The Story Of Terry Bogard - The King of Fighters

As one of SNK's flagship titles, Fatal Fury's success was mainly achieved thanks to its wide variety of colorful characters. most notably, the Saga's main hero, Terry Bogard. Created in a time when most fighting game protagonists were typical Asian fighters in martial arts costumes, Terry easily stood out from the rest of his competitors with his unusual look, cheerful personality, and limited but unforgettable English speech. He was the embodiment of the Japanese stereotype for an American character. 

The poster boy of SNK was and still is the company's mascot and the main representative in cross over games and merchandise. Which is saying a lot considering SNK's huge repertoire of timeless games and charismatic characters. And it is no wonder that he was the chosen SNK representative in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. 

Like many other The King of Fighters characters, Terry made his debut in another SNK franchise, Fatal fury. Most of his back story and character development are detailed within this series. And as we all know, Art of Fighting and Fatal fury share the same world with a different timeline than the one in The King of Fighters. 

Honestly, it would be more accurate to call this article Fatal Fury lore. But the King of Fighters continuity will be discussed as well as it still has many things to say about the legendary hungry wolf especially regarding his relationship with Blue Mary.

Terry Bogard Story in Fatal Fury

While Ryo Sakazaki was celebrating his title as the champion of the first King Of Fighters tournament, the story of 2 orphans was just about to begin. Terry and his younger brother Andy were struggling to survive in the dangerous streets of South Town. But their suffering ended the day when Jeff Bogard adopted and raised them as his own sons. 

Jeff was a renowned martial artist and the disciple of the legendary master of the Hakkyokuseiken discipline, Tung Fu Ru. Both men taught the two young siblings how to fight for a while. But their training was cut short during one sad day. 

Jeff was attacked by his old friend turned the fiercest enemy, Geese Howard. Terry, who was 10 years old at that time, witnessed with his own eyes how the crime lord gave the death blow to his adoptive father, killing him almost instantly. 

Shocked by this sudden turn of events and incapable to retaliate in any way possible, could only follow Geese with his eyes as he went back in his car with a smirk on his face. An image burned into Terry's memory forever. 

Knowing that there was nothing they could do against Geese in their current state, the Bogard brothers swore an oath to spend the next 10 years of their lives in training for the sole purpose of getting vengeance against the murderer of their father. 

They decided to go in their separate ways. While Andy went to Japan to resume his training there, Terry chose to stay in his homeland. Constantly on the move, he spent the next 10 years taking part-time jobs during the day and honing his skills through street fighting when the night comes. This lifestyle allowed Terry to learn different martial arts, and successfully inventing his own unique fighting style. And soon enough, he started to be known as the Hungry Wolf of South town. 

At the age of 21, Terry reunited with Andy as promised. Both siblings determined to get their revenge against Geese. After paying their respects at their father's gravestone, they met a Muay Tai champion named Joe Higashi who came to the city to participate in The King of Fighters tourney. After befriending him, they learned that the competition was organized by none other than the target of their vengeance. Geese had the habit of hosting fighting tournaments for the sake of finding strong warriors and recruiting them in order to empower his criminal empire. 

All previous editions were won by his own champion, Billy Kane. Terry and Andy believed that participating in The King of Fighters was the perfect chance to reach Geese without having to deal with his army of bodyguards. 

And so, the three men enlisted themselves to the competition. After defeating South town's most fearsome fighters, Terry faced Geese's undefeated right-hand man till then and vanquished him. Terry was declared the new champion of KOF but didn't have the time to celebrate before he was taken by Geese's men to meet their boss. He finally had the chance to challenge his nemesis at the top of his tower and the combat started. 

Geese was a formidable foe that pushed Terry's skills to their limits. Luckily, his training during the last 10 years proved most useful and allowed him to achieve what he was yearning for during all this time. With a well-placed kick, Terry sent Geese flying through the window to his presumed death. At last, the two brothers avenged their father's death, or so they thought. 

The news of Geese's death spread like fire in a stack of hay and ended up reaching his half brother, Wolfgang Krauser. The emperor of darkness, as he was called, was in a constant rivalry with Geese and competed against him for domination over the criminal world. When he heard that Geese was defeated by Terry, he thought about a plan to establish his supremacy as a crime lord. 

The next year, he acquired the king of fighters brand and hosted a new edition. However, Krauser made the competition open for fighters from all parts of the world instead of being exclusive to South town competitors. 

