Geese Howard
Geese Howard from Fatal Fury is an interesting case as the series has diverted from its original games to what is now known as the King of Fighters series. Therefore, there are multiple canons to take into account when discussing the character.
Fatal Fury, the SNK fighting game series from 1990, is the main canon for Geese’s story. He originated from there and will be taking into account the five games in its subsequent storyline.
There are a couple of remake titles in Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition & Real Bout Garou Densetsu Special: Dominated Mind.
King of Fighters, is the flagship SNK series. It’s in a timeline wherein Real Bout Fatal Fury did not happen, if Geese had not died, and if there were other sponsors for the King of Fighters tournament. Hijinks ensue.
There are a multitude of manhwas, mangas, anime adaptations that are far too numerous to list down here. All of them are adaptations of the King of Fighters video games in some way, so it can be composited. The main one to be viewed is A New Beginning, a manga adaptation of King of Fighters XIV (its most recent installment).
The Maximum Impact games is a noncanon What-If scenario for King of Fighters in a world where Real Bout did happen and Geese died. It’s a non canon story of an alternate timeline and therefore isn’t really usable here. Not like there’s any missing out on it.
There’s about a million mobile titles but most are featless. Only one really that was examined closely was KoF Sky Stage. Does make for good miscellaneous material.
Geese Howard himself isn’t too active a character in either Fatal Fury or King of Fighters, so much of the research into feats will be scaling him to his opponents.
Background
Before he became the ruler of South Town, Geese was simply a resident there. It was his birth town. He had grown up with his mother there because his father had abandoned him. Despite trying his best to work hard, his mother did die from illness. Angered by this, he went to Europe to track his father down. After a failed assassination attempt on his father, Rudolph Krauser Von Stroheim, Geese’s half brother, Wolfgang Krauser, stopped him.
His goal shifted to revenge. Having his eyes set on reclaiming what he felt was rightfully his, Geese grew a resentment towards the Stroheim name. He traveled the world, eventually stumbling upon Tung Fu Rue’s abode. The wiseman agreed to train him under the ways of the Hakkyokuseiken.
It was then that Geese learned the art of fighting alongside his rival and friend, Jeff Bogard. It seemed to be on an uphill for Geese until the day Tung Fu Rue decided that he would pass down his secret techniques to Jeff instead of him. Tung Fu Rue feared that Geese would not use the ability selflessly. After being soundly defeated by his rival, Geese would once again hear the same words his half brother said to him years ago. Understandably pissed at the world, Geese’s focus became absolute power.
Tung Fu Rue had hoped that the encounter would be a lesson to his former pupil. And it was. It gave Geese the learning experience to take over South Town. He amassed connections with the underground mafia, police, business, and martial arts programs. After overthrowing the previous ruler, Mr. Big, Geese became the new ruler of South Town. And in getting more men for his cause, Geese would host the first ever King of Fighters tournament. Sooner than later, everything in the city was tied to the Howard Connection, a company he was CEO of.
All that was left was to reclaim the secret scrolls. And in doing so, killed Jeff Bogard in front of his sons's eyes. It was the start of a long rivalry between the Bogards and the Howard Connection. Geese’s reach would constantly prove difficult to the Bogards as the city’s best fighters were all in his pocket, including world champion Billy Kane. During Fatal Fury 3, Geese would collect all the secret scrolls and destroy them so they would not be used against him.
After a long back and forth between Terry, Andy, and Geese at the King of Fighters tournament, Geese would be killed by a long fall during Real Bout Fatal Fury (following his defeat by the hands of Terry Bogard). Finally, his reign of terror would be over….
Until it wasn’t. In King of Fighters, Geese is not only alive, but he is thriving. He typically takes a backseat and has his henchmen do the dirty work for him. He doesn’t organize the King of Fighters tournaments anymore. Seldomly, does he take the spotlight at all. His goal, of course, would be to gain as much power as possible. And he plans to do so through studying Orochi, an entity created by the Earth itself to exterminate humanity.
Whether he’s stealing the power of the souls of past fighters or manipulating the network of information from the heroes, it’s really hard to say if anyone’s seen the last of Geese Howard.
Sources:
Fatal Fury 2 (OVA), Fatal Fury Trilogy, Art of Fighting 2, Real Bout Fatal Fury, King of Fighters: Destiny
Name: Geese Howard
Gender: Male
Age: 42
Height: 6'0" (181 cm)
Weight: 181 lbs (82 kg)
Occupation: CEO of Howard Connection
Former Student of the Hakkyokuseiken school
A mega fan of Japanese culture
Occasionally known for appearing in people’s nightmares
Moveset
Fighting Style: Aikijutsu
Geese’s main fighting style. This is a fighting style characterized by throws, counters, and locks. Geese is privy to blocking strikes, then countering them by tossing or slamming his opponents on the ground. Usually accompanied by a “too easy”, “die forever”, or “predictable” in broken English.
