Fatal Fury (universe)

Art of Fighting/Fatal Fury (universe)
Developer(s)	SNK
Publisher(s)	SNK
Designer(s)	Fatal Fury TBA Art of Fighting Ahokamen Boke Teizo Muta Tony Oki Ayumi Tsuzaki Higashi Pon Kimura Ken Eikichi Kawasaki Hiroshi Matsumoto
Genre(s)	Fighting
Console of origin	Neo Geo MVS Arcade
First installment	Fatal Fury: King of Fighters (1991)
Latest installment	Garou: Mark of the Wolves (1999)

The Art of Fighting/Fatal Fury universe (龍虎の拳/餓狼伝説, Dragon Tiger Fist/Legendary Hungry Wolf) is a collective fighting game series takes place in the same universe created by SNK. Originating on the Neo Geo MVS Arcade in 1991 where it started with Fatal Fury series, and chronologically in 1992 being Art of Fighting series, a prequel to the Fatal Fury. The Fatal Fury series became world-renowned as one of SNK's most lucrative franchises than its prequel Art of Fighting series, where the latter being added to the former series. Both Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting became part of the main core series to be brought in other popular SNK fighting game series timeline, The King of Fighters. It stars a multitude of characters whose sights are set on their life goals within SNK multiverse, South Town (the main settings in Art of Fighting/Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters timelines) -- as is the case with its main star and sole playable downloadable fighter debuted in Fatal Fury, Terry Bogard.

Franchise description

Started by Street Fighter brainchild Takashi Nishiyama after his tenure at Capcom into SNK, both franchises take place in the same timeline, with Art of Fighting generally being a prequel to the Fatal Fury series, and share the setting of the fictional American city of Southtown, USA. A state unidentified metropolis, the city is based upon backdrops and settings evocative of late 1980s and 1990s martial arts action films and TV shows, including Miami, Los Angeles, and New York City. Long considered a place of extreme disparity, where the financially disadvantaged and impoverished struggle and live to the rule of the "survival of the fittest" in contrast to the well to do and financially able, Southtown has harbored a deep hotbed of underworld crime and infrastructural corruption in its streets since its founding, and as such, street fighting and even gang warfare is a common occurrence to its citizens. In turn, this has drawn martial artists all over the world to its hard knock streets, be it through destiny or to start a new life in the city.

Fatal Fury revolves around the story of Terry Bogard, his brother Andy, their friend Joe Higashi, and their various assorted friends and foes throughout Southtown and the globe. Fatal Fury is also infamous for introducing Mai Shiranui, a kunoichi and Andy's self proclaimed girlfriend, who is also considered one of gaming's most well known "sex symbols." Art of Fighting is set about 10 to 20 years prior to Fatal Fury, and revolves around the affairs of the newly founded and rigorous Kyokugen Karate School, including masters Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia, as well as Ryo's father and Kyokugen Karate founder Takuma, and his sister Yuri.

Fatal Fury introduced a multi-plane fighting system where characters could jump into to be launched into the background or foreground of stages to simulate 3D battling. the first game also allowed for two player co-operative play in order to take on a boss, though both players would have to face each other afterward.

Art of Fighting is usually looked down upon by players, but in fact introduced a lot of mechanics to the world of fighting games that many games and players take for granted nowadays. This includes dynamic zooming cameras, visible battle damage (character sprites would show bruises and swelling on their faces as they took damage) and desperation moves that could be performed when a character was low on health.

The two franchises occasionally crossed over in some way or another. Art of Fighting 2 allowed skilled players to face a young 1970s era Geese Howard, the main villain of the Fatal Fury series, while in Fatal Fury Special, players who did well in arcade could face Art of Fightings Ryo Sakazaki as a bonus boss. It is believed that this served as the springboard for The King of Fighters, where Terry, Ryo and their friends and foes make frequent playable appearances.

