the Raging Tiger, Robert Garcia
Robert Garcia is a video game character created by SNK Playmore, formerly known as SNK. Robert stars in the fighting video game Art of Fighting as the lead character along his best friend Ryo Sakazaki. The game features both of them as practitioners of the Kyokugenryu Karate fighting who search for Ryo's younger sister, Yuri Sakazaki, who was kidnapped by a criminal named Mr. Big. He is additionally featured in most of The King of Fighters crossover games, in which starts into the King of Fighters tournament in teams composed of three members. Thus far, he has been a playable character in every edition of KOF except The King of Fighters XI; however, he has recently been added back in for the PlayStation 2 version of the game.
Robert has additionally appeared in the film adaptation of Art of Fighting, and the manhua from The King of Fighters. He received mixed critics from video games publication, which praised his design, but some also noted him similar to the Street Fighter main characters. He has also been well-received by gamers, appearing in several popularity polls developed by journals and websites.
Character Design
Robert Garcia's initial design
In the first Art of Fighting Robert sports a black t-shirt with short sleeves, a sleeveless brown jacket and a gold medallion around the neck. He also wears white pants, white and black shoes and black gloves. He has the same outfit in the following Art of Fighting but without sleeves in his t-shirt. This costume is also featured in the first two The King of Fighters as well as The King of Fighters XII. In the third Art of Fighting game, Robert has a light blue jacket with his top uncovered and does not wear his medallion. He also sports white gloves and brown shoes, but keeps having his white pants.
Attributes
Robert's trademark build and arrogance
Robert is the son of Alberto Garcia, a wealthy Italian businessman and best friend of Takuma Sakazaki, the master of Kyokugenryu Karate. Alberto persuaded Takuma to teach Robert discipline through Kyokugen-ryū. While living with his new sensei, Robert quickly befriended Takuma's children, Ryo and Yuri. Ryo became his best friend, and Robert eventually developed romantic feelings for Yuri. He has held a special relationship with Yuri ever since he first met her, and would likely wed her if not for Takuma and Ryo, who either overprotect Yuri out of habit or suspect that Robert might take her for granted. However, Yuri then also comes to like Robert, which Ryo notices and tells Yuri to follow him. Robert is described as being both determined and arrogant.
Gameplay
Robert uses the Kyokugen-Ryu fighting style to fight but focusing more on kicks attacks unlike Ryo and Takuma who focus on punches. Robert is the only character to ever possess three different super levels containing the same move. In King of Fighters 2002, he possessed DM, SDM, and HDM versions of the Ryūko Ranbu (Dragon-Tiger Crazy Dance), each with increasing hits per damage, the final one being unblockable as well. Along with Chizuru Kagura, he is one of the characters whos move input changes most constantly between games, though he occasionally reverts to his original moveset. For example, in The King of Fighters 99 and 2000, he was a "charge-motion" type character, like Leona or Ash Crimson.
Story
Robert fighting Lee while searching for Yuri
In Art of Fighting, Yuri is kidnapped by the criminal Mr. Big. As such, both Ryo Sakazaki and Robert go to Southtown to interrogate fighters untile finding Mr. Big. Following defeating Todoh and Jack, Robert faced off with King. Despite putting up a hard fight, Robert was no match for King's unique set of skills. Her speed and strength allows her to easily overwhelm Robert and defeat him without even taking a single hit. King ridicules Robert as she lands the finishing blow, causing Robert to lay unconcious in his trademark defeat pose - on knees, head down, with butt in the air. Ryo arrivles shortly after to save Robert. After defeating Mr. Big, Ryo and Robert face an assasain
Robert was defeated and humiliated by King at L' Amour
named Mr. Karate. Mr. Karate defeats Robert. Robert falls down on his knees and beg Mr.Karate to reveeal Yuri's whereabouts. Disguted by his shameful act, Mr.Karate knocked him unconcious. until Ryo arrives.. Ryo nearly finishes him off, but Yuri sneaks in and tells Ryo not to harm him since Mr. Karate is their father, Takuma. After saving Yuri, Robert and Ryo decides to spar to test their strength. Ryo easily defeated Robert, humiliating him in front of Yuri and Takuma. Robert decides to train more after realizing how weak he is after suffering multiple defeats during his search for Yuri.
The second Art of Fighting game features Robert, Ryo, Takuma and a now fighter Yuri entering into the first King of Fighters tournament held by Geese Howard, the main responsible for the kidnap. In Art of Fighting 3 Robert visits Central America to help Freya Lawrence, a childhood friend, save her brother Wyler, whose demonic power made him go berserk.
