Geese Howard

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Geese Howard
Image:P geese01.jpg Geese Howard in the King of Fighters Neo Wave
Birthplace:	USA
Birthdate:	January 21
Height:	180 cm
Weight:	82 kg
Blood type:	B
Hobbies:	none (he grows tired of things easily)
Favorite Food:	steaks cooked rare
Measurements:	N/A
Favorite sport:	undetermined
Most valuable:	himself
Hates the most:	People who impede his plans
Fighting Style:	Japanese ancient martial arts and Hakkyokuseiken
First Appearance:	Fatal Fury (Boss)
Appears in KOF:	The King Of Fighters '96


Image:Geese Howard.jpg
Geese Howard in the King of Fighters 1996

Geese Howard (ギース・ハワード) was the boss of all organized crime in the fictional city of Southtown in SNK Playmore's Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting fighting game series. Geese is voiced by Kong Kuwata, who also did the voices for Genjuro Kibagami and Neinhalt Sieger from the Samurai Shodown series.

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History

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Childhood

Not much is known about Geese's childhood save that Wolfgang Krauser and he share a parent (the FF2 anime implies it is their father, who abandoned Geese's mother, but the anime movies do not count toward any official continuity). There is a Shinkiro illustration said to have been made for a novel about Geese's youth where he's shown as a younger bare-chested man with hair much shorter than he had in AoF2, also featuring younger versions of characters like Jubei Yamada and Tung Fu Rue, as well as modern-day portraits of the Bogard brothers and Joe Higashi - however, most intriguing of all was the large background image of a nun, which one may speculate to be Geese's mother. When he was old enough Geese began training in the school of Hakkyokuseiken with Jeff Bogard, but Master Tung Fu Rue passed him over and taught Jeff the secrets of the style. This angered Geese, as ever since Tung Fu Rue declared Jeff the favorite, Geese swore revenge against Jeff. Geese had other martial arts teachers over the course of his life, which apparently included "Blue" Mary Ryan's grandfather and Toji Sakata from Fatal Fury Wild Ambition.

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Art of Fighting

Geese rose to the top in an unusual way. During the Art of Fighting series, Geese gained power as a kingpin of crime. First, he made good on his threats against the Sakazakis, since Takuma stood in his way. Geese forced Takuma to cooperate at all costs or suffer the consequences. Takuma did not like the idea of serving Geese Howard so when he was ordered to kill Jeff Bogard, Takuma refused. Geese kidnapped Yuri Sakazaki and had Mr. Big supervise Takuma to prevent Takuma from disobeying Geese. Mr. Big then ordered Takuma to fight his own son, Ryo Sakazaki. Ryo's anger almost had Takuma killed, but Yuri came unscathed, told Ryo not to do so, and revealed that both Ryo and Takuma were tricked into fighting each other.

Takuma resigned from Geese's ranks and swore revenge against Geese by doing the unusual. Takuma had to train Yuri as a vehicle for his revenge against Geese for disgracing the honor of Kyokugenryu Karate. During Art of Fighting 2, the Sakazakis (and Robert Garcia) managed to defeat Geese. Geese then evaded the Haoushoukouken deathblow attempted by Ryo and later attacked and killed Jeff in unarmed combat, which was witnessed by Terry, as seen in the Fatal Fury Wild Ambition intro sequence.

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Fatal Fury

In his rise to the top, Geese obtained the services of Billy Kane as his personal bodyguard (he's known to have two others, Ripper and Hopper, although they don't actually fight in the games), and set Billy up as the champion when Geese organized the first King of Fighters tournament in a fit of boredom.

In 1991, three new contestants entered Geese's tournament: Terry Bogard, Andy Bogard, and Andy's friend Joe Higashi. Very few people defeated Billy, but Terry did just that, and earned the right to fight Geese himself. They battled in Geese Tower, and Terry managed to defeat him. The original Fatal Fury game showed Geese the loser of that fight falling from the top of the building, but later this was retconned in fatal Fury Wild Ambition into an almost fatal beating, explaining why Geese was still alive in later games, and yet was taken for dead by many until Fatal Fury 3.

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Fatal Fury Special

Fatal Fury Special, much like Mortal Kombat Trilogy, was a mostly-apocryphal game that combined the rosters of the first two Fatal Fury games. Geese was the penultimate of the five bosses, preceded by Billy Kane, Axel Hawk, and Lawrence Blood, and followed by Fatal Fury 2's chief antagonist, Wolfgang Krauser. The events of Fatal Fury Special are not considered canon to the series' storyline; Geese was still widely believed to be dead.

