| Geese Howard | |
|---|---|
| Fatal Fury,Art of Fighting andThe King of Fighters character | |
 Geese Howard inNeo Geo Battle Coliseum byEisuke Ogura | |
| First game | Fatal Fury: King of Fighters (1991) |
| Created by | Takashi Nishiyama |
| Voiced by |
|
| In-universe information | |
| Fighting style | Ancient Martial Arts |
| Origin | United States |
| Nationality | American |
Geese Howard (Japanese:ギース・ハワード,Hepburn:Gīsu Hawādo) is a fictional character and the main antagonist ofSNK'sFatal Fury series. Debuting inFatal Fury: King of Fighters, Geese is the local crime boss of the fictional city of South Town. Geese created and hosts a fighting tournament named "The King of Fighters", in which he faces the brothersTerry andAndy Bogard who want to take revenge for their father's death. After several tournaments in theFatal Fury series, Geese is killed by Terry inReal Bout Fatal Fury. However, he continues to appear in subsequent games as a "ghost" namedNightmare Geese (Japanese:ナイトメア・ギース,Hepburn:Naitomea Gīsu). Geese has also appeared in other SNK games such asThe King of Fighters series, in which he seeks to get the power from the creature Orochi and often sends teams representing him. His young self makes an appearance inArt of Fighting 2 as a secret final boss character. He also appears asdownloadable content inBandai Namco's fighting gameTekken 7.
Outside video games, Geese has appeared in theFatal Fury animated adaptations as well as the CGI seriesThe King of Fighters: Destiny. The character has been popular within both the SNK staff who decided to feature him as a spectre (Nightmare Geese) in games following his death as well asTekken producerKatsuhiro Harada who believed the character would fit inTekken 7.
Video game journalists have given Geese popular response due to how overpowered Geese acts in his boss appearances across most of his story. Geese's reveal as guest character inTekken 7 was met with acclaim due to how well he fit within the series' cast.
Although Geese was not modeled after any famous person or fictional character, SNK based him on Italian mafia.[4] Geese became famous for his special moves which allows him to interrupt the player's attacks and counterattack in a grab. Sub-boss Billy Kane obtained similar fame with both Geese and him havingThe Godfather-like influences that were expanded on later games.[5] SNK was surprised by Geese's popularity in theFatal Fury series, topping Terry Bogard in terms of fan response in regard to what players wanted as playable character.[4]Real Bout Fatal Fury was originally created with the goal of putting an end to the series' story with Geese Howard's death in the ending, but Geese's high popularity resulted inReal Bout Special having him again.[6]
According to writerAkihiko Ureshino, Geese's life as a fighter originally began with him being thoroughly beaten by Wolfgang, who was younger than him. Geese is said to have a genius sense for fighting arts, but he is not just a genius. Geese had obtained everything and reached the top, but regardless of the outcome, he put up the best fight with Terry. Calling as an arrogant ruler Geese never have considered the possibility of losing to Terry. However, the moment he actually lost to Terry, he felt strangely satisfied. Ureshino believes Terry had no intention of killing Geese and getting revenge, and at most he just wanted to defeat Geese and make Jeff apologize after he died. Ureshino thinks Terry's feelings were expressed when he instinctively reached out his hand to Geese as he was falling off the building. However, Geese refused even that, and selfishly ended his life, abandoning the future of Billy and the connections he had built up. Ureshino said there are many people who don't want to see Geese as an emaciated old man with gray hair, but perhaps the person who least wants to see him is Geese himself.[7]
Dominated Mind, the PlayStation version ofReal Bout Special, features Geese sporting a halo over his head as a reference to his passing, while the arcade version ofReal Bout Special andThe King of Fighters 2002: Unlimited Match features Geese sporting an aura of chi surrounding his feet, which would later be canonized inMaximum Impact 2 as "Nightmare Geese". If he was a completely bonus character who didn't interact with other characters, a living Geese instead of a Nightmare, but theMaximum Impact series has a grown-up Rock, and Billy is also participating this time, so the writer Akihiko Ureshino thinks they deliberately chose to have him appear in this form. For Urenshino, it was fun to think about the reactions of Rock, or Billy, who faced Geese's nightmare. Of course, players should also pay attention to how Terry and the otherGarou characters, or Southtown characters like Alsowa and Ryo, react when they come face to face with the revived nightmare.[8] In response to rumors that Geese was a hidden character inGarou, the Neo Geo staff denied it.[9]
