Joe Higashi

Joe Higashi
Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters character
Joe Higashi in The King of Fighters 2000
First game	Fatal Fury: King of Fighters (1991)
Voiced by (English)	Jason Gray-Stanford (Fatal Fury anime trilogy)
Voiced by (Japanese)	Katsuhisa Namase (FF2, FFS, KOF '94) Nobuyuki Hiyama (FF3 until KOF XIII, Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle, and Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture) Kozo Mito (KOF XIV and onward) Masaaki Satake (Fatal Fury: legend of the Hungry Wolf) Kazuki Yao (Dengeki Bunko drama CD)
Fictional profile
Birthplace	Japan
Fighting style	Muay Thai

Joe Higashi (ジョー・ヒガシ, Jō Higashi^?, also written as 東 丈 Higashi Jō) is a video game character created by SNK Playmore (formerly SNK). He makes his first appearance in the fighting game Fatal Fury: King of Fighters as one of the three playable characters from the game. The Fatal Fury series introduce Joe as a goofy Muay Thai fighter who enters the King of Fighters tournament along with the Bogard brothers (Terry and Andy) in order to defeat the host Geese Howard to take revenge for the death of Terry and Andy's father. In the meantime, Joe also seeks to fight new rivals through the tournament and keep practicing Muay Thai. Joe is also a recurring character in The King of Fighters series, as part of the Fatal Fury Team initially composed of Joe, Terry and Andy. He was also added to the crossover Capcom vs. SNK Pro along with the sequel Capcom vs. SNK 2.

Apart from the video games, Joe has also appeared in the animated films from the Fatal Fury series which retell the story from the games. His character has been well received by gamers, appearing in several popularity polls developed by video games journals and website. He has also become a mascot from the Neo Geo Freak journal. Video games publications have liked Joe's character, having noted his gameplay and development in games.

Joe normally fights wearing a white headband with the Japanese flag, kickboxer shorts and white wraps around his arms and/or legs and sometimes footguards. He also has black hair, which is short in the first Fatal Fury game, but becomes long in the following games. In the first Fatal Fury game and The King of Fighters XII and XIII, Joe wears yellow kickboxer shorts with red lines. He also sports wraps above his hands and feet. In Fatal Fury 2 and most The King of Fighters titles, Joe wears red kickboxer shorts with yellow lines. He also has more wraps, which now cover more his arms and legs instead of his hands and feet. In Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory and Real Bout Fatal Fury, he once again sports yellow kickboxer shorts from the original Fatal Fury game but with a sign on it saying "Joe". In the two following titles, Real Bout Fatal Fury Special and Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers, Joe now wears blue kickboxer shorts with red lines and now has blue footguards instead of his bandages in the legs.Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition features Joe with a similar appearance from the one of Fatal Fury 2, but with red and black kickboxer shorts. In various titles from The King of Fighters, Joe has his Fatal Fury 2 outfit but with brown footguards and with the sign on his shorts saying "Joe".