Fatal Fury Special

aka: ACA NeoGeo: Fatal Fury Special, AkeAka NeoGeo: Garō Densetsu Special, Garō Densetsu Special
Moby ID: 10591

Description official descriptions

Fatal Fury Special is an improved version of SNK's 2D one-on-one fighter Fatal Fury 2. The objective is to win the tournament by defeating all other fighters including end boss Wolfgang Krauser. Fatal Fury Special features a fairly large selection of fighters that includes:

  • The eight regular fighters from Fatal Fury 2: Terry Bogard, Andy Bogard, Joe Higashi, Kim Kaphwan, Jubei Yamada, Cheng Sinzan, Mai Shiranui and Big Bear.
  • The four bosses from Fatal Fury 2: Billy Kane, Axel Hawk, Lawrence Blood and Wolfgang Krauser (this time they're all immediately playable).
  • Three characters returning from the first Fatal Fury: Duck King, Tung Fu Rue and Geese Howard (the end boss from Fatal Fury).

Other improvements include:

  • A new Count Down mode (defeat as many opponents as possible in 3 minutes).
  • Extra color schemes for every character.
  • New & improved background graphics.
  • Dolby Surround Sound support.

Fatal Fury Special still features the series' trademark pseudo-3D movement along two planes.

Spellings

  • アケアカNEOGEO 餓狼伝説SPECIAL - Japanese PS4 / Switch spelling
  • 餓狼伝説SPECIAL - Japanese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Videos

See any errors or missing info for this game?

You can submit a correction, contribute trivia, add to a game group, add a related site or alternate title.

Credits (Arcade version)

28 People (19 developers, 9 thanks) · View all

Producer
Planner (Main)
Planner
Object Design (Main)
Object Design
Demo Sketch Design
  • Tsuka
Scroll & Demo Design (Main)
Programmer (Main)
Programmer
Sound Creator
Special Thanks
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 75% (based on 37 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.7 out of 5 (based on 43 ratings with 3 reviews)

Takara delivers arcade perfection.

The Good
Controls, sounds, music, graphics, control, colors . . . what the hell? How did Takara and SNK pull all of this off with Master System hardware? This game is the most amazing 8-bit fighting game for an 8-bit system, and it's so good, you'd do a double-take and think you're playing the Neo-Geo original at the arcade!

The Bad
Nothing negative at all.

The Bottom Line
Got a Game Gear? Buy this game, it's a Game Gear masterpiece, and it shows with effort and excellent programming, 24-bit goodness can be done a totally inferior hardware (makes you wonder about present games being so sloppy).

Game Gear · by Fake Spam (85) · 2006

Great game...on another system, that is...

The Good
I'll try and keep this short and sweet.

Fatal Fury Special, the "special" version of Fatal Fury 2 as many put it, improved quite a bit over its predecessors. For one, fan favorite fighters Duck King and Tung Fu Rue are back, in all their wacky (and old! ^_^) glory. Old man Tung's learned some new tricks, and even better: the four bosses of Fatal Fury 2 are fully playable, as well as the Big Man himself, Geese Howard, making another wicked appearance! worships Geese...worship him, I say!!! ^_^

Although no one has generally changed from FF2, a few of their stages have gotten minor, almost subtle face lifts, and the new music for Duck King and Tung Fu Rue sounds excellent. And yes, Geese's theme is back and remixed for more evilness! And don't forget the REAL final boss of Fatal Fury 2 and Special: Wolfgang Krauser, with his WICKED stage (a massive German palace), and unbelievable music...did I mention the orchestra in his stage that PLAYS the theme?? No? Okay, I just did now. ^_^

The Bad
Nothing, but what I'm talking about here is the Sega CD version, and...well, here's where it gets ugly.

First, and foremost, SNK didn't port this game directly to the Sega CD. Instead, European development house Funcom ported this (as well as Samurai Shodown) to the system, and it didn't turn out pretty. I'll list as much as I can wrong about this port:

  • Missing character animations. What's missing the most is the characters' fight poses (like when they start a match). Plus what's there looks incredibly choppy.

  • On the subject of missing animations: the backgrounds are ALL missing LOTS of animations, and Geese Raging Stormed someone for screwing his stage up horribly (especially cutting out the intro for the stage: going through the screen doors one at a time.) Oh, and Krauser found the guy who removed the orchestra from his stage and...well...it wasn't a nice sight...

  • Nearly EVERY SINGLE vocal sample is missing. What's left is some of the characters' grunts and yells when they get hit or use moves, and what is there must've been downsampled to the point where the PC speaker of my old 286 sounded better than this! And for Chrissake, even the ANNOUNCER voices are MIA!!

