Fatal Fury Special

[Strider]

Can't believe there isn't a thread on this puppy already...

Anyway, the conversion appears pretty solid (it's still just as hard as I remember) and it's a bit of a bargain for only 400 points.

Not had a chance to play online yet, so will post some impressions soon.

[dvdmike]

Played the trial with my DOA hori stick, have to say after vowing not to spend any money on xbox live ever Im getting some points for SORII and this tomorrow

[ne0star]

Juts out of interest, does the attract mode on this include the original Neogeo bootup sequence, and if not why not?:mad:

[chopemon]

i didn't realise how hard this game is, i like to think i'm pretty good at 2d fighters :(

i'm really enjoying it though having never played it before and i'm well impressed that it is only 400 points :thumb:

[ChrisField]

ne0star: Just an "SNK Playmore" logo unfortunately :(

I actually found this quite easy to control with the regular 360 pad. Much more so than I did SF2. I even managed to remember a few of Terry's moves!

Nearly had an epileptic fit at the start of Duck King's stage though. Enough flashy lights?!? :)

[Skull Commander]

I got this yesterday. Great for the 400 points, but not without it's flaws. Obviously the 360 pad is not suited to this game, but on the plus side, controls can be customised. As far as I can see there is no way to get rid of the borders, like there is in most other games on xbox live.
The presentation is spot on (apart from the 'neo geo' boot up screen, but it's not on a neo geo so it's not a big problem). The sounds seem to be pretty much in line with the neo version, but the graphics seem to have lost some of their size (and possibily even some animation, although I will have to check properly later). I didn't manage to get an online game when I tried it last night, but I am going to try and give that a spin today.

[ne0star]

ne0star: Just an "SNK Playmore" logo unfortunately

Booooo

I really would like to be a fly on the wall in the meetings where releases like this are decided.

I'm not saying its the worst game on the NeoGeo, far from it, but jesus lads out of the whole neogeo collection this is the best you could come up with. I'm not even looking for anything new, the original Samurai ShoDown or a Real Bout would have been just smashing, and if you really wanted to impress me a Last Blade would have been just dandy!

I personally think they have shot themselves in the foot a bit by making this their first release. It was a 'fair' fighter in its day at best, and hasn't exactly stood the test of time well. If they are planning on releasing stuff like the far superior real bout games people who don't know these games are probably not going to give them a 2nd look after playing this first.

[Baseley09]

IMO its one of the best fighters ever made, i think that is in line with the general consensus so I guess they new what they were doing with this release....each to their own tho eh.

Next up 2020 Baseball pls.

[rmoxon]

I would advise anyone to not get this game unless they own an arcade stick as its pretty tough. Had a few games last night and havent been able to win a single fight yet with the pad. Think I've wasted my points.

[dannywhac]

Do the old D-pad mod on yer controller:
http://www.ufighterx.com/guides/videogame/360dpadfix/360dpadfix.htm - thats what I'm using till me pre-order Virtua Fighter stick comes at the end of the month :)

[bash]

I find the Elite pad easier to use for some reason, have M$ changed the d-pad on them or is it just the fact its a new pad?

[dannywhac]

Think its hit and miss with the pads - most of my pads needed the excess plastic taking off around the d-pad, wheras one of them (a launch wired pad) didn't need it doing and is still going strong today. Havn't got an elite pad, but as far as I'm aware, they've not revised it :(

[Skull Commander]

I'm revising my earlier post. Having compared the arcade and xboxlive versions I now think they are pretty much identical. The animation seems to be spot on and the size isn't as I first thought different. Just the control that lets it down. Oh yeah, and the fact that no one seems to be playing the bloody thing online when I want a game!

[ne0star]

IMO its one of the best fighters ever made, i think that is in line with the general consensus so I guess they new what they were doing with this release....each to their own tho eh.

Next up 2020 Baseball pls.

Yeah I suppose, the style of this just never clicked with me back in the day, and I could never get away with the dual plane aspect of it.

I still think they could have picked a better title than this to get people interested in a console that most of joe public never even know exsisted, and released this a bit later on.

