Real Bout Fatal Fury

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Real Bout Fatal Fury
Real Bout Fatal Fury arcade flyer.jpg
Developer(s) SNK
Publisher(s)
SNK
  • PlayStation
Producer(s) Eikichi Kawasaki
Takashi Nishiyama
Designer(s) Takahisa Yariyama
Takashi Tsukamoto
Programmer(s) Tony Oki
Artist(s) Ema Sue
G. Ishidaman
Higashi Pon
Composer(s) Hideki Asanaka
Toshio Shimizu
Series Fatal Fury
Platform(s)
Release
  • WW: 21 December 1995
  • Neo Geo AES
    • WW: 26 January 1996
    Neo Geo CD
    • JP: 23 February 1996
    • EU: 23 February 1996
    Saturn
    • JP: 20 September 1996
    PlayStation
    Original release
    • JP: 10 January 1997
    • EU: August 1997
    Re-release
    • JP: 23 July 1998
Genre(s) Fighting
Mode(s)
Arcade system Neo Geo MVS

Real Bout Fatal Fury [lower-alpha 1] is a 1995 fighting game released by SNK for the Neo-Geo arcade and home platforms. It is the fourth mainline installment in the Fatal Fury series, following Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory . It the fifth game in the series overall, and the first game of the Real Bout sub-series.

Contents

Ports of Real Bout were released in February 1996 for the Neo-Geo CD and PlayStation in Japan and Europe. [lower-alpha 2] . In September 1996, a port was released in Japan for the Sega Saturn, which requires the 1MB RAM cartridge for the system. It was included in Fatal Fury Battle Archives Vol. 2 compilation released in February 2007 for the PlayStation 2. The compilation was re-released in the PlayStation Store on PlayStation 4 in March 2017. [1]

Gameplay

Gameplay screenshot showcasing a match between Blue Mary and Mai Shiranui. NEOGEO Real Bout Fatal Fury (Rearu Bauto Garo Densetsu).png
Gameplay screenshot showcasing a match between Blue Mary and Mai Shiranui.

Real Bout changes the play controls from the previous Fatal Fury games, reducing the number of attack buttons from four to three: a standard punch and kick button, a "Strong Attack" button which can be either a stronger punch or kick attack, depending on the character. The game retains the three-plane "oversway" system from Fatal Fury 3 , which features a main lane for fighting, with foreground and background planes used to avoid attacks or leap towards the opponent. A dedicated button is now used to make an "oversway" (or change plane) towards the background or foreground.

Real Bout introduces a Power Gauge, which fills up as the player performs normal or special techniques against their opponent or defend themselves, similar to many super move gauges featured in other fighting games. The Power Gauge allows players to perform one of three types of Special Techniques, depending on the level of the Power Gauge:

Real Bout also introduces stages with ring-outs, a gameplay feature previously introduced in 3D fighting games such as Virtua Fighter , but the out of bounds areas are guarded by barriers. If a fighter's attacks force the opponent to hit a barrier enough times, the barrier is destroyed, and a fighter can win by knocking the opponent out of bounds. [2] The normal chain combo system, including in the mid-air, is similar to that of X-Men: Children of the Atom .

Characters

The game retains the character roster from Fatal Fury 3, with the boss characters (Ryuji Yamazaki, Jin Chonrei and Jin Chonshu) now part of the regular cast. Duck King, Billy Kane and Kim Kaphwan, who were all last featured in Fatal Fury Special , are added to the cast. Series antagonist Geese Howard reprises his role from the original Fatal Fury as the game's final boss. Real Bout was Geese Howard's final appearance in the Fatal Fury storyline, as the game's ending with Terry or Andy depicts the character's demise at the hands of either brother by falling off the roof of his tower, refusing to be saved by them. This was reflected by SNK's tagline for the game, "So long, Geese!" (さらば、ギース, Saraba, Gīsu).[ citation needed ]

Development

SNK redesigned the controls and battles, and improved the sense of exhilaration and ease of use by adding two health bars and flashy effects. To achieve this, they made the decision to bring most of the processing that was highly praised in Fatal Fury 3 to the foreground in Real Bout. In retrospect, Yasuyuki Oda believes Real Bout was a masterpiece. [3]

Reception

In Japan, Game Machine listed Real Bout Fatal Fury on their February 1, 1996 issue as being the fourth most-popular arcade game at the time. [7] According to Famitsu , both the AES and Neo Geo CD version sold over 22,750 and 63.091 copies in their first week on the market respectively. [8]

Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the Neo Geo AES version their "Game of the Month" award. Their four reviewers applauded the pits, the overhauled personality of the characters, the high end graphics, and the humor. Andrew Baran described the game as "intense, both in speed and pyrotechnics". [4] GamePro deemed it a major improvement over Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory , citing the greater effectiveness of the characters Bob and Mary, the more refined combo system, and the inclusion of moves which were taken out of the previous game. They criticized the reduction from four action buttons to three, the reuse of Geese Howard as the final boss, and the music ("ranges from banal rock to obnoxious drek"), but concluded that "With its emphasis on gameplay, this is one of the best Fatal Fury games ever." [9] A reviewer for Next Generation echoed this sentiment: "The characters from the Fatal Fury series are all here and their moves have all been balanced to make this one of the best Fatal Fury titles ever." He characterized the game as a refinement drawn from the countless hours SNK had spent making 2D fighting games. [5] While they derided the game's lack of originality, particularly its similarity to the previous installment Fatal Fury 3, Maximum assessed it as "a well-rounded and entertaining fighting title". They particularly approved of the oversway system, the barriers preventing easy ring outs, the balanced difficulty of the one-player mode, and the two-player battles. [6]

Notes

  1. ↑ Known in Japan as Real Bout Garō Densetsu (Japanese: リアルバウト餓狼伝説, Hepburn: Rearu Bauto Garō Densetsu, lit. Real Bout Hungry Wolf Legend).
  2. ↑ An American version was advertised alongside the PlayStation ports of Samurai Shodown III and The King of Fighters '95 , but was never released.[ citation needed ]

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References

  1. ↑ "FATAL FURY™ BATTLE ARCHIVES VOL.2 PlayStation Store" . Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  2. ↑ "Coming Soon: Real Bout Fatal Fury". Sega Saturn Magazine . No. 13. Emap International Limited. November 1996. pp. 18–20.
  3. ↑ https://x.com/snk_oda/status/1844540424716943410
  4. 1 2 "Review Crew: Real Bout Fatal Fury". Electronic Gaming Monthly . No. 80. Ziff Davis. March 1996. p. 28.
  5. 1 2 "Real Bout Fatal Fury". Next Generation . No. 17. Imagine Media. May 1996. p. 94.
  6. 1 2 "Maximum Reviews: Real Bout Fatal Fury". Maximum: The Video Game Magazine (4). Emap International Limited: 154. March 1996.
  7. ↑ "Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - TVゲーム機ーソフトウェア (Video Game Software)". Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 511. Amusement Press, Inc. 1 February 1996. p. 21.
  8. ↑ "Game Search". Game Data Library. Archived from the original on 2019-04-24. Retrieved 2020-11-01.
  9. ↑ Major Mike (April 1996). "ProReview: Real Bout Fatal Fury". GamePro . No. 91. IDG. p. 84.
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