CAPCOM VERSUS SNK: GEESE HOWARD FAQ (normal version)
-= SAL's guide to the original 'king of fighters' =-

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NORMAL ATTACKS:
(Note: His Light Punch and Light Kick moves are all pretty basic, and I
don't think really need any explaining, so I'm leaving them out of this
list)

HARD PUNCH (far)
A long straight punch striking out in front of him. It can be used to tag
some characters outside of the range of their normal attacks, but often
misses crouching characters completely because it's so high. It's generally
better to use his standing Hard Kick or the F + Hard Punch when you're far
away instead of this.

HARD PUNCH (close)
A quick palm strike. This can be cancelled into special moves, and has
excellent priority, making it one of his best combo starters on the ground.

F + HARD PUNCH
A hammer punch that looks like it should be an overhead, but it isn't. Good
range though, the best among his punches at least. It does a lot of damage
but also knocks the opponent down, so comboing other moves off of it isn't
really possible. You can still cancel it into a special move after they
block it if you want to though, in the hopes they'll mess up and not block
the second attack.

D + HARD PUNCH
A quick anti-air move, pretty much like just about everyone else's crouching
Hard Punch in this game. Use it to swat jumpers whenever you want. Not the
best air counter he's got, but it's definately the easiest one of them to
perform. You can also chain special moves off of this on the ground, just
like with the standing Hard Punch. And since it has about the same range and
priority, the two are pretty much interchangable as a good reliable combo
starter.

HARD PUNCH (while jumping)
A double flying punch. When coming down on some of the larger characters
with this, you can score two hits before even hitting the ground, and then
chain on additional ground hits as well. Obviously this is great stuff in
the air-to-ground department.

HARD KICK (far)
A flying kick sort of resembling his jumping Hard Kick. This has great range
and priority, and is an excellent way to advance on your opponent relatively
safely. Get the range down in your mind so you can use it when the opponent
is just within it's leaping distance, and this will be sure to get you some
free hits here and there.

HARD KICK (close)
A quick double kick. Does pretty good damage for a normal attack, but you
can't cancel it into a special move. It's usually better to use his Hard
Punch when in close and chain something else onto that.

D + HARD KICK
Your standard foot sweep. Like most ratio 3 characters in this game though,
Geese's sweep has excellent range, speed, and priority, and can be used
often without much worry. Just don't do it extremely close, like within
throw range, and you should be alright. Remember that if you're in that
close you can always chain a few crouching Light Kicks together, and then do
the sweep when you've pushed yourself out a little bit.

HARD KICK (while jumping)
A flying kick that has some really long horizontal range. Great for
air-to-air combat, as well as tagging people while making a jump that don't
quite land close enough for the jumpimg Hard Punch to be effective. This is
his best jumping attack in my opinion, since it has the most versitility.

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SPECIAL ATTACKS:

REPPU-KEN - D,DF,F + Light Punch
Your standard ground projectile. Best used at full screen distance to
encourage your opponent to advance. One nice thing about this move is it's
short recovery time, making it possible to actually toss a Reppuken from a
full screen distance, then super jump towards your opponent (tap D, UF), and
intercept them with a flying Hard Kick in the air if they tried jumping over
the incoming projectile. It can also be chained into combos, unlike the
Double Reppuken which has too much initial lag time to combo off of
anything.

DOUBLE REPPU-KEN - D,DF,F + Hard Punch
A projectile/counter move. It's obvious function is as a projectile, where
Geese tosses two Reppukens into one big one and sends it across the screen.
The other less obvious but far more important functions of this move involve
it's countering ability. Firstly, it can be used to counter other projectile
special moves, by doing the move just as the other projectile comes near.
This will result in the first Reppuken negating the incoming projectile, and
the second one passing along uninhibited. A strange but nice thing to note
about this is that the second one that makes it through will still be the
same large size of the combined Reppukens. The other way this can be used as
a counter is against rolling or evading opponents (ie. they're hitting both
Light attack buttons together). Because this move sort of stays in place
until Geese tosses the second Reppuken, it can catch close rollers as
they're coming in. All you have to do is perform the move as they've started
rolling in from just out of your foot sweep range, and they're sure to get
caught up in it when their window of invulnerability ends. It will also
score a 2 hit combo doing more damage than the normal combined Reppukens
would when used in this situation correctly, since each Reppuken is actually
able to strike the opponent seperately when in close.

