(LAST UPDATE: 3/15/2010)
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Developer(s): SNK, Takara
Publisher(s): SNK
Platform(s): Neo
Geo, Neo Geo CD, Sega Genesis, SNES, PS2, Wii Virtual Console
Release: November 25 1991 (Arcade), December 20th 1991 (Neo Geo),
November 27th 1992 (
SNES), April 1992
(
SNES), April 23rd 1993
(
Genesis), September 9th 1994 (Neo Geo CD), September 21st 2007 ( Wii VC),
October 8th 2007 ( Wii VC)
Characters:
Terry,
Andy,
Joe,
Richard
Myer, Duck King, Tung
Fue Rue, Michael Max,
Hwa
Jai, Raiden,
Billy
Kane, Geese
Related Games:
Fatal
Fury 2, Fatal Fury 3, Fatal
Fury Special, Fatal Fury Real Bout, Fatal
Fury Real Bout 2,
Fatal Fury Real Bout
Special, Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition,
Fatal
Fury: 1st Contact, Garou: Mark of The Wolves
Story:
A martial arts tournament known as the
"King of Fighters" tournament, is being held in the fictional American
city of South Town and sponsored by local crime boss Geese Howard. Ten years
prior to the events of the game, Geese murdered a rival martial artist named
Jeff Bogard who was on his trail. Now, Jeff's sons, Terry and Andy, along with
their friend Joe Higashi, enter the tournament to get their revenge on Geese.
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Review: In Fatal
Fury, you play the role of one of 3 characters... You can select either
Terry, Andy, or Joe to head into South Town in order to to compete in the
King Of Fighters tournament. Your first four opponents are Richard Myer, Duck
King, Tung Fue Rue, and Michael Max.
You can select the order of the first four battles. After defeating the
first four opponents, you must face off against Hwa Jai, Raiden, and Billy Kane (in that order) before fighting the current champion,
Geese Hoard.
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Compared to the arcade
smash that was Capcom's Street Fighter 2 (and yes, we must
compare) the gameplay
engine of Fatal Fury felt really stiff. Character movement wasn't as
responsive, but could move around a bit differently than characters in the
Street Fighter series. The main unique draw of Fatal Fury was the ability to "jump" into the background
or foreground and continue fighting. Character sprites obviously appeared
smaller in the background, and then bigger and more detailed in the
foreground...
It looked kinda weird, but at the same time there was something cool about it.
Yeah, I think it was a borderline "graphical achievement" for the
time. 
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The character
designs were definitely unique in their own right, but on the same token, couldn't
match those of SF2 at the time (and some were even blatant rip-offs). They all had some serious development to
do, and thank goodness they did (well, most of them anyway). The first Fatal Fury was simply an alternative
to Street Fighter 2 to those who were just tired of getting their asses
handed to them at the arcades... But little did we know at the time, Fatal
Fury was the start of a truly great and
memorable fighting game series, and also the debut of several future fighting
game icons.
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6 / 10 |
Closing Comment:
SNK would admit themselves that they were mooching off of the huge success that Capcom's
Street Fighter 2 was having at the arcades. Fatal Fury was definitely one of the games marked the beginning
of the Capcom VS SNK rivalry. While Fatal Fury was a decent effort by SNK, the
characters and gameplay really left something to be desired. While a true classic to look
back at (and maybe laugh at), Fatal Fury lacked a truly solid gameplay system, and only
had three selectable characters which paled in comparisons to Street Fighter
2's eight characters. SNK soon released some sequels to their new fighting
game franchise, which became considerably better
competition for Capcom's Street Fighter series. ~F.Yagami,
Webmaster
of TFG
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