Fighting Style #2: Karate
When Geese decides to go for striking combos, his movements are similar to that of standard Karate. It’s characterized by quick and powerful strikes with deep, strong stances. By having a good foundation for stances, all attacks will be powerful.
Fighting Style #3: Kickboxing
In his younger Art of Fighting days, Geese combined his knowledge of street fighting and kickboxing with karate, using a mixture of his legs and fists for fast and deadly blows. He has sense stopped using these moves regularly but still employs them in some of his other techniques.
Powers & Abilities
Hakkyokuseiken
The school of the Hakkyokuseiken taught him how to use his inner power in a variety of ways. He imbues this into his fighting styles.
Chi Control: Geese was taught how to gather energy from Gaia, the mother-Earth itself for projectiles and elemental attacks.
Aura Sensing: Can detect strong fighters nearby.
Gather Chi: Geese can charge up like a Dragonball character to receive more power from the Earth if he’s ever running low.
Passive Chi: The pressure of his chi can blow people away without effort.
Chi Blasts: Geese can shoot generic ki blasts without it having elemental energy.
Elemental Manipulation: while he has dedicated techniques, it is to note that he can utilize his elements however he pleases in all of his attacks. His elements of choice are Wind and Electricity.
Elemental Techniques
Wind
Reppuuken (Gale Fist): an energy projectile that tears through the ground.
Double Reppuuken: same thing, but he fires two, with the second being bigger.
Shippuuken (Hurricane Fist): A powerful palm technique imbued with massive amounts of wind energy.
Raging Storm: His most famous and signature finishing move. It’s a geyser of energy that covers him from both sides, erupting from the ground.
Electricity
Summon Lightning
Raimei Gouha Nage (Thunderclap Strong Crushing Throw): after slamming his opponent on the floor, lightning strikes them too.
Raigou Reppuuken (Thunder Booming Gale Fist): Same thing as a Reppuken but he coats with electricity energy.
Thunder Break: Raging Storm but it calls down lightning bolts as well.
Generic
Explosion Ball: A double palm technique, a localized energy explosion.
Rashoumon: After tossing his opponent up, delivering a deadly blow.
Deadly Rave: A rushdown combo that ends with a chi technique.
Feats
Strength & Attack Potency
Killed Jeff Bogard. (FF / KoF)
Punched through Verse’s chest and claimed his power. (KoF)
Speed & Reactions
His younger-self could keep pace with the Art of Fighting protagonists. (AoF)
Able to summon lightning (FF / KoF).
Can keep up with Terry and Andy. (FF)
Dodged a Power Wave and moved faster than the trained eye from Terry. (FF)
Durability & Stamina
Fell off of Geese tower. (FF)
After absorbing Verse’s power, Geese powered through having his soul deteriorated.(KoF)
Maintained Verse’s raw power into his body for some time without dying.(KoF)
Skill & Intelligence
Studied under the Hakkyokuseiken school of Martial Arts. (FF)
Started Howard Connection, a crime syndicate company, and took over South Town. (FF)
Took Billy Kane, Mr. Big, Ripper, Hopper, and Takuma under his employ. (FF / AoF)
Collected the Jin scrolls (they have the secrets to immortality), which he then destroyed (FF)
Defeated Andy Bogard and Joe Higashi. (FF / KoF)
Has clashed with Team Fatal Fury and Team Art of Fighting multiple times. (FF / KoF)
Defeated Verse (KoF)
Scaling
Terry Bogard: Leveled a parking garage roof with a Power Geyser.
Sokaku & Benimaru: Can summon lightning and move in tandem with it.
Chang, Choi, & Kula: Took a blast from the Zero Cannon.
Yashiro: Displaced a lot of land with lava.
Kyo Kusanagi & Iori Yagami: Their fights cause a lot of calamity.
Terry has fought these guys plenty of times.
Weaknesses
While perceptive, Geese is pretty hotblooded and is not privy to his plans falling apart at the seams. His conquest for power causes him to make pretty irrational decisions, even if it’s worse for his health, like when he absorbed Verse’s power knowing it could kill him.
Isn’t exactly known for always being in the field fighting, typically letting his henchmen do the work for him.
Has a limited amount of energy he can expend on special moves at once.
I'm trying to find the method used in Verse's hurricane feat used in the battle. Most results only give me Megaton level results, not Gigatons.
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