss characters. The PAL Sega Mega Drive version is very rare and goes upwards of $200 on online auction sites. The PC Engine version was published by Hudson Soft in Japan only and was one of the first games to require the Arcade Card add-on. The Game Boy version is titled Nettou Garou Densetsu 2 (熱闘餓狼伝説２^?, "Dead Heat Fighters Legend of the Hungry Wolf 2") and features "super deformed" style graphics. However, due to the Game Boy having limited hardware, all voices have been removed, but in their place the characters have speech bubbles when performing a special attack.

The original Neo Geo version of the game is included in Fatal Fury Battle Archive Vol. 1 for the PlayStation 2 (with a choice between the original AES and CD soundtrack) and is available on the Wii Virtual Console service.

Although the Neo Geo was a very popular console in Saudi Arabia in the early 1990s, with home cart sales exceeding 3000 units a year, Fatal Fury 2 was the first game to be banned due to Mai Shiranui's revealing attire.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Fatal Fury 2 at the Killer List of Videogames
• Fatal Fury 2 at GameFAQs
• Fatal Fury 2 review at Neo-Geo.com

Fatal Fury may refer to:

• Fatal Fury (series), a series of sequels following the original 1991 game.
• Fatal Fury: King of Fighters, also known simply as Fatal Fury, a head-to-head fighting game originally released by SNK in 1991 for the Neo Geo arcade and home console and later ported to other platforms.
• The Fatal Fury, a team of Fatal Fury characters which appears in The King of Fighters series.
• Fatal Fury: Legend of the Hungry Wolf, a Japanese animated TV special based on the original game which originally aired in 1992, with an English dubbed version later released on home video in 1994.
• Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture, a Japanese animated feature film released theatrically in 1994 which follows the above TV special and its sequel (Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle). An English dubbed version was released on home video in 1995.

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Terry Bogard (テリー・ボガード, Terī Bogādo^?) is a video game character created by SNK Playmore (previously SNK), 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 fighter, earning the title of "Legendary Hungry Wolf". In the fourth tournament he participates, Terry nearly kills Geese, but recants from doing so. Geese responds to this by apparently committing suicide. Terry then decides to become the guardian of Geese's son, Rock Howard.

In addition to video game, Terry has appeared in anime films based on his adventures from the Fatal Fury series, as well as soundtracks and manga serialized to Japanese monthly manga magazine Comic Bom Bom. He is also a regular character in the crossover video game series The King of Fighters, in which he continues participating in tournaments. Dating back to the first Fatal Fury, Terry is one of SNK's first fighting game characters and has appeared as a playable character in every Fatal Fury and main King of Fighters game to date.^[7][8] The character has been well received by video games players; he is ranked high in several popularity polls developed by SNK and video games magazines. Publications have praised the character and how he was developed from Fatal Fury to The King of Fighters. He is prominently featured on merchandise from SNK and their crossover series, becoming an icon for them.

Character design[link]

In most of the Fatal Fury and King of Fighters games, Terry wears a red, short-sleeved jacket with a white star on the back worn over a short-sleeved white t-shirt; occasionally, the shirt is sleeveless and occasionally has tattered sleeves.^[9][10] In the original Fatal Fury, however, Terry wears a red leather jacket that features rolled-up sleeves.^[11] He also wears fingerless gloves, blue jeans, a pair of red Chuck Taylor All Star shoes, and a red-and-white baseball/trucker cap. The character has long, blonde hair, but keeps it tied in a ponytail with bangs around his forehead/cheeks.^[9][10]

In Mark of the Wolves and other recent games, Terry's design consists of a brown bomber jacket with a white star on the back with the words "Running Wild" below it, as well as a white shirt, blue jeans, and brown boots. His hair, while still notably long, is considerably shorter than his former ponytail, and flows freely instead of braiding it.^[12] All of the main King of Fighters games up until 2002 feature Terry in his Fatal Fury 2 outfit. The King of Fighters 2003 and XI feature the Mark of the Wolves depiction.^[13][14] In The King of Fighters XII, Terry was given his Fatal Fury 2 outfit once again because the staff wanted to "use the most macho, stand-out, original Terry" as well as to keep in line with the "original clashing of fists."^[15]

Attributes[link]