SHIPPUU-KEN - D,DB,B + Punch (in the air)
An air projectile. It's big and does quite a lot of damage, but shouldn't be
used too recklessly. One nice use it has is to stop your jump from
advancing, if you think your opponent is going to anti-air you as you're
coming in. After a few jumping Hard Kicks, they might be expecting some more
and do something like a Shoryuken when they see you jumping, so just toss a
fireball down on them instead to mix it up a little. You can also toss this
really quickly from the ground by performing the move with D,DB,B,UB +
Punch, which is often a safer alternative to the Reppuken if you're not a
full screen distance away. Keep in mind that the specific Punch button used
will determines his 'lag time' in the air after throwing the projectile,
with the Light Punch version basically dropping him to the ground right
away, and the Hard Punch pushing him up a little before dropping. This can
be varied to make it harder for people to predict your landing time, or to
alter your air time to avoid a dashing move or projectile they've already
sent along the ground in an attempt to intercept you.

JOUDAN-ATEMI-NAGE - F,DF,D,DB,B + Light Punch
A counter throw which is inescapable, but must be triggered by the opponent
once the move is initiated. This version of the move is triggered by being
hit by any jumping attack or special attack, excluding projectiles, super
moves, and unblockable throws.

CHUUDAN-ATEMI-NAGE - F,DF,D,DB,B + Hard Punch
A counter throw which is inescapable, but must be triggered by the opponent
once the move is initiated. This version of the move is triggered by being
hit by any standing normal attack.

GEDAN-ATEMI-NAGE - F,DF,D,DB,B + Light Kick
A counter throw which is inescapable, but must be triggered by the opponent
once the move is initiated. This version of the move is triggered by being
hit by any crouching normal attack.

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SUPER MOVES:

RAGING STORM (level 1-3) - DB,F,DF,D,DB,B,DF + Punch
After gathering a bunch of power through his hands, he slams them down and
creates a giant cage of energy rising up around around him. A fantastic air
counter, as well as a way to stop just about anything coming in on the
ground as well. Each hit takes off a fairly large amount of damage on it's
own, and once they get hit once they're trapped in the move and remain
getting hit until the move ends. The level used determines how long he
maintains the cage, and therefore how many potential hits it can inflict in
total. Note that if the opponent enters the energy cage late though, some of
it's time has already run out, and you won't get the maximum hits you would
have if they had gotten trapped in it right off the bat. In total, it can
potentially score up to 3 hits on level 1, 4 on level 2, and 5 on level 3.
Knowing when to use this isn't too complicated to figure out (basically
anytime you think they'll run into it), but performing it can be. When
practicing this move, try doing the motion slower if it's not coming out. It
doesn't have to be done fast, and trying to do so can pretty much guarantee
you messing it up a lot in the beginning. Be sure to do the movements
precisely, getting that full half circle in there and hitting the diagonals
directly on. A good way to start to get the feel of this move if you're
totally new to it is to actually watch your hand on the joystick while
practicing it in non-threatening situations (like against the pitiful
computer AI), to visually see that you're getting the whole motion in. Once
you can start to reliably do the move slowly, then you can start to try
speeding it up a little gradually.

DEADLY RAVE (level 3 only) - F,DF,D,DB,B,F + Light Kick, then Light Punch
(x2), Light Kick (x2), Hard Punch (x2), Hard Kick (x2), D,DB,B + Hard Punch
A long and complicated series of combo hits that results in a huge and
devastating 10-hit string of attacks. The pattern is relatively easy to
remember, but the timing of the button presses can be a bit tricky. You
basically have to double tap each button fairly rapidly, but then leave a
small gap before double tapping the next one. Be very careful to only press
each button exactly twice, because a wrong input in the string of commands
will cancel the attack immediately. Also note that you can skip the last hit
of the combo and add on your own combo in it's place instead, increasing the
damage potential if you don't mind forfeiting a super combo finish.
Obviously it can do a large amount of damage, but unless you can reliably
pull the whole thing off every time I can't recommended it as a practical
use of three levels of super energy. In fact, the level 3 Raging Storm does
around the same damage and guarantees all the hits if the first one
connects, making it a better choice overall in my opinion. But still, the
Deadly Rave has the advantage of being his only real move with quick
horizontal advancement aside from his standing Hard Kick in this mode, so if
the opponent leaves themselves wide open but they're just far enough away
that you probably can't dash in for anything else in time, triggering this
to intercept their mistake might just be the best course of action you have,
and worth the three levels of the super bar. Although maybe of little
practical use, it's real purpose is likely that of simply looking cool and
showing off, which it accomplishes well without a doubt. ;)

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LEARNING TO PUT THOSE PUNKS IN THEIR PLACE WITH THE ATEMI-NAGE:

One of the most potentially powerful abilities of Geese is without a doubt
his Atemi-Nage series of counter-attack moves. These are also probably his
most confusing moves to get a grip on using properly, because of some of the
inherent unintuitive aspects of these moves. Because of this, I figure it's
worth the time and space to write up some of these confusing properties in
detail, beyond what I've written about them briefly in his list of special
attacks above.

