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Real Bout Fatal Fury (リアルバウト餓狼伝説, Real Bout Garō Densetsu^?, "Real Bout Legend of the Hungry Wolf") is a 1995 fighting game released by SNK for the Neo-Geo arcade and home platforms. It is the fifth installment in the Fatal Fury series, following Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory. Ports of Real Bout were released for the Neo-Geo CD, PlayStation (in Japan and the PAL region)^[1] and the Sega Saturn (which requires SNK's 1MB RAM cartridge for the system). The game was later included in Fatal Fury Battle Archives Vol. 2, a compilation released for the PlayStation 2.

Gameplay[link]

Real Bout changes the play controls from the previous Fatal Fury games, reducing the number of attack buttons from four to three: a standard Punch and Kick button, a "Strong Attack" button which can be either a stronger punch or kick attack, depending on the character. The game retains the three-plane "oversway" system from Fatal Fury 3, which features a main lane for fighting, with foreground and background planes used to avoid attacks or leap towards the opponent. A dedicated button is now used to make an "oversway" (or change plane) towards the background or foreground.

Real Bout introduces a Power Gauge, which fills up as the player performs normal or special techniques against their opponent or defend themselves, similar to many super move gauges featured in other fighting games. The Power Gauge allows players to perform one of three types of Special Techniques, depending of the level of the Power Gauge.

• When the gauge is at least half-full and colored yellow, the player can perform "Guard Cancels", which are special counterattacks that can be performed by the player after blocking an opponent's attack. They do not consume any filled portion of the Power Gauge.
• When the Power Gauge reaches MAX level while the player still has more than half of their life gauge remaining, then the Power Gauge will enter "S. Power" level. The energy in the Power Gauge will begin to deplete gradually and during that time, the player can perform "Guard Cancels" or a "Super Special Move" (a powerful Special Move). However, once a Super Special Move is performed, the remaining energy in the Power Gauge will be consumed and the Power Gauge will return to its initial state.
• When the Power Gauge reaches MAX level while the player has less than half of their life gauge remaining (when the life gauge is flashing red), the Power Gauge will enter "P. Power" level. In this state, the Power Gauge will gradually drain, but the player can perform both Guard Cancels and Super Specials indefinitely until the gauge runs out. The player can also perform a "Hidden Ability", an even more powerful Special Move (similar to the Hidden Abilities in the previous game), which will consume the remaining Power Gauge at this state.

Real Bout also introduces stages with ring-outs, a gameplay feature previously introduced in 3D fighting games such as Virtua Fighter. If the player performs certain attacks on their opponent while next to the boundaries, the character will eventually destroy the barrier keeping the opponent in the ring and be able to knock them out of the stage for an easy win.

Characters[link]

The game retains the character roster from Fatal Fury 3, with the boss characters (Ryuji Yamazaki, Jin Chonrei and Jin Chonshu) now part of the regular cast. Duck King, Billy Kane and Kim Kaphwan, who were all last featured in Fatal Fury Special, are added to the cast. Series' antagonist Geese Howard reprises his role from the original Fatal Fury as the game's final boss. Real Bout was Geese Howard's final appearance in the Fatal Fury storyline, as the game's ending with Terry or Andy depicts the character's demise at the hands of either brother by falling off the roof of his tower. This was reflected by SNK's tagline for the game, "So long, Geese!" (さらば、ギース, Saraba, Gīsu^?).

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• Real Bout Fatal Fury at the Killer List of Videogames
• Real Bout Fatal Fury at GameFAQs

Fatal Fury may refer to:

• Fatal Fury (series), a series of sequels following the original 1991 game.
• Fatal Fury: King of Fighters, also known simply as Fatal Fury, a head-to-head fighting game originally released by SNK in 1991 for the Neo Geo arcade and home console and later ported to other platforms.
• The Fatal Fury, a team of Fatal Fury characters which appears in The King of Fighters series.
• Fatal Fury: Legend of the Hungry Wolf, a Japanese animated TV special based on the original game which originally aired in 1992, with an English dubbed version later released on home video in 1994.
• Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture, a Japanese animated feature film released theatrically in 1994 which follows the above TV special and its sequel (Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle). An English dubbed version was released on home video in 1995.

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Geese Howard (ギース・ハワード, Gīsu Hawādo^?) is a fictional video game character appearing in SNK Playmore's Fatal Fury fighting games series. Debuting in Fatal Fury: King of Fighters, Geese is the local crime boss of the fictional city of South Town. Geese hosts a fighting tournament named "The King of Fighters", in which he faces the brothers Terry and Andy Bogard who want to take revenge for their father's death. After several tournaments, Geese is killed by Terry, but he appears in following games without storyline as a "ghost" named Nightmare Geese (ナイトメア・ギース, Naitomea Gīsu^?). Geese has also appeared in several The King of Fighters games, in which he seeks to get the power from the creature Orochi, while his young self makes an appearance in the second Art of Fighting game as the hidden boss character.

