Steve Fox (スティーブ・フォックス Stību Fokkusu?) is a character in the Tekken series, first appearing in Tekken 4, he has returned for all subsequent games. Steve is a young British boxer who was adopted at a young age and whose origins long remained shrouded in mystery. Throughout the games, Steve's main objective has been to learn more information about his past, including the origin of the mysterious scar on his arm, and to get revenge against those responsible.
With his debut in Tekken 4, it was revealed that he is the biological son of Nina Williams and that his conception was done synthetically by the Mishima Zaibatsu. Then later in Tekken Tag Tournament 2 and Tekken 7, it was revealed that the Zaibatsu ordered his conception in order to get themselves a new, more durable, test subject for their experiments.
Biography
After reclaiming the Mishima Zaibatsu from his son and witnessing the power of the Devil firsthand in the second King of Iron Fist Tournament, CEO Heihachi Mishima began his own research into the terrifying power of the Devil Gene. What was found out, was that the Devil Gene only appeared naturally on rare individuals and could grant its owners an immense boost in power by instantaneously activating the body's own cells. Trying to replicate this superhuman strength, the Mishima Zaibatsu started a genetic modification plan with the goal to replicate the effects of the gene on regular humans. These treatments would prove to be extremely demanding, however, and would lead to the deaths of multiple test subjects. To combat this, Heihachi ordered the synthetic creation of a specimen capable of withstanding the treatments using the egg of assassin Nina Williams, who was cryogenically frozen by Dr. Bosconovitch and the Zaibatsu at the time, and the seed of an unknown father. For the next six years, this specimen, only dubbed as NT01, would be used as a test subject for the Zaibatsu's gruelling experiments. During this time, however, one of the project's supervisors, Emma Kliesen, against the wishes of her colleagues, developed a bond with the boy, possibly also giving him the name Steve. It was also Emma who helped Steve escape the laboratories at the age of 6 by faking his death in an experiment. After this, Steve was most likely brought to an orphanage and was adopted by British parents, earning him his nationality and accent later in life. It is unknown to what extent, if any, the experiments done in his childhood affected his physical capabilities, but what is known, is that 15 years later, Steve Fox would be known as one of the world's best middleweight boxing champions. Steve himself, however, would end up remembering next to nothing about his past before his adoption.
After an incident with the mafia, Steve entered the fourth tournament and found out during it that he was going to be assassinated by Nina Williams; fortunately, this did not happen due to Nina having a rare moment of emotion. He entered the fifth tournament to "settle the score" with the Mishima Zaibatsu.
Personality
Steve is a polite and gentlemanlike individual whose main motivation is to fight in the ring. He has very few enemies and has made many friends and friendly rivals throughout the series, including Marshall Law and Paul Phoenix. Despite these qualities, Steve has a mysterious and troublesome past which he does not seem to remember and he is constantly searching to uncover the truth about it.
However, in both Tekken 4 and Tekken 7, Steve briefly encounters his mother, Nina Williams when she was occasionally in hot pursuit from the authorities like Lei Wulong or the Tekken Forces. Steve also shows his protective side towards Nina when she was targeted by her pursuers despite the former who does not acknowledge him as her son and wouldn't care less about him like seen in his ending.
However, Steve can also at times be somewhat cocky and belligerent, like in Bruce Irvin's Tekken 5 interludes, where he calls Bruce a "pops" and tells him to go home since he has "no time for old-timers", and in one of his win poses where he says, as if speaking to someone off-screen, "Hey you. You wanna try me, guv?". He also has a win pose in Tekken 4 where he disparagingly says "What a joke!" about his defeated opponent.
Appearance
Like his mother, Steve has blonde hair and blue eyes. His hair is usually slicked back down to his neck, and his entire left arm is covered in large scars due to the experiments done in his childhood.
Outfits
- Main article: Steve Fox/Outfits
Steve's trademark boxing outfit consists of blue and red boxing shorts with white stripes, resembling the colors of the British flag, and yellow boxing gloves. In Tekken 7, however, this color theme, including the gloves, is changed to a more general blue, but with the British flag motif still being present on his back.