First, to make it easier to know which one I'm talking about, I'm going to
label them as high, middle, or low counters from now on rather than their
more confusing real names (to most non-Japanese speakers, at least). Here's
a quick lowdown on which one is which:
Joudan-Atemi-Nage   -  F,DF,D,DB,B + Light Punch  -  'high counter'
Chuudan-Atemi-Nage  -  F,DF,D,DB,B + Hard Punch   -  'middle counter'
Gedan-Atemi-Nage    -  F,DF,D,DB,B + Light Kick   -  'low counter'

Now, there's two things to remember about these moves that's a little
unexpected to most people. The first is that the moves each of these is used
to counter really has nothing to do with where Geese is getting hit from.
Instead, it merely has to do with what category the move technically falls
into in terms of how it is performed. All crouching normal attacks must be
countered with the low counter, for instance, while you must use the middle
counter against all standing normal attacks. The high counter is triggered
by all jumping attacks, but also all special attacks as well, excluding
projectiles and unblockable attacks. This last part is really unintuitive
some of the time, especially against low hitting special attacks which you
would normally think the high counter would be the least likely to be the
correct one to use for. Note that super moves can never be countered by any
Atemi-Nage. This means that throws, projectiles, and super moves are
uncounterable by the Atemi-Nage moves, but that absolutely everything else
in the game is, and makes it quite easy to determine which specific
Atemi-Nage will do the job.

The second thing to note deals with the fact that this is actually a
triggered throw, which is different from a triggered independant attack
(like Yamazaki's Sadomazo counter) in that the opponent is forced into
specific frames of animation upon it's activation. In other words, if an
Atemi-Nage move is triggered by the opponent they get thrown, no matter what
they're doing or where they are on the screen; it's completely inescapable.
Realizing this opens up incredible countering possibilities for long range
moves, and combined with knowing which Atemi-Nage to use in every situation
makes you a real force to be reckoned with.

Now here's some examples of these unintuitive points in action, in the form
of a list of certain character's moves and the Atemi-Nage version that works
against it.
- Dhalsim's F + Hard Punch or F + Hard Kick: Middle counter. Geese counters
his long-range poking strategies with ease, making him a certified Dhalsim
killer in the right hands. Remember that an opponent will get 'sucked into'
throw animation even from half a screen away if they trigger an Atmei-Nage.
- Cammy's Cannon Drill, Vice's Decide, etc.: High counter. Even though some
specials like these are hitting about as low as you can get, they're still
special attacks, and therefore must be countered high. With Vice this gets
doubly unintuitive, because you can counter her sleeve whip from across the
screen, similarily to the way you can with Dhalsim's stretching limbs.
- Various characters' crouching Hard Punch anti-air moves: Low counter. Even
though they're definately not hitting very low, they're still technically
crouching, and therefore you must use the low counter.
- Yamazaki's Hebi-Tsukai series of moves: High Counter. Yamazaki is able to
alter the high/low aspects of his belt whip, but Geese doesn't have to
bother altering his Atemi-Nage in response. Remember that because all
Hebi-Tsukai moves are special attacks, they're all countered high.
- Ryu's Shoryuken, Kyo's Oniyaki, etc.: High counter. Even against attacks
that are seemingly invincible, or at least partially so, Geese still comes
out on top. What's happening here is that the Atemi-Nage's success is only
concerned with whether it's triggered or not. Since invincible uppercut type
moves don't fall under the category of projectile, throw, or super, they do
in fact trigger the high counter, resulting in the character's assumed
invincible move being surprisingly halted, and them getting thrown.

I could go on with more examples of initially unintuitive situations like
these, but this should probably be sufficient to get the idea across. Just
keep in mind what specifically each Atemi-Nage counters, and then think
about which of the categories an opponent's move falls into that you want to
counter. Again, remember that the only things which cannot be countered with
an Atemi-Nage are projectiles, unblockable throws, and super moves. Becoming
proficient at using the Atemi-Nage against everything else is a big part of
turning Geese into the powerhouse character he has the potential to be.