Character design[link]

In the Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters, Geese appears as a middle-aged man with blond short, slicked hair, wearing a aikidogi with red hakama and white uwagi without sandals.^[1] In most games of the Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters series—except Fatal Fury: King of Fighters and The King of Fighters '96—Geese only wears the red hakama pants with the white uwagi either not present or hanging off the back/sides.^[2] Dominated Minds, the PlayStation version of Real Bout Special, features Geese sporting a halo over his head as a reference to his passing. The appearance of Geese in the Art of Fighting series was of a younger man with long blond hair wearing a light purple and blue suit with red necktie.^[3]

Appearances[link]

In video games[link]

Geese first appears in the original Fatal Fury, where he hosts the "King of Fighters" tournament. The central plot of the game centers around the Bogard brothers' (Terry and Andy) quest to avenge their father's death, who was murdered by Geese a decade before the events of the game.^[4] After the player defeats Geese (who is the final boss), Geese falls off from the building, being declared dead during the game's ending.^[5] Geese does appear in the revised version of Fatal Fury 2, Fatal Fury Special, where it is revealed that he survived his fall at the end of the first game.^[6] 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.^[7]

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.^[8] 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.^[9] He also appears as a regular character in Real Bout Fatal Fury 2, which neither contain storyline.^[10]

Geese also makes an appearance in the second game in the Art of Fighting series. Art of Fighting 2, which is set a decade before the first Fatal Fury, features a younger Geese Howard as the corrupt police commissioner of Southtown. Geese is revealed to be Mr. Big's boss and the mastermind behind the events of the previous game such as the kidnapping of Yuri Sakazaki.^[11] 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.^[12] In the crossover video games Neo Geo Battle Coliseum and the SNK vs. Capcom series, Geese appears as a playable character; in the latter he commonly appears as a boss character.^[13][14]

Geese also appears in a few games in The King of Fighters series, which does not follow the continuity established by the Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting games, despite sharing many characters and plot elements. In The 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.^[15] Geese would appear again in an non-playable role as the sponsor of the "Special Team" in The King of Fighters '97, which is composed of Billy Kane, Blue Mary, and Ryuji Yamazaki.^[16] The team would reappear in The King of Fighters 2003 renamed "Outlaw Team", with Mary (now part of the Women Fighters Team) replaced by Gato from Mark of the Wolves.^[17] Geese also appears in The King of Fighters 2000 as a striker, in the Xbox version of The King of Fighters 2002 and The King of Fighters XI as a selectable character, as well as in The King of Fighters '98: Ultimate Match, which brings back the Boss Team from '96.^[18][19][20] He is also a playable character in The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match, alongside his "Nightmare" variant.^[21] The younger version of Geese from Art of Fighting 2 also appears as a boss in The King of Fighters Neowave.^[22] In The King of Fighters EX: Neo Blood Geese organizes a new tournament in order to obtain the power from the participant Iori Yagami. After Iori is defeated, Geese will act as a boss character.^[23] In KOF: Maximum Impact 2 and Regulation A, Geese is playable under the name of Nightmare Geese.^[24]

In other media[link]

Geese Howard also appears in a trilogy of animated films based on the Fatal Fury video games, where his voice is provided by Hidekatsu Shibata in the original Japanese versions and Ward Perry in the English dubs. The first two installments, 1992's Fatal Fury: Legend of the Hungry Wolf and 1993's Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle, both aired in Japan as TV specials on Fuji TV, while the third film, 1994's Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture, was a theatrical film. The English adaptations of all three films were released on home video by Viz 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 with Fatal Fury Special.^[25][26] Geese makes a cameo appearance in the third film.^[27]

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.^[28] It was followed by a single-volume sequel in 1997 titled Geese in the Dark, by the same author.^[29] Geese also appears in many CD dramas and stars in his own character image album.^[30] He also sings in a number of image songs.^[31]

Reception[link]

Geese has been well received by gamers, ranking high in several popularity polls. In Gamest's 1997 Heroes Collection, Geese was voted as the staff's ninth favorite character.^[32] 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.^[33] 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 in The King of Fighters XII was Geese.^[34]

Video games publications have added praise and criticism on Geese's character. GameSpot reviewer Frank Provo comments that Geese's introduction in Fatal Fury is one of the biggest accomplishments from the game as he notes how Geese continues appearing in other games.^[35] 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".^[36] 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 different IGN people had to help Clements to win, being only able to defeat him "resorting to the cheapest, most absurd tactics possible".^[37] ScrewAttack likewise said he was ridiculously difficult to beat.^[38] Eric Bratcher from GameRadar commented that Geese is "the big hook" from the series along with Terry Bogard, labelling Geese as "nearly un-killable".^[39] While reviewing The 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".^[40] The Nightmare Geese version from The King of Fighters 2002: Unlimited Match was compared with Street Fighter's Shin Akuma in terms of difficulties by Eurogamer writer Matt Edwards who described him as one of the strongest opponents in the game.^[41] Geese was also in GameSpot's "All Time Greatest Villains" losing to Mother Brain from the Metroid.^[42] 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."^[43]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Geese Howard