Geese was first added to franchiseThe King of Fighters inThe King of Fighters '96. His inclusion highly awaited by developers and fans, as he was originally meant to appear in the previous game. Geese was partnered with two other SNK bosses, Mr. Big and Krauser. Even throughout the game, this boss team received special treatment. Leitmotif music were prepared for each member and at the time of this title's release, enthusiasm for this game reached a feverish pitch. Numerous special moves were prepared for Geese, but in view of the memory capacity and time required for adjustments, a number of moves had to be left out.[10] The character was meant to return inThe King of Fighters XII andThe King of Fighters XIII but the developers did not have the time to add him.[11] Due to the importance of Geese's character to SNK, the company decided to include quickly inThe King of Fighters XIV. This gave the team pressure in regards to adding his sonRock Howard as the character came from a game where Geese had been dead for a decade.[12]
In the making ofFatal Fury: The King of Fighters, SNK had multiple doubts how his design should be until it was decided he would wear a gi based on martial arts, as well as his overall name, likeness, and appearance being references to the three boss charactersBlack Gallop,Geese, andKing from SNK's previous Neo Geo gameThe Super Spy (1990). Despite being American, SNK wanted him to be a man inspired by Japanese culture resulting in his final look.[13] The appearance of Geese inArt of Fighting 2 was of a younger man with long blond hair wearing a light purple and blue suit with red necktie.[14] The character's popularity inFatal Fury and his younger look from the firstoriginal video animation influenced his appearance inArt of Fighting 2 as a hidden boss.[15]
In theFatal Fury andThe King of Fighters, Geese appears as a middle-agedGerman American man with blond short, slicked hair, wearing agi with redhakama and whiteuwagi without sandals.[16] In most games of theFatal Fury andThe King of Fighters series - exceptFatal Fury: King of Fighters andThe King of Fighters '96 - Geese only wears the red hakama pants with the white uwagi either not present or hanging off the back/sides.[17] The development team behindThe King of Fighters XIV found his design as one of the most challenging ones to make alongside Terry Bogard's. In the end, he kept his original look but topless.[18] For his "Nightmare Geese", an alternate look was given to the character, making Geese look like a zombie with silver hair, rotten skin and purple flames.[19]
Katsuhiro Harada said that if he could add a guest character intoTekken 7 it would be Geese, praising the characters as he would fit into the cast.[20] He added that both he and an interviewer liked the character which led to the idea of casting him intoTekken 7.[21] While remaining true to Geese's character, Harada stated his movements and design were completely remade so that fans from other series will try to playTekken 7 and learn its different mechanics.[22]The King of Fighters XIV producer Yasuyuki Oda was pleased with Geese's inclusion inTekken 7 and celebrated it by taking a picture with Harada.[23] ForThe King of Fighters XV, Tomohiro Nakata designed Geese with his business suit but with an emphasis on the black color, believing it fits his evil personality and reinforces his connection with the Howard Connection. Nakata also claimed that Geese's classic gi was still available to select, finding hishakama iconic.[24]
Geese first appears as the final boss ofFatal Fury: King of Fighters. Backstory material reveals that he and fellow martial artist Jeff Bogard trained together underTung Fu Rue, but he became jealous when Tung chose Jeff as his successor, leading him to murder Jeff in front of his adopted sonsTerry andAndy. The central plot of the game centers around the Bogard brothers returning ten years later to avenge their father by defeating Geese in his "King of Fighters" tournament.[25] After the player defeats Geese, he falls from the top of the building, being declared dead during the game's ending.[26] While Geese does not appear inFatal Fury 2, the plot revolves around his half brotherWolfgang Krauser seeking out the Bogard brothers to test himself against Geese's killers. Geese returns in the revised version of the game,Fatal Fury Special, where it is revealed that he survived his fall at the end of the first game.[27]Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory centers around Geese's attempt to return to power by collecting the "Sacred Scrolls of Jin", which is said to give their holder great power.[28]
