~ FATAL FURY SPECIAL ~
SNK / Hudson Soft
Arcade CD-ROM
1994
Well, I'm not the biggest fan of Fatal Fury 2, so I knew that this revamp wouldn't blow me away or anything. If nothing else, it proved reliable, as the things I like about it are the same things I like about 2:
Incredible graphics. If you're looking for the "arcade experience" from your PCE, this is your game.
The music is pretty good, especially in Terry's stage.
Mai.
As far as improvements go, it's nice to have more characters to play as, and some interesting match-ups arise...
...but I didn't find FF2's cast all that appealing to begin with, and the "new" stars are just as hit or miss as the original folks. Geese Howard is awesome; other bums, not so much...
And while many people have commented on how much more tolerable the loading times are here than in 2, I really don't have a problem with 2's anyway. (Art of Fighting has been the Neo port with the loathing-worthy loading times in my experiences.)
Special is pretty much the same story as 2 for me: it doesn't offer the greatest gameplay, and there's little distinct about it aside from a pointless two-plane system. The consensus seems to be that this is the best of the PCE's Neo Geo ports, but I prefer
both Art of Fighting and World Heroes 2. In fact, I rate quite a few other PCE fighting games higher than this one, with Asuka 120%, Kabuki Ittouryoudan, and Street Fighter II' CE among them.
