The title is said in the voice of Wolfgang Krauser in the anime (who's voice and look was exceptionally cool).
Joe Higashi!!!! A champion kickboxer that is one of my favorite characters in KOF. I think his easy-going Fatal Fury attitude is what made him one of my favorite FF characters. Unfortunetaly, Joe isn't even a secondhand man so much as a thirdhand man. Joe is always ignored when it comes to Terry and Andy, his best friends. Why?I mean, Joe has got the natural fighting spirit.
Joe be all in the KOF with his best buds (suds when it comes to the depressed Terry) Andy and Terry, the Fatal Fury Team. This trio originated in... Fatal Fury. The game that launched SNK into the fighting game ring. Joe Higashi is the follow-up guy who leaps before he looks. he's known as the wreckless guy who...leaps before he looks. Joe joined Terry and Andy when they set out to extract revenge on Geese Howard (just all neat Geese). This little excursion was Fatal Fury number one. He and his cohorts succeesded in killing Geese for the first time (many Geese huntings and "killings" will surface later in the series, isn't that illeagal?). When a mysterious man sufaced seeking to challenge only the strongest, Joe and co. decided that they needed to enter that one also, as a trio. This is the introduction of Wolfgang Krauser. The three have been in many tournaments since, always together. They have been in the KOF all five years together.
Yes KOF. No, KOF. KOF in general, Joe joined '94 hoping to prove to the world that he was the best, even better than Terry, who was the fan fav. (How he was going to prove he was better than Terry alongside him). '95 he's back-same team, same reason. '96 is a different srory. Well well well now. Looks who's back. It's Geese AND Krauser(both supposed to be dead), this isn't the first time Geese has resurfaced. He has been in some of the Real Bout Fatal Fury's(anyone who knows anything about the storylines of any Fatal Fury past two can E-Mail me to help me out). So Terry has Andy and Joe join him to finish Geese. Joe likes to fight a lot. He has a great time in any ring. Problem is, Terry and Andy are not going to join the tournament this year('97). Joe ends up just talking ol' persuadeable Terry into joining (to Andy's dismay) and now Andy can't refuse. '98 they are back. probably because Joe wants to be, Andy needed an excuse as to why he isn't joining Mai, and Terry wants to be all lone Wolf-ish(and wants to see Mary)
Not much is known about Joe past his dealings with Terry and Andy because all of the time is spent on terry and Andy's background. But Joe, I think, is way more interesting than either one. He's never depressed, troubled, or worried, and he fights for the dough, the cash, the tree, the green, the dinero,the bones,the green backs, the green stuff... Joe will fight just for fun. Joe is the guy who makes Terry and Andy so interesting. Nothing stirs up conversation like Joe does. He probably is on a constant sugar high. He always teases Andy about his passivity toward Mai, and Terry about his constant flirting with the all-up-and-neto Mary. Joe goes to the point of...showing personal pictures of the moon to opponents during matches.
According to Anime: Now I can really talk about Joe. How did Joe get all involved with the Bogard Bro's 90210-ish saga? Well, one day Joe is in a bar and he notices a certain someone drinking away and being as pervert toward the women of the bar-directly rivaling Joe, who does the same type of thing. Ah, a rival. That other guy was Terry Bogard, a man who had a grudge against local underground mobster Geese. Joe saw a good fight coming, but along come the police and Terry and Joe are gone together. So they decide to be friends, the type that can hang out and drink, (the best thing about both is that neither, unlike the diligent Andy, has hero qualities). So now that Terry has a running buddy, he might as well have him help out with Geese. Joe had taken a natural liking to Terry and was all for something interesting (I don't condone he and Terry's disrespect toward the bar-women at the time, they've shaped up since then though). Joe met Andy through Terry, naturally. Only problem is, Terry and Andy were out to extract revenge while Joe was out for fun. Constantly cracking jokes and poking fun, could this Joe be taken seriously? Well, Joe proves himself at the King of Fighters '92 tournament(one of the best parts of the movie).
"Oh, so Joe showed them he could fight" You might say. No. Geese saw Terry as a threat and decided to bump him off for getting to close to one of his mob women, Lily. Joe caught this just in time, and when someone fired at Terry, Joe took the bullet, thus removing him from play. Actually no. Joe was far from gone. Unfortunetaly, he didn't save the day, as Terry did, but he did get hin his licks (although every cursed hit on him seemed to hit that gunshot wound). That explains his deep friendship with Terry and Andy.