In the next game,Real Bout Fatal Fury, Geese is once again the final boss in the single-player tournament, confronting the player atop Geese Tower. In either, Terry's or Andy's ending, Geese falls off his tower once again, refusing to accept help from either of the Bogard brothers, leaving Terry to later raise Geese's young son,Rock Howard.[29] Although this game was developed with the intention of featuring the character's death, Geese's popularity resulted in him still appearing in the next titles.[30] Geese appears in the subsequent game which does not feature a plot,Real Bout Fatal Fury Special, as a hidden final boss named Nightmare Geese.[31] He also appears as a regular character inReal Bout Fatal Fury 2,[32] as well asWild Ambition, a remake of the firstFatal Fury game.[33] InFatal Fury: City of the Wolves, Nightmare Geese initially appeared as non-playable boss character before being made playable viadownloadable content.[34] The story reveals that before his death, Geese ordered the Sacred Scrolls destroyed due to being descended from the Jin family through the Stroheims, hoping to prevent himself and Rock from inheriting the scrolls' curse, and willingly distanced himself from his wife and son to protect them from his enemies.
Geese also makes an appearance in the second game in theArt of Fighting series.Art of Fighting 2, which is set a decade before the firstFatal Fury, features a younger Geese Howard as the corrupt police commissioner of Southtown. Geese is revealed to beMr. Big's boss and the mastermind behind the events of the previous game such as the kidnapping ofYuri Sakazaki.[35] If the player wins every match against all the previous computer-controlled opponents without losing a round, the player's character will face Geese Howard as a hidden final boss.[36] In the non-canon crossover video gamesNeoGeo Battle Coliseum and theSNK vs. Capcom series, Geese appears as a playable character; in the latter he commonly appears as a boss character.[37][38]
Geese also appears in a few games inThe King of Fighters series, which does not follow the continuity established by theFatal Fury andArt of Fighting games, despite sharing many characters and plot elements. InThe King of Fighters '96, Geese serves as the leader of the "Boss Team" along with former subordinate Mr. Big and rival Wolfgang Krauser, seeking to find the Orochi power.[39] Geese would appear again in a non-playable role as the sponsor of the "Special Team" inThe King of Fighters '97, which is composed ofBilly Kane,Blue Mary, andRyuji Yamazaki.[40] The team would reappear inThe King of Fighters 2003 renamed "Outlaw Team", with Mary (now part of the Women Fighters Team) replaced by Gato fromMark of the Wolves.[41] Geese also appears inThe King of Fighters 2000 as a striker, in theXbox version ofThe King of Fighters 2002 andThe King of Fighters XI as a selectable character, as well as inThe King of Fighters '98: Ultimate Match, which brings back the Boss Team from '96.[42][43][44] He is also a playable character inThe King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match, alongside his "Nightmare" variant.[45] The younger version of Geese fromArt of Fighting 2 also appears as a boss inThe King of Fighters Neowave.[46] He also returned inThe King of Fighters XIV as a playable character alongside Billy and his butler, Hein.[47] In the ending, Geese reveals he has not unlocked the secrets of the Jin scrolls yet but these scrolls predicted the events of the tournament.[48]
Outside the mainThe King of Fighters game, he has been present in the spin-offs. InThe King of Fighters Kyo he appears in South Town where he antagonizes the Bogard brothers as well as the protagonist,Kyo Kusanagi.[49] InThe King of Fighters EX: Neo Blood Geese organizes a new tournament in order to obtain the power from the participantIori Yagami. After Iori is defeated, Geese will act as a boss character.[50] InKOF: Maximum Impact 2 andRegulation A, Geese is playable under the name of Nightmare Geese.[51] His normal persona appears in the mobile phone gameThe King of Fighters All Star as well as'98 Ultimate Match Online.[52][53] HisArt of Fighting persona is also available inKimi wa Hero.[54]
Geese appears as a playable guest fighter inTekken 7 as downloadable character.[55] He also appeared in Nintendo'sSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate as a background character in the King of Fighters Stadium stage and a spirit.
