Lost In Translation/Garou - Mark of the Wolves

About The Game
Garou - Mark of the Wolves is an arcade video game.

The 9th 'Fatal Fury - King of Fighters' episode brings us 12 characters and foregos the plane-switching style of its predecessors in favor of a standard single-plane background. Absolutely beautiful graphics and animation and one of SNK's last (and greatest) games.

Additional Technical Information
Players : 2

Control : 8-way joystick

Buttons : 4

=> [A] Swift punch [B] Swift kick [C] Pummeler punch [D] Colossal kick

Trivia
Released in November 1999.

'Garou' translates from Japanese as 'Hungry Wolf'. 'Mark of the Wolves' is a reference to the legacy left behind by Terry to a new generation of fighters - specifically, Rock Howard. This can also refer to the legacy left by other characters from the previous Fatal Fury & Art of Fighting games. Kim Dong Hwan & Kim Jae Hoon are sons of tae-kown doe fighter : Kim Kaphwan. Both have set out to avenge the defeat (and possibly death, but not confirmed death) of their father. Khushmood Butt is a master of Kyokugenryu Karate, the same martial used by Ryo Sakazaki. Hokutomaru uses Shiranui-style Ninjitsu as his fighting style, this is the same ninja arts that Mai Shiranui uses, however Hokutomaru was trained by Andy Bogard.

Garou pushes the capabilities of the Neo-Geo MVS hardware to its limit, giving some of the best-looking graphics to date. Some critics saying that there is life after all in the Neo-Geo hardware, which was past its prime when the game was released.

Hokutomaru's stage has quite a few references to the rest of the "Fatal Fury" series. To the extreme left of the stage is a billboard with a picture of the old style Terry Bogard. A portrait of Geese Howard and his lieutenants can be seen on another billboard (this is the same picture that is seen in the flyer for Real Bout Fatal Fury). There is also a picture of Andy Bogard and Mai Shiranui holding hands posing as a bank advertisement right above another picture of Alfred.

The sign that Khushnood Butt shows off in his victory pose is a Kyokugen Karate dojo sign.

The Rock Howard music stage contains a part of the original Robert Miles techno single.

Rock Howard is the son of the notorious crime-lord Geese Howard, the boss of previous Fatal Fury games. Rock was trained to fight by Terry Bogard and has incorporated moves from Terry and Geese's styles into his own fighting style. Rock is also related to Garou's main boss of the game: Kain R. Heinlein. Geese Howard married Marie Heinlein, whom is the sister of Kain. So, we can assume that Kain is Rock's uncle.

The word 'Tizoc' (The Griffon Mask's Japanese name) means 'sick leg', or 'lame leg'. It was the name of an ancient Mexican tlatoani, or leader, who ruled from 1481 until 1486, when he was poisoned by Aztec aristocrats.

If a double KO occurs, a round is won by each fighter, which can end a battle on this quite unsatisfying note. Moreover in this case, the player has no fighting level, neither displayed on the screen nor counted for the points.

Sony Music Entertainment / Scitron released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (Garou - Mark of the Wolves - SCDC-00006) on 21/01/2000.

Updates
The prototype version has a white background at the title screen instead a blue background on the final version. It has also a graphic bug on the Terry Bogard stage during the second round at the extreme right.

Tips and tricks

 * Random Fighter : Hold Start and press a Punch or Kick button at the character selection screen.


 * Play as Grant : At the character select screen, highlight Dong Hwan, hold Start and press Up(x2) Down(x2), Up, Down.


 * Play as Kain R. Heinlein : At the character select screen, highlight Jae Hoon, hold Start and press Down(x2), Up(x2), Down, Up.


 * Play against Kain R. Heinlein : To reach Kain, you must finish the first 7 matches with an average fighting level of AAA. Your best bet would be to avoid losing any rounds throughout the preliminary 7 stages, especially Grant. If you meet this condition after defeating Grant, you'll get a cutscene featuring Kain R. Heinlein. Beat Kain to reveal your characters' true ending.


 * Alternate Costume Colors : Each character has 4 colors, corresponding to each button.


