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 Garcia 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 after he kidnapped Yuri. 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.

One of Mr. Big's henchmen led Ryo and Robert to Mr. Big, and Robert defeated him. When he demanded that Mr. Big release Yuri, Mr. Big sent them to a dojo where his henchman Mr. Karate purportedly held Yuri. Exhausted from his fight with Mr. Big, Robert stepped aside to let Ryo fight Mr. Karate. Ryo nearly used a Haoushoukouken to finish him off, but Yuri, having escaped her captors unharmed, sneaked in and told Ryo not to harm him since Mr. Karate was really their father, Takuma. Then they had a joyous reunion.

After the conclusion of the first King of Fighters tournament, Robert visited Central America 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.

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 doko. 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 is 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.

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 constant poverty due to having their finances run the Kyokugenryu dojo.

Powers

 * Gather chi: Robert can gather ki from Gaia, the mother-earth.


 * Energy Projectile: Robert can fire the Kouken 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
Robert uses the Ryugeki principle of Kyokugenryu Karate. This is the second lowest grade of Kyokugenryu Karate, thus between Raiou and Kou-Ou but closer to the latter. Robert's style focuses upon lethal kicks, his signature move being the Genei-kyaku or Spirit Kick.

Music

 * Swing the House - Art of Fighting 2
 * Mojo - Art of Fighting 3
 * Ryuuko no Ken - The King of Fighters 94
 * Ryuuko and Ken - The King of Fighters 95
 * Kamikirimushi - The King of Fighters 96
 * Art of Fight - The King of Fighters 98, 2002
 * Ryu-Ko - The King of Fighters 99
 * The Beauty and the Beast - The King of Fighters 2000
 * Fight to the Limit - The King of Fighters 2001
 * Kyoku-gen - The King of Fighters 2003

Voice Actors

 * Eiji Yano - Art of Fighting (during battle)
 * James W. Hove - Art of Fighting (during demo)
 * Kay Inage - Art of Fighting 2, The King of Fighters series ('94~'95, XI), Neo Geo Battle Coliseum
 * 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 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
 * The King of Fighters '98: Ultimate Match
 * The King of Fighters XII
 * The King of Fighters (pachinko)
 * Quiz King of Fighters
 * Days of Memories (eighth title)
 * SNK vs Capcom: SVC Chaos - cameo in Ryo and Mr. Karate's ending

Anime Appearances

 * Art of Fighting (anime)

Similar Characters

 * Another Robert

Trivia

 * One if 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 comeback to it. It wasn't brought to focus again until Art of Fighting 3 although it appeared sooner than that.