Geese Howard also appears in a trilogy of animated films based on theFatal Fury video games, where his voice is provided byHidekatsu Shibata in the original Japanese versions andWard Perry in the English dubs. The first two installments, 1992'sFatal Fury: Legend of the Hungry Wolf and 1993'sFatal Fury 2: The New Battle, both aired in Japan as TV specials onFuji TV, while the third film, 1994'sFatal Fury: The Motion Picture, was a theatrical film. The English adaptations of all three films were released on home video byViz Communications. The first two films loosely follows the storyline of the games and both feature Geese as a major character, establishing him and Wolfgang Krauser as half-brothers who share the same father, a plot element which was used in the video game series withFatal Fury Special.[56][57] Geese makes a cameo appearance in the third film.[58]
In addition to appearing inmanga adaptations of theFatal Fury,Art of Fighting andThe King of Fighters games published inJapan, Geese Howard was also the subject of a single-volume manga published in 1996 titledThe Geese Howard Story by Etsuya Amajishi, adapting the character's fictional history from theArt of Fighting andFatal Fury games.[59] It was followed by a single-volume sequel in 1997 titledGeese in the Dark, by the same author.[60] Geese also appears in many CD dramas and stars in his own character image album.[61] He also sings in a number ofimage songs.[62] In the CGI adaptation ofThe King of Fighters, Geese reprises his role fromFatal Fury with one episode showing his background and how he met Jeff Bogard, Terry and Andy's father.[63]
While interviewing Shane Bettenhausen,Ignition Entertainment's Director of Business Development, Alex Lucard from Diehardgamefan.com mentioned that one of the characters he wanted to be playable inThe King of Fighters XII was Geese.[64] Video games publications have added praise and criticism on Geese's character.Den of Geek listed him as the fifth bestThe King of Fighters character commenting he is likable despite being an antagonist as well his moves that allow him to counter enemies' attacks.[65]GameAxis Unwired found the character as one of the most challenging ones, comparing him with other SNK bossesWolfgang Krauser andRugal Bernstein, finding the latter more difficult to beat though.[66]Complex listed him as one of the most challenging bosses in gaming, citing the focus of his fights as well as how the character is hated by many other ones in the story.[67]
GameSpot reviewer Frank Provo comments that Geese's introduction inFatal Fury is one of the biggest accomplishments from the game as he notes how Geese continues appearing in other games.[68] Avi Krebs from Gamingexcellence.com noted that Geese was the hardest character of the series to defeat and jokingly commented that even though he fights "while wearing a wristwatch, he pulls out all the tricks possible".[69]IGN writer Ryan Clements agreed with Avi Krebs saying that Geese is "almost physically impossible to beat". He also mentioned that due to how difficult Geese is, almost twelve differentIGN people had to help Clements to win, being only able to defeat him "resorting to the cheapest, most absurd tactics possible".[70] Eric Bratcher fromGamesRadar commented that Geese is "the big hook" from the series along with Terry Bogard, labelling Geese as "nearly un-killable".[71] While reviewingThe King of Fighters Neowave Gamer 2.0's Patrick Mifflin found that Geese is the "first SNK true villain", and commented that his young appearance featured in such game "can surely be chalked up to being one of the perks of a fighting game that has no story at all".[72] The Nightmare Geese version fromThe King of Fighters 2002: Unlimited Match was compared withStreet Fighter'sShin Akuma in terms of difficulties byEurogamer writer Matt Edwards who described him as one of the strongest opponents in the game.[73] Geese was also inGameSpot's "All Time Greatest Villains" losing toMother Brain from theMetroid.[74]Greg Kasavin from the same site listed his "Knockdown Throw" special move as the third best move in fighting games commenting that it was one of the first reversal moves ever made in video games way before they became popular. For this reason, Kasavin stated that Geese became "one of the greatest fighting game characters of all time".