Each went their own way (which they do a lot). Then Terry was beaten by a mysterious man and was reduced to a drunken loser. Joe tried to be a man and get Terry back in the game by commenting on Terry's horrible state and Threatening him with the fact that Andy was going to lose to Krauser also, but the kiddish side prevailed. He had to get revenge on Krauser, so he dressed in a bell-boy get up and sneaks up to Krausers hotel room (Krauser is not at all fooled). Joe is beaten badly, since he's the oriental side kick, and is left in a room of brambles, I mean shambles. A note pertaining to Joe's character. The fight between Krauser and Joe and Terry and Krauser (the first one) is extremely different. Terry is bombarded with insults about his stoney technique as he gets knocked to the ground only to get back up REAL fast only to get knocked down again. Joe is getting insults on how he's making to much noise in such a quiet hotel room as he's beaten into a bloody rotten pulp. When Terry is hit, he wheezes, but gets right back up. Joe is embarrasingly swung by his feet and thrown and when he gets hit, he shuffles on the ground for a bit and then gets up real slow-like. Terry is wrapped in bandages after a fight, Joe has black eyes and is in the hospital just a comparison of the way Joe is Handled compared to Terry. It's no wonder Terry is the hero. It's not fair.
The next predicament Joe gets through without deathdealing injuries. Here you get to see just how much Joe teases Andy, and Joe's constant babbling with Mai. As the trio battles with the "god" of Mars" Joe says cool stuff like "looks like this is the end of our hero." Joe cannot get a serious grip on anything. He is worried most about Terry's depressed nature and doesn't think Terry should go through life wandering around Ryu-style with a duffle bag. Terry reminds joe that money can't buy love, but Joe retorts saying that love is very easy to rent. Although this sound... not right, Joe really is showing that he is concerned for Terry's well being. As for Andy, you get lines like "how was she" and "did ya make a lotta noise or what." Still kinda nasty, this just says it all about Joe's nature.
Believe it or not, most of Joe's personality is expressed through the Anime (that's whe the sections so detailed and ling). When it comes to anything else, Terry and Andy get in the way. It isn't hard to decipher the fact that Joe loves to fight wether you've seen the anime or not. Also, even though Joe wanrs to know when he "gets the girl" he secretly has a crush on Lily Kane. Kane? Oh yeah, she's just the sister to Billy Kane, the man who wants to see Joe's two best friends (and probably wouldn't mind seeing Joe) dead. Unfortunetaly, not much is known about Joe before the Bogard bros. If your know anything, feel free to help me out, I will give you credit. just remember to keep Joe as the center of attention, where he most likes to be (don't put him and Benimaru on the same team)
Joe in the actual KOF rings is a different story. Before '96, he was an above average fighter with a really fast projectile that was hard to avoid. His moves were powerful and quick. In '97 (don't know much about '98 gameplay) Joe is the best. Literally. I'm serious, he is the best character. Since KOF converted to more hand-to-hand combat in '96, Joe's powerhouse kicks and strikes have pushed him to the top. he can unleash TWO short range hurricane uppers and all of his other moves are fast and they come out quick. Just stick to Joe's hand-to-hand strikes. Use the two hurricane uppers to dissipate and counter any full screen projectiles. Use one hurricane to counter full-screen super jumpers (like me...Dah! shouldn't do that). The slash kick is a good counter to any missed... thing. The golden heel can go over some projectiles, but use it for a mucho damage counter for a much anticipated jump. If the jump is not so anticipated, use the tiger kick to take them down (ther's no air battles against Joe). Combo the TNT punches. Best to do it after a jump kick so they'll block low and you can break the block with a weak puch finish. The screw upper DM is a jump counter, best if it hits them as close to the ground as possible. The powered up version can be used even at full screen. Use it if you see any dashing or long lasting special coming your way. The real power is in the Tiger Explosion super, which can interrupt almost anything (maybe not Mary's dynamite swing start-up).
I must say, half the fun of Joe's personality is in his "inferiority" to Terry and Andy. He does anything to try to show them up, kind of, he never goes too far. The Mary-Terry Andy-Mai teasing is the best. Also, the voice actor for Joe in the Anime is Jason Grey Sanford, the neato guy who plays Yusaku Godai's voice in Maison Ikkoku-both parts he plays extremely well.
Now Here! Joe however, meets Andy first in the actual storyline! Beating up a scrap kickboxer in a forest somewhere, a man challenges him to a friendly match and joe accepted as one expects the champ to do. After a little mini-battle, Joe reaches out his hand in gratitude for a good fight, and he wasn't doing so well in the first place. Andy's pampered american looks were enough to fool the wreckless and unthinking Joe into believing Andy, well, sucked. They became friends and so now joe always is on Andy's back about Mai. Andy had introduced Joe to Terry back then, so Terry gets his share of teasing also. When does joe higashi get the girl? Well, it seems he was successful in attracting Ms. lily Kane, and they are dating as of, well i don't know when they started, but they are. Lily Kane, Lily Kane, Kane...Kane... Hey, i've heard of that last name before somewhere. yes, that's Billy Kane's sister! But Joe hasn't heard a word about it from him yet so....
-Sho Reppadan-(Back today and writing more profiles, Ru Hadan is done with his job).
Joe: "I'm just about tired of those "Follow up Terry" rolls and i'm sure all of my millions of fans are to!"
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