Does anyone know what else they have planned for live? I know there is some stuff coming out on the wii

[Strider]

metal slug is on the way

[ChrisField]

All I want/need is Neo Turf Masters :( (and Super Sidekicks)

[dannywhac]

Magical Drop 3, Nightmare In The Dark, Neo TM and Strikers 1945+ would be nice n' all

[DavidFallows]

It was a 'fair' fighter in its day at best, and asn't exactly stood the test of time well. If they are planning on releasing stuff like the far superior real bout games people who don't know these games are probably not going to give them a 2nd look after playing this first.

I have to disagree totally here mate. FFS is probably the pinnacle of the Fatal Fury series before it went all hyper with the Real Bouts and still remains highly playable today, it hasn't lost any of it's arcade charm at all. Anyone starting a Neo collection should kick-off with both this and Samurai Shodown 2 - Undisputedly two of the best games on the system. You can probably get both home carts for £15 each now if you're not fussy about quality.

Yeah - they should definately look into releasing more games though. I'd be quite happy with their entire 91-00 back catalogue to be honest.

Is there an achievement for fighting Ryo?

Next up 2020 Baseball pls.

Are you drunk? That game was wack! Baseball Stars 2 plz - that's all you need.

[dannywhac]

I have to disagree totally here mate. FFS is probably the pinnacle of the Fatal Fury series before it went all hyper with the Real Bouts and still remains highly playable today, it hasn't lost any of it's arcade charm at all. Anyone starting a Neo collection should kick-off with both this and Samurai Shodown 2 - Undisputedly two of the best games on the system. You can probably get both home carts for £15 each now if you're not fussy about quality.


Agreed - always found Garou etc a bit OTT - FFS imho heads the 2D fighter genre on the Neo, one I keep going back to - no need for the bells and whistles aspect of the later releases....
If your starting a Neo collection, a CMVS or MVS + Supergun is the way to go, you'll save yourself a fortune in the long run.

[ne0star]

I'm really surprised at how many people really like this. I might buy it and give it more of a chance, but I never gave it much time when I owned my home system probably due to timing.

I bought my Home system back in 1995 with a copy of Samurai Shodown. I don't think I bought a copy of FFS special until late 1999 and I only did that because it was like £40, and in fairly tatty condition. By that time I had owned the 2nd Samurai shodown, KO95 and lastblade.

It just never really grabbed me, but I do admit to prefering the Weapon based SNK fighters.

I do remember it being a lot better than FF3 though. I bought that when it was full wack sigh!. Really wish I had bothered to find it in an arcade first.

On a slightly different subject I wish they would do away with the rubbish filtering and add something better like a scaline mode for a more authentic arcade experience. I'm sick of looking at soft 'o' vision.

One thing I am glad about is the fact they are sticking to the original soundtracks. A few people have been winging about the fact they aren't using the CD versions, but the originals had far more charm in my books.

[Skull Commander]

I finally found someone to play online.............and it was laggy as hell. Havn't been able to find a second opponent to find out if this was isolated or the norm.
To back up the previous forumite, Samurai Shodown 2 is indeed one of the best games on the neo geo. It's the highpoint of the series and would be great on xbox live. I would also like to see world heroes 2, as I'v always had a soft spot for it and it's over the top special moves.

[Kongster]

Agreed - always found Garou etc a bit OTT - FFS imho heads the 2D fighter genre on the Neo, one I keep going back to - no need for the bells and whistles aspect of the later releases....
If your starting a Neo collection, a CMVS or MVS + Supergun is the way to go, you'll save yourself a fortune in the long run.