Terry Bogard is typically a cheerful and friendly fellow to everyone around him. He seems to bear no ill will towards anyone other than Geese Howard, the killer of his adoptive father. He and his younger brother Andy Bogard were orphans adopted by Jeff Bogard, who was killed by Geese Howard when Terry and Andy were children. Wishing to take revenge, Terry trained alone in the streets until he developed a unique fighting style which combines boxing, kung fu, kickboxing and street fighting moves.^[16] He became strong enough to enter The King of Fighters tournament, in which he is often referred to as the Legendary Hungry Wolf (from Legend of the Hungry Wolf (餓狼伝説, Garou Densetsu^?), the Japanese title of his first appearance) for his remarkable skills. Although Terry manages to defeat Geese, he tries to save him when Geese is about to fall from a tower. Geese refuses this help, and seemingly falls to his death, though he's since returned in numerous games.^[17] Some time after that, Terry met Geese's son, Rock Howard, and started taking care of him. He treats Rock as his son, but gives him some freedom of choice.^[18] Terry appears to fit many Japanese stereotypes for an American character in appearance, personality and speech (his in-game vocabulary is usually limited to American colloquialisms, such as "Okay!" and "Hey, c'mon, c'mon."). He has a pet monkey named Ukee (ウッキー^?) which commonly appears around him in some games. Terry is also streetsmart as his knowledge of what goes on in the streets and slang is vast.^[19] During the Fatal Fury series, Terry meets Blue Mary, with whom he appears to have a longtime relationship.^[20]

Appearances[link]

In video games[link]

Terry has served as the lead character of the Fatal Fury series since his debut in the first game. The original Fatal Fury centers around Terry and his younger brother Andy, who enter the King of Fighters tournament to avenge their father's death, who was murdered a decade ago by the tournament's sponsor, Geese Howard.^[16] Along with their friend Joe Higashi, they manage to defeat Geese who dies falling from a tower after fighting one of the three main characters.^[21]

The numerous Fatal Fury sequels released afterward feature Terry and his friends competing in new tournaments. The initial sequel, Fatal Fury 2, introduced a new antagonist for Terry to defeat named Wolfgang Krauser, who tries to conquer Southtown.^[22] By Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory, Terry continues his fight against Geese who survived his apparent death and now seek revenge against Terry and other rivals.^[23] Real Bout Fatal Fury concludes the Bogard and Howard rivalry by killing off Geese at the end of the game.^[17] Two subsequent Real Bout sequels were produced, Real Bout Fatal Fury Special and Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers, featuring Terry although neither game contains any storyline.^[24][25] A 3D fighting game version of the series, Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition was produced as well, which retells the plot of the first game.^[26] Terry Bogard's character would be reinvented for Garou: Mark of the Wolves, which features an older Terry as the mentor of Geese Howard's son, Rock Howard. During this time, Terry and Rock enter a new King of Fighters tournament dubbed Maximum Mayhem.^[27]

After the release of Fatal Fury 2, Terry appeared in The King of Fighters '94, where he serves as the leader of the game's "Fatal Fury" team alongside his younger brother Andy and Joe. The King of Fighters series, which was originally conceived as a crossover of SNK's previous video game franchises, eventually established their own self-contained continuity set apart from the previous Fatal Fury series and Terry became a staple in both franchises.^[28] While the Fatal Fury Team's members change various times across the series, Terry remains as the team's leader.^[29][30][31] The King of Fighters XII and The King of Fighters XIII bring back the character in his Fatal Fury 2 outfit.^[32]

The Fatal Fury Team remains as in the first KOF in the games without storyline: these games include The King of Fighters '98, The King of Fighters 2002 and Neowave.^[33][34][35] In The King of Fighters: Kyo, a RPG centered on Kyo Kusanagi, Terry appears when Kyo goes to South Town, and helps him to fight Geese Howard.^[36] In the two games for the Game Boy Advance titled EX: Neo Blood and EX2, the Fatal Fury also participates in the new tournaments.^[37][38] Terry also appears in the KOF: Maximum Impact sub-series in both his Fatal Fury 2 and Mark of the Wolves outfits, with the latter being labelled as "Wild Wolf" (ワイルドウルフ^?).^[39] He is also playable in the shooter game Sky Stage.^[40] Terry also stars in the crossover video games NeoGeo Battle Coliseum and SNK vs. Capcom series; in the former in his Mark of the Wolves outfit, and the latter in his Fatal Fury 2 outfit.^[41][42]

In other media[link]

