Roger Jr. (ロジャー・ジュニア Rojā Junia?) is a playable animal character in the Tekken series. He is the son of the original Roger. He replaces his father and family friend, Alex, as a playable character in the canonical plotline from Tekken 5 onwards.
Biography
Roger was a genetically engineered kangaroo who was the result of a military experiment conducted by Doctor Bosconovitch while under employment of Kazuya Mishima and his Mishima Zaibatsu. Shortly after Roger was entered into the King of Iron Fist Tournament 2, he met his wife. The two had a son, Roger Jr., and lived in peace together.
One day, Roger was kidnapped, and his wife and son left to try and find him. They discovered him living in luxury however, uncaring of their fate, and Roger's Wife decided to divorce him. Now Roger Jr. and his mother live alone and try to make ends meet by fighting together in tournaments.
Outfits
- Main article: Roger Jr./Outfits
Story
Tekken 5
Tekken 5 - Roger Jr. ending - HQ
Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection Manual, PAL
Roger Jr. is part of a second generation of kangaroos that were genetically altered and bred for military use. After the disappearance of his father, Roger Jr. decided to enter the tournament, hoping it would provide clues to his father's whereabouts.[2]
Official Strategy Guide
Roger Jr. is among the second generation of kangaroos that were genetically altered and bred for military use.
Roger was the first kangaroo born at the Mishima Zaibatsu biotech lab run by Kazuya. Shortly after Roger entered the King of Iron Fist Tournament 2, Roger Jr. was born, and the family lived in peace.
However, one day Roger was taken away from his family. Roger Jr. thought the recently announced King of Iron Fist Tournament might provide clues to his father's disappearance, so he tucked away in his mother's pouch and decided to enter the tournament.[3]
Prologue
Roger Jr. A transgenic military kangaroo. Kazuya and the Mishima Zaibatsu labs created the first military animal, Roger. Roger (Daddy) lived in peace after The King of Iron Fist Tournament 2. But he was abducted one day, leaving behind his beloved wife and son. Roger Jr. enters The King of Iron Fist Tournament 5 to save his Daddy. Tucked in Mama's pouch, he gets ready for a fight.[4]
Ending Description
Roger Jr. finds his father in a defunct lab, but discovers that Roger has been spending his time lounging on a sofa and watching cartoons, apparently unconcerned about his family or fatherly responsibilities. Roger Jr. is shocked and angered to see his dad has been relaxing whilst he and his mother were worried about him, and vengefully uppercuts him through the roof. The scene ends with Roger Jr. stomping on a photograph of himself and his father.
Tekken 6
Tekken 6 Roger Jr. Ending
Official Strategy Guide
Roger Jr. and his mother joined The King of Iron Fist Tournament 5 to find Roger and, after a long struggle, they found him. But Roger was living the easy life, unconcerned about his family. Roger Jr.'s mother was flabbergasted at the sight of her husband and ultimately decided to divorce him.
After the divorce, life became hard for Roger Jr. and his mother. Shortly thereafter, The King of Iron Fist Tournament 6 was announced, and Roger Jr. and his mother decided to join the tournament in search of victory and financial security.[5]
Prologue
Roger Jr. and his mother entered the King of Iron Fist Tournament 5 to find Roger. After a long struggle, they succeeded in finding him. Much to their chagrin, Roger was living the easy life, unconcerned about his family. Roger Jr.'s mother was dismayed by the sight of her husband, and decided to divorce him. Thus Roger Jr. and his mother became a single-parent family. Life was hard and they were often lonesome. It was then that The King of Iron Fist Tournament 6 was announced. Roger Jr. and his mother decide to enter the tournament in order to attain an affluent and financially stable lifestyle.[6]
Ending Description
Roger is teaching Roger Jr. boxing moves and bonding with his son, when all of a sudden, Roger's Wife comes in confronting Roger with a picture of him surrounded by other female kangaroos. As a result, she uppercuts him up through the roof. The screen ends with Roger Jr. gazing in confusion at what had just happened. Throughout the whole ending, canned laughter can be heard.
Tekken 8
Roger Jr. will return as a playable character in Tekken 8.
Other Appearances
Tekken Tag Tournament 2
Roger Jr. appeared playable in Tekken Tag Tournament 2.
Profile:
A kangaroo made for military purposes by the Mishima Zaibatsu. His father, Roger, and his mother have separated, and so he and his mother live out their lives together as best they can. He spends his days hanging inside his mother's pouch, and dreaming of a time when his life of hardship will turn stable and enriching.[7]
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 - Roger Jr. ending - HD 720p
Ending Description
Roger comes home with flowers, but before going inside, he peeks in and sees his wife, son, and Alex eating breakfast. Roger sees how much happier everyone was without him. He then remembers both times he was uppercut by his wife and son. He punches himself in the head for being so selfish and not being there for them.
Suddenly, Alex busts the front door open, slamming Roger behind it. His wife comes out and looks to see Alex playing with Roger Jr. out in the field. She looks down and sees the flowers and note from Roger. She reads it and then eagerly looks around for him; sadly, Roger is still smashed behind the door.
