SEGA CD

Fatal Fury Special

The sounds are a little bit weak for CD quality, but other than that, the game looks very close to the original Neo version. All of the techniques have been faithfully reproduced and respond well. The action does seem a bit sluggish at first, but soon enough you really get into it. Fans of the Neo version may not think it compares, but as a standalone game, it does have plenty of fighters and good response. An above-average fighter.

Although I can't recommend it without reservation, I can say that I had a lot of fun with Fatal Fury Special. Besides, fighting games for the Sega CD are few and far between. Unless you were happy with the bare-bones conversion and long loading delays of Mortal Kombat, Fatal Fury Special is just about the best thing going for Sega CD fighting fans.

Load times can really ruin a fighting game. If you're forced to wait 15-seconds in-between rounds, chances are you will be bored when it comes time to fight. "Fatal Fury Special" does a fine job in this regard and makes for a nice home port. It's only missing some animation and background detail.

As a CD, Fatal Fury Special just doesn't set itself apart from the rest of the fighting pack. Games these days must be a cut above their competitors to survive, but FFS just doesn't rise above the average fighting game. Unfortunately, it's anything but special.

In the early 1990s, SNK made quite a name for themselves with the release of their Neo-Geo MVS arcade system. Filled with hundreds of wonderful titles ranging from shmups and platformers to tons upon tons of fighting games and brawlers, it was the stuff of legend. And in this case, SNK has blessed Genesis and SNES owners with stellar ports of many of their arcade hits. Genesis owners in particular got Art of Fighting, King of the Monsters, Fatal Fury, and Samurai Shodown. But what of Sega CD owners? Surely their new add-on would be more than able to handle a near perfect conversion of some of the biggest Neo-Geo hits, right? Right?