Every major fighting game series needs a final boss that is notorious in the sheer difficulty that they pose even the more seasoned players. The Mortal Kombat franchise has Shao Kahn, while Street Fighter has M. Bison — or the even more formidable Akuma if players hit specific requirements as they progress through the game. For SNK’s fighting game franchises Fatal Fury and its subsequent crossover follow-up The King of Fighters, the most infamous final boss in the series is Geese Howard, with the vicious warrior set to return in The King of Fighters XV.
Geese debuts in 1991’s Fatal Fury: The King of Fighters, the first installment in the Fatal Fury series, as the game’s chief antagonist. Geese is the powerful crime lord of South Town and hosts a high-stakes martial arts tournament known as the King of Fighters. Fatal Fury‘s protagonists Terry and Andy Bogard observe Geese personally murder their adoptive father and vow to avenge his death by spending the subsequent decade honing their fighting skills to defeat the mobster at his own tournament. Geese is the final opponent the Bogard brothers face, knocked out of his skyscraper — the aptly titled Geese Tower — overlooking South Town in Fatal Fury‘s finale.
Geese has certainly earned his place among the other popular fighting game final bosses for how utterly challenging he is compared to other Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters characters. What makes Geese just so formidable to overcome is he moves noticeably faster than the majority of Fatal Fury‘s roster and with timing on his special attacks that make him incredibly difficult to anticipate. Geese’s Hard Punch and Hard Kick are devastating upon delivery, and his special attacks give him a brief window of invulnerability. Trying to stay on the offensive often backfires, with Geese prone to using his Knockdown Blow to counter incoming attacks, making him an especially cheap boss that has frustrated gamers for decades.
Despite how unforgiving and notorious a reputation Geese developed — or perhaps because of it — Geese survived numerous defeats, including his presumed death at the end of the original Fatal Fury. After seemingly being killed for good in 1995’s Real Bout Fatal Fury by Terry, Geese continues to resurface in later installments as a ghost dubbed Nightmare Geese. Geese’s rise to power, from corrupt police commissioner to the biggest mob boss in South Town, is chronicled in the Art of Fighting prequel series, while Geese has become a mainstay in the non-canonical The King of Fighters crossover series, often teamed with other boss characters from the franchise appearing in the game.
These days, Geese has been menacing the roster of Tekken 7 as a downloadable guest fighter, marking the first time an SNK character has appeared in a Bandai Namco game. Geese also makes a cameo appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for players with the Terry Bogard DLC, both as a background character seen on Terry’s stage and a customizable spirit. Geese is a character that isn’t even slowed down by death, constantly returning to menace South Town despite seemingly meeting his untimely end on multiple occasions. And with Geese poised to appear in The King of Fighters XV, a new generation of gamers are about to see the crime lord in his element as he resumes his deadly vendetta.
Developed SNK and published by SNK and Koch Media, The King of Fighters XV will be available Feb. 17 on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC.
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