 * Secret Taunts : After defeating your oponnent, hold Left or Right and tap Start to use an hidden taunt. Every character has two secret taunts (these can ONLY be used after defeating an oponnent and before your character goes into his/her winning pose). Some of them, such as Hotaru's and Hokutomaru's are really cool! :)

Taunts in the game can affect the background stages in many ways. For example, by using a taunt during a fight in Hotaru's stage (Philanthropy Belfry) you can make the bells in the background move. Most stages have hidden animations that can only be seen by this trick so try it! :)


 * Survival Mode : Insert a coin, hold A+B+C+D and press Start. You will then play a Survival Mode (quite hard one too).


 * Rock's Win-pose : Rock will have a special win-pose when he finishes the opponent with a Shine Knuckle and a different one when he finishes the opponent with either a Raging Storm or the Deadly Rave Neo.

Series

 * 1) Fatal Fury - King of Fighters (1991)
 * 2) Fatal Fury 2 (1992)
 * 3) Fatal Fury Special (1993)
 * 4) Fatal Fury 3 - Road to the Final Victory (1995)
 * 5) Real Bout Fatal Fury (1995)
 * 6) Real Bout Fatal Fury Special (1996)
 * 7) Real Bout Fatal Fury 2 - The Newcomers (1998)
 * 8) Fatal Fury Wild Ambition (1998)
 * 9) Garou - Mark of the Wolves (1999)
 * 10) Fatal Fury First Contact (1999, SNK Neo Geo Pocket Color)

Staff

 * Exective Producer:
 * H. Matsumoto


 * Producers:
 * S. Itoh
 * T. Tsukamoto


 * Planners:
 * Kim-Ken
 * Y. Oda
 * Goory
 * I. Higemura
 * Yucky


 * Foreground Designers:
 * Soe Soe (SoeSoe.F)
 * Heitarou
 * Rolly.R
 * N. Kuroki
 * Futatsu.N
 * G. Ishidamanf
 * Terarin
 * Itokatsu
 * S. Sasada
 * Eimotsu
 * Yuko
 * D-Mtl'Uchide
 * K. Naoe
 * Gi Pinoko
 * Yuko.K
 * T. Ishikawa


 * Background Designers:
 * M. Hirano
 * D. Takagi
 * E. Tsutsui
 * Tomo
 * Sakura-E
 * R. Nariai
 * Shimidi
 * Kumiko.M
 * C. Zanami


 * Special Effects:
 * Tashiboo
 * Masami Tanaka


 * Event Art Designers:
 * Kaoruru
 * M. Hirano
 * C. Zanami
 * A. Yamada


 * New Staff:
 * Kohji
 * Z. Kadoma
 * Manbu
 * Zacky


 * Programmers:
 * Bo-Fukunaga
 * Dan-Abe
 * Rotten Air


 * Sound:
 * Ackey
 * Yassun
 * Hori-Hori
 * Okan
 * Q-Jirou


 * Title Designer:
 * Nao-Q


 * Illustrator:
 * Tonko
 * Arita/Ymt

Voice Actors

 * Terry Bogard:
 * Satoshi Hashimoto


 * Rock Howard:
 * Eiji Takemoto


 * Kim Dong Hwan:
 * Jun Hashimoto


 * Kim Jae Hoon:
 * Hiroki Asakawa


 * Hotaru Futaba:
 * Yuki Horie


 * Gato:
 * Koji Ishii


 * B. Jenet:
 * Rei Saito


 * Khushmood Butt (Marco Rodriguez in Japanese version):
 * Hikaru Hanada


 * Hokutomaru:
 * Junko Takeuchi


 * Freeman:
 * Eiji Yano


 * Tizoc (The Griffon in the Japanese version):
 * Hikaru Hanada


 * Kevin Rian:
 * You Kitazawa


 * Grant:
 * You Kitazawa


 * Kain R. Heinlein:
 * Jun Hashimoto


 * Marky:
 * Junko Takeuchi


 * Narration:
 * Paul G.R.

Ports

 * Consoles :
 * Sega Dreamcast (2001)
 * Sony PlayStation 2 (2005, "NeoGeo Online Collection Vol. 1 : Garou - Mark of the Wolves")