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.

In the Neo Geo Freak's 1997 Volume 8 character poll, he was voted as the nineteenth favourite character with a total of 507 votes. 232 votes from the male fans and 275 votes from the female fans. In the character popularity poll on Neo Geo Freak's website, he was voted as the thirteenth favorite character with a total of 903 votes.

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. After this, he becomes acquainted with Marie Heinlein, whom he eventually marries, and has a son, Rock, in 1989.

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). In here, he is not as antagonistic to the Bogards as he is in his native series, but doesn't mind keeping tabs and clashing with them.

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.