His objective was to lure Terry into entering the tournament than crashing him with his own hands. By vanquishing the man that defeated Geese before, he would have the global acknowledgment as a stronger boss than Geese and rule over the criminal world with no opposition. Terry received the invite to the tourney and accepted it. Unaware of the hidden agenda behind its organizing, he enlisted himself in it for no other reason than encountering strong opponents from other parts of the world and having a fun and healthy competition. He met the Tae Kwon Do master Kim during one of the matches and befriended him. After that, he reached the finals and faced Krauser's personal bodyguard, the Matador called Laurence Blood. 

Finally, he had the chance to meet to host the tournament in person. Krauser actually had a second reason to destroy Terry. Bogard was a name that he can never forget. And even if he tried to, the permanent scar on his forehead would always remind him of the day when he was injured by Terry's adoptive father, Jeff. Krauser was no pushover. As someone who considered himself as the ultimate pillar of strength who could surpass any challenger fair-and-square, he was pretty confident that he would destroy Terry. Yet once again, the latter proved to be a superior fighter. In the end, Victory went to the lone wolf. Humiliated by this unexpected loss, Krauser couldn't bear the taste of defeat and decided to take his own life. Upon returning home, Terry was titled the hero of South town. 

Terry won't have the luxury to be in peace for long. Alarming rumors about Geese started to spread. It appeared that the Crime boss had survived his fall from the tower, and was hiding all this time for his recovery to be complete. Not only that, he seemed to be on a hunt for a mysterious artifact that was somewhere in South town. 

Unfortunately, the rumors were true. Geese did survive the fall thanks to his Phoenix scroll, one of the three pieces of the aforementioned artifact. He had it during his encounter with Terry and used it to speed up his recovery rate. 

After that, he took advantage of the fact that everyone was occupied with Krauser's tournament and found the second scroll. Now he only needed the remaining one to gather all three scrolls which had the power to grant him immortality, as the legend said. To put his hands on the last piece of the artifact, Geese came up with a genius idea. He himself spread the rumors about the scrolls being in South town hoping that whoever possessed the last scroll would certainly come to find it, and he was right. 

Meanwhile, Terry caught wind of the rumors and decided to find the scrolls, in an attempt to foil Geese's plans. But he wasn't alone in their search, many other fighters were looking for them as well. While some of them were just trying to help the lone wolf, others were driven by more selfish goals. During his search, Terry met Blue Mary, a private detective who was tasked to find the scrolls. For her, this was just another job and nothing more. and after a calm and mature conversation between the two They became close friends and agreed to help each other in their investigation, Terry met another charming person, and by charming, I meant completely psychotic and totally crazy. His name was Ryuji Yamazaki and he was hired to find the Scrolls for his employer. 

Suspecting that Terry had them or at least knew something about them, he attacked him by surprise. But the lone wolf retaliated with enough strength that forced Yamazaki to redraw and flee in mid-combat. Terry resumed his investigation until he came face to face with his arch-nemesis, Geese Howard. Determined to pay him back for his last defeat, he attacked. The two men engaged in their second dual and held no punches against each other. Their fight was so brutal that it sparked a fire on the floor they were in. But even when Terry won the battle, Geese didn't seem fazed by his second defeat. He managed to escape unharmed leaving the young man trapped in a sea of flames.

Fortunately, he was saved by Cheng, an old friend of his father, who came to the rescue with his Helicopter. Cheng urged him to forget about Geese for now and to chase Yamazaki who might have found the scrolls as they spoke. The two managed to reach the thug while he was torturing his own pursuer, a police detective named Hon Fu who was charged to arrest him. While Cheng took care of Hon fu and brought him to the hospital, Terry had to deal with a maniac and put an end to their previous unfinished fight. 

Once victorious, he learned from Yamazaki the location of his employer. But he didn't have the time to use his feet to go anywhere, as he was teleported and brought in front of the said employer. Terry finally met Yamazak's boss. A young boy named Jin Chon Shu who was also the owner of the third scroll. 

Chon Shu believed that Terry had the scrolls and without waiting for any answer, attacked him. Forced to defend himself, Terry had no choice but to use all his powers against this dangerous foe. He fought the young boy and came up from the battle triumphant. 

But Chon Shu was not alone. He had an older brother, Chonrei. Who, after finding his younger sibling beaten and lying on the floor, entered in a raging state and attacked Terry with the intent of killing him. 