History
Tekken 4
Tekken 4 - Steve Fox ending - HQ
Steve Fox Ending -Tekken 4
Prologue Text: Steve was a young British boxer enjoying his run as the middleweight champion of the world. Adopted during infancy, Steve sought the identity of his biological parents, as well as the origin of the scar on his arm. One day, Steve was ordered by a mafia group to throw a high-stakes fight, but he refused and instead won the fight. Unfortunately, the Mafia made good on their threats and put a price on Steve's head. With the Mafia in hot pursuit, Steve fled England for the United States and led a life on the run. But Steve soon realized that no matter what he did, the Mafia would eventually catch and kill him. Motivated by this realization, Steve sought the limelight once again, and entered The King of Iron Fist Tournament 4.
Epilogue Text: (Heihachi and Dr. Abel are seen talking) Fortunately for us, Steve has an assassin gunning for him... We'll take advantage of this situation. Kill Steve by serving him up to the assassin.
Ending Description: Inside the Mishima Zaibatsu Data Room, Steve is trying to find some information on his past. From a computer, Steve learns that he was conceived through vitro-fertilization from Nina Williams's egg.
The scene changes to the outside of "Union Jack" (which appears to be a hotel). A limousine parks in front of the building and two men in suits get out. Steve comes out shortly afterwards and begins walking towards the building. The man behind Steve pulls out a gun; however, it is shot out of his hand. Steve notices the gunshot and turns around.
He looks up into a building and sees Nina holding a sniper rifle. The second man tries to shoot Steve but also gets shot. The first man tries again but is shot again and then punched by Steve. Nina tries to escape but Steve pursues her, up until the point where they reach an alleyway. Steve seems to have lost Nina when she comes out from behind him with a gun. Steve begins to speak and Nina puts her gun down; the moment, however, is interrupted when Lei Wulong comes in, threatening to shoot Nina if she resists. Nina runs away while Steve stops Lei from chasing her.
Tekken 5
Tekken 5 Steve Interludes
Prologue Text: Steve Fox, a boxing prodigy striving to be the world champion. Steve entered the previous tournament to look into the mystery of his birth. Lei Wulong helped Steve discover that he was actually a creation of the Mishima Zaibatsu. Steve vowed revenge. Just then, Steve learned of The King Of Iron Fist Tournament 5. The world champion enters without a second thought. A determined Steve says, "The Mishima Zaibatsu will never make another monster like me!".
Epilogue Text: After gaining control of the Mishima Zaibatsu, Steve heads to a certain location.
Ending Description: Steve heads to a laboratory of the Mishima Zaibatsu and he is shown destroying equipment in rage. Then he looks at a tank which either contains a life form or is the place that he was conceived. He punches the glass possibly to stop the creation of someone like him. After this, he takes out a lighter and burns the whole building down while walking away satisfied.
Tekken 6
Tekken 6 - Steve Fox Trailer
Steve Fox destroyed the Mishima Zaibatsu laboratories and finally cleared his conscience. He then attempted to re-enter the world of boxing, but all the large tournaments were cancelled due to the outbreak of war around the globe. Without boxing, Steve lost his only livelihood, an unfortunate turn that quickly led to a very unfulfilling life. About the same time, Steve received an invitation from Marshall Law and Paul Phoenix to train with them. Steve saw this as a good opportunity to experience other fighting styles and accepted their invitation.
Ending Description: Steve, along with Paul Phoenix and Marshall Law, celebrate their victory in the tournament in a small hut. The Mishima Zaibatsu bring the money inside for them. Paul reminds them that they'll split the money 3 ways "just like we promised". However, Steve lightly rejects the money and tells them that the experience alone was reward enough and leaves the hut. After he leaves, Paul and Marshall delight in the fact that they have so much money, however, unknown to them, the Zaibatsu has placed a bomb inside one of the cases of money. Paul and Law continue to celebrate unaware that they only have five seconds left. Outside, Steve is shown quite far away from the hut as the bomb goes off, apparently killing his two new friends. He turns around and a shocked look overtakes his face.