Terry Bogard is the central character of a trilogy of Japanese animated Fatal Fury films, where his character is voiced by Shōnentai lead singer Nishikori Kazukiyo in the Japanese originals and Mark Hildreth in the English dubs. The first two movies, 1992's Fatal Fury: Legend of the Hungry Wolf and 1993's Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle, loosely follows the storylines of their respective games, while the third film, 1994's Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture, features an original storyline. The first film introduces a new love interest for Terry Bogard named Lily McGwire, an orphaned girl raised by Geese Howard. Lily is killed by Geese during the first film, but she appears in both sequels as a spirit who guides Terry.^[43][44] The third film introduced a new love interest for Terry named Sulia, the younger sister of antagonist Laocorn Gaudeamus, who sacrifices herself in the end of the film to help Terry defeat her brother.^[1]

Terry also plays a supporting role in the 2006 original net animation The King of Fighters: Another Day. Terry appears in the episode "Accede", where he is voiced in the Japanese version by Satoshi Hashimoto, his voice actor from the video games, and Tony Carroll in the English dub.^[45] Satoshi Hashimoto also voiced Terry in Memories of Stray Wolves a twenty-minute featurette which serves as a retrospective of the Fatal Fury series, with Terry narrating the events of the games to Rock.^[46] Terry is also featured in the volume 3 from the soundtracks series SNK Character Sounds Collection released by Pony Canyon. The CD features several songs based on his character.^[47] He is appears in several mawhua, including the Fatal Fury series, The King of Fighters and SNK Vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos which retell the stories from its respective games.^[48][49] The first seven chapters from the manhua The King of Fighters 2003 by Wing Yen features a short chapter from Garou: Mark of the Wolves that tell Rock's training with Terry.^[50] His character is also part of a social action program created by SNK Playmore named "Nakoruru & Terry Club". The organization supports children to guide them to a better future.^[51] David Leitch portrays Terry in the 2010The King Of Fighters movie.^[52]

Reception[link]

Terry is frequently used to symbolize the company in crossover games, merchandise and publicity.^[53] During the KOF Year-End Party in 2005, a fan event made by SNK, the character's cap was given to every fan in attendance.^[54] His character has been well-received by fans, appearing in several video games popularity polls. In Gamest's 1997 Heroes Collection, Terry was voted as the staff's eighth favorite character.^[55] In a popularity poll by SNK for the release of Garou: Mark of the Wolves, Terry ranked 2nd with a SNK staff commenting that "Terry's the eternal hero".^[56] A character popularity poll on the website Neo Geo Freak journal resulted in Terry as the fourth favorite character from the series with a total of 2,479 votes.^[57] He was voted as the number one fan favorite character with a total of 10,014 votes in a 2005 poll made by SNK-Playmore USA.^[58] For the special endings in The King of Fighters '97, three video games publications, Gamest, Famitsu and Neo Geo Freak, had to create a team composed of three characters from the game so that they would be featured in an image after passing the arcade mode. The Gamest's team created a team composed of Terry, Blue Mary and Joe Higashi. The special ending only appears in Japanese versions of the game.^[59]

The character has received praise and criticism from several media publications. GameSpot reviewer Frank Provo commented that one of Fatal Fury's biggest accomplishments is the creation of Terry Bogard and for making him appear in later sequels.^[60] Damien McFerran praised Terry's design, saying that he is "emanating so much coolness it’s little wonder that SNK otaku can always be seen wearing his trademark red cap".^[61] Dale Nardozzi from Reviews Teambox also praised Terry's distinct appearance. He further commented that his clothes is one of the most common cosplays at every convention with video game importance.^[62] Andrew Sztein from GamingExcellence commented that Terry was one of his favourite characters from the series. He mentioned that he liked his design because as "he should be working at Petro Canada part time" and added that his mispronunciation of English quotes are quite funny.^[63] IGN reviewer Ryan Clements also found preference over Terry from all the other characters in the Fatal Fury series, commenting he liked how the character played in each game.^[64] Dan Whitehead from Eurogamer praised each part of Terry's appearance that makes him look cool. He also commented that Terry is one of the most popular characters from Fatal Fury although he is "rather bland".^[65] UGO.com listed Terry's baseball cap thirteenth on their list of "The Coolest Helmets and Headgear in Video Games", calling it "completely badass" despite its reading of "Fatal Fury."^[66] Den of Geek listed Terry 3rd in their "best fighting game characters" list with editor Harry Slater commenting "Bogard is a stark reminder of the glory days of the two dimensional fighter".^[67]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Terry Bogard

