

In addition to this, the game had a huge roster for the time as well as stages and sound effects/music of high quality. "The fighting game genre was about to become mainstream in the Japanese arcade game market at that time and Fatal Fury rode that wave as well. "Fatal Fury Special was the first SNK fighting game to take account of versus battles," explains Oda.
SNK GALAXY FIGHTERS UPDATE
However, by the time most of those versions had been released, the next game was already in arcades - and while it was an update of Fatal Fury 2, it was a watershed moment for the series.
SNK GALAXY FIGHTERS PC
"Fatal Fury 2 was not the first game in the fighting game genre to feature Desperation Moves, it was Art Of Fighting."įatal Fury 2 was strongly received, and made its way to a greater variety of home formats than the previous game, with PC Engine CD and Game Boy versions alongside the Mega Drive, SNES and Sharp X68000 versions. "Once we made sure to have enough memory and time to implement them, we included Desperation Moves in Fatal Fury 2." However, these weren't a Fatal Fury innovation, as Oda is quick to remind us. "In Japanese anime and manga culture, having Desperation Moves above Special Moves was a natural flow," explains Oda, and it makes sense - we've definitely seen anime characters unleash their biggest attacks when on the brink of defeat. Fighters also had a new class of move at their disposal, the 'Desperation Move' - a powerful attack which could only be activated when the player was low on life. In gameplay terms, Fatal Fury 2 revamped the two-line fighting system by allowing players to switch planes at will using the A and B buttons, adding an extra element of strategy to fights. Krauser wasn't the only new boss either, with Laurence Blood and Axel Hawk joining Billy Kane as lackeys of the bad guy. Four more playable characters joined the roster too - the portly Cheng Sinzan, elderly Jubei Yamada, taekwondo expert Kim Kaphwan and the series' first female fighter, Mai Shiranui. The Bogard brothers and Joe Higashi naturally did, and they were joined by Big Bear (the unmasked, and rather friendlier, Raiden), now a playable fighter. Many of the first game's veterans were injured at Krauser’s hands, so few characters returned. Fatal Fury 2 saw the King Of Fighters tournament expanding across the world thanks to Wolfgang Krauser, the new antagonist and Geese Howard's half-brother. Having done well, Fatal Fury earned a sequel which arrived at the tail end of 1992. "SNK have done themselves absolutely no harm in releasing this brilliant feast of fighting," opined Paul Rand in C&VG's review of the Neo-Geo version, urging readers to "get your parents to remortgage the house and go get it." Home conversions followed in 19 for the Mega Drive, SNES and Sharp X68000, all of which were well regarded. We believe that their passion has influenced these characters' charisma."įatal Fury arrived towards the end of 1991 and was met with a positive reception.

Geese and Billy have always been created by designers specialised for these two characters. "Then, players were able to select him in Fatal Fury Special, and he gained a stable popularity. "In his first appearance in Fatal Fury, he was the stereotype of a 'Godfather'-type character with some influences from the Japanese culture," Oda notes. However, it wasn't just his unique fighting style that made him popular - his design was memorable too, as he sported the unusual clothing choice of an aikidogi. "I believe the 'atemi-nage' (counter grab) system influenced the fighting game genre later," says Oda - and indeed, many 2D and 3D fighting games have incorporated such attacks. Unlike other characters, Geese was able to anticipate your attacks and deliver devastating responses.
SNK GALAXY FIGHTERS SERIES
One of the most memorable was the game's final boss, Geese Howard, who is as iconic of the series as its heroes.