Robert during the King of Fighter tournament
In the The King of Fighters series, Takuma, Ryo, and Robert are part of the Art of Fighting Team. After The King of Fighters '95, Yuri replaces Takuma who is feeling too old to fight. With the arrival of The King of Fighters '99 and its teams of four, Takuma returns to the Art of Fighting team. In The King of Fighters 2000 Yuri defects to Mai Shiranui's team, leaving King to replace her. As The King of Fighters 2001 approached, the Garcia Foundation went bankrupt due to the NESTS cartel's intrigues. In order to help Robert recover the money and cheer him up Yuri returns to the Art of Fighting team. With the coming The King of Fighters 2003 adjusting teams back to three members, Takuma once again retired from competition to let Ryo, Robert, and Yuri form a team.
Though the Garcia Foundation no longer faced liquidation as it did in The King of Fighters 2001, it needed significant help to rebuild its prior fortunes, causing Robert to be absent in The King of Fighters XI. He is playable in The King of Fighters XII, but like each character, he does not have an official team. He also appears in the spin-off The King of Fighters Kyo, in which he helps the main character Kyo Kusanagi into finding his girlfriend Yuki. Alongside an aged Ryo Sakazaki from Buriki One, an aged Robert appears in Neo Geo Battle Coliseum with moves largely from The King of Fighters 2000 and The King of Fighters 2003. He also appears in this form as a hidden character in the PlayStation 2 version of The King of Fighters XI. In The King of Fighters game without storylines The King of Fighters 2002 and The King of Fighters Neowave the Art of Fighting Team remains as in '94, while in The King of Fighters '98 and The King of Fighters 2002: Unlimited Match, it appears with Yuri taking Takuma's place. Both of these latest games also feature an "EX" version of Robert with his moves from the Art of Fighting series as a playable character.
Art of Fighting Movie
Robert engages in a fight with King in the New York Finals, he expresses his arrogance and condescensnion by mocking her techniques, proclaming that fighting isn't for girls and commented that her "Cobra Strike" was slow and weak.His overconfidence and arrogance led to his defeat, Robert was no match for King's unique set of skills. Her speed and strength allows her to effortless evade his attacks and easily overwhelm him. obert could not evade the attack, and thus took the direct hit. Upon taking the hit, Robert strive to maintain comp
usure, but he was unable to recover from the devasting assault. Upon seeing Robert in pain, King ridicules Robert for being unable to handle such a weak attack. She walks up to Robert, commanded him, an authoratative voice, "sit, boy, and beg for mercy." Robert immediately falls victim to the excrutiating pain. The match ending in a victorious King proudly standing next to a defeated Robert who's lying unconciously in his infamous defeat pose - on knees, head down, with butt in the air.
Trivia
- One of his winposes is him tossing and catching a coin. The coin is a reference to his story in Art of Fighting, where his father gave it to him before he left the Garcia mansion. His father did it so Robert could remember his roots and one day come back to it. It wasn't brought to focus again until Art of Fighting 3 although it appeared sooner than that. The coin was included as a very rare extra along with stickers in the limited edition Neogeo CD release of the game.
- His older appearance in Neo Geo Battle Coliseum is not intended to be tied with any continuity. It w
as made to match the older Mr. Karate II and is considered to be an original form of Robert.
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In the games and movies, in order to strengthen Ryo's prominence as the primary main character, Robert was given a unique trait to him- a humiliating defeat pose. In the fighting game, this infamous defeat pose involves a weakened Robert falling onto his knees, then slumping fowarding into a disgraceful pose where he is bent-over with his face down and butt sticking up. SNK designers stated the reason for this was to ensure Ryo is the main protagonist while Robert is only the deuteragonist. Also, humliating Robert is a great way to offset his pride, as forcing Robert to assume a pose that involves him getting on his knees, bending foward, planting face on the ground, and sticking his butt up is suitable punishment for being an arrogant jerk.
Interestingly, in Art of Fighting 2 Robert only assumes this pose when defeated by Yuri via a special move during the final round. Her victory quote involves her forcing her boyfriend to bow down to her. Referring to his defeat pose, it is implied that he succumbed to her demands, prostrating before her and pleading for mercy. Designers comment that this was done to add humor and to symbolize Robert's humiliation by being defeated by Yuri, whom is not only his girlfriend, but also the character with the least amount of training and fighting experience, and that he belittle her attempt to start fighting in tournaments. Fans often joke that Robert is whipped by Yuri in their relationship because of her ability to send a him, who is prideful and egotistical, down on his knees with his butt sticking up.
- In animated movie series of Art of Fighting as well as the fanmade live action, Robert assume his infamous defeat pose.
- During the ending of King of Fighters VIII, Robert reveals to Takuma that he wishes to wed Yuri, and he already purchased a ring, in which Takuma heavily dissapprove. Despite this, Robert and Yuri has yet to wed.
- Storywise, Robert is depicted to be far weaker than Ryo, probably because he trained far less and is less determined than Ryo. He has yet to win any major tournaments, and his canon performance in the King of Fighter tournament is merely lukewarm.