• Geese's profile and story at Neo Geo Battle Coliseum official website (Japanese)

Kap-hwan Kim^[I] (キム・カッファン Kimu Kaffan, sometimes written as 김갑환 Kim Kap-hwan), usually written surname first as Kim Kap-hwan, is a character in both the Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters series created by SNK Playmore (formerly SNK). He is credited as the first ever fictional Korean character to appear in a fighting game. Kim is first introduced in Fatal Fury 2 as a playable character. In the series Kim is a master of taekwondo, and also considers himself a fighter of justice. Since Kim was young and during his taekwondo training sessions, he was always reminded to fight for justice, and use the martial art as a way to accomplish this. He is also a regular character from The King of Fighters, in which he is the leader of the Korea Team and spends the time trying to rehabilitate his two team mates, Chang Koehan and Choi Bounge, out from their criminal lives. He also appears in the Fatal Fury animated films and comics adaptations from the video games.

Although appearing in most The King of Fighters games, Kim was not originally meant to appear on its first game and was removed from the first Maximum Impact game due to complaints from designers. However, Kim's character has been well-received by gamers, who commonly vote him in popularity polls developed by video games journals and websites. He has also received comments from video games publications, which praised his development in the SNK games, but criticized his absence in KOF: Maximum Impact.

Conception and creation[link]

Kim was originally named "Haifon Kim" but that idea was later dropped because it was not a valid Korean name. After a talk with Kim Kap-hwan, the president of the Korean company Viccom, the SNK staff decided to rename the character Kim Kaphwan.^[1]

Kim's addition to The King of Fighters series was considered to be forced; the game was meant to have a Fugitive Team composed of Chang Koehan and Choi Bounge and an unknown criminal. However, due to certain circunstances, Kim was the one who had Choi and Chang as his teammates as the leader of the Korea Team.^[2] Originally, Kim was going to enter the first entry of the Maximum Impact series under the pseudonym "Mr. Taekwondo" -in the same fashion as Art of Fighting's Mr.Karate. Due to veteran designers' complaints and other difficulties at the time, it was finally decided to leave Kim out of the game's lineup but add another character like him to replace his absence. While several other characters were considered for the spot -including other SNK characters such as Jhun Hoon, May Lee, and Buriki One character Seo Yong Song- a fellow developer voiced interest in creating another female Taekwondo fighter with the same "professional" manner as Kim, which eventually formed the basis for Chae Lim.^[3]

Personality[link]

One of Kim's defining characteristics is his strong, inherent sense of justice. It is to the point where he has the innate ability to tell whether or not someone is evil or holds dark intentions just by looking at that person. As such, whenever Kim fights against an evil character (e.g. Rugal Bernstein, Geese Howard, etc.), Kim has a special opening pose, in which, he glares menacingly at the evil opponent, and he slowly raises his hand and points at the opponent, saying "Aku wa yurusan!" (Japanese for "I don't forgive evil!") "Hah!" and jumps into his fighting stance.^[4]

Kim strives for excellence and righteousness in everything he does, be it his fighting or personal life. He is deeply respected and admired by his acquaintances for his honesty and bravery, and has many friends amongst the characters in both King of Fighters and Fatal Fury. However, the Fatal Fury Team ending in King of Fighters XI shows that Kim might be quite an annoyance at times as well; in this case, he spends the whole time talking about justice and its power.^[5] Kim also has two sons, Kim Dong Hwan and Kim Jae Hoon, as well as a wife (named Myeng Swuk in Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture), as well as many others in his dojang.^[6]

Appearances[link]

In video games[link]

Kim first appears in Fatal Fury 2 as a playable character. He travels to Southtown fight Wolfgang Krauser, who was looking for some decent challenges in the King of Fighters fighting tournament. On the way, he encounters the former King of Fighters champion Terry Bogard. They soon become good friends, and ever since, Kim always agrees to help Terry in all that he can, though a definite rivalry is maintained.^[7] He also appears in all the Real Bout games from the series.^[8][9][10] He is also present in Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition, a 3D game which retells the story from the first Fatal Fury game but with characters from the sequels including Kim.^[11] He does not appear in the latest game Garou: Mark of the Wolves. In the plot Kim was defeated by a criminal known as Freeman, and his two sons enter the new King of Fighters tournament to avenge him.^[12]

