Nightmare Geese overview & gameplay guide
Character specification
Season 2
Character Trivia
Former emperor of South Town. Revered by some, reviled by others, and targeted for revenge by a hungry few—a legend in his own right, even in the afterlife. Though no longer of this world, the horrors of Geese Howard remain a bane to all who knew him. His legacy is a testament to the power of one terrible truth: Legends never die. Their nightmare lives on...
Difficulty
ADVANCED star star star
Fighting Style
Ancient martial arts
Nightmare Geese Gameplay Trailer
PDF Command List
Gameplay Overview
The undead former ruler of South Town haunts CotW as a well-rounded character who zones opponents and forces mistakes that he can capitalize on with his devstating damage and momentum.
Geese can dominate the neutral with his far-reaching normals, strong projectiles, and iconic counters to catch overeager button presses. Using these powerful tools, he works to open the opponent up for severe punishment through his huge combo damage and corner carry. He can also choose to combo into his meterless hard knockdowns, allowing him to push a potent offense that lets him go high or low, cross up, keep his turn, or instead return to the fireball game to defend his lead. He even has a command grab in Explosion Ball (6426K) to remind his foes that they can’t block forever.
Unlike previous installments, defense is not a strong suit of Geese’s. With no invincible moves besides his supers, terrible anti-airs, and his counters being very risky for their reward, Geese will often be forced to rely on the universal Just Defense and Guard Cancels. Opponents can thus easily exploit this and turn the nightmare on itself with enough patience.
Against a character like Geese, though, getting in is a lot easier said than done, especially when you know how to use his potent neutral weapons. Once you get the hang of them, all it takes is one or two favorable interactions, and those yellow-bellies will DIE FOREVER.
Pros & Cons
thumb_up PROS
- Great Normals: Nightmare Geese can control space easily with his advancing Far D, his long reaching and cancelable Far B and a long low in the form of 2B, has a cancellable Far C, and can counter-poke with his command normal 5AC. Using his long reaching and hard-hitting normals, Nightmare Geese is a poking and whiff punish machine.
- Nightmarish Damage: Nightmare Geese boasts some of the highest overall combo damage in the game. Possibly the highest. Able to break 800 damage in some situations, not to mention easily doing over 700 damage from anywhere on screen. He can two-touch opponents without spending a bar of meter, and should he score a Wild Punish off his Far D, he's likely to deal round-winning damage. Nightmare Geese's midscreen combos are as devastating as other characters' strongest corner combos, making him a terrifying and volatile opponent to face. Opponents can never rest when facing against Geese; even if he's losing, all he needs is one good hit confirm, and it's all over.
- Unpredictabo Mixups: Nightmare Geese's Light Fudou Ken comes with a low followup and an overhead followup, the latter of which is very hard if not almost impossible to react to at 19F startup, plus a mid followup that is useful for frame-trapping in case the opponent tries to mash out of the overhead followup provided Nightmare Geese delays it a bit. All of Fudou Ken's followups besides the A followup can be charged to make them safer, do more damage, and allow for a followup into his OTG grab on hit, and the REV versions are plus on block too. Besides all that, Nightmare Geese also has a command grab that he can REV Accel out of and two more overheads in Heavy/REV Hishou Nichirin Zan and a two-hit Low Dodge Attack. Nightmare Geese is great at breaching his opponent's defenses with his unpredictable offense.
- Shippuu Ken: Just like his son, Rock's dead dad is great at safely harassing opponents from a distance with Shippuu Ken. He may even be better at it than Rock due to the stricter downward angles of the projectiles making them better suited for close range usage and the fact that Nightmare Geese's REV Shippuu Ken moves him forward even when used during a backwards jump or hop. Combine that with the ability to midair Feint, which halts Nightmare Geese's jump momentum and allows him to bait out anti-airs and follow up with a real Shippuu Ken, and Nightmare Geese can prove to be a very annoying aerial threat.
thumb_down CONS
- Terrible Defense: Nightmare Geese has no meterless invincible reversals of any kind. His Atemi Nage counters, while fast at 3 frame startup, also leave him wide open if he fails to counter anything and will lose to properly timed meaties. While he has a DP-esque move in the form of Hishou Nichirin Zan, it has no invincibility and is not an actual DP that can be used on wakeup or as an anti-air. Only his Raging Storms, Redline Deadly Rave, and Hidden Gear have invincibility, and they cost meter and are naturally risky to use on defense.
- Poor Anti-Airs: Nightmare Geese is also lacking in anti-airs. His most consistent anti-air option is his High Dodge Attack. While it has good vertical range and makes his upper body invincible, it also has long recovery and is bad at dealing with cross-ups. Otherwise, he'll need to spend meter on Raging Storm or attempt a high counter, which will get him punished severely if the opponent does an empty jump.