Gameplay
One of the series' more outlandish characters, Roger Jr. (through his mother, whom the player actually controls) uses novelty commands contrasted with dangerous and varied attacks options to mix up and unbalance opponents. The character's unusual set of limbs include a tail which grants several unparriable/irreversible lows and mids at impressive distances. Short arms stifle what is otherwise a pesky close game but in turn keeps opponents constantly within range of one of the Tekken series' most notorious and effective grapple mixups.
The character's distance game has lots of swift, powerful and risky attacks that help them control and punish less experience players at range. From almost any distance they can spring forward with attacks that interrupt defense, give big knockdowns and full launches. With good execution, a skilled player can use an awkward-for-combos move set to reliably bring combo damage up to and beyond par but Roger Jr. is also one of the few characters in high level play that can take substantial amount of health away from opponents just from open play and via ruthless exploitation of pokey mixups and command grabs.
In Tekken 5, Roger Jr. inherited Roger and Alex's deadly Counter Hit Animal Rush to Windmill Punch as well as the guard break Windmill Punch into a free Capital Punishment. The Animal Uppercut was able to hit the opponent if they hit a wall at the end of a combo for 50 unscaled damage. Finally, Roger Jr.'s Tail Tripper, while lacking in range, did not stagger on block and was not -15. Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion toned down Roger's frame advantage and power, instead giving him a long range, unparryable low in the form of Tail Mopping, and a safe, mid Counter Hit launcher in Bandicoot Bomb. Unfortunately, Roger Jr. was lacking in homing attacks outside of Tail Flail. Another issue was the lack of combo variety in 6 as Roger Jr. had poor post-Bound wall carry, though this issue is partially remedied by the Tag system in Tekken Tag Tournament 2.
Fighting Style
Roger Jr. fights using Commando Wrestling, a mixture of confusing strikes and Wrestling oriented throws.
Moves
- Roger Jr./Tekken 5 Movelist
- Roger Jr./Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection
- Roger Jr./Tekken 6 Movelist
- Roger Jr./Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Movelist
Quotes
Character Relationships
- Roger - His estranged father.
- Roger's Wife - His mother.
- Kazuya Mishima - Roger Jr. was born in captivity in Kazuya's Mishima Zaibatsu.
- Doctor Bosconovitch - Roger Jr. was born in Doctor Bosconovitch's research labs.
- Alex - They became friends and ate together in Tekken Tag Tournament 2 (non-canon)
Trivia
General:
- When playing as Roger Jr., the player technically controls and fights with his mother in fact. Roger Jr. does not hit anyone and only moves his little fists around while his mother is the one hitting the adversary.
- Due to the player controlling Roger Jr's mother, all generic functions (such as continue poses, next round recoveries, walking and turning animation when confronting Jinpachi Mishima in their generic interlude in the Tekken 5 Story Mode, dialogue animation and how they stand and walk, in Tekken 6's Scenario Campaign for the latter two) are the same as female characters. Roger Jr. is also affected by Anna and Nina's Bitch Slaps move, causing Roger Jr's mother to retaliate with a slap, like female characters.
- If Roger Jr. loses to Devil Jin and the latter uses his LP win pose (levitates opponent with right hand), Roger Jr. will choke along with his mother.
- If Roger Jr. loses to Asuka, he can still be seen moving his arms if her win pose is the one where she points down taunting her downed opponent, while his mother is knocked unconscious.
- All his endings involve Roger getting hurt.
- If the player leaves Roger Jr. idle during a fight, Roger Jr. can be seen doing other kinds of movements for a few seconds besides moving his arms like his mother. He can be seen crossing his arms as if he is resting them, clapping his hands, looking at his mother, raising his arms and putting his arms and head down as if he was sneezing or throwing a fit.
- If Roger Jr.'s mother falls backward when getting K.O.ed, Roger Jr. will always be seen spreading his arms out.
- Roger Jr. is currently the only character to have a lower case letter on his name displayed in the character select. In all of his appearances, the letter "R" on the word "Jr" is in lower case.
- In Tekken 5, Roger Jr. wears yellow boxing gloves. This remains the case in Tekken 6 until the Bloodline Rebellion update where they were changed to blue. In his ending cinematics, his gloves remain yellow.
- It is possible that Roger Jr. was planned to appear as a playable fighter again for Tekken 7, but the character was ultimatly cut to avoid backlash due to a rise in animal activism.[8]
Tekken 5 and Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection:
- He is unlocked by beating story mode with one character.
- Roger Jr.'s sub boss is Mokujin.
- Upon defeating Mokujin in Story Mode, the dialogues and animations used for Roger Jr.'s interlude cutscene are recycled from Jin Kazama's Story Mode interlude when defeating Hwoarang.
- All of Roger Jr's intro and win animations are the same animations as King's. In Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection, he has a new win animation which King does not have, where his mother jumps, spins and puts her arms in the air.