In The King of Fighters, Kim is considered as both a sport and national hero in his native Korea. This status is what enabled him to convince the authorities to give him custody over Chang Koehan and Choi Bounge to rehabilitate them out of their criminal ways.^[13] Although both men resent Kim for his actions, they later grow up to grudgingly respect him.^[14] Due to the increase of required members in The King of Fighters '99, Kim's rival, Jhun Hoon, joins the Korea Team.^[15] However, in The King of Fighters 2001, Jhun has an accident, and he is replaced by Kim's student, May Lee.^[16] By The King of Fighters 2003, the requirements of members return to three and this time the members of the Korea Team are Kim, Jhun and Chang.^[17] In The King of Fighters XI, Kim appears as a member of the Fatal Fury Team along with Terry Bogard and Duck King as the team needed one more member.^[18] In The King of Fighters XII, Kim is a playable character, but like each of them, he does not have a team.^[19] As The King of Fighters XIII has returned to assigning the characters into official teams, Kim is cast as the leader of his team, composing of himself, Raiden, and Hwa Jai (both from Fatal Fury: King of Fighters). He is teamed with the men because, after "rehabilitating" Chang and Choi, he seeks out Raiden and Hwa Jai believing they are still working for Geese (they are not but they pretend that they still do so they can compete in The King of Fighters tournament). The games from the series which do not contain plot, The King of Fighters '98 and The King of Fighters 2002, also feature Kim along with Choi and Chang in the Korea Team.^[20][21] In the console version of The King of Fighters Neowave, Kim appears as a hidden character without an official team.^[22]

In the spin-off game, The King of Fighters Kyo, Kim is not playable but he can be aided by the lead character Kyo Kusanagi in order to train Chang and Choi.^[23] In the two games for the Game Boy Advance titled EX: Neo Blood and EX2, the Korea Team is featured in its original form.^[24][25] Kim does not appear in KOF: Maximum Impact as he was replaced with his pupil Chae Lim.^[3] However, he is a hidden character in KOF: Maximum Impact 2 and also makes a cameo in Chae Lim's ending.^[26][27] He also appears in the crossovers Neo Geo Battle Coliseum and the SNK vs. Capcom series as a playable character.^[28][29]

In other media[link]

Kim also appears in two of the three animated films from Fatal Fury in which he takes supporting roles. He is voiced by Daiki Nakamura in the Japanese versions, and by David Kaye in the English dub. In Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle, Kim challenges Terry to fight after learning that he defeated the former crime lord from Southtown Geese Howard to test his own strength. Although he is defeated, he and Terry become good friends.^[30] In the sequel, Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture, he also appears reunting with Terry and his friends along with his family searching to have a rematch with Terry. However, during the meeting Cheng Sin-Zan (from Fatal Fury 2), enchanced by cyber-armor attacks all the people, and Kim is seriously injured. Despite his wounds, Kim manages to defeat Cheng, but spends most of the time of the film recovering.^[6] He also stars in manhua from the video games which retell his actions from the games.^[31]

Reception[link]

Gamers have well-received Kim's character, appearing in various polls developed by journals and websites. In Gamest's 1997 Heroes Collection, Kim was voted as the staff's tenth favorite character.^[32] In a 2005 poll made by SNK-Playmore USA, he was voted as the tenth fan favorite character with a total of 119 votes.^[33] In the January 30, 1995 issue of Gamest magazine in Japan, Kim ranked at No. 44 in Top 50 Characters of 1994 (sharing the spot with three other characters).^[34]

Kim has received comments from video games reviewers, who added praise and criticism to his character. Kurt Kalata from Armchairempire.com commented on Kim's introduction in the series to be a big improvement for the series, praising him to later become a regular character in The King of Fighters.^[35] In another review, Simon Wigham from consoleob.com agreed on this, also noting that Kim later became a legend from The King of Fighters.^[36] Kim was also commented to be a favourite absent in KOF: Maximum Impact by Chris Wigham from the same site. On the other hand, Wigham then added that his replacement, Chae Lim, is basically a clone from Kim as they have the same moves.^[37] However, GameSpot reviewer Greg Kasavin liked the addition of Kim to KOF: Maximum Impact 2 as he noted that his 3D design was not just a rehash and instead a completely different.^[38] Kasavin also listed his "Phoenix Kick" move first introduced in Fatal Fury 2 as the sixth best move in a fighting game, labelling it as one of "the coolest-looking moves in any fighting game" which helped to popularize SNK's games.^[39] Kim's appearance in The King of Fighters XII was criticized for lacking several of his recurring special moves.^[40] IGN writer Anthony Chau liked the found Kim's son as his favourite characters from Garou: Mark of the Wolves due to how similar their fighting styles are to Kim's as well as their relation.^[41]

Notes[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Fatal Fury 15th Anniversary Official Website (Japanese)
• The King of Fighters 10th Anniversary Official Website

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Kim Kaphwan