February 2nd, 1994 (/
Arcade) May
11th, 2006 (
PS2 - in Art of Fighting: Anthology) May
15th, 2007 (
PS2 - in Art of Fighting: Anthology)
July 28th, 2008 (Wii Virtual Console)
AOF2
presented some of the same unique elements found in the first game, but
overall didn't quite match up to Capcom's SF2 series in terms of gameplay
and popularity. Sad
to say, even though AOF2 offered more actual "new" content than the newer
iterations of Street Fighter 2, SF2 still dominated in the gameplay
department, and was far more successful.
The widespread hit that was Super
Street Fighter 2 came out the same year as AOF2, so a lot of AOF2's
potential success was diverted to yet another new version of SF2. And
I'm sure most arcade managers would've rather spent their cash on an
"instant moneymaker" like SSF2 over the lesser known AOF2
any day. Even so, props
to SNK for sticking to their guns and continuing their unique spin on things. ~TFG
Webmaster
.
STORY:
"Mr. Karate, the undefeated martial artist, was revealed as Ryo's missing
father, Takuma Sakazaki. 10 years ago, he knew that Ronnet's death was
intentionally planned by someone. Fearing that the rest of his family would be
targeted if he stayed, he disappeared. However, 10 years after Ronnet's
accident, he learned that an organization had targeted his daughter Yuri.
Learning that Mr. Big was behind this, Takuma was forced to work with him.
However, Mr. Big's ambitions were foiled by Ryo, Robert, and King's revolution,
the latter being one of his former subordinates. Yuri and Takuma safely returned
home.
A year after Yuri's kidnapping, while Ryo was
training in the mountains, he received a letter. The letter was an invitation
for a new tournament in Southtown. Fighters from every corner of the town were
gathering there. It was a test to decide who was the "strongest"... a
tournament for the chosen and for the real fighters. The strongest of the
strong, each aspect applies to the dragon and the tiger. Southtown would be
split in twain by their instincts.
However, this event was only the beginning for a
certain man filled with ambition. "King
of Fighters"... the birth of a man's legend and the prologue for an even
greater story." Art of Fighting 2's
story is set a year after the original. Geese Howard, a rising star in
Southtown's criminal underworld, calls fighters to the city for a new
tournament, "The King of Fighters".
Finally, tackle story mode
with ALL characters!
REVIEW: By 1994,
SNK was gaining popularity in the arcade business. They were also trying its best to keep up with Capcom's
ever evolving Street Fighter 2 series, now with Champion Edition, Turbo,
and Super editions dominating the arcades.
SNK elected not to join the trend and rehash the original Art
of Fighting recipe. Instead,
they actually created a sequel from the ground up, presenting all
new backgrounds, redrawn character sprites, and all new stages... pretty much
the opposite of what Capcom was doing. It was a bold move to start practically
from scratch, and hardcore fans definitely appreciated the effort.
Interesting strategy
Yuri...
As a fan of the first Art of Fighting, I was pleased with the gameplay
updates and the game's new features.
My favorite upgrade is easily the fact that all characters were now selectable in
the regular Arcade/Story Mode. Each character has their own unique storyline &
specific interactions with other characters. Having unique character-specific
dialogue in a fighting game was definitely unique at the time, and allowed the
characters to become more fleshed out.
While most characters that returned look the way they did in the original AOF,
many of them acquired new appearances. For example, Mickey & John got
haircuts, and Lee Pai Long now fights in a pretty generic Kung-Fu robe (and
looks fat). The changes
worked in a few cases, but unfortunately not in others. Sadly, many characters
in AOF2 just don't look as "cool" as they did in the original AOF.
All of the fighters from the first AOF made their
return with the exception of Todo. New
characters Eiji & Temjin attempt to balance out the roster, and for the most
part they succeed at doing so. Takuma is also playable for the first time (which
was pretty epic if you followed the storyline of the first game).
/
Arcade)
.