Joe Higashi (ジョー・ヒガシ, Jō Higashi^?, also written as 東 丈 Higashi Jō) is a video game character created by SNK Playmore (formerly SNK). He makes his first appearance in the fighting game Fatal Fury: King of Fighters as one of the three playable characters from the game. The Fatal Fury series introduce Joe as a goofy Muay Thai fighter who enters the King of Fighters tournament along with the Bogard brothers (Terry and Andy) in order to defeat the host Geese Howard to take revenge for the death of Terry and Andy's father. In the meantime, Joe also seeks to fight new rivals through the tournament and keep practicing Muay Thai. Joe is also a recurring character in The King of Fighters series, as part of the Fatal Fury Team initially composed of Joe, Terry and Andy. He was also added to the crossover Capcom vs. SNK Pro along with the sequel Capcom vs. SNK 2.

Apart from the video games, Joe has also appeared in the animated films from the Fatal Fury series which retell the story from the games. His character has been well-received by gamers, appearing in several popularity polls developed by video games journals and website. He has also become a mascot from the Neo Geo Freak journal. Video games publications have liked Joe's character, having noted his gameplay and development in games.

Character design[link]

Joe normally fights wearing a headband with the Japanese flag, short pants and bandages around his arms. He also has black hair, which is short in the first Fatal Fury game, but becomes long in the following games. In the first Fatal Fury game and The King of Fighters XII, Joe wears yellow shorts with orange lines and an orange belt. He also sports bandage above his feet and his hands.^[1] In Fatal Fury 2 and most The King of Fighters titles, Joe wears orange pants with yellow lines and without a belt. He also has more bandages, which now cover more his arms and legs.^[2] In Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory and Real Bout Fatal Fury, he once again sports yellow pants but with a red belt and sign on it saying "Joe".^[3] In the two following titles, Real Bout Fatal Fury Special and Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers, Joe now wears blue pants with red lines and a red belt, and now has blue socks instead of his bandages in the legs.^[4] Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition features Joe with a similar appearance from the one of Fatal Fury 2, but with orange and black pants. In various titles from The King of Fighters, Joe has his Fatal Fury 2 outfit but with red socks and with the belt saying "Joe". It has been revealed that Joe had unintentionally taught the first Pidgey the attack move Gust whilst practicing his signature move, the hurricane upper.^[5]

Attributes[link]

Although Joe's place of origin is Japan, he spent the majority of his time in Thailand, where he trained Muay Thai. It was through his victories that Joe got the nickname "Hurricane Upper" Joe Higashi. Joe earned his title as the champion of Muay Thai by beating Hwa Jai in a Muay Thai only tournament.^[6] Hwa Jai later joined the King of Fighters tournament in order to exact revenge against Joe but failed, and after admitting his defeat they're good friends and sparring partners. Ever since then, Joe has been defending his title against lesser opponents. At first, Joe was a stoic character who lived for fighting and training. As time passed, he becomes a pretty goofy man who self proclaims himself to be a genius with mostly everything. He does not take battle as serious as the Bogards, but he loves to fight. He dates Lilly Kane, the sister of Geese Howard's right-hand man, Billy Kane.^[7] Billy greatly disapproves this, normally going to the point of "rescuing" his sister from Joe.^[8]

Appearances[link]

In video games[link]

Joe first appears in Fatal Fury: King of Fighters as one of the three playable characters along with Andy and Terry Bogard. The plot features Joe allying with the Bogard brothers to enter the King of Fighters tournament and the defeat the host Geese Howard, who killed the Bogard brothers' father. In the tournament, Joe also beats his Muay Thai rival Hwa Jai, and they both become friends. In Fatal Fury 2, Joe learns that Hwa Jai was beaten by the new King of Fighters host Wolfgang Krauser and enters the tournament to avenge him.^[9] Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory and Real Bout Fatal Fury end the fight between Joe and the Bogard and Geese, who dies falling from the Geese Tower.^[10] The two following games, Real Bout Fatal Fury Special and Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers also feature Joe as a playable character but none of them contain a storyline.^[11][12] Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition retells the events from the first game, but with characters who would appear later.^[13]