- Roger Jr. is the only character introduced in the original Tekken 5 to not have a unique interlude with Jinpachi Mishima nor feature him in their ending.
- Roger Jr.'s ending is the first instance where a Roger kangaroo is not wearing boxing gloves (Roger can be seen bare handed while watching TV in his son's ending). This would happen again in Tekken 6's Scenario Campaign mode, where Kangaroo enemies reminiscent of Roger are seen wearing fingerless gloves instead of boxing gloves.
- In Roger Jr.'s ending, Roger is watching Ling Xiaoyu's ending from Tekken 3.
- Like other characters in Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection, Roger Jr. received a color palette change for all of his outfits which, in his case, simply changed the color of his and his mother's boxing gloves. Unlike the other characters, who have their renders showing off their new outfit colors, Roger Jr.'s render in Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection has his boxing gloves use their old Tekken 5 colors instead.
Tekken 6 and Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion:
- Roger Jr.'s first two opponents in Arena mode are Bryan Fury and Kazuya Mishima.
- In his Tekken 6 ending, all of the family's boxing gloves are primary colors: Roger's is blue, his wife's is red and Roger Jr.'s is yellow.
- All of the dialogue the character has in the Scenario Campaign is done by the mother.
- Roger Jr.'s Item Moves are a snorkel, a little riding hood outfit, and treats.
- When using the snorkel, Roger Jr.'s mother will do a short spin on one foot and five clownfish will appear. When using the little riding hood, his mother will make his opponent bend down facing Roger Jr. causing him to perform multiple punches and an uppercut. When using treats, snacks will fall out of his mother's mouth after certain high-flying moves, as well as his LK win pose.
- He is one of two characters, the other being Sergei Dragunov, who have more than two unique item moves, not counting the generic item move, the Naginata.
- Roger will be referenced in Scenario Campaign when playing as Roger Jr. in Kazuya and Yoshimitsu's stage. When meeting Kazuya, they will reference Roger's original creation. When meeting Yoshimitsu, he will ask if Roger Jr's mother has found Roger.
- Roger Jr. is the only character to have a knit cap and a cowboy hat available for purchase rather than playing through Scenario Campaign to unlock them. Said items for his mother still need to be unlocked, though.
- An animation error will occasionally occur when selecting Roger Jr. in Practice Mode as either the player character or the CPU character. In the Character Select screen, after his mother performs her select animation, Roger Jr. can sometimes be seen turned around incorrectly in his mother's pouch, with the visible portion of his body outside of the pouch twisted and clipping into itself. The error is somewhat hidden by the Stage Select and Character Select HUD.
- In Roger Jr's ending, when Roger remembers all the times he was selfish towards his family, scenes of Roger Jr.'s endings from Tekken 5 and Tekken 6 appear. These scenes are moments before Roger gets uppercutted.
- Roger Jr. is the only character that does not use one of the promotional artwork panels for the gold palette Ghost Battle A.I.
- Roger Jr.'s item move has Giant Swing throw the enemy so hard that they crash underground. This only triggers when the opponent's health is below Giant Swing's minimum damage, and does not occur if they are killed by the throw's avoidable damage.
- Roger Jr. also makes an appearance in Alex's ending. Roger Jr. looks for his mother in the desert, and Alex notices the small kangaroo, thinking he is an easy prey, Alex attacks. Roger Jr. then proceeds to beat Alex up and afterwards recruits his help to find Mrs. Roger while riding on Alex's back. They find her shortly after.
- During intro animations, Roger Jr's mother uses grunts heard from Tekken 5, however during matches, she lets out grunts heard from Tekken 6.
- Roger Jr's partners in Ghost Battle (in order from lowest to highest rank) are Steve Fox, Wang Jinrei, King, Baek Doo San, and Alex.
- Unlike other characters, Roger Jr.'s portrait in the character select screen does not have a black background. This is because his portrait is a zoomed-in render of he and his mother, leaving the backdrop of the cropped portrait obscured by her fur.
- In the Tekken 8 Season 3 announcement trailer where Roger Jr. is revealed, a titlecard shows Sydney, Australia with the text "From Australia", before then placing three question marks after the text. While this implies that Roger Jr. and his mother could have originally resided in Australia, it is also further evidence that their origins are unknown or unconfirmed.
Gallery
- Main article: Roger Jr./Gallery
References
- ^ Katsuhiro Harada @Harada_TEKKEN, Twitter, 4:21 PM Jun 13, 2024. Note that information is not stated in-game and only comes from a database of information provided by series developer Katsuhiro Harada.
- ^ Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection PlayStation PAL Manual.
- ^ Tekken 5 Official Strategy Guide,Brady Games (2004), p.184.
- ^ Tekken 5 In-Game Prologue.
- ^ Tekken 6 Official Strategy Guide, Brady Games (2009), p.244; transcribed on Tekken Zaibatsu.
- ^ Tekken 6 In-Game Prologue.
- ^ Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Wii U profile.
- ^ VG247 article written by James O'Conner