Geese Howard

Geese Howard (ギース・ハワード, Gīsu Hawādo) is the chief antagonist of the Fatal Fury series and a secondary villain in the Art of Fighting series. His role varies in the The King of Fighters storyline, but he is always either in the position of a villain or an anti-hero.

Geese also appears in many CD dramas and stars in his own character image album. He also sings in a number of image songs. In addition to appearing in manga adaptations of the Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting and The King of Fighters games published in Japan, Geese Howard was also the subject of a single-volume manga published in 1996 titled The Geese Howard Story by Etsuya Amajishi, adapting the character's fictional history from the Art of Fighting and Fatal Fury games. It was followed by a single-volume sequel in 1997 titled Geese in the Dark, by the same author.

History
The fate of Geese Howard is one of the major differences between the continuities. In the Fatal Fury series, he is dead. In The King of Fighters series, however, he is alive (excluding the KOF: Maximum Impact series). He is sometimes known for using his "Nightmare" mode for games where he is dead, such as in Real Bout Fatal Fury Special.

Pre-Art of Fighting
Geese comes from a poor American woman and an Austrian terrorist. His father abandoned them after Geese was born in Southtown. Working for both of their sakes to surpass his father, he took up odd jobs around the city. Despite his efforts, his mother eventually died from poor health and hunger. Rather than dwelling in sadness, Geese tracks down his father in Europe and learns his father's real name is Rudolph Krauser Von Stroheim. He tries to assassinate him when he was 15 but fails due to his half-brother, Wolfgang Krauser, effortlessly stopping him (this same scene is later re-enacted in The Fatal Fury 2 anime). He tried to rid of his anger through religion but couldn't shake the humiliation of his loss.

Learning at a young age that power grants results, Geese trained in the school of Hakkyokuseiken with Jeff Bogard and Cheng Sinzan, under Tung Fu Rue's tutelage. Other games imply that Geese had also studied with other martial arts teachers, including the grandfather of "Blue" Mary Ryan and Toji Sakata - mainly Japanese martial arts styles. During this time of their prime, the three were once renowned as the "Three Brothers of Godly Battle". However, at the same time, he also started to build his network with the Southtown local mafia through intimidation and personal bribes. This is where he also gained the services of Ripper and Hopper. Sensing that Geese would not use the sacred techniques of the school selflessly, Tung passes the secrets of the school to Jeff. He had hoped to tame Geese's spirit afterward but he departed from the place enraged, and saw the end of the school's relations with him.

He focuses his efforts in overthrowing a kingpin named Mr. Big and he eventually becomes the reigning crime lord of Southtown. To separate his business with his mafia and to find a place to properly train, he also commissioned the building of his own headquarters, Geese Tower. As time passed, he also used the tower as one of the main operating stations for his own business, Howard Connection.

Art of Fighting 2
Art of Fighting 2 reveals that it is Geese who orders Mr. Big to kidnap Yuri Sakazaki in the original Art of Fighting game. Yuri is kidnapped to keep in line Mr. Karate (Takuma Sakazaki), who is being forced to work for Geese - the SNES version of AoF states his orders included killing Jeff, but this may not be entirely canonical. It is Geese who orders Mr. Karate to fight his son, Ryo Sakazaki.

Although he was powerful, Geese had still not completely conquered Southtown yet. Hoping to gain more men for his cause, he hosts the first known King of Fighters tournament. Unfortunately, he came out of the event empty-handed and was defeated by Ryo. He was able to escape and successfully defended his turf from the jealous Mr. Big.

Fatal Fury Series
In 1981, Geese Howard kills Jeff Bogard in front of his son Terry's eyes (revealed in Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition) and hires Billy Kane as his personal bodyguard. He sets up Billy as his champion in his King of Fighters tournaments.

Ten years after Jeff's death, Terry, his brother Andy Bogard, and their friend Joe Higashi enter Geese's King of Fighters tournament. Terry faces him on top of Geese Tower and defeats him by knocking him out the window. While the town presumes him to be dead, Geese was actually alive, apparently thanks to the secrets of a Chinese scroll in his possession. The scroll, called the "Phoenix Scroll", was later discovered in Geese Tower; it allows the user to speed up their recovery rate.

