Terry Bogard

Terry Bogard (テリー・ボガード, Terī Bogādo) is a video game character created by SNK (previously SNK Playmore), and is the main character of the Fatal Fury series. In the series, he is an American fighter who enters the worldwide tournaments called The King of Fighters to kill Geese Howard, a criminal who killed Terry's father. Terry becomes a formidable fighter, earning the title of "Legendary Hungry Wolf". In the fourth tournament he participates, Terry nearly kills Geese, but relents at the last moment. Geese responds to this by apparently committing suicide. Terry then decides to become the guardian of Geese's son, Rock Howard.

In addition to video games, Terry has appeared in anime films based on his adventures from the Fatal Fury series, as well as soundtracks and manga serialized to Japanese monthly manga magazine Comic Bom Bom. He is also a regular character in the crossover video game series The King of Fighters, in which he continues participating in tournaments. Dating back to the first Fatal Fury, Terry is one of SNK's first fighting game characters and has appeared as a playable character in every Fatal Fury and main King of Fighters game to date.^[5][6]

The character has been well received by video games players; he is ranked high in several popularity polls developed by SNK and video games magazines. Publications have praised the character and how he was developed from Fatal Fury to The King of Fighters. He is prominently featured on merchandise from SNK and their crossover series, becoming an icon for them.

Character design

In most of the Fatal Fury and King of Fighters games, Terry wears a red sleeveless denim vest with a white star on the back, worn over a white cutoff T-shirt; the latter occasionally features tattered sleeves.^[7][8] In the first Fatal Fury game and The King of Fighters XIV, however, Terry wears a red leather jacket that features rolled-up sleeves.^[9] He also wears black fingerless gloves, blue jeans, a pair of red Chuck Taylor All Star shoes, and a red-and-white baseball/trucker cap. The character has long, blonde hair, but keeps it tied in a ponytail with bangs around his forehead/cheeks.^[7][8]

When The King of Fighters was announced, Terry was quickly added into the franchise by the SNK staff who noted "his popularity skyrocketed!" His development was overseen by many designers who "fretted over various aspects of his character." In retrospective, the SNK staff noted he "became the powerhouse, getting a super punch cancel move added to his arsenal and becoming the fearsome character he is today."^[10] Two hours before submitting the game's mask ROM, one of the game's designers. There were also arguments about the character's winpose but in the end they decided on something new.^[11] They also add that this game was created with the idea of having Terry fighting against Ryo Sakazaki, the lead character from the Art of Fighting series.^[12]

In Mark of the Wolves, Terry's design consists of a brown bomber jacket with a white star on the back with the words "Running Wild" below it, as well as a white T-shirt and black fingerless gloves, blue jeans, and brown shoes. His hair, while still notably long, is considerably shorter than his former ponytail, and flows freely instead of being braided.^[13] All of the main King of Fighters games up until 2002 feature Terry in his Fatal Fury 2 outfit. The King of Fighters 2003 and XI feature the Mark of the Wolves depiction.^[14][15] In The King of Fighters XII, Terry was given his Fatal Fury 2 outfit once again because the staff wanted to "use the most macho, stand-out, original Terry" as well as to keep in line with the "original clashing of fists."^[12]

Attributes

Terry Bogard is typically a cheerful and friendly fellow to everyone around him. He seems to bear no ill will towards anyone other than Geese Howard, the killer of his adoptive father. He and his younger brother Andy Bogard were orphans adopted by Jeff Bogard, who was killed by Geese Howard when Terry and Andy were children. Wishing to take revenge, Terry trained alone in the streets until he developed a unique fighting style which combines several martial arts moves.^[16] He became strong enough to enter The King of Fighters tournament, in which he is often referred to as the Legendary Hungry Wolf (from Legend of the Hungry Wolf (餓狼伝説, Garou Densetsu), the Japanese title of his first appearance) for his remarkable skills. Although Terry manages to defeat Geese, he tries to save him when Geese is about to fall from a tower. Geese refuses this help, and seemingly falls to his death, though he's since returned in numerous games.^[17] Some time after that, Terry met Geese's son, Rock Howard, and started taking care of him. He treats Rock as his son, but gives him some freedom of choice.^[18] Terry appears to fit many Japanese stereotypes for an American character in appearance, personality and speech (his in-game vocabulary is usually limited to American colloquialisms, such as "Okay!" and "Hey, c'mon, c'mon."). He has a pet monkey named Ukee (ウッキー) which commonly appears around him in some games. Terry is also streetsmart as his knowledge of what goes on in the streets and slang is vast.^[19] During the Fatal Fury series, Terry meets Blue Mary, with whom he appears to have a longtime relationship.^[20]

Appearances

Terry's second outfit as seen in Garou: Mark of the Wolves. Artwork from NeoGeo Battle Coliseum.

