Robert Garcia

Robert Garcia (ロバート・ガルシア, Robāto Garushia) is a character in the King of Fighters video game series. A practitioner of Kyokugenryu Karate, he first appeared as the deuteragonist in Art of Fighting and currently appears in the King of Fighters video game series. Thus far, he has been a playable character in every edition of KOF except The King of Fighters XI (though he was added back in for the Playstation 2 version of the game as a hidden bonus character). He is the first known foreign practitioner of Kyokugenryu Karate, earning the title "The Raging Tiger" or "The Mightiest Tiger" (最強の虎, Saikyo no Tora). According to Neo Geo Freak, he is visually modeled on Andy García and Steven Seagal.

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 King of Fighters character, Goenitz.

Story
Robert is the son of Alberto Garcia, a wealthy Italian businessman and best friend of Takuma Sakazaki, the master of Kyokugenryu Karate. When he was younger, Robert was fascinated with the fighting style as he saw it as a way to escape from his father's shadow in the stifling high class society. Against his father's wishes, Robert trained under Takuma Sakazaki and often sparred with Ryo. As time passed, Ryo became his best friend.

Robert eventually developed romantic feelings for his friend's sister, Yuri. He has held an infatuation 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.

Art of Fighting
In 1978 (by the Art of Fighting timeline), Geese Howard secretly blackmailed Takuma into working for him, which eventually lead to Yuri's kidnapping. Meanwhile, Ryo and Robert began searching Southtown's dojos, dives, and nightclubs for clues about Yuri's disappearance. In the process, they fought Southtown's toughest criminals, bouncers, and martial artists. They eventually learned that Mr. Big allegedly masterminded the kidnapping. Thanks to King, they were able to find Yuri and save her from Mr. Big. In gratitude, he and Ryo later fund for Jan's operation.

After the conclusion of the first King of Fighters tournament, Robert visited Mexico to help Freia Lawrence, a childhood friend, save her friend Wyler. He acts as her bodyguard during their journey through Glasshill. Once he sees his friends reconcile, he follows his father's wishes to head back home and help run the family company. Before he boards the plane out of the city, Yuri surprises him by having her own ticket. They return to Italy together.

Robert's whereabouts after the series conclusion remains unclear. Ryo's backstory from Buriki One and the King of Fighters series seems to imply that Robert eventually takes over his father's company. Despite popular belief, he is still single years after Art of Fighting's conclusion.

The King of Fighters
As one of the successful examples of the Kyokugen style, Robert often partners himself with Takuma and Ryo. Like Ryo, he is often ordered around by their master to proudly represent the Kyokugen dojo. He is overjoyed when Yuri also joins their team and often tries to voice his opinion in her favor. When he learns that King was to be her replacement in The King of Fighters 2000, he is indignant about not having prior knowledge of Yuri's absence and thinks that this is a underhanded scheme for Ryo to get closer to King. He challenges her to prove her worth to the team and they engage in a fearsome kicking contest. Since their match ends in a stalemate, he agrees to let her in the team. The following year Robert and his family are faced with grievous financial problems so his friends and master agree to help him out by winning the tournament.

By the time of The King of Fighters 2003, he is somehow joyfully wealthy again and is confident enough to enter without the demands of his master. The reason for his absence in The King of Fighters XI was due to a simultaneous disaster in his father's company that needed to be solved with Robert's presence. He has enough free time from his family business to participate in the KOF XIII tournament. In the ending, Robert shows a wedding ring to Takuma that Robert want to propose marrage to Yuri, but Takuma disagrees. Both of them end up hitting each other without Ryo, Yuri or King noticing them.

Personality
Robert is the stereotype of the rich partying playboy. He doesn't take life so seriously and always has a smile on his face. He often acts as the reluctant mediator for the Sakazaki siblings though he often sides with Yuri if he can. He is considered to be a natural genius by friend and foe alike.

Robert benefits from his father's wealth. He always wears fancy clothes and drives expensive cars. Despite Ryo and Takuma's constant scrutiny, he sometimes gives luxurious gifts to Yuri. Robert also has an air of cockiness due to his constant wealth, which is seen by his friend Ryo as a sign of rudeness since Ryo's family lives in borderline poverty due to having their finances run the Kyokugenryu dojo.

However, this doesn't mean Robert is a bad person; far from it. He sticks by the Sakazakis' side when they really need it, and is overall a good friend judging from his relationship with the Sakazakis (especially with Ryo, who tends to be his foil). He's also not one to throw down a challenge either, and he works hard for his own karate prowess.

In KOF XIII, Robert is mentioned in Yuri's intro against Benimaru, hinting that despite his nature being similar to Benimaru's, Robert can often show genuine worry over Yuri and can show a bit of jealousy to others who try to get with her. And despite his clashes shown with Takuma in XIII over Robert's proposal to Yuri, even he due to being one of Takuma's students, acts as silly as the Sakazakis at times, as evidenced in the Kyokugen team's ending in XI along with Yuri and Takuma himself.

Powers

 * Gather chi: Robert can gather ki from Gaia, the mother-earth.
 * Energy Projectile: Robert can fire the Ryugekiken and Haoh Shou Kouken blast normally.
 * Multiple Attacks: Robert can channel his ki energy into his legs to deliver multiple kicks at a very fast ratio.

Fighting Style
To counter Ryo, Robert was taught to be the "dragon" of Kyokugenryu Karate, ironic since his nickname call him a "tiger". Robert's style focuses upon lethal kicks, his signature move being the Gen'ei Kyaku (Phantom Leg), along with his Mahha Geri (Mach Kick) from Neo Geo Battle Coliseum and KOF XI being a possible feint attack. He of course, also tends to sport some of the same techniques as Ryo, like the Haou Shoukou Ken.

His fighting style has been reworked through the history of his game appearances, having his first drastic change in KOF '96 with a stationary Ryuugeki Ken and a completely different Hienshippukyaku. In KOF '99 and KOF 2000, all his movesets where changed into charging motions (holding back or down then release into the opposite direction along an attack button), losing several of his traditional moves like his Gen'ei Kyaku or his Ryuuga (this "charge" version of himself would return in KOF 2002UM as EX Robert. Because of these constant reworks on his style, Robert, unlike most fighters, has several different fighting stances differing from game to game. His Ryuugeki Ken (Dragon Strike Fist) has also been one of his most reworked moves, ranging from a simple wave launched from a hand movement (via several different animations for the attack) to being a wave launched from a kick (Ryuugeki Sen/Dragon Strike Flash).

In KOF XII and XIII, he along with Yuri in KOF XI has now a backwards kick command normal called Ushiro Geri (Behind Kick), which functions just like Iori's Yuri Ori. Like Iori in the series, Robert was also one of the few characters to be able to pull of an aerial attack during his backdash.

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

Anime Appearances

 * Art of Fighting (anime)

Similar Characters

 * Another Robert

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 was made to match the older Mr. Karate II and is considered to be an original form of Robert.
 * One of his cards from the SNK vs. Capcom card games involves him using the Hyouchuu Wari (Ice Pillar Splitter), a popular command normal that's been used by Ryo (since both Ryo and Robert use different styles of the same martial art, it is unknown if the Hyouchuu Wari is style exclusive or not). It is likely this is a nod to the ice breaking bonus stage of Art of Fighting.