With his extreme speed and unpredictable moves, Chonrei was really doing all he can to butcher the lone wolf. But the latter somehow managed to keep up with his fast attacks and narrowly succeeded in knocking him out. 

When the two brothers woke up, their personalities were completely changed. Terry learned that they were possessed by the spirits of their evil ancestors, who sought to obtain the scrolls to materialize in a physical immortal form for the purpose of world domination. He then entrusted the twins to both his old master Tung and his friend Kim, who accepted to take care of them. It all ended up well at the end, with the exception of one small detail... Geese succeeded in obtaining all 3 scrolls. 

Just moments before Terry reached him, Billy obtained the previous artifact for his boss. And that is why he wasn't too concerned with his second defeat and chose to escape. However, He had no intention in using them and had little interest in the so-called immortality. The real reason behind gathering all three scrolls was so he can destroy them himself. 

Even Geese knew that they were too dangerous and if they ever landed on the hands of a rival or worse, of someone like Yamazaki or the Jin brothers, it could be the end of him. And so he secretly ordered Billy to dispose of the precious scrolls. After all, everyone believed that he had them and that he was probably already immortal. His domination over South town was stronger than ever, and he was content with that. 

Now it was time to settle scores with all his enemies, especially the Bogard brothers. He publically revealed his return by announcing the organizing of the last King Of Fighters. The tournament that would put an end to this long-living strife. All combatants were present, some of them were there to help Terry stop the evil crime boss, while others followed their own objectives. All fighters did their best to have a chance against Geese, but only one managed to qualify to the finals and defy the emperor of South town, and of course, it was none other than the hungry wolf himself. 

Terry stood at the base of Geese's tower and openly challenged his eternal enemy for an ultimate dual. As the fight started, Terry had to use all the moves and tricks he learned all these years to stand a chance against a Geese who was more determined than ever to wash the shame of his previous losses. But the lone wolf's resolve was greater and allowed him to emerge victorious from the toughest battle of his life. 

Similarly to their first encounter, Geese was sent flying through the window. But this time, Terry rushed to save him from falling by grabbing his hand. At this point, Geese felt that he lost everything. He only had his pride left and he wasn't willing to give it up too. Rejecting Terry's help, Geese tossed the young man's hand aside and let gravity do its work. Without any magical scroll in his possession, there was no way he would survive the fall like the last time. And so, Geese Howard fell to his permanent death. 

Sometime later, Terry met a young boy named Rock, who turned out to be the son of the late Geese. Maybe Terry had petty for the boy for being the unlucky son of the infamous Geese Howard or perhaps, he felt regret for not being able to save his father. Either way, he decided to shelter Rock and raise him by himself. 

Terry took good care of him and taught him how to fight to hope that the boy would grow up to be a much better Howard than his father was. While they were training one day in the mountains, Terry and Andy were almost hit by a plane. As strange as it may sounds, the pilot, a young man named Alfred, was in a hurry on his way to South town in order to deal with a new face of evil. 

Taking advantage of the void left in the criminal world after the death of Geese, a dangerous arms and drugs dealer known as White arose from the shadows with the intention of being the new master of South town. 

This disturbed and demented individual hated everything about society and enjoyed seeing people suffer. Although he did not possess the strength or charisma of Geese, he had one fearful tool that he used to crush all oppositions from other crime lords. 

His brainwashing techniques were so powerful that even Billy Kane, the faithful servant of Geese, fell victim to it and became a puppet under White's orders. Drunk with power after conquering South town with unexpected ease, White began his plans to create a world that suited his crazy personality and for that purpose, he secured strategic locations all over the world from which he could run his illegal operations. 

One of these locations was a village where Alfred used to live and where his father was buried. In order to defend his father's remains, He came to South town to stop White and bravely challenged him with the Help of Terry and his friends. 

His Brainwashing powers were no much for Terry and ended up falling before the lone wolf's legendary strength. White attempted the last trick by firing a deadly projectile from his cane, hoping that it would caught his opponent off guard. Luckily, Terry's sharp reflexes allowed him to avoid his attack and gave him the finishing blow that ended his short-lived reign. 

Alfred befriended different heroes of South town and spent some time with them before he decided to leave, now that his objective was attained. but before he left, Terry gave him his iconic hat as a symbol of their everlasting friendship. 