During Fatal Fury Special, Geese hears that the scrolls grant immortality, so he discreetly searches for them. The story in Real Bout Fatal Fury explains that Geese obtained all three scrolls from Jin Chonshu and Jin Chonrei. However, he strategically wants them destroyed so that they would never be used against him. In the same game, he finally announces his presence to the public and organizes another King of Fighters tournament to settle his differences with the Bogard brothers. In the tournament's climax, he faces Terry and is once again thrown from the tower. Although Terry caught hold of his nemesis' hand, Geese refused his help and wrenched his arm away from Terry's grasp, laughing while falling to his own death, for good.

Though there was speculation that he survived his second encounter, the story in Garou: Mark of the Wolves depicts that Geese had fatally fell from Geese Tower. The Real Bout series alluded to this fact with his nightmare form that appeared as a difficult secret boss. He is survived in the games by his son Rock Howard.

Fatal Fury (Anime Series)
Geese's fate in the Fatal Fury anime trilogy differs from that of the game series. After suffering defeat from Terry in the first OVA, his appearances in the later two films are minimal. In Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle, he goes into hiding and is found by Krauser. The long scar across Geese's left eye was made by Krauser during his failed assassination attempt for his father. In the movie, Geese is seen only briefly as Billy Kane informs him of the Bogards' activities.

The King of Fighters
The major difference from this series's continuity than others is the fact that Geese is still alive. An interview with Neo Geo Freak reveals that this is mostly due to the fact that The King of Fighters development team wasn't initially aware about Geese's fate in the Real Bout series. Once they heard about it, the developers from Real Bout team approved his appearance in the series due to their desires to create the Boss Team. Additionally, Geese's profile statistics during this series are the same ones for Fatal Fury Special (excluding his age).

Having manipulated Mr. Big and Wolfgang Krauser's interests in his activities, Geese enters the 1996 King of Fighters tournament to entertain himself. His goal was to minimize his rivals' power and investigate the things surrounding Orochi's power, as well as to settle the score with Terry. In his team's ending, Billy shields him from an assassination attempt from one of Big's men and the crime lords part ways. Since then, Geese plays a minor role by hiring Billy to investigate oddities in the tournaments. He often plans for Billy's teammates in advance by offering them various personal awards. So far, he has been keeping tabs on Orochi and seems to have taken an interest in Gato's father.

Geese was included as a bonus character for the Playstation 2 port of The King of Fighters XI. In it, Geese's win quote after defeating Terry shows him wondering why Terry is so surprised to see him, claiming that he already told him that he's immortal.

After many years of his absence from The King of Fighters tournaments, Geese decides to return to participate, together with Billy and Hein, Geese's butler. It's later revealed that Geese has not unlocked the secrets of the Jin scrolls yet, but they prophesied the events within the story (Verse's appearance and warriors thought to be lost coming back to life), which is the reason why he entered the tournament.

In the series's alternate universe, KOF: Maximum Impact, Geese is presumed dead once more since the game's setting hardly mentions his presence. However, his "Nightmare" form makes an appearance in the sequel. Ureshino alludes that this was done mainly due to Rock and Billy's appearances in the game.

Personality
Geese is a proud man who considers himself a mighty warrior and as such thinks highly of himself. He craves power in all of its forms: from money to immortality, a desire influenced by various tragedies in his childhood, from losing his mother to being estranged as a stepson. He can be quite vengeful as well, as he holds grudges against Krauser and Jeff, whom he later killed. Despite appearing to be heartlessly evil however, he has his own code of honor and there are lines that even he will not cross; never underestimating his opponents, especially after suffering defeat from Terry. He will crush anyone who stands in his way and reward those he deems worthy of his respect, or in the case of Billy, whoever he sympathizes with.

He appears to show respect to Tung Fu Rue despite their histories, even if he is sometimes sarcastic about it, as seen in Neo Geo Battle Coliseum, and more recently in KOF XIV.

He has a fascination with Japan, often adorning the Japanese decorum on the Geese Tower rooftop with American flags, and has assimilated some Nipponese culture as a result.

Whether because of ambition or to simply keep them from possible harm, he was apparently distant from his personal family, ignoring Rock's pleas to help Marie in her sickness until she reportedly passed away. As a result, this earned him Rock's indignation and the latter's devotion to stay away from his shadow.

