Wolfgang Krauser

  
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BIO:

Roughly 40 years before the events of Fatal Fury, Michael, the present head of the Stroheim family, loses his son and wife in an aerial accident. His granddaughter, Elza, was the only living descendant and no male heirs were available to them. Sometime later, Elza fell in love with a man named Rudolph, who won a martial arts tournament. As she was expecting a child, Elza asks her grandfather to approve of her marriage with Rudolph. Left with no say in the matter, Michael begrudgingly agrees.

Since he became a part of the Stroheim family, Rudolph was forced to leave his wife and child in America, Maria and Geese. When Krauser was nine years old, a boy tried to assassinate his father. This boy was Geese who blamed Rudolph for leaving his mother to die from sickness. Surprisingly, Krauser defeated the would-be assassin and would have killed him if he wasn't restrained by Rudolph. Since then, Geese has always feared his younger half-brother.

When Krauser was older, his great-grandfather died and Rudolph became head of the family. Elza also passed away around the same time. Learning that her husband still loved his old wife over her, she had drunk her sorrows away with liquor and died with a frail body. To avenge his mother, Wolfgang challenges his father to a duel a day after Elza's funeral. Although observers were in favor of Rudolph's victory, Krauser killed him in one blow. Thus, Krauser became the undisputed and strongest Earl of Stroheim in the family's history. Sometime after this event, he fought with Jeff Bogard and Hanzo Shiranui, Mai's grandfather. The two fighters were able to strike Krauser's forehead, which left a cross scar that refused to completely heal. He returned to his country and continued to attend to his family's legacy.

In the Fatal Fury timeline, Krauser is a very well known and reputed crimelord of darkness. Once he hears of South Town's reputation, he sends a letter to Geese. Though it was written in a polite manner, it was really a threat for his older half-brother to engage in a contest with him. However, he never received a written reply since he heard Geese died soon after. He was beaten by a man named Terry Bogard in the King of Fighters tournament. Intrigued by the man's name, Krauser sent an imposter to defame Geese's company and came in person to South Town.

Staging his own King of Fighters tournament, he injures several veteran fighters from the previous event. He also hires three fighters to serve him who are Billy Kane, Axel Hawk, and Laurence Blood. Eventually, he fights Terry in the finals. After a fierce battle, Krauser is defeated and remains missing from the fighting scene. According to the short movie, Memories of the Stray Wolf, Krauser supposedly took his own life soon after.

Nothing was heard of from Krauser until the King of Fighters '96 tournament, when Krauser joined forces with Geese and Mr. Big to create the Boss Team. Although Geese used both him and Mr. Big as pawns in his attempt to nab an ancient power called Orochi, Krauser only cared about self-improvement. After learning of his faults at the hands of Terry, Krauser vowed only to fight stronger opponents in order to restore the strength and prestige he once possessed. For now, Krauser wants only to improve himself first.
 
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ORIGIN:
Fatal Fury 2

  
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OTHER APPEARANCES:
Fatal Fury Special, Real Bout Fatal Fury, Real Bout Fatal Fury Special, Real Bout Special: Dominated Mind, Real Bout Fatal Fury 2, Fatal Fury: First Contact, The King of Fighters '96, The King of Fighters '98: Ultimate Match, SNK Vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash, Card Fighters Clash 2, Card Fighters Clash DS

   
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Page Updated:  Dec. 10th, 2023

I'll admit Krauser was pretty cool in the Fatal Fury anime, but otherwise, he's an awkward and kinda generic design visually. Even though he's a Fatal Fury classic, I never thought that bright-ass purple hair (and purple mustache) went with the rest of his odd get-up. lol. Krauser still has a lot of charisma for some reason... I have a few of his character cards in my Card Fighters Clash deck... and when he comes out, my opponents take him seriously! lol.

In the SNK universe he's a big name, but as a stand-alone fighting game character, he's definitely not one of the best.

Fighting  Style  /  Moveset
Personality  /  Charisma
Outfit(s)  /  Appearance
Effectiveness  in  series
Overall Score