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GEESING IT UP A NOTCH WITH SOUTHTOWN FIGHTING STRATEGY TIPS:
Geese is all about countering, pressure tactics, and traps. He doesn't rely
on combos excessively, but has one of the highest (if not the highest)
damage to hit ratios out of anyone in the game. A simple 2 hit combo of
standing Hard Punch into Reppuken, for instance, can take off more damage
than some ratio 1 characters' super moves. Still, this doesn't mean you can
just go wild with this guy and have his increased damage ratio bring you out
on top on it's own. With that said, this section is dedicated to listing
some various general tactics and tips on using the boss of southtown to his
fullest potential.

(GEESE HOWARD'S NEW GROOVE)
First off, you may be wondering which Groove you should be using with this
guy. Well personally, while I use SNK Groove more than Capcom Groove in
general, Geese is an exception for me. Now he doesn't really need more than
one level of super most of the time, so the limitation you have there with
the SNK Groove before your life bar starts flashing isn't too much of an
issue. What I do find to be a big issue though is the fact of your super
meter dropping once it's maxed out. Geese's supers aren't the kind you
really want to throw around recklessly, but instead wait until you have a
good opportunity to pull them off. With SNK Groove's gradual depletion of
the super bar once it's maxed out, it encourages you to use the super too
often and too recklessly in my opinion. The Deadly Rave also isn't really a
reason to choose SNK Groove for the higher potential for pulling off level 3
supers repeatedly (when your life is low at least), because it just isn't
that good a super in general. It's much more effective to build up your
Capcom Groove bar and use it on Raging Storms when you have an opening,
without worrying about losing the bar because it's depleting on you. On top
of this, and putting the Atemi-Nage aside, Geese is best played very
offensively, which in turn raises your Capcom Groove quickly and effeciently
without even thinking about it. So that's my two cents on Groove selection,
but remember that it's still a personal choice. If you find that you enjoy a
SNK Groove Geese more than a Capcom one, by all means go for it.

(PRESSURE WITH THE OPPRESSOR)
Now, despite normal Geese's abundance of projectiles, I find him to be most
useful as a medium range fighter. If you're at opposite ends of the screen
though, your best bet tends to be tossing a normal Reppuken and then super
jumping towards the opponent as soon as you can move. If they've tried to
jump the Reppuken, you can easily tag them in the air with a Hard Kick. If
they've stayed on the ground, you can just land in closer and start some
other tactics. Once you're within punishing distance (ie. less than half a
screen away), it's time for the mind games and traps to begin. Remember to
use your standing Hard Kick from just out of foot sweep range a lot, as it's
pretty much completely unpunishable from this distance, and will tag an
opponent who tries to do just about anything, including jump. His foot sweep
is also recommended to abuse as long as you're not in too close. Just tap
the opponent with the end of your foot with either of these kicks, rather
than having it so close it looks like it's going through them. Toss in a few
hammer fists (F + Hard Punch) when you're in range and always cancel them
into a Reppuken or Double Reppuken.

(A ROCKIN', A ROLLIN', AND A JUMPIN')
Now this stuff is all good when they're pinned, but let's deal with what
they're going to try to do to get out of this situation. First they may try
to roll. If they like rolling a lot, be sure to toss them Double Reppukens
just as often whenever you're standing just out of foot sweep range. They
should get the idea that rolling in isn't going to work after eating a few
2-hit combos from that move. Another likely alternative for the opponent is
jumping. Now here you can go for the Joudan-Atemi-Nage if they like to
attack in the air a lot, since it's worth the damage this move will inflict.
If they wise up and try jumping without attacking though, it's time to start
swatting them out of the air with a crouching Hard Punch. Since this isn't
unstoppable by any means, you may want to go back to mixing in the
Joudan-Atemi-Nage if they start trying to use air specials to overpower your
crouching Hard Punch. Finally, if you think you're up to it you can always
go for the a Raging Storm, which is essentially a guaranteed punishment
against anything they try to come in on you from the air with, if you can
get it off in time (and that's a big 'if'). This is by no means a flawless
pinning strategy, but I've found it to nullify the threats of jumping and
rolling on the part of most opponents quite effectively in my personal
experience.

(CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF THAT 'NAGE)
The one thing left for opponents to use try against your onslaught is to pit
their own moves against yours in the hopes they'll outprioritize you or
manage to strike through a vulnerability you've left open in your offensive
tactics. This is where things come down to a guessing game at times, with
the winner being the one able to be the most unpredictable with their own
moves, while at the same time able to predict the moves of the other person
with sufficient accuracy. Use of the Atemi-Nage moves, especially the low
and middle counters, can make a real difference in a poking war. Know your
opponents' moves, which Atemi-Nage is used to counter each one, and then
observe your opponent's tendencies. The standing Hard Kick allows you to
test this somewhat, by using it to leap at the person and then blocking
whatever they try to do afterwards. If they frequently use a string of
crouching Light Kicks to make you back off, for instance, you know you'll
have to have that Gedan-Atemi-Nage on your mind to take advantage of that
predictability. If they try poking you often with standing Hard attacks with
long range and high priority, like Yamazaki or Kyo's standing Hard Kicks,
then start watching for where to stick in that Chuudan-Atemi-Nage in
response. And if they like to overuse Shoryuken type specials for their low
risk and nearly invincibile priority, show them just how irrelevant the
extreme priority of those moves are to the Joudan-Atemi-Nage.

(SPREAD THOSE WINGS, MAJESTIC GEESE)
Geese isn't always able to overpower opponents on their own terms, but he
usually has an alternate way of dealing with problems like this that makes
them disappear quickly enough. His projectiles, for instance, are not meant
to be used in a long-range war against other projectile fighters. Due to
their relatively slow travelling movement, they simply can't break through a
barrage of projectiles from most other characters. This is why the normal
Reppuken should only be used in combos or as a cover for super-jumping in
from a full screen away. You'll notice that Geese can cover an enormous
amount of distance with his jumping though, which can be used surprisingly
well to deal with projectile fighters quite effectively. Even from a full
screen away, Geese is able to super jump over a thrown projectile and easily
land a jumping Hard Kick into crouching Hard Kick combo on the opponent
before they've even recovered from the projectile enough to be able to
block. The speed and range Geese has on his super jumping is one of his
strongest aspects for long-distance fighting, as it means opponents are
almost never safe throwing a projectile against him from anywhere. And
combined with the great range and priority of his jumping attacks, he can
pose a threat from the air just as intimidatingly as he can on the ground.

(HE'S GOOD, BUT NOBODY'S PERFECT)
This strategy will be fairly conclusive in handling avoidance techniques,
poking wars, and prjectiles, but there are a few things which he cannot
always take such an offensive stance against. Super moves can often not be
countered, for example, even with his own Super moves. Rolling can be
incredibly dangerous when used in the wrong situations, but since most
supers have a significantly long lag time I would recommend using that
tactic here when you can. Moves like Terry's Buster Wolf can be
particularily fristrating to deal unless you simply roll through it and try
to strike from behind. The only other large area of problems lies with
unblockable moves and throws. Since the Atemi-Nage moves need to be
activated by an actual striking hit, they cannot function against moves that
cannot be blocked. Rolling is also ineffective against throws, so that
saving grace against unpunishable supers isn't even available here. In fact,
throws can present such potential problems for Geese that I would rate
Zangief as the #1 hardest character to fight against with him. The only real
course of action you have is to stay extremely alert and try to simply not
let your opponent get that close to you. It's certainly a tough aspect to
deal with no matter how you tackle it (or they tackle you) though, and my
best suggestion might be to team Geese with another character who is better
suited to handle heavy grapplers.

Overall, Geese is a character who must typically rely on all of his special
moves being used together in order to maintain an effective upperhand
against his opponents. In addition, don't overlook his many useful normal
moves, especially the extended range abilities of his F + Hard Punch and far
standing Hard Kick. And finally, learn the maximum ranges of all of his
moves to avoid being left open from using them too close.

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Alright, that's it for an overview. Remember that it will still take a lot
of hands on practice to master this guy though. Character FAQs are meant
simply to get you started and compliment gameplay experience rather than act
as a replacement for it. The real test of proficiency with a character is
not of knowledge, but of skill, and that can only come from challenging
other good experienced players at your local arcade. So, what are you
waiting for? Get out there and start having some fun using this master of
disaster! :)

email me at: [email protected]

If you're cool enough to use Geese you're probably also cool enough to enjoy
playing Street Fighter III, in which case you'll want to check out my 3rd
Strike guides for Twelve and Sean, available at www.GameFAQs.com

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