Geese Howard

"You cannot escape from death!"

- Geese Howard "Whining fools, begone!"

- Geese Howard "The immortal Geese is about to show you to a very hot place, indeed."

- Geese Howard "How's it feel like to be ruled by overwhelming power?"

- Geese Howard "PREDICTABLE!"

- Geese Howard's memetic quote from Capcom Vs SNK 2, often misread as "PREDICTABO!".

Geese Howard is the all-powerful kingpin of Southtown, and the main villain of the Art of Fighting and Fatal Fury series, also appearing as a recurring character in other SNK games, especially the King of Fighters series.

History
Geese was the son of an Austrian martial artist and terrorist and a poor American mother from the city of Southtown. Much to his and her mother's dismay, his father reluctantly married into the prestigious European blood line of the Stroheims due to a legacy crisis of their noble family and was personally selected to be their next heir. Because of this, his mother grew heartbroken, and a young Geese took it upon himself to work odd jobs to support the both of them, but she eventually passed away in poor health and malnutrition. Angered with such a loss, at 15, he made his way to Germany and confronted his father. With nothing but vengeance at the moment, he was ready to kill him, but another young boy, his half brother Wolfgang Krauser, beat him within an inch of his life before laying a hand on him. After the incident, Geese took up religion to ease his hatred, but he could not shake the humiliation of his loss, nor his fear of his half brother.

Later learning that power can bring results, he became a student under the master Tung Fu Rue, alongside Jeff Bogard and Cheng Sinzan. However, Geese already had evil intents, and his master noticed it, so he decided to not teach him all the secrets of his technique, teaching them to Jeff instead. Geese wanted to take revenge from them, but waits for the perfect opportunity for it. Years later, Geese becomes the police-commissioner and mafia boss of Southtown and orders Takuma Sakazaki, a dojo leader, to execute the task. He refuses, so Geese order his henchman Mr. Big to force him into working for them by kidnapping his daughter Yuri Sakazaki. The plan fails, as his son and student Ryo Sakazaki and his friend Robert Garcia rush throughout the entire Southtown and defeat Big, as well as Takuma, who was disguised as the tengu faced goon Mr. Karate. Seeing no other option, Geese does the job himself, killing Jeff in front of his adoptive sons, Terry and Andy Bogard. Later, he creates the King of Fighters tournament, in order to recruit new members to his mafia and remove any possible threats. Sometime during this period, he meets his future wife Marie Heinlein.

Many years later, the two brothers, now grown-up and martial arts experts, join with fellow fighter Joe Higashi to enter Geese's tournament and take their revenge. Geese notices them, and sends his henchmen Raiden and Billy Kane into the tournament to stop their plan. The two are defeated, and Terry emerges as the champion of the tournament. Geese is impressed by his performance, and decide to finish Terry by himself, inviting him to the terrace of his tower, where a large temple is built. The two fight each other, and Geese gets the upper hand, but Terry manages to overcome Geese and, with a last blow, knocks him of of the terrace, making Geese to fall off the tower to his apparent death.

Geese was thought to be dead, and his rule over Southtown was seemingly over. However, he was still alive, having survived the fall, staying in the hospital for three years. When he recovers, he learns of the twins Jin Chonshu and Jin Chonrei, who came to Southtown after some sacred scrolls. He decides to investigate the matter, meeting with the criminal Ryuji Yamazaki on the way. Discovering that the twins hold the Sacred Scrolls of Jin, thought to give absolute power to anyone who reads them, Geese makes his priority to take the scrolls for himself. He meets with Terry Bogard once again, but decides to flee, as Terry is giving chase to Yamazaki. Terry defeats Yamazaki and finds the twins. While they fight, Geese sneaks on the place and steals the scrolls, allowing him to reclaim his throne on Southtown.

Some time later, Terry organize with his fellow fighters in order to retrieve the scrolls. Geese watches carefully their movements, sending Billy Kane after them, while he researches the scrolls. He is surprised when a little boy enters his temple. The boy claims to be Geese's son, and desires his help to aid his sick mother, but Geese simply ignores him. A little later, Terry breaks on the place and challenges Geese once again. Geese, now more powerful thanks to the scrolls, fights against Terry. The two give their all, but Terry once again defeats him, knocks him off his terrace once again. Terry tries to save Geese by holding his hand, but Geese, with a sarcastic smile, says to Terry he has something important to watch over for him. Geese then forces Terry to release him, making him fall once again. This time, Geese is really dead. The two Jin brothers recover the scrolls, but Chonrei destroys them for good. It's then that Terry notices the boy on the terrace, discovering that he was Rock, Geese's son, and decided to adopt the boy in hopes of overcoming the grudging feuds that brought them to meet.

