Joe Higashi

"'The fate of martial arts himself! His fists are a storm chaser's dream come true! JOE HIGASHI.' - The King of Fighters XV"Joe Higashi ( or ) is a character in both the Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters series, used mainly for comic relief. He tried to date Lilly Kane, a relationship which her brother greatly disapproves. His official nickname is "The Young Champ of Muay Thai".

Development
The development team wanted to make a fighter who filled the same role as Ki Ranger from Himitsu Sentai Gorenger. In contrast to Terry and Andy, the "hero" characters who have to shoulder the heavier and more serious plotlines, Joe is meant to be more of a "clown-ish" character and a "life of the party" type. He was modeled after the lead character of Abarehacchaku.

Personality
At first, Joe was a stoic man who lived for fighting and training. As time passed, he became a pretty goofy man who self-proclaims himself to be a genius with mostly everything. He doesn't take battles as seriously as the Bogards, but he loves to fight. If Joe could, he would fight every fighter he sees. He loves the spotlight and the glory of victory.

Powers

 * Multiple Attacks: Joe can punch several times with incredible speed.
 * Energy strikes: Joe can infuse his strikes with chi energy, being able to cause more damage than normal.
 * Explosive strikes: Joe can deliver a punch of tremendous strength that generates explosive force upon contact. He has also shown to causing small explosions with some of his super moves, such as his Tiger Kick.
 * Aerokinesis: Joe has shown some limited aerokinesis, the power of controlling air and wind.
 * Hurricane: With an uppercut, he can create a small hurricane that moves forward. He named this attack Hurricane Upper. The stronger version is Screw Upper, a tornado-like vortex that can cause severe damage to his opponents.

Skills

 * Survival: Joe learned his way to survive in Thailand's jungles, where he trained to hone his skills.

Fighting Style
Joe uses traditional Muay Thai moves, combined with hurricane summoning and a tiger-naming motif in a number of his attacks.

Voice Actors

 * Katsuhisa Namase - Fatal Fury (2+Special); The King of Fighters '94
 * Nobuyuki Hiyama - Fatal Fury 3~The King of Fighters XIII
 * Kōzō Mito - The King of Fighters XIV~present
 * Chiharu Sawashiro - The King of Fighters for Girls
 * Masaaki Satake - Fatal Fury: Legend of the Hungry Wolf
 * Jason Gray-Stanford - Animated films (English voice)
 * Kazuki Yao - Dengeki Bunko drama CD series

Live Action Actors

 * Benny Wong - Fatal Fury Special live action commercials

Appearances
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Games

 * Fatal Fury: King of Fighters
 * Fatal Fury 2
 * Fatal Fury Special
 * The King of Fighters '94
 * Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory
 * The King of Fighters '95
 * Real Bout Fatal Fury
 * The King of Fighters '96
 * Real Bout Fatal Fury Special
 * The King of Fighters '97
 * The King of Fighters: Kyo
 * Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers
 * Real Bout Garou Densetsu Special Dominated Mind
 * The King of Fighters '98
 * Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition
 * Fatal Fury: First Contact
 * The King of Fighters '99
 * Capcom vs. SNK Pro
 * Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001
 * The King of Fighters 2000
 * The King of Fighters 2001
 * The King of Fighters EX: Neo Blood - As a Striker for the Fatal Fury Team
 * The King of Fighters 2002
 * The King of Fighters 2003
 * The King of Fighters Neowave
 * The King of Fighters '94 Re-Bout
 * The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match
 * The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match
 * The King of Fighters XII
 * The King of Fighters XIII
 * Garou Densetsu The Legend of Wild Wolf
 * Garou Densetsu Special
 * Garou Densetsu Sougeki
 * CR The King of Fighters
 * The King of Fighters XIV
 * The King of Fighters XV

Mobile

 * Days of Memories (Fourth and Ninth title) - Unplayable; text only cameo in the fourth
 * Garou Densetsu vs Fighter's History Dynamite - Boss character, Garou Densetsu side
 * SNK Dream Battle
 * The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match Online
 * Metal Slug Defense (Unlockable)
 * Crash Fever
 * Kimi wa Hero
 * The King of Fighters Destiny (Game)
 * The King of Fighters: World
 * The King of Fighters All Star
 * The King of Fighters: Orochi Go
 * The King of Fighters M: Fighting Stars Assembly
 * The King of Fighters for Girls

Cameos

 * The King of Fighters XI - During the Fatal Fury Team's ending
 * KOF: Maximum Impact 2 - Background cameo
 * SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos - Passing mention in Terry's ending
 * Athena On Stage - During mini-game
 * The King of Fighters (Pachinko)
 * The King of Fighters 2
 * KOF Sky Stage - In-text cameo in Terry's ending
 * Nariyuki Quest
 * SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy - his Hurricane Upper appears in the gameplay; also mentioned by Terry in Story Mode
 * The King of Fighters EX2: Howling Blood - in the Fatal Fury Team's ending
 * Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - appeared in Terry's Reveal Trailer, background cameo in King of Fighters Stadium Stage and a spirit

Anime
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 * Fatal Fury: Legend of the Hungry Wolf
 * Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle
 * Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture
 * The King of Fighters: Destiny

Etymology

 * The name Joe means "height, length, stature, measure, all" (丈).
 * Joe's surname Higashi means "east" (東).

Trivia

 * Joe's headband is a personal gift from his grandmother. She gave it to him before he went for his Muay Thai training in the hopes that he would "never forget his Japanese spirit."
 * In the KOF Station Channel XIV, the Fatal Fury developers state that Joe was never intended to be a comedy character like he was in the KOF series.
 * Although not confirmed outright, it is implied from within the Fatal Fury Team's backstory in The King of Fighters XIV that he got rejected due to his incident with a drag queen at the end of KOF XIII.
 * In Gamest's 1997 Heroes Collection, Joe was voted as the staff's thirty-ninth favorite character. He shared the spot with four other characters, including Fatal Fury character, Jin Chonrei, and Street Fighter character, Zangief. In the character popularity poll on Neo Geo Freak's website, he was voted as the second favorite character with a total of 3,654 votes.