And forgot about this. When Orochi started to stir again in the Those from the Past storyline (seriously, there are so many dangling threads here), K’ lost control again. This wasn’t a malfunction, or just him slipping; it was the Kusanagi blood in him, combined with his ineptitude in handling it.
Hey, this is neat.
Huh. This reminds me of the talk there used to be around about how Ash, instead of stealing Kyo’s flames, could potentially steal K’s. That would have been something. Of course, he didn’t do either, in the end, so…
Yeah, the way the story was going, I was expecting Ash to take Kyo’s fire, leaving everyone thinking that all hope was lost, until K’ stepped forward with his borrowed Kusanagi blood to fulfill the unlikely hero role and justify his continued presence in the storyline. But as you say, the story just… checked out.
I guess perhaps there was some sort of plot developing around K’s powers but due to the messiness surrounding the games of the Ash arc it kind of fell by the wayside. Maybe SNK’s coming back to it in 14. I really do like the concept of the Ash arc and Ash himself but it all ended as wasted potential. I wonder if it would have gone better if the games had a steady production cycle.
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XI did so many interesting things both plot and character-wise, and the only thing that XII used was Claw Iori. Such a shame.
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So what is Rock Howard’s status in the canon, what’s a guy got to do to get him back
well, if Geese isn’t (un)dead in the current KOF timeline, there’s no reason for Terry to adopt Rock. He’s still a crimelord’s kid, presumably being raised by servants. Or maybe he’s even with his mother and/or uncle.
Unless they decide to actually make MOTW2 (or another Maximum Impact game), I imagine he’ll likely only show up as non-canon DLC.
Or maybe they could make a King of Fighters Junior with all the characters who are still in junior high. Finally, Jan makes his playable debut!
Well, on the KOF14 website
Rock’s appeared in Terry’s winposes in KOF (he runs out and mimics Terry pointing) and he’s still a kid. I have no idea what the story behind that is though.
Rebellious child Rock DLC incoming.
I like to think it’s more youthful rebellion. I like to think that Geese comes off as one of those super-busy no-fun high-earner dads to Rock who never has any time for him. Think a dad in a 90’s kids’ movie or something. Whereas we, the player, see him at his “best”, having a blast at his job ruling Southtown vice and PREDICTABO’ing whatever fool came to Geese Tower today to avenge their dead dad.
So Rock acts out by hanging out with what he thinks is his dad’s #1 enemy. Though I would think Geese’s attitude towards Terry is more “which one were you again? Weren’t you a ninja? Damn Bogards all look alike.” Which his dad will never see or care about because he has Storms to Rage and Deadlies to Rave. I’m not sure he even remembers he has a kid! But it all works out because Terry is a lovable illiterate who lives on a train while his brother makes something of his life. Perfectly healthy environment for a troubled young man with a criminal dad!
So basically I think of Geese more as Jimmy Pesto from Bob’s Burgers than anything else. Which I guess makes Billy his sycophant bartender?
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It’s complicated. Rock, you see, is illegitimate. His mother raised him in poverty (as I recall). When she died, he was left on his own – much as Terry and Andy were, and even their adopted father Jeff before them. He’s never really known Geese in a significant way, and certainly never been recognized. If anything, Billy is more of a son to Geese than Rock ever was.
Ignoring the Art of Fighting time-shift, the KoF timeline seems to diverge from the Fatal Fury one after Fatal Fury 3. FF3 is where Terry adopts Rock.
http://www.vgmuseum.com/end/neogeo/a/fatal3terry.htm
As others have said, Rock does pop up with Terry (albeit way, way too young) in Kof2k1, and occasionally in the off-screen storylines accompanying each game. And the Ash-era games, of course, tried to transition to the Mark of the Wolves timeframe, which should have been happening chronologically around then.
But, Geese seems never to have died in the KoF timeline. There was no Real Bout, or Real Bout didn’t end the same way. This was ambiguous for a while; aside from KoF’96, which came out the same year as Real Bout, Geese was absent from the series for years. When he was referenced, it was with a wink, suggesting that he was dead. Then, out of nowhere, Billy’s story in KoFXI 2003 directly involved Geese, and hey presto, officially he wasn’t dead! Apparently he never had been. Which is interesting, considering the previous ongoing effort in transitioning KoF into Mark of the Wolves territory.
EDIT: 2003, not XI. I often mix up the character rosters for those two.
http://www.vgmuseum.com/end/neogeo/c/kof2k3out.htm
Nothing that we’ve seen in KoF depends on Geese having died. Rock was already living with Terry anyway; presumably his angst takes a different form with his real dad still alive. I’m sure that Hotaru would still be searching for her brother whether or not Geese was in the world. Geese holds no bearing on Tizoc’s antics. And so on.
But, really, KoF’s handling of the Geese issue is inconsistent at best. You can easily slap mental bandages over the inconsistencies and say, okay, this can make sense – but it’s not worth pretending that it does on its own. It’s just best to take each game on its own and say, okay, at this moment, these seem to be the assumptions at play. They may not match the assumptions in the previous game or the next one, but they’re what’s happening now.
(Then we also have the Max Impact series, which is its own continuity apart from either Fatal Fury or KoF, but seemingly much closer to Fatal Fury.)
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Not that it matters, at all; ever -
but, any bets on the rest of the Hekkausho-ing up?
(Vice + the Mature one [ghosts] being why I ask…)
'cuz Gaidel is kinda deceased and who knows what up with the other 1(?)…
I dunno if SNK wants to go back to the Hakkeshu well. Pretty sure Vice and Mature came back less cause SNK wanted to tease a new Orochi arc and more because they were missed from 96/98/2k2 and wanted to dust them off so players could enjoy them again in glorious 12/13 2D. Yamazaki as one of the Hakkeshu always seemed to be kinda jokey to me (“lol this dude is crazy, we’ve had lots of people going crazy lately, let’s say he’s got Orochi blood for fun”), but I don’t mind, long as I can Guillotine and Drill people.
Then again, I’m for bringing anybody back who was fun to play in the old games, canon cohesion/narrative utility be damned. I love that they brought back Vice and Mature and they decided to team up with the guy who killed them in 96 again. (“On the one hand, Yagami, you kinda killed us. On the other hand, you’re never not high tier. If you can keep your teeth behind your lips, we’re down to do it again.”)
If they announce the New Face Team for DLC I will probably do a Shermie dance in the street.
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I would prefer if those jerks stayed dead. Now, if you brought back Rugal as a cyborg programmed by Rose, I would be all for that.
I thought it was a pretty doofusy thing even to bring them back in 2002, especially at thr expense of so many charactets and elements from thr NESTS saga that had just ended. Why Rugal AGAIN, instead of Krizalid or Zero or someone?
UM addressed most of those concerns (apparently SNK agreed!), and even made a hilarious bonus out of Rugal, turning him into a NESTS bionic zombie. Good stuff.
Honestly I’d have removed the Orochi-era characters from the active roster and made them bonus characters for people who really wanted them there.
I care about king of fighters contiunity in the way that I hate Zelda fans for doing.
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So the question is: is KOF XIV in the timeline where Ash died and became the Hero of Light or did Iori win and this became the World of Music and Feeding Stray Cats Milk?
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