The King of Fighters
In the King of Fighters timeline, Geese is still alive. During the Orochi Saga, Geese shows interest in the Orochi power, sending Billy to team up with Eiji Kisaragi and Iori Yagami. Their team lose the tournament, so Iori warns Billy that "only those of the bloodline can control this power" before badly beating both Billy and Eiji.

Anticipating Billy's failure, Geese decides to enter the next tournament by himself, forming the Boss Team along with Krauser and Mr. Big, with the excuse of settling his score with the Bogards. He eventually reveals his plans to his teammates, with Mr. Big getting angered at being used by Geese. After the tournament, Big attempts to shot down Geese, but Billy intercepts the bullet with his staff. Big leaves, promising Geese he will pay someday. Krauser, on the other hand, thanks Geese for allowing him to have a good fight and also leaves.

On the next year's tournament, Geese once again sends Billy, convincing Ryuji Yamazaki to join him with the promise of double the tournament's prize money. To complete the team, Geese hires Blue Mary through a fake agency, with the excuse on investigating Yamazaki. After the tournament, Billy reports to Geese, who congratulates him. Learning the Orochi power consumes anyone who isn't of the Orochi bloodline and leaves them uncontrollable, Geese gives up on his plan. Just then Yamazaki busts into his office to claim his payment, jumping into Geese to attack him.

Geese makes reular appearances in the dream match titles of the series, appearing in The King of Fighters 98: Ultimate Match and The King of Fighters 2002: Unlimited Match. He also appears in The King of Fighters NeoWave as the final boss, though in this game he shows up on his young, Art of Fighting appearance. Geese would only have another canonical appearance in The King of Fighters XIV, where he forms the Southtown team alongside Billy Kane and Hein, who works as Geese's butler. According to the team's ending, Geese predicted the manifestation of Verse thanks to the Jin Scrolls, and thus entered the tournament to investigate the mysterious being.

Other Crossovers
Geese Howard is a regular in all SNK's crossover games, appearing in the Capcom Vs SNK games, Neo Geo Battle Coliseum and as a card in the Card Fighters series.

In SNK Vs Capcom: CHAOS, Geese appears as one of the mid-bosses (along with Goenitz, Mars People, Dan Hibiki, Demitri Maximoff and Zero). On his ending, he leaves Billy and his henchmen taking care of Southtown, while he goes attend some business in Thailand. The next scene shows Geese as the new leader of Shadowloo, having overthrown M. Bison.

In Tekken 7, Geese Howard appears a Season Pass DLC character. In this game's storyline, he confronts Heihachi Mishima, arguing that he's not fit to rule the world and that he should leave such a task to him.

"Nightmare" Geese
The "Nightmare" Geese is an alternate form of Geese Howard which appears as a secret boss in some games, meant to represent the "dead" Geese, as the battle is meant to be just a nightmare of the player character. Nightmare Geese is distinguished from the regular Geese by red eyes, an aura around his feet and sometimes a halo above his head. He first appeared in Real Bout Fatal Fury Special. Nightmare Geese is much more powerful and cheap than the regular Geese, with an aggressive AI, high priority on all moves, little recovering time and dealing way more damage, traits that are shared by many of SNK's final bosses.

Nightmare Geese also makes an appearance in The King of Fighters XIV, but while he keeps his red eyes as he did in Real Bout Fatal Fury Special, he loses the halo above his head and aura around his feet in exchange for ghastly indigo skin and torn clothes while giving him a more demonic voice not unlike Nightmare of the Soul series or Jinpachi Mishima of the Tekken series. He keeps the same stats as regular Geese due to him being merely a pre-order DLC costume for the latter.

Personality
Geese doesn't care for things like world domination or such, since he has all the power he needs at hand. He is certain of his superiority, and like to show it to anyone who dares oppose him. Despite this, however, he does possess a sense of honor, and has a deep love for his country.