Gato

"'He might be the strictest martial artist in the world! His fists are like sturdy weapons! GATO.' - The King of Fighters XV"Gato is a character from the Fatal Fury series. He made his debut in Garou: Mark of the Wolves as a serious and powerful martial artist as well as Hotaru Futaba's potential brother. He is also a reoccuring character in The King of Fighters series.

His official nickname is "Taciturn Fist of Vengeance".

Personality
Ever since his family was shattered with his father murdering his mother, Gato has become ruthless and very serious with a habit of grunting a lot. He cruelly looks down on others and rarely shows respect for them. Even so, he softens slightly before Hotaru's presence, a possible hint that she is indeed his younger sister, and that his callous and placid coldness may be just a front to prevent her from being dragged into danger by association. Further proving this is indirect and subtle actions he has done, such as accepting Geese's offer to join with Billy and Yamazaki to prevent Hotaru from being harmed.

Despite this, he is shown to hate others more evil than him even more, and when it comes to those who treat him civilly, Gato merely keeps to himself and often may leave to tend to his own matters without a word, not wanting to involve anyone into his own dangerous affairs.

Abilites

 * Sense - Gato can sense the presence of people nearby.
 * Energy Explosion - Gato can create small explosions of energy.
 * Energy Attacks - Gato can infuse his feet with energy.


 * Acrobatics - Gato is very proficient in acrobatics.
 * Swimming - Probably due to his training, Gato can swim and even hold his breath underwater for an extended period of time.

Fighting style
Gato uses an external Chinese martial art which heavily involves powerful, explosive strikes. He also mixes in Bajiquan, Xinyiliuhequan and others. His fighting style often makes use of palm-based attacks such as his standing C, Shinga (Quake Fang), Kouga (Pit Fang), Shunga (Blink Fang; KOF only), Zero Kiba (Zero Fang) and Tenryuu Retsuga (Heaven Dragon Violent Fang). He also has a variation of the Senshippo used by both Tung Fu Rue and Sie Kensou, known as the Totsuga (Thrust Fang).

A majority of his attacks have a "fang"-naming motif, and focus on dealing heavy damage in short bursts towards his opposition as mercilessly as possible.

Music

 * Fullmoon: A Groan - Garou: Mark of the Wolves
 * Villainous - The King of Fighters 2003
 * Kiss of Poison - The King of Fighters XI
 * Sympathy For The Wolves -KOF XV ver.- - The King of Fighters XV

Voice Actors

 * Kōji Ishii - Garou: Mark of the Wolves~The King of Fighters XI
 * Yuma Yamaguchi - The King of Fighters XV

Appearances
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 * Days of Memories

Games

 * Garou: Mark of the Wolves
 * The King of Fighters 2003
 * The King of Fighters XI
 * The King of Fighters XV - DLC Character

Mobile

 * Days of Memories (ninth title) - non-playable
 * The King of Fighters All Star

Cameos
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 * KOF: Maximum Impact 2 - background
 * The King of Fighters '94 Re-Bout - background in Team Japan stage
 * The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match - background in Team Art of Fighting stage, until third round

Trivia

 * Gato, Tizoc, B. Jenet, Hotaru Futaba and Rock Howard are the only original characters of Garou: MOTW who makes one or more appearances in The King of Fighters series.


 * He is visually based on Retsu Kaioh from the Baki the Grappler manga series. Since Retsu is voiced by Kunihiko Yasui, who is known to SNK fans as the voice for Iori Yagami, the developers decided to hire a different voice actor who could mimic the same menacing tone for Gato. SNK then decided that Gato would be voiced by Kōji Ishii, similarly to Ryuji Yamazaki, until KOF XI.


 * His T.O.P. attack is the Menghu Yingpashan/Mouko Kohazan (猛虎硬爬山, Fierce Tiger Stiff Mountain-Climb), a common Bajiquan/Hakkyokuken technique, albeit done in the style of a frontal-straight palm thrust akin to the version performed by Akira Yuki from Virtua Fighter and Liu Bei's Knights of Valour 3 portrayal.


 * Coincidentally, he shares a technique written with the characters that literally translate to "Dragon Fang" with Robert Garcia, though both are rendered in romaji differently; Robert's version is "Ryuuga", while Gato's version is "Tatsu Kiba" and are both completely different techniques (both are even anti-air-based moves).
 * Likewise, Gato even shares a technique named "Raiga" (Thunder Fang) with one other character in other fighting game, that being Garuda from the Street Fighter EX games and Fighting EX Layer.

Gallery
Gato