When it comes to SNK fighting games I usually hate them, at least in the beginning. Fatal Fury looked like a poor man’s Street Fighter II, but when I gave it a chance I actually liked it more. Next up we have Art of Fighting. This one looked to me like a second rate Fatal Fury, and after doing some background research on it and learning that it was originally intended to be a prequel of sorts this was not re-assuring. The game also seemed to be a technical showpiece for the Neo Geo hardware with view scaling and absolutely huge character sprites. That might have been a big deal back in the day, but now it just makes the game look like an aged mess. Just as I did with Fatal Fury I finally decided to give it a chance, and with similar results. Art of Fighting is hard on the eyes now, but it’s one of the more technical and engaging fighters of its time.
The game takes place in the fictional US city called South Town (which was the same setting for Fatal Fury) but in the 70s. The story begins as a young girl named Yuri is kidnapped. Unfortunately for the bad guys her brother Ryo Sakazaki, and his friend Robert Garcia are skilled martial artists and they set out to rescue her from the notorious Mr. Big and his crime family. The story is pretty standard fare for a video game, but the execution is what makes it stand out as it’s a bigger focus here than in most other similar titles. Not only are players treated to a lengthy introduction sequence, but also brief dialogue before and after each fight as well as a driving sequence that pushes you on to the next encounter. The story doesn’t really change between the two playable characters with only brief dialogue differences. Art of Fighting is pretty infamous for having one of the biggest cliffhanger endings of all time, and it’s so bad that it’s actually comical. Despite being cheesy and generic SNK did a great job making this feel like a retro kung fu movie.
Art of Fighting plays like a typical 2D fighting game, but it has a few twists. First off I’ll start with the bad. In story mode you can only play as two different characters; Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia. This is one less than the already limited original Fatal Fury, and it’s probably enough to turn off most gamers. To make matters worse their move sets are extremely similar, and there’s virtually no difference in basic handling. The only things that are different between the two are their character sprites, voices, and cut-scene dialogue. On the plus side you can play as the others against human opponents in versus mode, but it’s still a little disappointing. In addition this title lacks the co-op that was in the original Fatal Fury. With that out of the way the basic mechanics are the same as most other fighters. You punch, kick and use special moves to run down your opponent’s life bar in a series of three matches. You can block attacks, jump, and throw. Aside from the basics Art of Fighting has a few tricks up its sleeve that differentiate it from the pack.
The first of these is a spiritual meter. This is located just below the life bar, and every special move you use drains it in varying amounts. When this is completely tapped your special moves are significantly less effective. Projectiles are smaller or don’t travel at all, and the power of these skills is lowered. What makes this interesting is the fact that a button in gameplay is designated to taunting your opponent, and this drains a portion of their spirit meter which allows you to significantly disable them. Thankfully you can recharge this energy by pressing and holding down one of the attack buttons, but this leaves you vulnerable to attack. At first I wasn’t a fan of this feature, but then I saw just how much strategy it adds. Against specific opponents I found myself focusing on knocking them back just for taunts, and that was the only way I was able to beat some of the more special move heavy enemies. It’s surprisingly cool and extremely functional.
In a rather odd turn SNK added some light RPG elements into the title via the bonus games. Usually these are simply used to get more points in most similar titles, but not here. For every two opponents you defeat in the story mode you’re given the option between three different bonus games. The first of these is a bottle breaking event where you have to time a button press with a meter that fills automatically. Successfully breaking all of the glass containers (without knocking any over) increases the length of your spirit meter for the duration of the story mode. The next one is an ice block breaking mini-game wherein you must repeatedly press the A button to increase a power meter. If you win here your life bar is increased. The third and final mini-game grants your character use of their super move which requires a pretty big string of button inputs. To succeed here you must perform the move five times within a strict time limit. This is such an interesting feature, and I’m disappointed that no other fighting games (as far as I know) make use of it.
Aside from these clear differences to the formula the gameplay in Art of Fighting is more technical than most other similar titles. It’s a tough game, and you need to memorize attack patterns and A.I. tendencies which differ between each character. It can be a little daunting at first because even the first opponent you face is difficult, but it’s truly rewarding when you get it down. Certain special moves are more effective against specific enemies because of the special moves they can counter with. In addition you also have wall jumps that can lead to aerial strikes, but even these aren’t particularly useful against certain characters. One of my favorite moves, which functions as a counter of sorts, is a backwards kick that both Ryo and Robert can perform simply by pressing the C button mid-air. Against a skilled human opponent this simple technique can be the kiss of death. Art of Fighting is one of the most rewarding fighting titles of its era because of how technical it can be, and for every standard it conforms to it does something differently.
The graphics are very impressive for its era and the engine makes great use of the Neo Geo’s beefy hardware. The greatest effect is the scaling camera which zooms in and out depending on how close you are to an opponent. I expected this to be disorienting, but that’s not the case. Each of the stages feature a ton of details in the background, and I really like the art style. The only issue I have is that some of the characters look very generic. Ryo in particular looks like a Double Dragon reject. Others like Ryuhaku, Jack, King, Mickey and John are tired designs that are either uninteresting or obvious copies. The art style is a little bland, but the graphical detail and effects more than make up for this shortcoming. I’m a huge fan of the soundtrack, but admittedly it’s an acquired taste. Most of the tracks here sound like something you’d hear in an old action film, and if you’re down with it you’re going to love all of the cheesy music. Mac’s Bar is by far my favorite song here with some fantastic guitar work. The voice overs are few and far between and they’re pretty muffled, but they’re still a very nice touch. The audio is very memorable.
Art of Fighting is an acquired taste due to its tacky art style. If you can get past that you’ll find one of the absolute best fighters to ever be released. While most developers of the time were simply copying Street Fighter II, Art of Fighting took another route by innovating the genre. On top of that you also have a fantastic and satisfying game engine, and though it’s not particularly combo heavy the gameplay is more technical than most 2D fighters from the 90s. Art of Fighting is truly iconic.