10 years had passed since the death of Geese. South town became a much more peaceful city than it used to be. All previous fighters had moved on with their lives either by passing the torch to their pupils or just quitting fighting altogether. 

Except for the lone hungry wolf, who still enjoyed the thrills of street fighting now more than ever especially with a strong sparring partner in the form of Rock Howard. One day, they both received invites to a new KOF tournament titled Maximum Mayhem and held in the neighboring of Second South town. 

More intriguing was the part in Rock's invitation saying that he would know interesting information about his presumed-dead mother during the competition. Once there, they had the pleasure to meet the other participants. While they were all new faces for Terry, many were related in a way or another to fighters from older generations. Like the two sons of Kim Kaphwan, the disciple of Ryo Sakazaki, or the pupil of his brother, Andy. 

Terry and Rock fought well and made their way to the semi-finals where they had to face each other. Unlike previous tournaments, it was the end of the road for Terry as he lost the match this time. Although one may argue that he probably let Rock win on purpose so he can know more about his mother by advancing to the finals, but no one can tell for sure. 

He accompanied his pupil to the meeting with the tourney's host, a man named Kain R. Heinlein, who revealed himself to be Geese's brother in law and thus Rock's uncle. He also unveiled his true intentions behind organizing The King of Fighters. 

Kain aimed to make Second South town a city-state by declaring its independence from the US, and then ruling over it himself. He believed that people do not value the importance of their lives and intended to redress that by installing a chaotic and violent regime where the strong rule over the week. Only that would allow the common folk to find the true joy of living, according to him anyway. He invited Rock to join him in his mission. Unsurprisingly, the nephew refused and engaged with him in a fight that he won but not without immense difficulty. 

Seeing that he couldn't win him by force, Kain used a much more effective approach. He told Rock that his mother was alive, and if he wanted to know more about it, he should come with him and become his new partner. 

Although he thought that it was probably just a trap, Rock wanted to get to the bottom of this matter and accepted to follow Kain. He assured Terry that he will come back and shouldn't worry about him. The lone wolf did not stop him and let him go, hoping that he would not become like his father though. It was time for Rock to chose his own path all by himself, and Terry believed in him.

 Waiting for Rock's eventual return, the wolf kept wondering the streets as he always did. The last time he was seeing, he was hanging with his old friend / maybe secret lover, Mary.

Terry Bogard Story in King of Fighters

King of Fighters '94

In a deferent timeline, where the last 2 The King of Fighters tournaments never took place. Geese and Krauser are alive and well, and Terry still had his trademark hat. Rugal Bernstein, a powerful arms dealer, has arisen to claim his place among the other villains. 

He organized his own version of the King of Fighters based on the 3 vs 3 rule, then send invites to the world's famous warriors. Terry was excited to participate when he received his invite, and couldn't find better teammates than his brother Andy and their friend Joe. 

King of Fighters '95

They did well enough during their matches to draw the attention of their old enemies Krauser and Geese. The latter decided to take action the following year. He ordered Billy to form the rivals team and participate in the 95 edition. the mission was to punish the Bogard brothers for defying him in the past. However, his servant never had the chance to do so as he was unexpectedly betrayed by his fellow teammate Iori who badly injured him.

King of Fighters '96 

Still bitter about his defeat against Terry, Geese was forced to attend to this matter himself the next year. He manipulated the interests of Krauser and Mr big and convinced him to join him forming the Bosses team. While it's true that the other goals behind his participation in this edition, Geese was eager to face Terry in person, so he can avenge his past humiliation.

King of Fighters '97 

In 97, Terry learned from Mary the truth about Yamazaki and his Hakkesshu origins. And finally understood the motivation behind Geese's actions during the previous tournaments. When the competition ended, he bid farewell to his friends and went in their separate ways. Terry met Mary on the road and offered her his hat as a souvenir.

King of Fighters '99 

Being constantly on the move and spending most of his life in the streets kept Terry well informed about the shady activities that took place unbeknown to the common people. That's why when Nests, the criminal syndicate specializing in Bioengineering, started working for their world domination, the lone wolf was among the first to know about it. Keeping touch with Mary, he informed her about their objective, as she also was tasked to investigate the evil cartel. He then reunited with Andy and Joe to enter The King of Fighters 99 in hope of stopping them. They were joined by Mai who insisted on being in the same team as Andy that year. Terry had no choice but to let her in. The team succeeded in reaching Nests's base but were separated from Terry during its destruction. Seeing Andy worried about the fate of his brother, Joe and Mai reassured him by reminding him how strong Terry was and that there was no way he would die so easily. And they were right, the lone wolf managed to escape the collapsing base somehow and returned to his usual life.

