Goenitz

Goenitz (Japanese: ゲーニッツ, Hepburn: Gēnittsu) is a fictional character from The King of Fighters fighting game series by SNK. He was introduced in the 1996 game The King of Fighters '96 as the final boss. Narratively, he is responsible for several tragedies as a result of him granting other characters the power of the ancient demon Yamata no Orochi. Although Goenitz dies in this installment while facing the game's leads Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami, he has appeared in related games without storylines as well as in the crossover SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos as a boss, and was revived in The King of Fighters XV. The character is voiced by Shima Yoshinori, Hiroki Yasumoto and Susumu Akagi.

Goenitz
The King of Fighters character
Concept artwork of Goenitz for SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos by Nona
First game	The King of Fighters '96 (1996)
Created by	Masanori Kuwasashi
Voiced by	Yoshinori Shima (KOF '96–Neo Geo Heroes: Ultimate Shooting) Susumu Akagi (KOF: Destiny–present) Hiroki Yasumoto (KOF for Girls)
In-universe information
Fighting style	Power of Orochi

Goenitz led to mixed responses, with some saying that his skills in first game were overpowered, making him one of the strongest bosses in gaming, while others praised him for his calm personality despite his antagonistic role in the story. His return in The King of Fighters XV was also praised by the media as he was seen as difficult as the game's other boss Rugal Bernstein, providing a major challenge to the players.

Creation and design

While directing The King of Fighters '96 game designer Masanori Kuwasashi created Goenitz, choosing his name as a reference to an anime he liked as a child.^[1] Goenitz was written to be an antagonist who surpassed the previous villain of the previous The King of Fighters installments, Rugal Bernstein. Though Goenitz has not featured in many games, SNK's developers noticed that he had become one of the series' most popular characters.^[2] Goenitz was first voiced by Shima Yoshinori, who found the character immature despite his age.^[3] In KOF for Girls, Hiroki Yasumoto voiced Goentiz while Susumu Akagi replaces him starting with The King of Fighters: Destiny onwards.^[4][5]

Goenitz does not see Orochi as a god, and so he considers Orochi and the religion he preaches to be separate. The design team says this is because he was interested in religion as a personal hobby, leading to his choice of clothing.^[6] Since the early development of the game, Goenitz's ability to summon tornadoes was meant to signify the challenge of defeating him.^[7]

Since his first appearance, Goenitz has consistently been seen reading a book while wearing a blue wardrobe and silver earrings. A new costume was given to Goenitz in the video game The King of Fighters XV as a reward for the player beating him in the Boss Challenge Mode. The new costume emphasizes darker colors and red eyes, but still keeps the blue color. The suit has a reptilian scale-like appearance and is made of a stretchy fiber material. In contrast to the original Goenitz who had no pockets, XV gives him intricate accessories.^[8][9]

Appearances

In video games

Goenitz is one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the demon Orochi, with the power to command the element of wind. Goenitz has a very polite personality, reflected in his victory poses and his elegant, somewhat flowery speech. Influenced by Orochi, he sports the messianic attitude that aspires to bring about "salvation" expected from people of religious occupations. During the 1996 tournament, Goenitz discovers that the host Chizuru Kagura plans to gather warriors to seal Orochi and heads to the tournament to stop her. Also, Goenitz is the one who took the villain Rugal Bernstein's right eye in an attempt to grant him the power of Orochi and make him a vessel of his lord. However, Rugal dies after fighting Kyo Kusanagi in The King of Fighters '95, leading Goenitz to target the winner. Following his defeat, Goenitz passes away and his body disappears in a tornado.^[10] If the player forms the "Sacred Treasures Team," Goenitz is incinerated by Iori Yagami and Kyo Kusanagi.^[11] If Goenitz is chosen by the player, Goenitz is defeated by Chizuru's late sister, Maki, who put a spell on him before her death.^[12]

Goenitz appeared as an assistant-type character dubbed "Striker" in The King of Fighters 2000.^[13] He returns as an alternative boss in The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match and The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match.^[14][15] In the Game Boy Advance game The King of Fighters EX2: Howling Blood, Goenitz's subordinate Gustav Munchausen attempts to reincarnate Goenitz's soul in a new vessel.^[16] He is also both a playable character and boss in SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos,^[17] and a boss-only character in KOF: Sky Stage.^[18] Beating SVC Chaos as Goenitz leads to an ending scene in which Chizuru attacks. A revived Goenitz appears as free downloadable content in The King of Fighters XV.^[9]

