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  • Folks getting into import gaming for the first time tend to flock to fighting games. After

  • all, quartercircles are the international language. That said, it’s not uncommon for

  • games like this to change their names to protect the innocent. Case in point: Garou Densetsu,

  • AKA Legend of the Hungry Wolves, AKA... Fatal Fury. As it shows right here in the background

  • of Duck’s stage. Yes, one of the several stars in the constellation that is mid-90’s

  • SNK fighting games... or, more accurately, somewhat-stripped-down ports of said games

  • to the Super Famicom. Because, awesome as that system was... let’s face it, it wasn’t

  • a Neo Geo.

  • What set the Fatal Fury games apart was their use of a split-level battlefield, with two

  • distinct planes for the action. While it was revolutionary at the time, it’s an innovation

  • that’s by and large fallen by the wayside, save for strange outliers like Guilty Gear

  • Isuka. This combines with Special’s grudging introduction of a combo system for an early

  • glimpse at the evolution of the modern fighting game. The two-plane system certainly makes

  • for more tactical fights, as youve got significantly more dodging options, though

  • every fighter has a number of line-crossing attacks designed to go directly after an evading

  • foe. Speaking of fighters, this version ratchets up the roster to 15, seeing the return of

  • all eight fighters from Fatal Fury 2, three more passed-over combatants from the original

  • Fatal Fury, and - in a Street Fighter II Special Championship Edition-esque expansion - all

  • four of the boss characters... including the large American boxer and the vain Spanish

  • combatant. Man. Fighting games back in the day mustve been running low on toner.

  • If the standard arcade mode doesn’t impart enough necessity for speed, there’s a License

  • mode where an invincible fighter of your choice has to mow down as many opponents as possible

  • within a three-minute time limit. Mind you, in its time, it was still mind-blowing, but

  • here in 2012, if youre coming down off of weeks of trying to beat that annoying friend

  • who plays that extra-cheesy Elizabeth by perfecting your rushdown Chie... youre gonna find

  • it a bit slow. Especially whenSpin a stick around really fast in the corneris an

  • effective strategy. Kinda. These days you can get a direct emulation of the arcade version

  • by picking up Fatal Fury Battle Archives (Volume 1) for the PS2, which also comes equipped

  • with the two games what came before this and the one that came after. Which were, respectively,

  • 1, 2, and 3. Rocket science, I know.

Folks getting into import gaming for the first time tend to flock to fighting games. After

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