In The King of Fighters series, Joe is a regular member from the Fatal Fury Team (also composed of Terry and Andy), and each game features them entering into an annual tournament to search for competition. Andy's girlfriend Mai Shiranui, joins them in The King of Fighters '99 since the tournament now requires four members per team.^[14] By The King of Fighters 2000 and The King of Fighters 2001, Mai leaves and the new fourth member is Blue Mary.^[15][16] The King of Fighters 2002 and The King of Fighters 2003 return the tournament to use teams of three members, but in the latter pro-wrestler Tizoc replaces Andy, who is busy taking care of his sick student.^[17][18] By The King of Fighters XI, Joe leaves the competition as he enters into a new Muay Thai tournament.^[19] However, he returns in The King of Fighters XII, which neither features official teams or plot.^[20] The sequel casts Joe back into the classic Fatal Fury team that includes Terry and Andy, the reason being Terry's desire to reunite the original team to participate in the upcoming tournament. In the spin-off The King of Fighters Kyo, the player (who uses Kyo Kusanagi) can challenge Joe to a fight in a game, and also make him join to his team for the upcoming King of Fighters tournament.^[21] Joe also takes a minor role in The King of Fighters EX as an assistant character (dubbed "Striker") for the Fatal Fury Team, now composed with the Bogard brothers and Mai.^[22] Additionally, he stars in The King of Fighters Neowave with the original Fatal Fury Team.^[23] He was also added to the crossover game Capcom vs. SNK Pro, an updated version of Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 for the PlayStation and Sega Dreamcast, and in the sequel Capcom vs. SNK 2.^[24][25]

In other media[link]

Joe Higashi appears in the each of the three animated films from Fatal Fury. Jason Gray-Stanford provides the voice of Joe in the English versions. Masaaki Satake provides the voice of Joe in the Japanese version of the first film and Nobuyuki Hiyama in the two following. In the Fatal Fury: Legend of the Hungry Wolf from 1993, Joe enters the King of Fighters tournament along with the Bogard brothers which cause Geese Howard to attack them. Upon learning that Andy and Terry's teacher, Tung Fu Rue, was seriously injured by Geese's right-hand man, Billy Kane, Andy and Joe set to fight Geese. None of them are able to defeat Geese, but are saved by Terry who later defeats Geese.^[26] In the 1993 film Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle, Joe becomes ashamed after learning that Terry became depressed after being defeated by Wolfgang Krauser and tries to avenge him. However, he ends up being heavily wounded by Krauser.^[27] In Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture from 1994 Joe joins Terry, Andy and Mai into helping a woman named Sulia into stopping her brother Laocorn Gaudeamus, who is the main antagonist from the film.^[28]

Reception[link]

The character of Joe has been well-received by gamers, having ranked high in several popularity polls. In Gamest's 1997 Heroes Collection, Joe was voted as the staff's thirty-ninth favorite character. He shared the spot with four other characters, including Fatal Fury character, Jin Chonrei, and Street Fighter character, Zangief.^[29] In the character popularity poll on Neo Geo Freak's website, he was voted as the second favorite character with a total of 3,654 votes.^[30] The character of Joe also became Neo Geo Freak's main mascot for reviews and new regarding games from SNK.^[31] For the special endings in The King of Fighters '97, three video games journals, Gamest, Famitsu and Neo Geo Freak, had to create a team composed of three characters from the game so that they would be featured in an image after passing the arcade mode. The Gamest's team created a team composed of Terry Bogard, Blue Mary and Joe. The special ending only appears in Japanese versions of the game.^[32]

Video games publications have commented on Joe's character, adding praise and criticism to his traits and development. Joe has been noted to have similar moveset to Andy and Terry in the first Fatal Fury game by Spanner Spencer from Eurogamer.^[33] Instead, IGN reviewer Lucas M. Thomas commented that Joe is the most unique of the three characters playable in the game, noting his Thai boxing fighting style and its effects.^[34] Harry Slater from Acegamez agreed on this, noting Joe's gameplay to be more destrutive and slower than the ones from the Bogard.^[35] Gamezone writer Eduardo Zacarias has also found that Joe is a good example of the large number of variations of special moves each character has in latter games from the series, noting Joe to be "the master of the powerful TNT Punch".^[36] His absence in The King of Fighters XI has been complained by Luke Albiges from Eurogamer, who added it is curious how he was removed from the game despite being a popular character within gamers.^[37]

Hip Hop artist Del the Funky Homosapien made a song titled "King of Fighters" in which the cocky protagonist rapping claims to be called "Joe Higashi" and, through an onslaught of taunts, threatens to use moves like "Tiger Kick" and "Hurricane Uppercut" (both Specials on the characters move list).

References[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Joe Higashi