User:TotallyNotAutomated/Rock Howard


 * Rock Spreads his Wings!

WORK IN PROGRESS; FEEDBACK APPRECIATED

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

, 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 that uses special inputs for his special moves, much like, , and  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, , and , 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.

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.

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.