Joe Higashi is usually apart of “Team Fatal Fury” if you’re a fan of King of Fighters. I first met Joe during the Fatal Fury anime trilogy by Masami Obari. I know him as one of the only martial artists who was able to rival Andy, and seems to be the odd man out considering that Andy and Terry are brothers. However, he’s been a good friend and constant comrade-in-arms, so it’s great to see him make his return to Southtown. Let’s see what SNK has cooked up for us!
While I have been a massive fan of the character, Joe Higashi was never someone I used on my team. I guess that’s par for the course considering Terry is my absolute favorite SNK character, but I prefer the fighting style and temperament that Andy possesses. Funny stuff. However, one of the things I really don’t like is the addition of glasses that Joe Higashi has.
Being someone who is a playboy and seems pretty vain about his appearances and appeal, I figure he’d use his winnings to either get eye surgery or would wear contacts since glasses would pose a problem in combat (them staying on, risk of being broken, etc). Also, I feel like it’s a copout to bring more similarities between him and his disciple, Preecha. Also, I don’t know why, but it just makes him feel like a much older version of himself where other characters don’t quite embody that same feel.
As far as his moves goes, it seems like he has a lot of classic things but some new additions. The Tiger animations are certainly new, as I don’t remember seeing anything like them within any previous iteration of Joe. There also seems to be a parry, which is move I certainly do not remember. Also, the kick he does which switches sides reminds me HEAVILY of the one Ken has. His Hidden Gear feels incredibly lame to me; I wish they would’ve made something similar to this other iterations of the sideways tornado via The King of Fighters series.
Something else I’m quite concerned about is his lack of projectile. One of the things that made Joe a hazard to deal with was his ability to throw multiple tornado fireballs which encroached on the opponent; but I guess they gave something similar to Preecha and perhaps they added newer things to Joe in lieu of this to further differentiate them. At the same time, maybe he has it and it just wasn’t displayed within the trailer.
Overall, Joe looks pretty good, but I feel like he could have looked way better. I feel like him and Andy were massive disappointments in their presentation while Ken was ripped nearly 1-to-1 from Street Fighter 6 with their presentation. I hope there’s an option to remove his glasses and that his combos are cooler in motion than they appeared here.
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