The "bells and whistles" in KOF was what made it so fun in my opinion - it allowed your characters to have extra mobility and tactics with the options to dodge, roll, run, small jump, super jump etc. XD

[dannywhac]

The "bells and whistles" in KOF was what made it so fun in my opinion - it allowed your characters to have extra mobility and tactics with the options to dodge, roll, run, small jump, super jump etc. XD
Don't get me wrong - the KOF series etc do have their place for me (including the lovely eye-bleeding hack - Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon), I just like FFS for the fact that the fighting system is simple - big old damage attacks with no trillion move combo's and beutiful backdrops to all the stages (fair enough, Garou does have slightly better BD's) :)

[Kongster]

Oh, ok. That's fair enough, mate.:)

[jassi singh]

I think this will be one of those games that people will only like if they have played it in the 90s or are a big SNK fan, I can't see many people new to the series who will enjoy it. I actually prefer this Fatal Fury to the later releases, even MOTW.

I have a great fondness towards this game and I can't believe they have actually put this out on XBLA...especially as I've just bought it via the Garou Collection 1 last month on PS2 and the day this was put up on XBLA this was on my doormat.

http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/7422/ffs1ou0bn01vv2.jpg



Geese's face on that cover...cracks me up every time. Cheesy and smug so you are off guard...and then BAM with a Raging Storm to the face. >_<;

Back in the day of '93 (p0se), arcades were plentiful even in the UK. Video shops, Chip Shops, Markets, Newsagents...everywhere! I miss those days! :( Anyway, the main games that were doing the rounds back then were Street Fighter 2 and whole host of scrolling action games and beat em ups such as Shadow Dancer and Final Fight.

Playing Street Fighter 2 back then...and I can't believe I thought it, where there was tons of competition about at different venues from different faces...started to get a bit boring. Out of nowhere, a Newsagent up the road from me whacked in 2 arcade cabinets in. One of them was Fatal Fury Special and the other was SFII Championship Edition.

Graphics, music, colour and sound of this game blew my head right off.

For £1 we got 12 credits! So between 2 or 3 of us with a nugget each, that would be a whole afternoon of games! :lol: We THRAPED this game all summer in single and multiplayer. I believe the "trick" we would employ was to let someone get as far as they can in single player and when they were about to die hit the 2P button. :D

Fatal Fury Special was probably one of my first played Neo Geo games, and ever since I have been a fan of both Capcom and SNK fighters. It was such a crazy time back then for fighters and I am glad that I lapped it up while I could, because I sure as hell miss them days. :( The same shop also ended up getting Samurai Showdown (AMAAZING...seeing Earthquake for the first time and the zoom in and out feature :o) and World Heroes 2 (don't laugh...it's ace!)

This is why I love it when a new 2D fighter gets released with online, as it takes me back to those times. :)

Fatal Fury Special just had so much in terms of animation, backgrounds, moves and weird characters; it was certainly refreshing to see some cool new designs as the SFII characters had got a bit boring as we played that all the time.

http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/9177/fatalfurycoming2f7a5btzyh4.jpg

It played really differently to SFII which was the main draw for me. Combo wise, special move execution, throws etc. I started out using Andy as he had a Dragon Punch and Fireball, but it wasn't as effective to use him like that. :) Especially as most characters had some crazy block strings and pressure games. Fireball\Dragon Punch would only get you so far.

This game had tons of little touches such as taunts, background interaction (boss stages), the 2 level fighting field (not really a fan of this, but back then it blew our mind :lol:), crouch walking as well as the Stage Intros! Tung's stage panning down from the heavens, Geese's stage with the wooden screens opening up to the wooden floor of his dojo with a dragon emblem on it. Class.

Oh and of course the Desperation Moves. No one back then had Internet, so finding out a Desperation Move by accident was one of the only ways we got to see them.

They were quite hard to do even if you had a move list tbh, I remember struggling all afternoon trying to pull off a raging storm! Took me forever to learn how to pull one off when I wanted. ^_^

That's enough of my rubbish...for now.

Anyway, the XBLA version has the notable extra of online play, and for the 50 or so games I have played online has been a great lag free experience.

A lot more stable then my plays on SFII Turbo, and even that was great. There are two modes online. Player Match and Ranking Match. Player Match has some kind of Winner Stays on deal going on, I'm not sure if the 3rd player in line gets to be a spectator as I've not seen it myself.