Powers

 * Gather Chi - Geese can gather chi energy from Gaia, the mother-earth.
 * Sense - Geese can sense the presence of people nearby.
 * Summon Thunder - Through some difficulty, Geese can also summon lightning from the sky. He uses this in his Atemi Nage (Body-Blow Throw) and Thunder Break moves. The former comes in the form of the Raimei Gouha Nage (Thunderclap Strong Crushing Throw).
 * Ergokinesis - Geese has a incredible control over energy that is gathered from Gaia.
 * Energy Projectile - Geese can fire a wave of energy called Reppuuken and even fire two of them at the same time. The air version is called Shippuuken.
 * Energy Attack - Geese can infuse his normal attacks (punches, kicks, etc) with chi energy causing more damage.
 * Cutting Energy - Geese can create blades of energy as seen in his Hishou Nichirin Zan (Soaring Sun Slasher) move.
 * Energy Geyser - By touching the ground with his hands, Geese can make a geyser of energy come from below the ground. He calls this attack the Raging Storm.

Skills

 * Administration - Geese is the CEO of the facade Howard Connection, and has managed to successfully maintain his own image to those not in the know.
 * Counter Attack - Thanks to his training in various Japanese martial arts (Karate, Aikidou, Jujutsu, etc.), Geese is able to reverse almost every strike intended to land on him.
 * Japanese Religion and Philosophy - Due to his training in various ancient Japanese martial arts.
 * Survival - Geese has survived the streets and learned how to fend for himself since a young age.

Fighting Style
Geese uses Aikijutsu as his primary fighting style. Aikijutsu is a style with several throws, counter throws and locks. However, it is a style that normally lacks striking attacks, and Geese's strikes seem to come from various disciplines of Japanese martial arts, mainly karate; though he also knows traditional and older schools of Japanese martial arts. While Geese is from the USA, his extensive practice of such martial arts has lead nearly all of his techniques to be written and spoken out in Japanese. Via his codifying 2/3-way counter throws, some games may or may not allow Geese to even reverse physical supers/DM's.

Many official sources state that his fighting style is Hakkyokuseiken, but this is disputed. It can be assumed that Hakkyokuseiken only teaches the way of the chi and not fighting techniques, as Terry Bogard, Tung Fu Rue and Geese Howard, students of this school, employ different fighting styles. Through his chi control, many of Geese's attacks possess a wind-based motif, mainly through techniques such as the Reppuuken (Gale Fist), Shippuuken (Hurricane Fist) and Raging Storm; as he develops his style, he also adds some electricity-based touches, such as his popular Raimei Gouha Nage (Thunderclap Strong Crushing Throw), and the stronger version of his Raging Storm, the Thunder Break. KOF '96 was also the game that debuted the alternate "wind slashing" variation of his Reppuuken, which also converts his Shippuuken to turn into a short range energy shot instead that negates projectiles.

His Double Reppuuken was also unique in that via Geese tossing out an energy mass prior to form a bigger projectile afterward, it would vary between games if the said energy mass would dissipate or not upon contact with either the opponent or another projectile (if so, it would cause Geese to toss a normal Reppuuken instead of the bigger one). Another one of his inconsistencies his is one of his many unique throw attacks, the Shinkuu Nage (Vacuum Throw); a unique technique he Geese tosses his opponent overhead then waves his arms while ending in a focused stance. In some games, it is a normal throw, while in others, it is a command throw instead; either way, its command has often varied, and ironically Geese's son has found more use for his version of it due to his ability to break it.

His younger-self however, has used an old technique named the Explosion Ball, and also favored a more rigid boxing style mixed with karate. However, as he ages to his more popular present-self, he employs many new attacks and has a more upright stance that allows him to focus on his reversals and various throws. Though in tribute to his younger-self, one technique present-Geese has retained in some titles from Art of Fighting 2 is his Hishou Nichirin Zan (Flying Day Ring Slash). His Rashoumon (Thin Life Gate) technique which debuted in Real Bout Fatal Fury 2 also references the castle gate location of the same name.