In other media

A manga called Goenitz Gaiden: The King of Fighters '96 Millennium Zero explores the character's youth as well as his future enemies, most notably Rugal.^[19] A dating sim called The King of Fighters For Girls features Goenitz with the new voice actor Hiroki Yasumoto.^[20] Goenitz's role in the KOF '96 is also explored in Ryo Takamisaki's manga The King of Fighters G, where he brings the presence of Orochi to the tournament, corrupting everybody. Just like in the video game, Goenitz is incinerated by Kyo, but Benimaru Nikaido wounds him when he is corrupted by Orochi's power.^[21] In the manga The King of Fighters: Kyo, Goenitz attacks the Yagami Team before a concert, killing Vice and Mature while kidnapping Iori. This angers Kyo – who usually claims Iori is his enemy – resulting in the two rivals turning against Goenitz and killing him.^[22] Goenitz also makes a cameo in the final episode of the Chinese animated series The King of Fighters: Destiny where he uses Rugal – who was defeated by Kyo – to increase the curse of Orochi in Iori.^[23] The character was meant to return in the film The King of Fighters: Awaken, facing Kyo, but it was cancelled.^[24] According to the manga adaptation of The King of Fighters XIV titled The King of Fighters: A New Beginning, it is confirmed that Goenitz is one of the souls inside the boss character Verse.^[25]

Reception

Several game journalists commented on Goenitz's appeal as a boss character and villain in The King of Fighters. Famitsu said that while he looks like a pastor and can be seen to be polite in his words and actions, he is ruthless when fighting, especially when he uses the power to create tornadoes.^[26] Destructoid considered Goenitz the "father" of the New Faces Team from The King of Fighters '97 due to their alignment. He was described as an "irritating" boss character due to the powers he uses when fighting.^[27] El Periódico de Aragón said that despite the fact that he fights using the power of nature, he is still a demon-like figure.^[28]

Several writers focused on the difficulty of beating him and the powers of the character. Den of Geek said Goenitz appears to be the last final boss with insane difficulty as only a few following bosses like Krizalid are able to imitate him, and he has also been one of the most horrible people to be featured in The King of Fighters. This is reflected in the chaos he caused in Chizuru and Leona Heidern's lives and how he forced the protagonist to change his fighting style, and awakening the Orochi form of Iori Yagami. Nevertheless, Goenitz's personality is surprisingly calm in cutscenes, but in fights he would anger players.^[29] In GameAxis Unwired, Goenitz was recognized as a popular SNK boss but was overshadowed by Rugal.^[30] When it came to ranking KOF bosses, Game Rant found Goenitz's character even harder to beat than his lord Orochi due to the advantages he has in battle when facing him in The King of Fighters '96. The boss was considered so powerful that his catchphrase "Koko desu ka?" ("Is it there?") was stuck in the writer's mind.^[31] The same website also considered Goenitz as one of the best fighters with wind powers in gaming history as echoed by his nickname "Wildly-Blowing Wind" and the multiple special moves he can use that involve wind.^[32] Hardcore Gaming 101 said that while the story of KOF '96 was simple, the handling of Goenitz's design and his relationship with Orochi descendants was well executed as shown through some similar moves he and other Orochi-related characters have.^[33] PushSquare saw Goenitz as one of the most unbalanced characters from SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos due to the difficulty it takes to defeat the boss especially if the player is using Hugo.^[34]

For The King of Fighters XV, Famitsu saw Goenitz as an equal to Rugal based on both characters' updated powers, demanding good strategies to defeat him and obtain his new outfit.^[35] Excite like Goenitz's redesign and difficulty. In retrospect, when playing KOF'96, the writer was surprised to see Goenitz appear when defeating Chizuru Kagura and thought it was the ending. Instead, he felt the "despair as his extraordinary strength was tremendous". He continued facing Goenitz several times until succeeding with Goro Daimon. He was satisfied with this achievement and thus was glad Goenitz was not only playable in KOF XV but also appeared as a special challenge comparable to Omega Rugal. Besides his costume, Excite liked his new background theme and how new generations who never had access to The King of Fighters '96 would be able to face Goenitz like he did with KOF XV.^[36] GameRant wanted Goenitz to form a team with Vice and Mature as the three are servants of Orochi and share similar personality traits despite the womens' death and apparent return as undead.^[37] Goenitz's revival in The King of Fighters XV was said to be a common theme in modern fighting games which SNK often executed in the The King of Fighters series. It was foreshadowed in The King of Fighters XIV when Krizallid talks to K', showing potential for more revivals in the upcoming games.^[38][39]

The transformed state of Goenitz from SVC Chaos proved extremely popular. Appearing as a nun, the fandom dubbed the character "Goeniko" and fleshed her out as a full character for M.U.G.E.N, albeit with a more sexualized design. This later resulted in her appearing in the commercial mobile game title The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match Online,^[40] as well as in The King of Fighters All Star as "Lady Goenitz" and with a different appearance.^[41] In 2023, NetLab Research Team conducted a survey asking, "Who is your favorite character in KOF?" with Goenitz taking 9th place.^[42]