There are not really that many people playing at the moment. My first match was a bit disappointing, as the other player thought it would be a good way of farming wins by setting it to 1 round...except that he lost all of them. :D Then he quit. :(

Ranking Match is even deader, with the same few people battling out last night, but that has changed tonight, seen quite a selection of different tags now. :) Unlike Player Match, there’s only 1 slot to be filled in by your opponent. You get to see how good the connection is by Ping. Generally, every match I've played under 200ms is good enough.

Just been sticking to my main characters of Tung and Jubei Yamada at the moment. I think this game is when I decided that old blokes in fighting games = WIN. If only these 2 dudes were in Street Fighter III with Oro. xD My attempts to play as Duck King have not been fruitful so far...every time I've played as him I’ve lost. :lol: But he still rocks from a character perspective. I just need to remember how to play as him.

I've had the usual torrent of abuse on this via unhappy players losing such as receiving a few messages to say I was a cheater, as well as some abuse over the mic. ;( I love fighting games! ^_^ One of the many reasons I only use the mic when playing people I know.

There’s no stage select online, so you just fight on the challenger’s stage, which probably would end up being Kim's stage going by the range of characters I’ve seen so far. Seen a few Geese players which made me happy, although I can't use him for shit on FFS at the moment, so I will need to brush up on the Evil sKaNk. Last time I used him properly was in CvS2 and he is too different in that. Still a beast though...and THE bad ass of ALL fighting games imo...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8KAyRgtiG4

Love this stage music ever since I first heard it on FFS. :ph34r:

Someone post the pic of him sitting down in a throne already!!!

[Sane]

Magical Drop 3, Nightmare In The Dark, Neo TM and Strikers 1945+ would be nice n' all

Now that is a great idea :). I'm really pleased SNK announced Metal Slug 3 also, I think I still like that the best out of all the Slugs.

[Leon Ahoy!]

Jassi wins the award for "Longest post ever" :lol:

A good read though, and I agree, Fatal Fury Special is a very good game.

[Mephistopheles]

Very disappointed by the low number of people playing this game online. It deserves a lot more love.

[Widegoat]

Very disappointed by the low number of people playing this game online. It deserves a lot more love.

Strange - I'm yet to have any trouble finding an opponent - there were loads on yesterday - I've had some great games on this.

[Silvergun X]

I haven't been able to find a single opponent.

[J0e Musashi]

Just tell me, is Ryo Sakazaki in it?

[kernow]

Course he is, isn't this just the emulated ROM? I doubt its been ported or made from scratch.

[J0e Musashi]

Well it doesn't have the Neo-Geo attract scene, and this is lol360, so you can't be sure. I've since found out that he is in there as an achievement.

[rmoxon]

you have to unlock him by beating the game without losing a single fight.

[Silvergun X]

So anybody fancy a game? I've only managed to play one session and i love it.

[jassi singh]

I'll play ya. :D

Send us an invite when you see us online.

It's so so dead on random ranked and player matches. :(

[SUMIRE]

Looking at how old this is, the artwork is amazing, especially in the backgrounds. If you compare it to some of the newer efforts by Playmore it makes it look even more impressive.

[Skull Commander]

Looking at how old this is, the artwork is amazing, especially in the backgrounds. If you compare it to some of the newer efforts by Playmore it makes it look even more impressive.
I think the same. The detail and animations in the background were way ahead of their time. It just is a shame that not many people seem to be playing this.

[saturn-gamer]

Its a genuine Rom, but then its an AES rom. I have the Euro AES cart, and this one is identical (apart from the resized screen ratio). The Neo Geo attract is removed (on AES, it only appears once when you fire the console up), but the difficulty select, the 4 credits for both players... its 100% faithful to the AES.

But, apart from nostalgia plus the legendary stages and atmosphere, I'd say this game falls pretty flat on its face today. When I compare this to later games they could also port, the gameplay is too clunky and unforgiving for me now (also on the neo). Its much like the old SF2, fondly remembered but really not up to par anymore.

[rmoxon]

I think the fact that the game is so brutaly hard even on the begginner difficulty will probabaly put many people off even atempting to play it on live becuase they will think they wont have a chance... not knowing that everyone is as crap as them.