Tekken 7
TEKKEN 7 - Steve Fox Ending & Intro (TEKKEN 7 Character Endings)
Steve Fox has had plenty of run-ins with the Mishima Zaibatsu, but he never gave up his search for information about his past. Though his mother's identity remained a mystery, one name, in particular, began to crop up time and again: Nina Williams.
Believing she knew something, Steve began investigating her whereabouts until he came up with a promising lead. The information led him to an imposing cathedral. As he considered how best to proceed, a figure appeared from inside, dressed in a tattered wedding gown.
It was Nina, who seemed to be running away from something. Steve told her to stop, but she ignored him and fled. Determined not to let this opportunity escape him, he blocked her path.
Ending Description: After defeating Nina, Steve tells her of all that he knew of his past and demands to know how she is connected to him. She explains to him that her genes were used by the Mishima Zaibatsu to create ultimate supersoldiers through experimenting on children, with Steve as one of them. The project failed due to most of the children dying from that experiment, but Steve survived thanks to Emma Kliesen's efforts to cover up Steve's status from the Zaibatsu's eye. As Steve discovers that she is his mother, Nina warns him that he will never be her son because she couldn't care less about him. When the Tekken Force suddenly arrives, Steve helps Nina escape while holding them off.
Other appearances
Tekken 2010 Movie
Steve Fox appeared in the Tekken 2010 live-action movie, portrayed by British singer/actor, Luke Goss. In the film, he is an older, retired fighter who sponsors Jin in the tournament after the latter defeated Marshall Law. In this movie, Steve has apparently no blood ties to Nina, he knew Jun Kazama before her death and he becomes Jin's friend and mentor. He is killed by Jackhammers while breaking Jin and the other imprisoned participants out of their holding cells.
Street Fighter X Tekken
Steve appeared in Street Fighter X Tekken as a playable character. His tag partner is Hwoarang.
Tekken Tag Tournament 2
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 - 'Steve Fox Ending' HD
Steve appeared in Tekken Tag Tournament 2 as a playable character.
Ending Description: Steve is shown practicing his boxing, groaning in pain when his arm starts to hurt. He then flashes back on memories of the Mishima Zaibatsu. We see members of the Mishima Zaibatsu testing on Steve, who they call "NT01", and Steve taking refuge with Emma Kliesen (Leo's mother) who is working for the Zaibatsu. We return to the present time, with Steve lying on the ground, looking over to a bright light and saying "Emma?".
Tekken Revolution
Steve Fox appears in Tekken Revolution as an unlockable character.
Character Relationships
- Nina Williams - His mother. He was conceived through in vitro-fertilization using her egg without her knowledge while she was cryogenically frozen by the Mishima Zaibatsu. Steve is constantly seeking Nina in search of answers, and when the two do meet, it is usually very brief.
- Anna Williams - His aunt. The two have never physically met before so their actual relationship is unknown. Although they happen to be in the same place where they chase Nina, but different paths separately in Tekken 7, despite having yet physically met there.
- Richard Williams - His deceased grandfather.
- Mrs. Williams - His grandmother.
- Heihachi Mishima - Ordered Steve's synthetic creation as part of his Devil Gene research. Steve was created with the sole purpose of being strong enough to withstand the treatments which had led to deaths on earlier test subjects. Steve understandably detests Heihachi for this.
- Emma Kliesen - His guardian who treated him as a human during his childhood in the Mishima laboratories between Tekken 2 and Tekken 3. Emma was also the one to help Steve escape and get adopted at the age of 6.
- Lei Wulong - His good friend, who helped him uncover information about his past and the Mishima Zaibatsu. Also tried to prevent Nina from assassinating Steve in Tekken 4.
- Hwoarang - Hwoarang is Steve's friendly and occasional rival. He is also Steve's partner in Street Fighter X Tekken.
- Marshall Law - His friend.
- Paul Phoenix - His friend.
