Rock Howard

Rock Howard, also known as The Wolf's Pedigree and Fly-By-Night Wolf, is a character from the King of the Fighters series.
== Charactah Account ==
Son of Geese and adopted by Terry. Has a grudge against his father for abandoning him and his mother which caused her death though Kain says otherwise. Although his fighting skills were taught by Terry, he somehow acquired some of Geese's attacks as well. He entered the tournament to find information about his mother.
Rock is a shy man with an inner struggle. Usually as a bit of a gag, he's often nervous around women, especially those older than him, with the exception of Hotaru Futaba (for being kind and compassionate with him). He is also a childhood friend of Kim Kaphwan's sons, Kim Jae Hoon and Kim Dong Hwan.
Rock is shy with women as aforementioned due to being around men throughout most of his early life as Terry was raising him, though in a more serious case of his insecurities, every day Rock fights off his evil side in order not to succumb to it, and tries to get out of the shadow of his father. He often decries the evil blood in him, which intensifies whenever he uses stronger energy-based attacks, which in some cases causes him pain. He is not proud of his heritage and refuses to refer to Geese as his father, stating him to be "that man" or "that person".
== Appearance ==
=== Anime ===
* Garou Densetsu: Memories of Stray Wolves
* King of Fighters: Another Day
* The King of Fighters: Destiny
=== Video Games ===
* Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001
* Days of Memories
* Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory
* Garou Densetsu Special
* Garou: Mark of the Wolves
* Kimi wa Hero
* Neo Geo Battle Coliseum
* Real Bout Fatal Fury
* Real Bout Fatal Fury 2
* SNK Dream Battle
* SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy
* Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
* The King of Fighters '94 Re-Bout
* The King of Fighters 2001
* The King of Fighters 2002
* The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match
* The King of Fighters 2003
* The King of Fighters All Star
* The King of Fighters Neowave
* The King of Fighters x Fatal Fury
* The King of Fighters XIV
* The King of Fighters XV
* The King of Fighters: Destiny
* The King of Fighters: Maximum Impact
* The King of Fighters: Maximum Impact 2
* The King of Fighters: Maximum Impact Regulation "A"
* The King of Fighters: World
== Trivia ==
* Rock, Ryo Sakazaki, Terry Bogard and Billy Kane are the only characters to win a KOF tournament outside the KOF universe.
** Rock, Billy and Terry are the only Fatal Fury series characters to win a KOF tournament.
* Rock, Tizoc, B. Jenet, Hotaru Futaba and Gato are the only original characters of Garou: MOTW who makes an or more appearances in The King of Fighters series.
* Rock's face looks similar to Awakened Kaede from The Last Blade series, featuring nearly identical hair color, style and eyes. Possibly to take a jab at this similarity, SNK Playmore included Kaede's outfit as an extra uniform for both KOF: Maximum Impact games.
** In Kimi wa Hero, Terry was unable to tell them apart and greets Kaede under the assumption that he's Rock.
** He inadvertently caused a redesign for K' due to a similar hairstyle; K' is now wearing his shades constantly since XIII.
* Rock's theme in Garou: Mark of the Wolves, Spread the Wings, uses part of the melody from the late Robert Miles's song, Children. This was intentional as the composer of Garou′s soundtrack is a fan of Miles.
** Unlike some theme song entries in KOF XIV, Rock's original theme does not receive an arranged, new version, but instead is replaced by an entirely new theme, Emergence, possibly due to copyright issues. This also extends to Rock and Geese's Destiny Battle Theme, Way to The Horizon, which contains elements to both Spread the Wings and Emergence.
* Ironically, Rock's predicament of losing his mother Marie, and developing a vendetta against his own father, is exactly the same scenario in Geese's life as well, unwittingly repeating history with his own son.
** The only difference is due that Rock not having a sibling (in Geese's case, with Wolfgang Krauser and Jeff Bogard).
* A character that looks similar Rock Howard appears in the Fatal Fury Team's ending in The King of Fighters 2003. He has blue eyes and an orange-and blue jacket, and blond hair similarly shaded to Rock's. However, this character is not Rock, as he appears as a child in KOF 2003's opening.
* At the time of his debut, he was voted as the number one favorite character with a total of 190 votes.
* Although his canonical appearance in The King of Fighters main series was highly anticipated, the KOF staff revealed that they had no plans to place him in the roster due to their respects for the old Fatal Fury staff; SNK members seem more interested in placing Rock in the next Fatal Fury installment. Despite this, Rock would make his first playable appearance in KOF: Maximum Impact, and then again in a mainline entry, The King of Fighters XIV and later in The King of Fighters XV, for the first time having an official team as the leader of Team Garou.
* In his development blog for KOF: Maximum Impact 2, Ureshino states that he doesn't know about Rock's mother or the true inheritor of Geese's legacy, but hints that it would most likely conflict with Terry. Rock's scenario in KOF: Maximum Impact 2 explores his personal take on the character's actions in the yet to be released Mark of Wolves sequel.
== Gallery ==
File:Rock Howard Render 01.png
File:Rock Howard Render 02.png
File:Rock Howard Render 03.png
File:Rock Howard Render 04.png
File:Rock Howard Render 05.png
File:Rock Howard Render 06.png
== External Links ==
* Rock Howard at SNK Wiki
Category:Characters
Category:Males
Category:King of Fighters