Rock appears in the series as the son of Geese Howard, the main antagonist from the previous Fatal Fury games, who fell to his death after refusing to be saved by Terry Bogard.

His debut in Mark of the Wolves has been highly praised by reviewers although some of them considered his character to be too strong in comparison to the others, although his development in the KOF: Maximum Impact series has been criticized due to his English voice actor and his new outfit.

For that reason, the character with Terry Bogard's cap, Rock, did not appear in the plot Fatal Fury writers wrote back then.

However, since he was writing in 2007 after the release of Mark of the Wolves, he could not ignore Rock, the writers revised that part and linked it with Terry's life after Geese's death, and kept it to about the length of one paperback volume.

Both he and Yasuyuki Oda wondered what type of hero would succeed Terry Bogard in Fatal Fury's latest game, Garou: Mark of the Wolves.

[5] Rock was designed to contrast previous masculine Fatal Fury characters by giving him a more bishonen appearance, something Kuroki felt the sequel needed to balance the cast.

[9] Though Akihiko Ureshino has not talked about working in the upcoming Fatal Fury sequel Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, he sees the Terry from Garou: Mark of the Wolves as a more fatherly character having issues adopting Rock Howard and trying his best to write them together in the spin-off KOF: Maximum Impact which takes place before Garou under his own request.

[11] According to Yasuyuki Oda, the phrase The King of Fighters is commonly associated with Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami than Fatal Fury characters.

As a result, the staff highly reworked Rock's fighting style for The King of Fighters XIV in order simultaneously strengthen him and heighten his popularity.

[15] In his development blog for KOF: Maximum Impact 2, Ureshino states that he does not know about Rock's mother or the true inheritor of Geese's legacy but hints that it would most likely conflict with Terry if SNK released another game involving them.

[16] One of Oda's biggest desires with City of the Wolves is ending Rock's story arc which has been on cliffhangers for decades due to SNK cancelling the first Garou sequel.

The story will properly explore Rock Howard's lineage as foreshadowed by his uncle Kain R. Heinlein in the ending of Garou: Mark of the Wolves.

[24] Memories of Stray Wolves, a twenty-minute featurette serves as a retrospective of the Fatal Fury series, with Terry narrating the events of the games to Rock.

[26] In spite of his father's ways, Rock is a warm, friendly and compassionate young man, possessing Terry's strong sense of justice and heroism.

[33] The first seven volumes from the manhua The King of Fighters 2003 by Wing Yen features a short chapter from Garou: Mark of the Wolves based on Rock's training with Terry and their eventual fight in the semifinals which ends with the teenager's victory and follows with his battle against Grant.

[37] ScreenRant said that the one of the several reasons KOF fans want to see the Garou sequel is because of Rock's unfinished story which was famous in general.

[39] A fan-inspired sequel to Garou was produced by Lizardcube which appealed to the website Destructoid as a result of the level of detail given to Rock's appearance.

[42] In a preview from Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, Destructoid claimed he still felt like the Rock from Garou and is notable for inheriting more of Terry's moves.

In regards to his role in the story, Outerheaven believed more of Rock's lore will be revealed and for this the rest of the game's cast will be important, citing Kim's sons and Gato as key figures.

[45] Though Rock remains as the main character in City of the Wolves, the first confirmation of the sequel generated rumors about his actions in the story as he is followed by two silhouettes in the background that are harder to see.

[46] In regards to the character's life, GeneracionXbox believes that his relationship with Terry is still stable despite having abandoned him favor of Kain as his uncle motivated with the idea of finding his missing mother in the end of Garou: Mark of the Wolves.

[48] Surtido regarded Rock as a character who has been in Terry and Geese's shadow, but with City of the Wolves he becomes able to show off despite his problematic story involving his missing mother.

[49] Lablelling him and Terry as SNK's "biggest stars", GameRant said that Rock's design appeared to be recycled from The King of Fighters XV with few differences and enhanced.

He saw his XIV interested and looked forward to use his counter moves he inherited from Geese while also referring to his original Garou low-tier character.

[55] Den of Geek found Rock's debut in KOF's main series with The King of Fighters XIV interesting due to the fact in this timeline his father is alive unlike in the Fatal Fury one.

[61] PCInvasion was surprised by Rock's revelation in KOF XV as DLC considering the young fighter as appealing as the iconic Terry Bogard.

As The King of Fighters '99 was developed at the same time as Garou: Mark of the Wolves, the protagonist's designer Shinichi Morioka was fearing the lead K' was too similar to Rock which made him nervous.