The command input of Geese's Raging Storm has remained mostly untouched in his game appearances due to its popularity with fans in Japan (coined the "Pretzel Command" by the fandom). It is one of the few moves from Fatal Fury to not undergo a command rearrangement in The King of Fighters series. In some games, such as Neo Geo Battle Coliseum, SVC Chaos, and KOF '98 UM, the command input is lax thus gamers can find a way to execute it with a simpler command that overlaps. Regarding its name, many different sources have romanized it as Raising Storm, Raging Storm or Rising Storm (the second naming variation which his son stays consistent with). However, its command so far has been notably the most strict in The King of Fighters Neowave via his younger self, in that messing up the input may have him activate Deadly Rave instead. Though prior to that via, Real Bout Fatal Fury 2, its command input instead was that of the Haou Shoukou Ken (while still fairly tight); in The King of Fighters XIV, its motion instead changes to that of the Ura 108 Shiki: Orochinagi (a quarter-circle backward-to-half-circle forward) motion and is instead his only strongest move via acting as his Climax DM (with the removal of the Deadly Rave), which simplifies his character somewhat and also resembles the "windy" version his son uses.

Geese's CD attack while it had a name in more in-depth movelists in the Japanese scripts (known as the Fudou Kassatsu Uraken, lit. Motionless Life-or-Death Backfist), was one of the few along with some others had that its name brought to light as a command normal in the vs. Capcom crossovers. However, via his ripped SvC Chaos incarnation that appears in the console versions of 2002, his default CD/Blowback Attack (along with Goenitz, Shingo and King's) inflicts no damage via a programming error, while the aforementioned command normal version of it does.

His Deadly Rave technique was created via Geese taking interest of the Kyokugen style's Ryuuko Ranbu technique, in games barring Art of Fighting 2, The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match and The King of Fighters Neowave where the DM was an automatic super, the DM was also famous for having a special sequenced command that could lead into finisher (a series of weaker-to-stronger normal attack inputs followed by a quarter-circle-back finishing input), but also required consistent timing and rhythm (which could be purposely dropped at the very end to extend combos). Via Daisuke Ishiwatari's departure from SNK to Arc System Works and when referenced in The Last Blade beforehand, a number of other video game titles have referenced this very attack's unique input sequence.

While Geese has been balanced in terms of gameplay in many titles barring ones where he is intentionally overpowered, his younger version in Neowave was viable even in competitive play, despite some attributes being hard to counter such as his Deadly Rave having a notable amount of invincibility with a great hitbox; Geese even in his debut was rather considered to be a notably powerful boss in SNK titles, as his counter throws even worked when no incoming attacks triggered it. Younger Geese in Neowave also lacked a properly-programmed HSDM/MAX2DM.

Ironically via Real Bout 2, Geese was notably toned down, with almost half of his classic moveset being removed along with a few new moves added. This version of him combined with his "Nightmare" version was brought back in a more balanced composite version in '98 Ultimate Match. His SvC Chaos incarnation which was reused for the later ports of KOF 2002 also had touches from his Nightmare-self as well, despite being his normal self that is still alive.

In Neo Geo Battle Coliseum, a unique form of his Raging Storm is used as a stronger version whenever he manages to land one of his counter throws. This is a reference to this very version of the said move when used in Fatal Fury 3, where his Raging Storm will turn red during a unique combination of attacks and deal more damage.

In KOF XIV, Geese instead is slightly reworked with some of his attacks removed once more, along with having new moves up his arsenal; his Ja'ei Ken (Wicked Shadow Fist) being removed and gaining a command throw mainly exclusive to Nightmare Geese. In prior games, Geese was lacking in offensive mixup; this is remedied with his new Fudou Ken (Motionless Fist), a move where Geese rushes forward with a palm strike (and was originally a command normal with auto-guard in the Maximum Impact series) with three followups, A (Flatter), Ba (Name) and Un (Growl), which respectively hit mid, low and overhead (but don't act as a true combo outside of counter hit/juggle hit for the latter two).

Other new techniques in XIV are the DM's Raigou Reppuuken (Thunder Booming Gale Fist), a lightning-laced variant of his signature projectile, and the Oni Hanmon (Ogre Agony), a brand new DM counter throw that will still waste a stock if not triggered properly; if triggered, Geese will thrust his palm into the opponent then smash their face in to the ground.

Game Appearances

 * Project × Zone 3: Sacred Destinies - Boss character, in his Wild Ambition appearance
 * Capcom vs SNK 3: Fighters' Spirit - DLC character
 * Neo Geo Battle Coliseum 2 - In his Art of Fighting 2 appearance
 * Neo Geo 2: Match of the Century - In his Wild Ambition appearance
 * Street Fighter X KOF - Playable character

Similar Characters

 * Nightmare Geese