Garou - Mark of the Wolves (prototype) - MAME machine

SNK Neo-Geo MVS cart. published 25 years ago:

Garou - Mark of the Wolves © 1999 SNK.

Garou: Mark of the Wolves is a one-on-one fighting game and is the 9th title in SNK's Fatal Fury series. Ten years after crime-lord Geese Howard's death, the city of Southtown is now a peaceful place, leading it to be known as the Second Southtown. A new fighting tournament called King of Fighters: Maximum Mayhem is created, with several characters related to fighters from the previous "King of Fighters" tournaments participating.

The game features 12 characters and foregoes the plane-switching style of its predecessors in favour of standard, single-plane battles. Garou introduced the "Tactical Offense Position" (T.O.P.), a special area on the fighter's life gauge. When the gauge reaches this area, the character enters the T.O.P. mode, granting them the ability to use T.O.P. attack, gradual life recovery, and increased attack damage.

The game also introduced the Just Defend system, which rewards players who successfully block an attack at the last moment, granting them a small amount of health recovery and the ability to immediately counter-attack out of block stun.

If players win all rounds with a ranking of AAA, they will face the boss 'Kain R. Heinlein', defeating him unlocks a special ending. If the AAA requirements are not met, Grant will be the final boss and there will be no special ending. Additionally, before facing Grant players will face a mid-boss, who, depending on which character the player is using, can be any character from the game's cast.

TECHNICAL
Runs on the SNK "Neo-Geo MVS" hardware.
Game ID: NGM-253

[SNK MVS Neo-Geo Controls]
2 players - 4 buttons per player.
[JOYSTICK] 8-way [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-Kwon Do fighter Kim Kaphwan. Khushmood Butt is a master of Kyokugenryu Karate, the same martial used by Ryo Sakazaki from Art of Fighting. 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 Robert Miles' seminal trance tune "Children" (1996).

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.

Soundtracks release:
[JP] Jan. 21, 2000; Garou - Mark of the Wolves [SCDC-00006] Scitron

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 opponent, 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 opponent 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

• Garou Densetsu - Shukumei no Tatakai [Model NGM-033] (1991, MVS)
• Garou Densetsu 2 - Arata-Naru Tatakai [Model NGM-047] (1992, MVS)
• Garou Densetsu Special [Model NGM-058] (1993, MVS)
• Garou Densetsu 3 - Harukanaru Tatakai [Model NGM-069] (1995, MVS)
• Real Bout Garou Densetsu [Model NGM-095] (1995, MVS)
• Real Bout Garou Densetsu Special [Model NGM-223] (1997, MVS)
• Real Bout Garou Densetsu 2 - The Newcomers [Model NGM-240] (1998, MVS)
• Fatal Fury - Wild Ambition (1999, ARC)
• Garou - Mark of the Wolves [Model NGM-253] (1999, MVS)
• Fatal Fury First Contact [Model NEOP00111] (1999, NGPC)

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:

[JP] SNK Neo-Geo AES (Feb. 25, 2000; "Garou - Mark of the Wolves [Model NGH-253]")
Sega Dreamcast [JP] (Sep. 27, 2001; "Garou - Mark of the Wolves [Model T-3108M]")
Sega Dreamcast [JP] (may.23, 2002; "Garou - Mark of the Wolves [SNK Best Buy] [Model T-47302M]")
[JP] Sony PS2 (june.30, 2005; "Garou - Mark of the Wolves [NeoGeo Online Collection Vol.1] [Model SLPS-25504]")
[JP] Sony PS2 (june.30, 2005; "Garou - Mark of the Wolves [NeoGeo Online Collection Vol.1] [Model SLPS-25509]")
[JP] Sony PS2 (june.30, 2005; "Garou - Mark of the Wolves [NeoGeo Online Collection The Best] [Model SLPS-25793]")

CONTRIBUTE
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