Art of Fighting/Ryuko no
Ken <Fist of Dragon and Tiger>
Art
of Fighting was dismally bad. Even for vintage SNK. It's sad that the
gameplay was so unploished, because the backstory behind the game actually
sounds more interesting than anything that goes on within its bounds.
It's
sometime in the 1970's in Southtown, and the criminal empire is still
setting up house, so to speak. Somewhere in the inner city, Takuma Sakazaki
teaches his own patented form of karate (Kyokugen-ryuu: literally, EXTREME
karate) to willing students and his (debatably willing) children, Ryo
and Yuri. Also training there is one Robert Garcia, upper-class Italian
type who seems to mainly be there to make feeble advances on little
Yuri. All is well and good until Ryo's father and sister vanish while
he was out panhandli-er, promoting the gym. So, he and Robert split
up to find them.
Turns
out Yuri was kidnapped by Mr. Big, a middle-rank crime boss, to convince
Takuma to use his genuinely impressive power for evil and profit, as
opposed to good and profit.
Ryo
and Robert wander around, roughing people up for information. Most of
them aren't particularly important to talk about, save King, the bouncer
at a Southtown night club, and Ryhaku Todoh, an eccentric police officer
who's almost as zealous of his fighting style as Takuma. King is a muay
thai kickboxer (I'm getting tired of typing that), which is unorthodox
since women are considered a jinx to the traditional belief. As such,
she dresses and acts like a man most of the time. Upon her defeat, however,
her shirt is ripped open magically, revealing her secret (ahem) to all.
But the bargoers were apparently alright with it, since she kept working
there, and she eventually gets a thing for Ryo later on. But I digress.
At
the game's end Ryo confronts the mysterious Mr. Karate, a tengu mask-wearing
karateka who uses the devastating power of Kyokugen Karate! In a plot
twist written and conceived by a flatworm, it turns out to be Takuma.
...and
many, many years later, Takuma still puts that goofy mask on and seems
to genuinely believe his kids don't think it's him. For instance, at
the end of KOF '97, to celebrate their defeat of Orochi, he appears
atop a tree and rewards them by revealing his uh, secret identity. Again.
And is comically uppercut into the sky.
You
might have noticed that I've skillfully dodged discussing the game itself,
instead opting for a rose-tinted recap of the storyline. That's because
I like the characters, and discussing the details of how your special
moves are tied to a power meter that decreases in massive chunks when
you're taunted and gradually regrows, the sluggish play control, unbalanced
damage, so on might hurt your opinion of them.
Art of Fighting 2
The
Sakazaki clan enters the newly-formed King of Fighters tournament. Not
a whole lot noteworthy here, except that now all the characters are
playable, and Yuri makes her fighting debut. AOF 2 also makes some hints
at the backstory to Fatal Fury, with hidden boss Geese Howard alluding
to the need to assassinate Jeff Bogard in the ending. Next!
Art of Fighting 3: Path
of the Warrior
A
semi-enjoyable Art of Fighting... hm, that one came out of left field.
I believe this is when SNK decided to time-warp the Sakazakis twenty
years into the future, as this supposedly takes place between '95 and
'96. But whatever, it has more of a seventies feel to it that AOF 2
(Yuri's outfit and stage in particular scream 80's to me, to be honest.)
AOF
3 actually follows Robert and his childhood friend on a journey through
Mexico to see his old friend Wyler. (Probably why the Japanese title
is "Ryuko no Ken Gaiden <side story>.") He leaves pretty
much all at once, so a concerned Ryo and Yuri set out to find out where
he went.
The
combat system is still pretty loose, sadly, but at least now it's a
little more apparent they're trying for a fighting engine with more
emphasis on semi-realistic karate. A lot of the game depends on counters
and grabs, and using your opponent's moves against them. And throwing
fireballs. Hey, nobody's perfect. The AOF 3 engine is something many
people are divided on, personally I don't care for it.
Most
of the crappy fighters from the last game are outta here, which makes
sense. It'd take some REAL stretching of the backstory to get every
last person into Mexico. Yuri's not fighting in this one, which is kind
of a bummer. Instead, she follows Ryo around and gets attacked by a
pelican. Really.
The
visuals in 3 are very rich and detailed; the character animations especially.
It also stands out in my mind as having some of the largest
characters onscreen. Also, some of the most oddly named: Rody-Birts?
Must have read that wrong.