List of games in Art of Fighting/Fatal Fury franchise

Fatal Fury

• Fatal Fury: King of Fighters (1991): The series' first installment, Fatal Fury plays akin to the first Street Fighter in that the player must face against non playable opponents akin to a boss rush, but the player can choose from three characters to play as and can fight together with another player with the caveat of both players facing off against another and the victor continuing onward. Set within Southtown in the early 1990s, Fatal Fury: King of Fighters documents the Bogard brothers and their friend Joe Higashi in the local King of Fighters tournament, to rise to the top and face off against the tournament's founder and sponsor, and city kingpin Geese Howard.
• Fatal Fury 2 (1992): The series' second installment, Fatal Fury 2 the King of Fighters tournament would eventually see itself expand to a world stage, and with invitations to last year's winner, Terry Bogard. However, the tournament would be hosted by German aristocrat and Earl of Stroheim, Wolfgang Krauser, with a personal reason to meet and defeat the man who struck down Geese himself.
• Fatal Fury Special (1993): An upgrade or revision of Fatal Fury 2, Special increases the roster with both the boss characters as playable characters, three characters from the first Fatal Fury, and Art of Fighting protagonist Ryo Sakazaki as a secret boss character. The game itself is considered a cult classic in Japan for being a direct competitor to Street Fighter II for its own merits as a fighting game.
• Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory (1995): Coming back to the city of Southtown, USA, Fatal Fury 3 establishes itself as a citywide chase and a race against time, with the return of Geese Howard. This time however, this quest around Southtown presents an even greater threat itself as it enters into Southtown's streets: the coming of the Jin Twins, who desire the scrolls of the Hakkyoseiken School and its secrets to immortality to reestablish the tyranny of the Qin Dynasty into the modern world. With upgraded graphics and a cinematic and dynamic presentation, Fatal Fury 3 helps to establish itself as the martial arts action film inspired series with dialogue and character interaction with story in its arcade mode.
• Real Bout Fatal Fury (1995): The first of the Real Bout installments, Real Bout Fatal Fury attempts to further push Fatal Fury's dynamic pacing with reconnecting with its roots. With Geese revealed to be alive and in possession of all of the Hakkyoseiken Secret Scrolls of Qin to attain immortality, Geese immediately hosts another citywide tournament to settle things once and for all with Terry. To establish this feeling of a grand citywide tournament, players enter into a simulated "round robin" tier system against the entire roster with the exception of boss characters, and tiers are hosted at a few different locations; at each location, three predetermined characters are fought in that locale, and each fight features different times of day. Further introduced are the mechanics of breakable far corners and "walls" for ring outs, be it the destruction of a fence to the surrounding body of water or the endurance to hold out against a ledge, and three tier lane systems to fully introduce a sense of interaction with the environment.
• Real Bout Fatal Fury Special (1997): A second installment to Real Bout, Real Bout Fatal Fury Special is one of the first of a few gaiden or side stories that would make up the rest of Real Bout after the canon defeat of Geese Howard. A "what if" story in consideration with the late 2000s sound novelization of Memories of Stray Wolves and the Fatal Fury 2 anime feature film, Real Bout Special reintroduces the return of Krauser post the death of Geese, and his invigoration to defeat Terry once and for all for his past defeat. Real Bout Special is considered one of the paramount installments of Fatal Fury due to its upgraded graphics and mechanics, gameplay, presentation, and overall feel, and as an arcade sleeper hit in comparison with its more popular competitors and sibling series.
• Real Bout Garou Densetsu Special: Dominated Mind (1998): Released only for the Neo Geo CD and the Sony PlayStation, Dominated Mind is another gaiden side story set post Geese Howard canon. In the vacuum of Geese's passing, many criminals and aspiring crime lords attempt to claim Southtown for their own, and at the end of this brutal struggle, the crime lord known as White stands as its victor. However, inspired by Terry's tale to avenge his father at the hands of his killer, comes forward the fighter known as Alfred Airhawk, who seeks to stop White's new reign and put him to justice.
• Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers (1998): The last installment of the Real Bout series and something of a send off to the classic Fatal Fury before SNK's bankruptcy, Real Bout 2 ran on SNK's Neo Geo Giga Power Pro-Gear cartridge spec, allowing for games that could compete with Capcom's CPS-3 arcade technology at the time. Another gaiden side story game, The Newcomers entails two new fighters from Southtown's streets: casino prize fighter Rick Strowd and Chinatown teenager Li Xiangfei, and incorporates all fighters from the Real Bout sub series. A game made for the arcades, Real Bout 2 is made in mind with all out no frills presentation and with immediate entry into the fight with processing speed provided with the Giga Power Pro-Gear cartridge line.
• Fatal Fury: First Contact (1999)
• Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition (1999): Fatal Fury's first entry into 3D, Wild Ambition is a retelling of the first Fatal Fury with some of the reoccuring central cast and up to date gameplay. The game experiments with the Heat system, a super meter system that combines the typical fighting game super gauge system with the stun system to get players to be careful of their actions in the fight and maintain a steady flow in combat.
• Garou: Mark of the Wolves (1999): Akin to Street Fighter III and New Generation, Garou: Mark of the Wolves takes place ten years after the events of Real Bout: Fatal Fury in the nearby city of Second Southtown in 2006, and follows the story of Rock Howard, the son of Geese Howard. When a new King of Fighters tournament dubbed Maximum Mayhem is hosted in Second Southtown, Rock and Terry, the two knowing the origins of Southtown's fighting tournaments, are drawn to enter into its battles and investigate its sponsor to know who is trying to keep alive Geese's infamous legacy. With a new generation of fighters, fluid gameplay, and 2D sprite work touted as some of the best at its era, Garou: Mark of the Wolves is widely enjoyed as one of SNK's masterpieces before their bankruptcy into the 2000s. The game is known to introduce the Tactical Offensive Position mechanic, in where certain portions of the life gauge are sectioned and chosen to allow for a special state of increased stats, beneficial effects, and access to character specific powerful guard shaving attacks dependent on the player's taste for playing fighting games.

Art of Fighting

• Art of Fighting (1992)
• Art of Fighting 2 (1994)
• Art of Fighting 3 (1996)
• Buriki One (1999)

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

TBA

Characters

TBA

Stages

TBA

Musics

TBA

Trophies

TBA

Stages

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Assist Trophies

TBA

Spirits

TBA

Trivia

• Art of Fighting/Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters are the three in one third party universe in Super Smash Bros. series, due to both being fighting games of SNK multiverse. Thus, SNK fighting series multiverse itself is the second known fighting game series in Smash, the first being Street Fighter.

External Links

• The SNK wiki