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Fatal Fury 3

After Fatal Fury 2, Geese keeps a low profile for a while, even during the main Fatal Fury 3 tournament, but comes back in the very end, to steal the Sacred Scrolls of Immortality from the Jin twins.

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The King of Fighters '96

Geese always seems to be alive and well in this series, and this is one of the major points counting toward the theory that this is a separate timeline. Anyway, Geese returned to the world's attention when he entered the 1996 King of Fighters tournament, with his underling Mr. Big and brother Wolfgang Krauser. His plan to learn about the power of Orochi failed, and he survived an assassination attempt by Mr. Big (with Billy's timely intervention), and Geese returned to Southtown.

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The King of Fighters '97

The next year, he sent a team to the King of Fighters, consisting of Billy Kane, Blue Mary, and Ryuji Yamazaki in order to find more about Orochi and its power - Billy was meant to keep an eye on Iori Yagami, while Mary was to check on Yamazaki, as both subjects of observation were suspected to be a part of the bloodline. Again, he failed to gain the power of Orochi.

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Real Bout Fatal Fury

Geese then encountered Terry again, and they fought on Geese Tower's observation deck (decorated as a Japanese shrine). Terry knocked Geese through the wooden guardrail, and grabbed him as he fell. Geese released himself from Terry's grasp, and allowed himself to fall to his death. Seeing how the events of that game were closely related to the Jin scrolls, which apparently had something to do with the power of immortality, and Geese was in possession of them, it may be reasonable to assume that Geese preferred to test their effectiveness than to live with the shame of being saved by his enemy, especially considering his grin at the time.

Geese's story in this game has him facing a mysterious imposter known only as Shadow, who resembles Geese except that Shadow stutters.

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Real Bout Fatal Fury Special

Geese appeared in RBS as a hidden character with all his moves increased to awesome power, and few lines of story - this incarnation is referred to as "Nightmare Geese".

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Real Bout Fatal Fury 2

Geese is selectable in this game, and you face him as a boss character if you do well during the game. If you finish that game was him, you'll see him being escorted by his bodyguards to a chair, from which he promptly disappears, leaving the Jin scrolls in his place.

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Garou: Mark of the Wolves

Geese is survived by his son Rock Howard, whom Terry has trained for some time. The host of the tournament, Kain R. Heinlein is Marie Heinlein's (Geese's lover) brother.

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The King of Fighters 2003

Even though Geese is known to be dead in the Fatal Fury series, he is alive in the King of Fighters 2003 tournament as the sponsor of the Outlaw team (having Gato, Billy and Yamazaki). It is even more mysterious that Billy was not a bit surprised by Geese's presence in the Outlaw team's story, as if Geese has not been killed. This has led to doubts on whether the KOF storyline is concurrent with the Fatal Fury storyline (i.e. in the same universe).

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Special Moves

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Reppuken

Image:Kof962.jpg (烈風拳, or Violent Wind Fist) Geese's signature. He will gather up his Ki energy, open his palm, and unleash a ground-slicing energy projectile, much like Terry Bogard's Power Wave. This move is later learned and practiced by Rugal Bernstein and Rock Howard.

In KOF '96, Geese's Reppuken did not create a projectile, but instead became a melee-ranged move where he slices with Ki energy, leaving a blue arc. This same version of the move comes out in SvC: Chaos if the Reppuken is comboed into by another attack.

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Double Reppuken

(雙‧烈風拳 Double Violent Wind Fist) Geese will gather Ki energy with both hands, then unleash with the left hand first, forming an energy-wave that stalls on the ground and blocks any enemy fireball. Then he would swing his right arm, combining both of the bursts of Ki energy into a much larger projectile, sending it toward his victim. In Fatal Fury Real Bout Special and in SVC: Chaos, this projectile is even taller than Geese himself. This is a great psyche for keep-away players, as it guards Geese from projectiles while answering with one of his own. Rock can use this version too, although Rugal can't.

In KOF '96, Double Reppuken did not create any projectiles either; instead Geese slices twice with Ki energy. This same version of the move comes out in SvC: Chaos if the Double Reppuken is comboed into by another attack.

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Shippuken

(疾風拳, or Gale Fist) An airborne projectile. Geese fires a ball of Ki energy from the air that is angled downwards towards the opponent. In KoF and SvC:C it dissipates quickly enough not to reach the ground at most heights. Geese learned this move when he survived falling from the Geese tower in the ending of Fatal Fury 1.