King of Fighters 2000 

The Fatal Fury team gathered again the following year to resume their objective of stopping nests. but before entering the competition, Terry kicked Mai out of the team to make a place for Mary who wanted to join him for more effective results in their fight against the syndicate. When he was caught by the blast of the Zero canon at the tournament's conclusion, Terry urged Mary to escape promising her that they will meet again. Learning from their past experience, Andy and Joe weren't too concerned about their leader's fate and peacefully resumed their mundane lives. Mary however remained worried about Terry and wasn't relieved until she met him in person during one of her jobs, just like he promised. Clearly, he was more than just a friend to her. and when Nests was destroyed for good in 2001, Mary was grateful to the syndicate. for without it, she wouldn't have the chance to get so close to Terry.

King of Fighters 2003 

2003 saw the first change within the Fatal Fury team when Andy was absent for the first time due to his training with his pupil. As such, Terry invited Tizoc to fill his brother's place. Though it didn't hold Andy to come to cheer for them during some of their matches. 

King of Fighters 2004

In the next tournament, it was Joe's turn to be absent as well, preferring to Participate in the Muay Thai Championship over KOF. This pushed Terry to completely rearrange the team. He joined forces with his old pals Kim and Duck King for KOF 11, forming the legendary Trio of South town. But disbanded as soon as the tourney ended. None of them could handle a drunken Kim and abandoned him at the Pao Pao Cafe. 

King of Fighters 2013

It wasn't until KOF 13 when Terry could reunite with his original teammates after several years of separation. He had two motives behind his participation in the latest edition. First, he wanted to check on his fan Alice and gauge her progression. But most importantly, he was concerned when he heard that Geese had also taken part in the tournament with his right-hand man Billy and his Butler Hein. Terry wanted to know what his eternal enemy was up to. Once the competition ended, he paid a visit to Geese's tower with Rock to continue his investigation. 

As he approached the edge of the floor, he had a flashback of the moment when he fails to save his opponent a painful souvenir that he just can't forget. Without any warning, he felt Rock's kick pushing him from behind, so he could meet the same fate as his father's. As he was falling, the last thing he saw was Rock's cold eyes staring at him. How could he fail to see all this hatred in him? Did he always intend to avenge his father? 

But the most important question was why was he remembering something that never happened to begin with? And this is when he fell from the sofa he was sleeping on and realized that all this was nothing more than a very bad dream.

Fighting Style & Powers

Combining both martial arts and street brawling, Terry is an all-around, versatile fighter. He's just a natural Genius when it comes to combat, with techniques that perfectly mix strength and speed. Thanks to his training under Tung and Jeff, Terry can gather Ki energy from the earth and use it in multiple ways. Its most famous use is the Power Wave, a projectile that travels on the ground. 

This technique has also a stronger version called the Power Geyser and could be performed after striking the ground, creating up to three pillars of pure energy. Terry can also empower his punches and kicks. The result of this can be seen with his Burn Knuckle and Crack Shot. Just like Kim, he has high acrobatic skills which he uses efficiently during his fights. 

His Rising Tackle being the perfect example. He's also a huge basketball fan, and it is the reason behind the creation of his Power Dunk. As for his defensive abilities, the lone wolf has a strong enduring body that allows him to take multiple deadly attacks, and still stands to continue the fight. His resilience has saved his life many times when he fought mighty foes with immense power like Geese and Krauser. 

When he's not fighting or playing Basketball, Terry usually spends his free time taking care of his pet monkey Ukee, or playing video games. He always has a chill and carefree attitude that sometimes upsets his friends, especially Joe when he comes late to their team meetings. Terry has a charismatic and cheerful personality that gathers people around him. Even his enemies have nothing but respect for him and his strength. He's genuinely nice and friendly with everybody and bears no ill intention to anyone except for unredeemable characters like Geese or Yamazaki. 

He cares deeply about his younger brother and considers him as his fiercest rival. His relationship with Mary had far surpassed the limits of simple friendship. While it's true they were never presented as an official couple in any game, they seem to have genuine care and fondness for each other. Mary is always ready to help and just happy to be near him. But she doesn't like it too much when Terry treats her as his personal taxi.