Music
- Swing the House - Art of Fighting 2
- Mojo - Art of Fighting 3
- Ryuuko no Ken - The King of Fighters '94
- Yureru Otokogokoro - The King of Fighters '95
- Kamikirimushi - The King of Fighters '96
- Art of Fight - The King of Fighters '98
- Ryu-Ko - The King of Fighters '99
- The Beauty and the Beast - The King of Fighters 2000, 2002, EX
- Fight to the Limit - The King of Fighters 2001
- Kyoku-gen - The King of Fighters 2003
- Kyokugen Training! ~ Mountain Seclusion - The King of Fighters XIII
- After a Long Absence - The King of Fighters XIII (when the music is set to "Type B", console version only, shared with Ryo and Takuma Sakazaki)
- Tiger & Dragon - The King of Fighters XIV
- ART OF FIGHT ~ Ryuko to Tsubame (Art of Fight ~ Dragon, Tiger, and Swallow) - The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match
Voice Actors
- Eiji Yano - Art of Fighting (during battle)
- James W. Hove- Art of Fighting (during demo), Art of Fighting 2 (English voice)
- Kay Inage - Art of Fighting 2 (Japanese voice), The King of Fighters series ('94, '95, XI - XIII), Neo Geo Battle Coliseum
- Go Shinomiya - The King of Fighters XIV
- Mantarō Koichi - Art of Fighting 3, The King of Fighters series ('96 - 2003), The King of Fighters: Kyo
- Masanori Ikeda - Art of Fighting anime
- Nick Sullivan - Art of Fighting anime (English voice)
- Hideo Ishikawa - The King of Fighters '94 Dengeki Bunko drama CD
Live Action Actors
- Timothy Lowell - Art of Fighting 2 commercials
Game Appearances
- Art of Fighting
- Art of Fighting 2
- The King of Fighters '94
- The King of Fighters '95
- Art of Fighting 3: The Path of the Warrior
- The King of Fighters '96
- The King of Fighters '97
- The King of Fighters: Kyo
- The King of Fighters '98
- The King of Fighters '99
- The King of Fighters 2000
- The King of Fighters 2001
- The King of Fighters EX
- The King of Fighters 2002
- The King of Fighters EX2
- The King of Fighters 2003
- The King of Fighters: Neowave
- Neo Geo Battle Coliseum
- The King of Fighters XI - PS2 port only; cameo in the Art of Fighting Team's ending otherwise
- The King of Fighters XII
- The King of Fighters XIII
- The King of Fighters 2002: Unlimited Match
- Quiz King of Fighters
- Ryuuko no Ken (Pachislot)
- CR The King of Fighters
- The King of Fighters XIV
Mobile Appearances
- Days of Memories (fourth and eighth titles) - NPC; in-text cameo in the fourth
- Athena On Stage - quiz contestant
- SNK Gals Island Senkan Battle Gekichinshichaouzo!
- Metal Slug Defense (unlockable)
Cameo Appearances
- Capcom vs. SNK 2 - in-text cameo
- SNK vs Capcom: SVC Chaos - in Ryo and Mr. Karate's ending
- KOF: Maximum Impact 2 - background cameo, Mr. Karate's Another Outfit-Variation G, Yuri Sakazaki's Normal Outfit-Variation F
- KOF Maximum Impact Regulation "A" - background cameo
- Garou: Mark of the Wolves - in Hokutomaru's stage during the third round.
- The King of Fighters: Battle de Paradise
- The King of Fighters (pachinko)
- The King of Fighters 2
Reception
Robert has been well received by gamers and has appeared in popularity polls from journals and websites. In Gamest's 1997 Heroes Collection, Robert was voted as the staff's forty-sixth favorite character. He shared the spot with seven other characters, including Samurai Shodown character, Hattori Hanzo, and Darkstalkers character, Demitri Maximoff. In January 30, 1995 issue of Gamest magazine in Japan, Robert ranked at No. 36 (tied with Iceman from X-Men: Children of the Atom) in list of Top 50 Characters of 1994. Videogame publications have commented on Robert's character, adding praise and criticism.
David Simpson fro AceGamez noted Robert to be very similar to the Street Fighter main characters due to his practice in karate and his relation with Ryo Sakazaki as both are best friends and rivals. Videogamer.com writer Wesley Yin-Poole labeled Robert and Ryo as "two double-hard bastards" and commented they had the best designs from the Art of Fighting series in comparison to the other characters who had "wicked" appearances. Spanner Spencer from Eurogamer also added that Robert had the best appearance from all the characters of the Art of Fighting series but labelled him as a "greasy yuppie". In a review from The King of Fighters XI, Eurogamer writer Luke Albiger noted Robert's addition to the game as hidden character is a good way to compesate the several recurring who were absent. However, Kurt Kalata from Armchairempire.com criticized that unlocking Robert in that game was "a pain" due to the difficult challenges the players has to do to unlock him.