- Smack Zoids! B-PART
Issue: Dengeki Hobby Magazine, January 2002
Focus: Wolf type Zoids and the developmental history of the Konig Wolf.
Refined Translations courtesy of Falcarius!
In this month's B-Part, we'd like to turn the spotlight on the genealogy of wolf-type Zoids in the Zoids world. The sketches used this time are again NG [no-good, rejected] drafts made during product development, but under the supervision of Tomy, we tried systematising their evolution. What are the secrets of the Konig Wolf's birth that will now be revealed......?
- Command Wolf MK-II
Command Wolf MK-II: コマンドウルフMK-II
It was designed to draw out the Command Wolf's abilities to their limits, but it falls short of the performance of the Lightning Saix. This is the limit when using the wolf-type Zoids of the Central Continent as a base. Several experimental types were created.
- Powered Wolf
Powered Wolf: パワードウルフ
A machine that pushed forward the concept of the Mk-II, it was planned to have strengthened weaponry - for instance, it is equipped with large Blade Swords. But as a result, it became a machine with high melee abilities but limited usefulness.
- Atrocious Wolf
Atrocious Wolf: アトロシャスウルフ
A machine further evolved from the Powered, it was designed not to harm the all-purpose nature of the Command Wolf. As a result, although the main body's weapons are fragile, it was completed as a machine concealing high potential. However, this ended up placing a heavy burden on the Zoid Core, and its short lifespan was not fit for practical use.
By switching modes, it can change into a so-called Cerberus-style with three heads and three tails. However, the cores of the Central Continent's wolf-type Zoids do not have enough capacity to handle such an irregular mode, and its development ended up being shelved.
- Notes
* Everything below this point was translated via Google Translate and may have inaccuracies. Any paragraphs that have a * are direct translations by Falcarius. Thanks again!- Proto Wolf (Western)
Proto Wolf (Western): プロトウルフ (ウｪスト)
It was developed using the wolf type Zoids living on the Western continent as its base, and with the birth of this unit, the developmental plans for a successor to the Command Wolf took a big step forward. Various data was taken from the Zoid, and a developmental base for a high-speed battle Zoid that corresponded to the CA (Changing Armor) system was completed.
- Rabidly Wolf
Rabidly Wolf: ラビドリーウルフ
This Zoid was re-developed from the west continent's Proto Wolf to be more combat oriented, but since its basic design continued on directly from the Command Wolf, there remained large problems with its strength and augmentability. A version of this machine redesigned by Dr. Sono based on the data of the machine called Silver Fang would later become the Konig Wolf.
- Proto König Wolf
Proto König Wolf: プロトケーニッヒウルフ
This machine was developed separately from the Rabidly Wolf by Dr. Baba, based on the Proto Wolf (West.) Some of the combat deployed Konig Wolves continued from the Rabidly Wolf design, so this particular machine is sometimes called an early or ancient type. (Strictly speaking, this machine was named the Konig Wolf, and Dr. Sono used this machine's name as the name for a redesign based on the Rabidly Wolf.) Dr. Baba later created the Silver Fang based on this unit.
- Konig Wolf (Silver Fang)
Konig Wolf (Silver Fang): ケーニッヒウルフ (銀牙)
Further evolved from the Proto König, this Zoid specialized in melee combat. The name was written in characters not used on the Western Continent, and this language was also used to write the research data that Dr. Baba left behind. Even to this day, up to 40% of the original data has not been analyzed. It was also equipped with an unknown technology, and rumors abound of technology from the Eastern Continent. For instance, the possibility that it was equipped with Magnezer equipment, built into the cutting-edge design.
However, there was not a single person who could control it, so it is also called a phantom Zoid. Dr. Baba, who was developing the Silver Fang, went missing while over on the Eastern Continent along with the completed machine.*
The Konig Wolves deployed into actual combat by the Republic Army are said to be a detuned version of the Silver Fang.*
- Notes
It is clear that out of all quadruped Zoids, cats and dogs are the most frequently used types. Among them, lion and tiger types are the best-in-class in terms of single unit combat capability, but there are less surviving individuals in the wild, and in many cases most of which are used in the final design are mere copies. On the contrary, there's a much more viable number of canine types, but with the drawback that they possess low individual combat power.
* This text wasn't readable, so the kanji is wrong, and possibly some of the kana. Apologies!
Zoids such as the Hound Soldier and Zeek Dober conquer their faults by taking on huge equipment upgrades compatible with Grade-Up units. When it came to viable numbers and Zoids that balanced good combat capability, there was the wolf type. The original wolf types, which were known as high speed combat troops with versatility and good combat power, as well as good maneuverability, had been deployed in a variety of troops in the West Continent War. With so many variants produced it was a core focus in the Republican Army.
However, in the battle that had intensified in recent years, and the advent of powerful Zoids being churned out one after another, it came to realization that variations and minor changes could no longer compete. While the Lightning Saix of the Imperial Army hadn't reached mass production, it had combat power that equaled a liger type and surpassed the Command Wolf in high-speed combat. For older generation Zoids, it was simply a loss.
The Shadow Fox was also developed as a successor to the Command Wolf, and although the basic performance was high, there were still not a suitable number of surviving Wild Zoids for mass production, and so the Republican Armed Forces had to undertake the development of a further successor.
Meanwhile, the Republic who had taken the new Liger "Zero" of the Empire, which focused the Changing Armor System, tried and failed to convert it to the Command Wolf. This was because the Command Wolf as a base was already a completed machine, and it wasn't possible to expand so much upon the system at that stage of the design.
Thus, when the development project to find a successor to the Command Wolf was over, there was still a chance of a second series developed by Dr. Sono. A huge wolf type Wild Form had been captured by a west continent ruins investigation team. The system was further developed using the Command Wolf as a base.
That was the starting point of development for the Zoid that would later be called the König Wolf.
