Geese Howard

"'CEO of Howard Connection and emperor of South Town! He's a martial arts nightmare! GEESE HOWARD.' - The King of Fighters XV"Geese Howard is the chief, boss and main 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. His nickname is Charismatic Evil.

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.

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 heartless 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 The King of Fighters 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, with Geese himself possibly being aware of the irony of such a strained relationship.

Of some minor analysis, his trait of starting hobbies and getting bored rather easily in a cyclical trend has been noted in psychological studies to indicate psychopathy, which may be attributed to his harsh childhood and misguided beliefs to believe that power wielded enough to murder makes right upon his way into the criminal underworld.

Abilities
Geese fights with a martial arts style fusion of Karate, Aikido, etc fused with energy mastery taught to him by Tue Fung Rue. On the side, he is an excellent administrator figure to his own company, considering his impoverished roots.
 * 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 an 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.


 * Administration - Geese is the CEO of the façade 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.
 * Billiards - Geese's pastime, and he is quite good at it.

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 US, 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 Great Crush 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 Reppuken, 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 Rock 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). He also has the Rashoumon (Thin Life Gate) technique, which debuted in Real Bout Fatal Fury 2.

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).

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 MAX2. 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 KOF '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 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 do not 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 (Thunderpeal 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 into the ground.

Mainline Games

 * Katsuhisa Namase - Fatal Fury Special
 * Michael Beard - Art of Fighting 2
 * Kong Kuwata - Fatal Fury 3~present

Other Games

 * Ryoko Gi - The King of Fighters All Star (as the Female Version)
 * Tom Bitler - KOF: Maximum Impact 2 (English voice)
 * Hidekatsu Shibata - animated films
 * Richard Epcar - Tekken 7 (English voice dialogues)
 * Masaaki Ōkura - Young Geese in Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle
 * Ward Perry - Animated films (English voice)
 * Katsuji Mori - Fatal Fury Dengeki Bunko drama CD
 * Yōhei Hamada - The King of Fighters: Destiny (As Young Geese)
 * Benjamin Kiesewetter - Hi Score Girl (German dub)
 * Rafa Calvo - Hi Score Girl (European Spanish dub)
 * Paolo Corridore - Hi Score Girl (Italian dub)

Live-action actors

 * Micky James Montera - Fatal Fury Special live commercials

Appearances
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Mainline

 * Fatal Fury: King of Fighters - boss (playable with a code in VS Mode in Sega Genesis)
 * Fatal Fury Special - playable and boss
 * Art of Fighting 2 - boss
 * Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory - playable and sub-boss
 * Real Bout Fatal Fury - playable final boss
 * The King of Fighters '96
 * The King of Fighters: Kyo
 * Real Bout Garou Densetsu Special Dominated Mind
 * Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers - playable and boss
 * Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition - playable and boss
 * Fatal Fury: First Contact - playable and boss
 * Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000
 * The King of Fighters 2000 - as a Striker for Terry Bogard
 * Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001
 * The King of Fighters EX - boss
 * SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos - potential mid-boss & hidden character
 * SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium - playable and boss
 * The King of Fighters 2002 - potential mid-boss (unlockable in console versions only)
 * The King of Fighters Neowave - boss character
 * The King of Fighters XI - hidden (PS2 only)
 * Neo Geo Battle Coliseum
 * The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match
 * The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match
 * Quiz King of Fighters - boss
 * Garou Densetsu: The Legend of Wild Wolf - boss
 * Garou Densetsu Special - boss
 * Garou Densetsu Sougeki - boss
 * Ryuuko no Ken (pachislot)
 * Garou Densetsu Premium
 * CR The King of Fighters
 * The King of Fighters XIV (also in Nightmare DLC Costume)
 * The King of Fighters XV - DLC character (Season Pass 1) (also in KOF XIV costume)
 * Tekken 7 - DLC character (Season Pass 1)

Mobile

 * Garou Densetsu vs. Fighter's History Dynamite - final boss
 * Days of Memories (fifth, eighth, and ninth titles) - non-playable
 * Athena On Stage - band member
 * SNK Dream Battle
 * SNK High School Collection
 * KOF x Garou Densetsu
 * The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match Online
 * Kimi wa Hero
 * Puzzle & Dragons
 * Gang Legend
 * The King of Fighters Destiny
 * The King of Fighters: World
 * The King of Fighters All Star
 * The King of Fighters M: Fighting Stars Assembly

Cameos

 * The Super Spy
 * Art of Fighting - in ending (SNES version only)
 * The King of Fighters '94 - in Team Fatal Fury's ending, background in Mexico stage
 * The King of Fighters '95 - in Team Fatal Fury's ending
 * The King of Fighters '97 - in Team '97 Special's ending
 * Garou: Mark of the Wolves - intro
 * The King of Fighters 2002 - background in Japan stage (arcade only)
 * Neo Geo Heroes: Ultimate Shooting
 * The King of Fighters XIII - mention in Team Kim's backstory and in Terry and Billy's pre-fight talk
 * KOF: Maximum Impact - background in Infernal Gate stage
 * The King of Fighters '94 Re-Bout - as a statue in Rugal's stage
 * The King of Fighters
 * Moeyo! SNK Gals Osuin Katoukai
 * SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy - in Terry's ending
 * The King of Fighters XV - mentioned by Luong and Mary the Secret Agents Team Ending
 * Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - background in King of Fighters Stadium stage and as a spirit

Anime
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 * Fatal Fury: Legend of the Hungry Wolf
 * Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle
 * Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture
 * The King of Fighters: Another Day - mention
 * The King of Fighters: Destiny

Similar characters

 * Nightmare Geese