  • The difficulty levels might as well not exist. There are NO differences whether you're playing Easy mode or Expert Mode. Everyone fights the same in EVERY difficulty.

  • Some music is missing; it's most noticeable on the (mute) victory screens. Surprisingly, everyone's themes are all there. The music gets at least two points, though: it's recorded directly on the CD, and it was sampled straight from the original Neo Geo game.

  • Funcom even screwed the guest star!! Ryo looks WORSE than he did in Art of Fighting 1 for the damn GENESIS!!! The. GEN. ES. IS!!

  • Fatal Fury 2 on the Genesis looked AND felt more intact, and that's on a freakin' cartridge!! This is a CD-based system with more RAM, stronger video capability, and additional CPU power! I'm appalled!!

    The Bottom Line
    I find it utterly embarrassing that a system that could EASILY handle a Neo Geo port with only minor differences (like slight color loss) gets this HORRIBLE port of such an excellent fighting game.

And I find it funny (yet sad) that Eternal Champions (a Sega CD fighter that came out later) showed what you could do with the system when it comes to fighters. Too bad it wasn't around to help Funcom save Fatal Fury Special...

Bottom line: I'm glad SNK handles their own porting now, except when it comes to PS1 ports...-_-

SEGA CD · by Satoshi Kunsai (2020) · 2003

They tried, they really did.

The Good
Overall graphics, sound, control, extras, the music (especially the music), and the package design (especially the CD print, which has all of the fighter standing in a circle looking up at you).

The Bad
Control could've been tighter, background gimmicks totally missing except for Blood's stage, and the resolution could've used a good once over with the Konami 101-color dither technique (used in Snatcher), and some of the perspective is awkward. Also, Ryo is selectable right off the bat, which leaves no mystery to find him.

The Bottom Line
It shows how the Sega CD was going to be the killer system at one time, but a 1994 release and a hurried feeling overall . . . well, maybe many gamers may not notice till it's pointed out. However, bottomline, it is good.

SEGA CD · by Fake Spam (85) · 2006

Trivia

Backgrounds

On some stages some of the game's other fighters appear in the background. Terry Bogard, Billy Kane and Mai Shiranui can be seen in the background on Andy Bogard's Venice stage, while Joe Higashi is visible on Big Bear's Australia stage.

Ryo Sakazaki

Ryo Sakazaki, from Art of Fighting, is a secret character in the SNES, Genesis, and Sega CD versions of the game. You can unlock him via a code, or if you're good enough, you can fight against him after you beat the game.

The Game Gear version had him as a normal character. You don't need a special code to unlock him.

Information also contributed by Foxhack

Analytics

MobyPro Early Access

Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings!

Related Games

Real Bout Fatal Fury Special
Released 1997 on Neo Geo, Neo Geo CD, SEGA Saturn...
Real Bout Fatal Fury
Released 1996 on Neo Geo, 1996 on SEGA Saturn, 1997 on PlayStation...
Fatal Fury
Released 1992 on SNES, 1993 on Genesis, 2008 on Windows...
Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers
Released 1998 on Neo Geo CD, Neo Geo, 2012 on Wii...
Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory
Released 1995 on Neo Geo, Windows, SEGA Saturn...
Fatal Fury 2
Released 1993 on SNES, Genesis, 1994 on Game Boy...
Fatal Fury: First Contact
Released 1999 on Neo Geo Pocket Color, 2020 on Nintendo Switch
Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition
Released 1999 on PlayStation, 2007 on PlayStation 3, PS Vita...
Fatal Fury: Battle Archives Volume 1
Released 2006 on PlayStation 2

Related Sites +

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 10591
  • [ Please login / register to view all identifiers ]

Contribute

Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.

Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Roedie.

Arcade added by Trypticon. Xbox 360 added by Lance Boyle. Wii added by Charly2.0. Neo Geo CD added by Corn Popper. PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch added by mars_rulez. iPad, Android, iPhone added by GTramp. Linux, Windows, Macintosh, Browser added by 666gonzo666. FM Towns added by Infernos. TurboGrafx CD added by Kaminari. Windows Apps added by Kennyannydenny. Xbox One added by Sciere. Sharp X68000 added by Kabushi. Game Gear, SEGA CD added by Satoshi Kunsai. Antstream added by lights out party. Neo Geo added by Terok Nor.

Additional contributors: Игги Друге, Patrick Bregger, Starbuck the Third, Rik Hideto.

Game added October 7, 2003. Last modified February 15, 2024.