Fatal Fury

Fatal Fury is an adrenalin-pumping, street fighting type game that will dish out hours of beat-'em-up pleasure. It's especially fun to beat up your friends in the versus mode. The graphics are a Neo Geo knockout, and the characters move crisply. the music is wonderful! If you're hungry for knock down, drag out street fighting with special techniques, beat up on Fatal Fury!

Who would've believed that Fatal Fury could be this good. This game is awesome! The control is great and the character animation is very fluid. Two big pluses in this version are; 1) both players can choose from the bosses and 2) the special attacks are easy to execute. A winner!

The number of moves is limited, and special moves are often hard to execute. Still, they do inflict major damage, resulting in surprisingly brief matches. The time limit for each round is 45 seconds - half that of Street Fighter 2. One unique feature is how the characters battle on two planes, moving between the foreground and background. This inter-plane movement is mostly automatic however, and it can be confusing. I really love the scenery - particularly the carnival, subway station, and beach. The rain in the Howard Arena stage looks like crap though! It's just a bunch of white lines! A terrific bonus stage lets you arm-wrestle a guy by tapping a button, and it's pretty intense. Despite clearly showing its age, Fatal Fury still packs some old school charm.

Fatal Fury sieht man beim Gameplay recht deutlich an, dass es das erste Beat ’em up war. Zu Verbessern gab es noch sehr viel, das hat SNK dann in späteren Jahren vor allem bei den nachfolgenden Spielen wie King of Fighters getan. Einen Blick ist es aber doch noch wert.

The needed improvements would be made in the sequel, revamping the entire engine, and turning it into a great fighter. Fatal Fury in its original form simply doesn't do enough to be considered special. It's an average fighter in a sea of them. If you're looking for some technical prowess, this isn't a bad idea. If not, stick with the various versions of Street Fighter II on the Genesis.

Most of this is acceptable for a first attempt, but the sequel is simply too hard to ignore. That game changed everything, including adding tolerable US box art. Fans who have stayed behind SNK for years will find this interesting to see how things started, and then simply move on to better playing titles.

Contrary to popular opinion, the first Fatal Fury is not a good game. It was a rushed project, tossed into the market place in pace with Street Fighter II. However, not only does Fatal Fury not come close to Street Fighter, but it doesn't even come close to Mortal Kombat!

On the Neo Geo, the game is unquestionably dated. That's not the problem with this port. It's simply awful. There's little reason why it's like this, considering the sequels would turn out fine when they finally released. That shows it's not something with the hardware, and everything to do with the coding.

This 2D fighting game may have been okay in 1992, but now it's hopelessly outdated. There are eleven total fighters, but "player one" can only select from three of them. What's up with that? There are no female fighters either. The animation is mediocre, the background scenery is dull, and the audio really sucks. The hits and their sound effects aren't even in sync! A three-button control scheme allows you to kick, punch, and throw, but the action feels shallow compared to Street Fighter 2 series.