- Lee Chaolan - Steve looks up to Lee and knows of his reputation as the "Silver-Haired Demon".
- Jin Kazama - His friend and protege in the 2010 film (non-canon).
- Jun Kazama - His past love interest in the 2010 film (non-canon).
Gameplay
With a unique fighting style based on bobs, sways and punches, and almost no kicks, Steve is one of the most unorthodox characters in the series. He has incredibly fast and effective punches and combos, very strong low attacks, and can lay the pressure on his opponent like few others in the roster. Perhaps one of the most dangerous fighters in the roster, Steve can turn around a fight with his hard-hitting blows and high-low combos in a flash, and his counter-hits are among the most effective around. Also, Steve's dodging capabilities are unrivaled by any other character in the series if timed properly. Blind reliance on this tactic is very risky, though, and going the wrong way might end up being a game-changing mistake. Placing too much confidence in Steve's evasive maneuvers renders him open to various kinds of damages, the worst-case scenario being KO'd by a set of elaborate combos. Unique to him and befitting his fighting style, his 3 and 4 inputs has him performing bobs and weaves instead of kicks.
Fighting Style
Steve uses Boxing as his fighting style.
Quotes
Trivia
General:
- Steve's character was originally given the name Dean Earwicker. This was changed after a substantial amount of negative feedback from the Tekken community. The name has been referenced four times in the Tekken series:
- The first time was in Tekken 4's Tekken Force side game, where a Tekken Force member that is encountered at the fourth stage (the "Mishima Fortress" stage) is named "Dean Earwicker". This Tekken Force member also has a stance similar to Steve's.
- The second time was in Tekken 5's "Arcade Battle" mode, where a Tekken Lord Steve Fox is named "Dean Earwicker".
- The third time was in Tekken 6's "Arcade Battle" and "Ghost Battle" modes, where an Overlord Steve Fox is also named "Dean Earwicker".
- The fourth time was in Tekken Tag Tournament 2's "Ghost Battle", where a Vanquisher Steve Fox (with Hwoarang) is also named "Dean Earwicker".
- Other possible names for Steve were Leonard Gardner, Ryan Lewis and Sugar McGregor.[2]
- Because he is a boxer, Steve Fox does not have normal kick attacks. However, there are a few instances where Steve uses his legs to attack, such as his get-up kicks, jumping kicks, and a single attack where he stomps on the opponent's foot.
- Another move of Steve's, his Endless Roll (4~3~f 1,2... _2,1...) (PAB d/f 3+4~F 1,2... _2,1... in Tekken 6 onwards), is a variation of the Dempsey Roll, which was created and first used by the Heavy Weight Boxing Champion of the 1920's, Jack Dempsey. This move was further popularized by the use of the protagonist Ippo Makunoichi in the popular Japanese manga and anime series Hajime no Ippo.
- Steve's unblockable move, Hellfire (qcb,F+2), is the only unblockable attack where damage can be reduced by blocking it. When blocked, its properties also change. This was removed in Tekken Tag Tournament 2.
- Using the black "slicked back base" hair and the spiky front addition and turning his boxing shorts green (Default Costume 1), one may customize Steve to resemble Little Mac from "Punch-Out!!" on the original Nintendo Entertainment System.
- Steve is most likely unaware that Anna Williams is Nina's sister and thus his aunt, or that Emma Kliesen was killed by Kazuya Mishima.
- Steve is similar to Street Fighter V newcomer Ed, as they are both young male boxers with the same hair and eye color who were experimented upon as a child by the "big bad" organization of their series (Mishima Zaibatsu for Steve and Shadaloo for Ed). One major difference, however, is that due to these experiments, Ed is able to utilize the power known as Psycho Power, whereas with Steve, the only discernible proof from his experiments are the scars on his arm.
- Steve shares a number of similarities with Shin Kamiya from Tekken: Blood Vengeance.
- Both were experimented on by the Mishima Zaibatsu.
- Both have markings on their left arms due to the experiments done on them.