In video games

Terry has served as the lead character of the Fatal Fury series since his debut in the first game. The original Fatal Fury centers around Terry and his younger brother Andy, who enter the King of Fighters tournament to avenge their father's death, who was murdered a decade ago by the tournament's sponsor, Geese Howard.^[16] Along with their friend Joe Higashi, they manage to defeat Geese who dies falling from a tower after fighting one of the three main characters.^[21]

The numerous Fatal Fury sequels released afterwards feature Terry and his friends competing in new tournaments. The initial sequel, Fatal Fury 2, introduced a new antagonist for Terry to defeat named Wolfgang Krauser, who tries to conquer Southtown.^[22] By Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory, Terry continues his fight against Geese (who survived his apparent death) and now seek revenge against Terry and other rivals.^[23] Real Bout Fatal Fury concludes the Bogard and Howard rivalry by killing off Geese at the end of the game.^[17] Two subsequent Real Bout sequels were produced, Real Bout Fatal Fury Special and Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers, featuring Terry although neither game contains any storyline.^[24][25] A 3D fighting game version of the series, Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition was produced as well, which retells the plot of the first game.^[26] Terry Bogard's character would be reinvented for Garou: Mark of the Wolves, which features an older Terry as the mentor of Geese Howard's son, Rock Howard. During this time, Terry and Rock enter a new King of Fighters tournament dubbed Maximum Mayhem.^[27]

After the release of Fatal Fury 2, Terry appeared in The King of Fighters '94, where he serves as the leader of the game's "Fatal Fury" team alongside his younger brother Andy and Joe. The King of Fighters series, which was originally conceived as a crossover of SNK's previous video game franchises, eventually established their own self-contained continuity set apart from the previous Fatal Fury series and Terry became a staple in both franchises.^[28] While the Fatal Fury Team's members change various times across the series, Terry remains as the team's leader.^[29][30][31] The King of Fighters XII and The King of Fighters XIII bring back the character in his Fatal Fury 2 outfit.^[32]

The Fatal Fury Team remains as in the first KOF in the games without storyline: these games include The King of Fighters '98, The King of Fighters 2002 and Neowave.^[33][34][35] In The King of Fighters: Kyo, a RPG centered on Kyo Kusanagi, Terry appears when Kyo goes to South Town, and helps him to fight Geese Howard.^[36] In the two games for the Game Boy Advance titled EX: Neo Blood and EX2, the Fatal Fury Team also participates in the new tournaments.^[37][38] Terry also appears in the KOF: Maximum Impact sub-series in both his Fatal Fury 2 and Mark of the Wolves outfits, with the latter being labelled as "Wild Wolf" (ワイルドウルフ).^[39] He is also playable in the shooter game Sky Stage.^[40] Terry also stars in the crossover video games NeoGeo Battle Coliseum and SNK vs. Capcom series; in the former in his Mark of the Wolves outfit, and the latter in his Fatal Fury 2 outfit.^[41][42]

In other media

Terry Bogard is the central character of a trilogy of Japanese animated Fatal Fury films, two of which were OVAs while the third was a theatrical release where his character is voiced by Shōnentai lead singer Nishikori Kazukiyo in the Japanese originals and Mark Hildreth in the English dubs. The first two OVAs, 1992's Fatal Fury: Legend of the Hungry Wolf and 1993's Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle, loosely follow the storylines of their respective games, while the third theatrical film, 1994's Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture, features an original storyline. The first OVA introduces a new love interest for Terry Bogard named Lily McGwire, an orphaned girl raised by Geese Howard. Lily is killed by Geese during the first OVA, but she appears in both sequels as a spirit who guides Terry.^[43][44] The theatrical film introduced a new love interest for Terry named Sulia, the younger sister of antagonist Laocorn Gaudeamus, who sacrifices herself in the end of the film to help Terry defeat her brother.^[1]