[75] The Gamer commented that while Geese dies inReal Bout Fatal Fury, his returns inThe King of Fighters withXV retaining scrolls with potential for immortality have potential to revive him like other villains in gaming who die several times like Dracula fromCastlevania.[76]Red Bull regarded Geese as one of the "cheapest" fighting game characters for the challenges he gives the players enough to annoy them.[77]Comic Book Resources praised him not only for his iconic role inFatal Fury due to his antagonism with Terry and Andy but how he often appears inThe King of Fighters as a challenging boss.[78] As by time in theFatal Fury series that Geese's son, Rock Howard, becomes playable Geese is dead, the two never fought. However, some crossovers that featured these two characters have been praised for providing this desire encounter.[79][80]
Raphael See criticized Geese's final fight against Terry Bogard in the series' firstoriginal video animation as due to the chi-like techniques performed by the two fighters rather than actual regular martial arts.[81] Upon his addition toTekken 7 as downloadable content, Suriel Vazquez fromGame Informer said Geese would be a good addition despite not being his "favorite Howard".[82] Gavin Jasper fromDen of Geek found Geese's reveal as surprising due to lack of possibilities the character would appear as a guest. Nevertheless, he found Geese would fit into the cast as variousTekken are poor parents, specifically comparing him withTekken's characterHeihachi Mishima due to their actions across their respective series.[83] Similarly,Polygon found Geese "legendary" and found this crossover between SNK andNamco as this was the first time a character from the SNK's games appeared into one of Namco.[84] VideoGamer.com said that while Geese is "a bit of a horrible bastard really, but in a game like this[Tekken 7], that means fun".[85] HardcoreGamer praised the translation of Geese's techniques into the trailer as well as his design as provided by theUnreal Engine 4 commenting that they are "really shining when it comes to his facial expressions and extensive body scarring".[86]Game Axis shared similar comments and liked howTekken gathered villains from the other games with the first one being Akuma.[87]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link){{cite magazine}}:Cite magazine requires|magazine= (help)"After the death of his father, Jeff Bogard, a talented martial arts, Terry left his home in Southtown. Angered and alone, he trained vigrously and improved on his street fighting style. On the streets, Terry fought with talented fighters from all areas and developed his own domination fighting style. Years of training, fighting on the streets, and the hatred that burned within him strengthened his will to come back and defeat his sworn enemy, Geese".
August 13th, 1991, Geese Howard dies in the hospital 3 hours after falling from a high rise. The prologue of the newborn legend...
"The world was silent when they heard the news that "Geese Howard is alive". Now Geese's mission is to regain the title of grand champ and pay back to Terry, Andy and Joe for what they did to him".
Chonshu: Call me, Jin. Jin Chon Shu. I like this town and plan to make it mine. Any objections? As you know, the scrolls you hold are the property of my ancestors. Return them, now. Oh come on, Geese. Don't play the fool, even if you do it so well, hand them over. Your battles with Tung and Krauser led you to our secret. Now come.
Geese: RAISING.... ahhhh... uhu./Terry: TRIPLE GEYSERRRRR.../Geese: AHHHHHHHHHHAAAGH!!!!/Terry: GEEEEEEEEESEEEEE!!!!/Geese: Hmph... WAH, HAH, HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!/Terry: ....
Ryo: I will never forgive you!/Geese: Heh! It's all over./Ryo: Eat this! Ha oh... waaah. What the heck...!/Geese's Bodyguard: This way, Mr. Geese./Geese: I have lost this time, but I'll be back. For now my farewell.../Ryo: Wait! Where...? Geese!!!
Billy: Mr. Geese, why are you in the KOF on your own accord? /Geese: In order to confirm a prophecy from the secret scrolls.
Quotations related toGeese Howard at Wikiquote