- Both hate being called by their test subject names.
- Steve's ending is connected to Nina Williams and Lei Wulong's endings.
- Steve is one of the few characters to have a determined sub-boss fight in Arcade mode. His sub-boss is his mother, Nina, and the fight takes place in the Statue stage.
- Steve and Craig Marduk are the only known two new characters to have different English voice actors between Asian and Western versions.[3]
Tekken 5 and Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection:
- Steve's sub-bosses are Lei Wulong and Heihachi Mishima.
- Steve is Bruce Irvin's stage 4 sub-boss.
- In this game, Namco broke the Japanese-English barrier built into Tekken 4, allowing the characters to speak in their native languages instead of either English or Japanese. As a result, Steve was given a stereotypical working-class Southern UK/Irish accent, contradicting the North London accent he had in Tekken 4. This accent is still, but barely present in Tekken 6.
- In the first picture in his prologue, Steve is fighting against Paul Phoenix. Coincidentally enough, Steve would receive an invite to train with Paul and his friend Marshall Law, in Tekken 6.
- Steve makes a brief appearance in Craig Marduk's Tekken 5 ending.
Tekken 6 and Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion:
- In the Scenario Campaign mode, Steve is a boss at the Abyss Gate stage.
- Steve's Stage 1 and Stage 2 opponents in Scenario Campaign's "Arena" mode are Heihachi and Nina.
- His 2P costume can be customized to resemble Shotaro Hidari / Kamen Rider Double's left half as portrayed by Renn Kiriyama in Kamen Rider W.
- His Item Move is a Muay Thai headband that has him attempt a low kick, only for his leg to get hurt if it hits.
- It is possible that Steve's ending (along with the endings of Eddy, Christie, Leo, Alex, Roger Jr., Zafina and Miguel) are actually canon, despite the events of Tekken Tag Tournament 2 being considered non-canon to the main storyline.
- This was eventually confirmed for Steve and Leo's endings, for now.
- His Player 1 costume is available through customization.
- Steve only has 4 partners in Ghost Battle unlike most characters; these are (in order of lowest to highest ranks) Roger Jr, Paul Phoenix, Hwoarang and Marshall Law.
- In this game, Steve, who is the British middleweight boxing world champion, can meet Dudley, the British heavyweight boxing world champion.
- Appropriately, both fighters recognize and acknowledge each other in their win quotes to each other.
- Steve's Hellfire unblockable (normally qcb,f+2+3) is converted into a semi-projectile move in this game (done with qcf+punch).
- Steve is referred to as the "Stinging Hook" in this game.
- Balrog's Swap Costume is a combination of Steve's classic 1P & 2P outfits. According to the download blurb, Balrog dressed up as Steve after defeating him to further mock him.
Tekken 7 and Tekken 7: Fated Retribution:
- Steve is the second character whose hood can be knocked off by his/her opponent in this game. The first one is Jin.
- He was the only Tekken 4 representative in the game until Craig Marduk's addition to the roster in the second season of Tekken 7's DLC.
- In his ending, several flashbacks are shown in his endings from the past games such as his Tekken 4, Tekken 5, and Tekken Tag Tournament 2 endings. And the flashback where Nina tells Steve that the Mishima Zaibatsu had put her into cryosleep was shown in the opening cutscene of Tekken 3.
Other:
- While in Tekken Tag Tournament 2, he used his Player 2 costume; in Street Fighter X Tekken, he used his Player 1 costume.
- The trailer announcing Tekken Tag Tournament 2: Wii U Edition depicted Steve Fox wearing the exclusive Star Fox-based costume for the Nintendo character Fox McCloud.
- In Tekken: Blood Vengeance, Steve's dossier is briefly seen when Anna Williams opens a file containing dossiers of various persons of interest. However, he is incorrectly identified as Heihachi Mishima.
Gallery
References
- ^ a b c d Steve's and Nina's Tekken 4 endings
- ^ https://youtu.be/eYvM8JeeO_o?t=81
- ^ https://youtu.be/wv5z6abdtcI