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Jaei Ken

(邪影拳, or Evil Shadow Fists) Gathering Ki energy, Geese rushes towards his opponent and performs a nasty two or three hit combo. Much like the Deadly Rave, the Jaei Ken is used in close range combat with opponents. Another one of Geese's deadly techniques which allows him to dominate at even close range..

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Atemi Nage

(當身投, or Countering Throw) One of Geese's many counter moves. He blocks an attack, then slams his opponent into the ground. There are three versions of Atemi Nage, which are: Joudan (Upper), Chuudan (Middle), and Gedan (Lower). Each blocks a different type of attack, with the upper blocking attacks that aren't low, the lower blocking low attacks, and the middle blocking some of both. The Joudan also counters special attacks with the exception of projectiles. If Geese catches his opponent with this attack, he will often taunt them with an exclimation of "predictable" or "too easy!"

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Raging Storm

Image:GEESESVC2.JPG One of Geese's supermoves. Geese raises both hands in the air, then slams them into the ground causing a huge cage or geyser of Ki-energy to surround him for a good few seconds, dealing a large amount of damage.

In the Fatal Fury The Motion Picture anime, Geese uses this move to destroy an entire forest. It is unknown, (at this time) what is the true Japanese name of this attack as it remained unnamed in said anime. However, using other sources, the Japanese translation for the "Raging Storm" has been found to be Mōretsu Arashi.

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Deadly Rave

Usually Geese's most powerful move, which he allegedly learned after observing Ryo Sakazaki's Ryokoranbu technique. Deadly Rave involves Geese shouting the attack's name, dashing toward the opponent, assaulting the victim with a long, powerful combination of attacks, and finishes the maneuver with an energy-bursting palm(Fatal Fury series and CvS/SvC) or an air-slashing strike (Art of Fighting).

Depending on the game Geese is in, the attack either goes off automatically or the player needs to input an additional button sequence for it to be fully executed. In most cases, the initial charge takes 2 hits, and the sequence goes as follows : A, A,B, B,C, C,D, D, which are 8 hits, then lastly the most powerful finishing hit. If somehow the sequence is messed up, the whole move is spoiled.

Obviously, Geese's Deadly Rave in Capcom vs. SNK 2 inflicts more damage than Rock's Neo Deadly Rave. Variations of this move have been used by Rock Howard, Terry Bogard and Wolfgang Krauser.

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Trivia

When Geese is not fighting in his hakama, he is usually shown in games wearing a business suit. In the 3D Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition game, Geese was playable wearing his business suit.
Geese appears seated in the background of the unlockable Infernal Gate stage in KOF: Maximum Impact. This stage is a version of his Geese Tower background that he has in most of the games he appears in. Coincidentally, the background music of this stage is titled Kiss Geese Once More, and is a remix of his classic theme.
Whether or not Geese is alive is a major difference between the branching storylines of the Fatal Fury and King of Fighters series. In the Fatal Fury continuity he's considered dead after that game, but appeared in Real Bout Special as a secret boss and is actually playable in Real Bout 2, although his ending in that game involves him disappearing, leaving only the Jin scrolls in the seat where that scene takes place. In the KoF games, however, Geese is alive and well, and is involved in the stories of KoF97 and KoF2003, both released after Real Bout. Furthermore, the animated series that links together the stories of the 2D KoFXI and the 3D KoF Maximum Impact 2 refers Geese's death scene from Terry Bogard's Real Bout ending, but does so through a dream of Rock Howard's where he sees himself in his father's place. However, this series is not part of either game series' canon.
Geese has 2 'versions' of the Raging/Raising/Rising Storm- a cage version which may be considered the original version since it was his super in Fatal Fury 2 Special, and the 'tidal wave'-like version which originates from the Real Bout games.
Geese is one of the select few SNK characters to retain a constant theme music, which is "remixed" in each of his appearances. Each version of his theme is titled differently, but always involves something "for Geese" (Geese ni Kissu/A Kiss For Geese, his theme from Art of Fighting; Geese ni Katakori/A Stiff Shoulder For Geese, his theme from KOF 96; Geese ni Shouyu/Possesions of Geese, his theme from Fatal Fury). In every version, the song begins with a fast-paced electric guitar, with the main melody being a fast, evil, mostly low-key tune, with different instruments accompanying the guitar in each arrangement.