Terry also plays a supporting role in the 2006 original net animation The King of Fighters: Another Day. Terry appears in the episode "Accede", where he is voiced in the Japanese version by Satoshi Hashimoto, his voice actor from the video games, and Tony Carroll in the English dub.^[45] Satoshi Hashimoto also voiced Terry in Memories of Stray Wolves, a twenty-minute featurette which serves as a retrospective of the Fatal Fury series, with Terry narrating the events of the games to Rock.^[46] Terry is also featured in the volume 3 from the soundtracks series SNK Character Sounds Collection released by Pony Canyon. The CD features several songs based on his character.^[47] He appears in several mawhua, including the Fatal Fury series, The King of Fighters and SNK Vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos which retell the stories from their respective games.^[48][49] The first seven chapters from the manhua The King of Fighters 2003 by Wing Yen feature a short chapter from Garou: Mark of the Wolves that tells of Rock's training with Terry.^[50] His character is also part of a social action program created by SNK Playmore named "Nakoruru & Terry Club". The organization supports children to guide them to a better future.^[51] David Leitch portrays Terry in the live-action 2010 film The King Of Fighters.^[52]

Reception

Terry is frequently used to symbolize the company in crossover games, merchandise and publicity.^[54] During the KOF Year-End Party in 2005, a fan event made by SNK, the character's cap was given to every fan in attendance.^[55] His character has been well received by fans, appearing in several video games popularity polls. In Gamest's 1997 Heroes Collection, Terry was voted as the staff's eighth favorite character.^[56] In a popularity poll by SNK for the release of Garou: Mark of the Wolves, Terry ranked 2nd with a SNK staff commenting that "Terry's the eternal hero".^[57] A character popularity poll on the website Neo Geo Freak journal resulted in Terry as the fourth favorite character from the series with a total of 2,479 votes.^[58] He was voted as the number one fan favorite character with a total of 10,014 votes in a 2005 poll made by SNK-Playmore USA.^[59] For the special endings in The King of Fighters '97, three video games publications, Gamest, Famitsu and Neo Geo Freak, had to create a team composed of three characters from the game so that they would be featured in an image after passing the arcade mode. The Gamest's team created a team composed of Terry, Blue Mary and Joe Higashi. The special ending only appears in Japanese versions of the game.^[60]

The character has received praise and criticism from several media publications. GameSpot reviewer Frank Provo commented that one of Fatal Fury's biggest accomplishments is the creation of Terry Bogard and for making him appear in later sequels.^[61] Damien McFerran praised Terry's design, saying that he is "emanating so much coolness it’s little wonder that SNK otaku can always be seen wearing his trademark red cap".^[62] Dale Nardozzi from Reviews Teambox also praised Terry's distinct appearance. He further commented that his clothes is one of the most common cosplays at every convention with video game importance.^[63] Andrew Sztein from GamingExcellence commented that Terry was one of his favourite characters from the series. He mentioned that he liked his design because as "he should be working at Petro Canada part time" and added that his mispronunciation of English quotes are quite funny.^[64] IGN reviewer Ryan Clements also found preference over Terry from all the other characters in the Fatal Fury series, commenting he liked how the character played in each game.^[65] Dan Whitehead from Eurogamer praised each part of Terry's appearance that makes him look cool. He also commented that Terry is one of the most popular characters from Fatal Fury although he is "rather bland".^[66] UGO.com listed Terry's baseball cap thirteenth on their list of "The Coolest Helmets and Headgear in Video Games", calling it "completely badass" despite its reading of "Fatal Fury."^[67] Den of Geek listed Terry 3rd in their "best fighting game characters" list with editor Harry Slater commenting "Bogard is a stark reminder of the glory days of the two dimensional fighter".^[68] GamesRadar ranked Terry, "one of SNK's most memorable characters," as 86th "most memorable, influential, and badass" protagonist in games.^[53] In 2012, Complex ranked Terry as the 11th "Most Dominant Fighting Game Character" commenting his appearance in the least would be predictable based on his fame.^[69] 4thletter elisted Terry's ending from Real Bout Fatal Fury as the best ones in gaming as it not only ends his rivalry with Geese but also shows more of his relationship with Rock Howard.^[70]

In the Fatal Fury original video animations, Anime News Network's Bamboo Dong praised Terry's character development due to the portrayal of his insecurities which are rare to see in other adaptations.^[71] Chris Beveridge from Mania Beyond Entertainment also praised the development of the characters such as the grief of Terry over the loss of his love interest.^[72] On the other hand, THEM Anime Reviews' Raphael criticized Terry' story as being seen several times in other series and also panned his final fight with Geese Howard due to the lack of regular martial arts and instead chi-like energy.^[73] Although the live-action film of The King of Fighters has been panned, Beyond Hollywood said that "the only saving grace of “KOF” is David Leitch, who is flat-out hilarious as world-weary CIA agent Terry Bogard. Yeah, the character doesn’t make a lick of sense, but in this film, it borders on genius."^[74] On the other hand, Felix Vasquez from Cinema Crazed criticized Terry's character in the movie calling him a "nuisance."^[75]

References

External links

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