Developer: Gai Brain, Apsect Publisher: Takara Release: 02/93 Genre: Fighting
Takara were a god send for those of us too poor to own a Neo Geo. Hell I am a grown man with a job and I would still have to talk myself into buying the system now. But if you wanted SNK’s finest at home Takara were there with 16-bit conversions of the most popular titles. I would have liked to see some of their lesser known titles that were rare in the arcade like Crossed Swords and Blues Journey but I digress. They did get off to a rough start; King of the Monsters and the SNES version of Fatal Fury were bad. But the Sega Genesis version of the Bogard Brother’s adventures fares a lot better for what it is worth.
Fatal Fury released after Street Fighter II but was in development around the same time. Some of the creators of that legendary title were behind this one so the similarities are unavoidable. But there are a number of features that make Fatal Fury unique, for better and worse. The line switching feature is certainly unique and an acquired taste. Long before Capcom would introduce dramatic battle in Street Fighter Alpha 3 SNK did it first in 1992. But then there are multiple caveats which I will get to. The fighting game boom was just beginning on home consoles so this did not have much competition at release. But better titles would quickly eclipse it in quality.
The mechanics of Fatal Fury’s combat are interesting if a bit simple. The game released at a time before combo systems were standard in the genre. As such it almost plays more like a brawler than your average fighting game. There is a chaining system in which two normals chain into a more powerful special but the way attacks send the characters flying it is hard to pull off. The most famous feature of the game is the line system. Every stage has a background and foreground with certain attacks knocking opponents back and forth. You can chase them back and forth but cannot switch freely. It usually happens unintentionally and is more annoying than fun, relegating it to more of a novelty than a strategic factor during gameplay.
Because of its story driven nature Fatal Fury limits its single player mode to Terry, Andy, and Joe. This is disappointing especially as one of the best features in fighting games was learning to play as every character to see their individual endings. Here there is only one ending which means multiplayer is carrying this one heavily. Unfortunately with two missing characters the thrills do not last long. It sucks too as Takara and their partners did an impressive job cramming the arcade game in to a far smaller cartridge. Compared to the SNES game there are multiple points in its favor. The resolution is higher as it is not letterboxed. Many stages feature parallax scrolling missing from that version and while some background details are missing overall they go tit for tat.
Where the graphics are a pretty good rendition of the Neo Geo original the sound does not fare as well. The soundtrack is awful which is a shame; the Fatal Fury OST is amazing with a diverse range of styles but the sound designers do not do it justice here. The music is tinny and barely resembles the originals. The sound effects fare better but there has been a significant reduction in voice samples. The few that are still present are sound bad unfortunately. This is one that is better with the sound off in my opinion.
The Sega version of Fatal Fury was released a few months after the SNES game and the extra time turned out a better conversion. The number one feature that puts this version over its Nintendo counterpart is the controls. You can execute moves easily even with the standard three button controller and its awful d-pad. Fatal Fury is not the most technical game but being able to play the damn game correctly helps immensely. The dual plane system remains and while I do not like it at least it means the port is accurate. In addition every character is playable in two-player versus mode on both sides including Geese Howard. Unfortunately there is less content as Billy Kane and Hwa Jai were cut. But considering every other point in its favor the Genesis edition comes out on top.
In Closing
Fatal Fury is a good port of the arcade game and of things to come. The problem is Fatal Fury was only slightly above average to begin with. Mechanically the game lacks depth and with less characters it does not have the staying power to compete against the better fighters on the platform like Street Fighter.
