Fatal Fury: King of Fighters

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fatal Fury:King of Fighters
Image:Fatal Fury game flyer.png
Developer(s) SNK (Neo Geo), Takara (SNES, Mega Drive/Genesis)
Publisher(s) SNK
Platform(s) Arcade, Neo Geo CD, Sega Genesis, SNES, Virtual Console
Release date MVS:
JPN November 25 1991
Neo-Geo
JPN December 20 1991
Super NES
JPN November 27 1992
NA April 1993
Mega Drive/Genesis
JPN April 23 1993
Neo Geo CD
JPN September 9 1994
Virtual Console (Neo-Geo version):
JPN September 21 2007
PAL October 5 2007
NA October 8 2007
Genre(s) Versus Fighting
Mode(s) Single Play,Tag Team,Versus
Input methods 8-way Joystick, 5 Buttons
Cabinet Upright
Arcade system Neo Geo

Fatal Fury: King of Fighters, released in Japan as Garou Densetsu: Shukumei no Tatakai (餓狼伝説 宿命の戦い Garō Densetsu Shukumei no Tatakai?, "Legend of the Hungry Wolf: The Battle of Destiny") is a 1991 head-to-head fighting game released by SNK for the Neo-Geo arcade and home platforms. Fatal Fury was SNK's first fighting game for the Neo Geo system (released a few months after the arcade release of the original Street Fighter II) and served as the inaugural game in their Fatal Fury series, as well as the first game to depict the fictional "King of Fighters" tournament (which became the basis for the later The King of Fighters games). Many of SNK's mainstay characters, including the Bogard brothers Terry and Andy, and their arch-nemesis Geese Howard, made their debut in this game.

Contents

[edit] Gameplay

The gameplay follows the typical formula of most fighting games: the player competes against his opponent in best two-out-of-three matches. The play controls consists of an eight directional lever and three attack buttons: punch, kick and throw. As in the original Street Fighter, each of the playable character has special techniques that are performed by inputting specific commands and combinations with the joystick and buttons. The input methods for special moves are shown to the player during the course of the game (after every bonus round), as opposed to being given in an instruction card in the game's cabinet. The most novel aspect of Fatal Fury was the inclusion of a two-lane fighting system. The player can jump from one lane to another to avoid projectile attack or knock their opponent to the other plane.

When a second player joins during the middle of a fight, instead of postponing the current battle for a match between the two players, the game will make both players team-up against the current CPU opponent in a two-on-one match before their battle takes place. After every second match in the single player tournament, the player will participate in a bonus round mini-game involving an arm wrestling match against a machine. The player must tap the A button rapidly to win these mini-games.

[edit] Plot

The plot of Fatal Fury centers around a martial arts tournament known as the "King of Fighters" tournament, 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 under his trail. Now, Jeff's adopted sons, Terry and Andy, along with their friend Joe Higashi, enter the tournament to get their revenge on Geese.

[edit] Characters

At the beginning of the game, the player is asked to select between Terry, Andy and Joe. The player is them asked to select from one of four fighters as their first opponent, which are Duck King, Tung Fu Rue, Richard Meyer and Michael Max. After defeating their first opponent, the player faces the other three opponents in a random order. The last three opponents before Geese are fought in the following order: Hwa Jai, Raiden and Billy Kane.

  • CPU-controlled characters
    • Duck King - A breakdancing kickboxer with a mohawk. He fights above the "West Subway" area of South Town.
    • Tung Fu Rue - A Chinese master of the fictional Hakkyoku Seiken ("Sacred Fist of Eight Extremities") style, he is the aged sensei of Jeff Bogard and Geese Howard. At first he appears a meek eldery master, but after taking damage he turns into a musclebound beast with a spinning clotheline and a fireball kick. He fights outside the Howard Arena.
    • Michael Max - A black American boxer who has a projectile attack called the "tornado upper" (similar to Joe's hurricane upper). He fights at "Sound Beach" in front of a sea food restaurant.
    • Richard Meyer - A capoeira master from Brazil. He fights in the restaurant "Pao Pao Cafe", which he owns.
    • Hwa Jai - A muay thai master from Thailand who gains his strength from drinking an unknown liquor. He fights in the "Happy Park" section of South Town.
    • Raiden - A former pro wrestler from Australia who has a poisonous vapor breath technique. In Fatal Fury 2, he ditches the Raiden identity and becomes Big Bear. He fights in the "Dream Amusement Park".
    • Billy Kane - A British master of the pole who serves as the tournament's undefeated champion. When he throws his pole, he becomes invulnerable for a short while. His stage is the "South Town Village", in front of a bridge.
    • Geese Howard - The final boss. An underworld crime boss and sponsor of the King of Fighters tournament. After defeating Billy Kane, the player's character is kidnapped by Geese's men and taken to his building, the "Geese Tower", for the game's final battle. He fights using the kobujutsu style and has a projectile attack similar to Terry's power wave called the "Reppuken" or "Violent Wave Fist". He can also parry the player's attacks and throw him. When the player loses to Geese, instead of the standard continue screen, they witness their character falling off from Geese Tower. However, if the player defeats, their character will knock off Geese from his building, seemingly killing him. Despite being declared dead in the game's ending, Geese is revealed to had survived his fall in Fatal Fury Special and Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory.

[edit] Ports

  • The Super NES version of Fatal Fury, published and developed by Takara, was published in Japan in 1992 and in North America during the following year. This version discards the two-lane system in favor of a more conventional one lane plane. The two-on-one battles are gone and the arm wrestling bonus rounds are replaced by new bonus rounds involving the main character punching flying tires. In the game's Versus Mode, all of the CPU-controlled characters are playable, albeit only on the second player's side.
  • The Mega Drive/Genesis version, published by Sega in Japan and by Takara in North America. This version removes the characters of Hwa Jai and Billy Kane from the roster, regelating them to background cameos. Instead, the player faces against the other two main characters during the course of the game. This version allows both players to play as the CPU-controlled characters in the game's Versus Mode (with Geese Howard available via a cheat code). The Genesis version was the subject of a mild controversy between Electronic Gaming Monthly and GameFan magazines. Martin Alessi of EGM criticized the play controls from having "slow response" and making the special moves "quite difficult" to perform. Postmeister of GameFan defended the game's play controls and responded by accusing the EGM's reviewers for being "way off".[1]
  • The Neo Geo CD version is identical to its MVS and cartridge counterparts, but features the arranged redbook soundtrack.
  • An emulation of the original Neo-Geo game is included along with its sequels Fatal Fury 2, Fatal Fury Special and Fatal Fury 3, in the compilation Fatal Fury: Battle Archives Vol. 1 for the PlayStation 2. This version includes an option for the original MVS soundtrack or the arranged music from the Neo Geo CD version.
  • The Neo Geo version of Fatal Fury has been released by D4 Enterprise as part of the Virtual Console downloadable lineup for the Wii.

[edit] References

  1. ^ FORS YARD.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Fatal Fury series
Games
Anime
Characters
Related
Game controller  This fighting game-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Languages