Art of Fighting
Reviewed by Keoni Kohner
This is another in the line of Takara's reprogrammed NeoGeo games
translated to the Super Nintendo. Considering that this game was made in
1993, it's not bad...considering it's translated to a system that wasn't even
close to the system it was designed to run on, it's also not bad. There is a
story mode (1 player only) and a VS mode. Neat feature of being able to
allow the computer to control the opponent in the VS. mode grows old as
soon as you notice that you can't pick anyone but the 2 main characters.
In the story, you are either Ryo or Robert, good buddies, searching for
Yuri, Ryo's sister, in the middle of South Town. You follow leads to get
to the boss, who tells you to meet a great opponent in the last stage. He
turns out to be Ryo's and Yuri's Father. During your travels, you'll get to
play your choice of 3 different bonus games: a bottle-chopping game,
where you must break the tops of 6 or so bottles without making them
fall down by using good timing; an ice braking game where you tap a
button until time runs out, and if the power meter is high enough, you
break all the ice bricks; and a game in which you have to do a super
version of a fireball 5 times in 30 seconds. The best part of this game
is that your prize for winning a bonus game isn't just points and bragging
rights, but increased abilities!
If you break the bottles, you get more life added to your life bar if you
break all the ice, you get more spirit added to your spirit meter. If you
do the super fireball 5 times in 30 seconds, you "master" that move
and can use it in the game from then until the end. Mastering the move
removes this bonus game.
If you have ever play King of the Fighters, you'll recognize some of the
characters.
There are several difficulty levels and a variety of moves, but not
much in the originality department.
See play control before you get too comfy.
Graphics 6.5 out of 10
I decided to give this game a lower score on graphics due to it's timing.
When this game came out, Street Fighter 2 also came out on the Super NES.
If you look at the difference between Street Fighter 2 for the Super NES
and for the arcade machines, you find that there really wasn't much of
one. You look at the difference between Art of Fighting for the Super NES
and for the arcades, the differences abound. There really is no comparison
there: the arcade version just beats the Super NES version to hell. Now let's
say you compare the Super NES Street Fighter 2 to the Super NES Art of
Fighting. considering that Capcom was able to put that high quality of
background and character animation into such a small game, Takara should
be ashamed of themselves. but, considering the time frame, I boosted the
grade a little: try to find many arcade translations for the Super NES made
in 1993 (other than Street Fighter 2, of course) and you'll see pretty much
the same style of graphics. If I took out the time factor, this game gets a 3.
Extra points for being able to SMOOTHLY zoom in and out like the
arcade/Neo-Geo did, only better (not so fast or jerky)
Music and Sound 2 out of 10
Aside from the ending in which the girl stops your character from killing
her father, at which point she say's "_____, STOP!" rather clearly for the
Super NES, the music and sound for this game just was crap. this time,
even accounting for the time frame didn't help, as street fighter 2's music
and sound lost very little quality through translation, whereas this game
sounded like Mario 1 (NES). The music was terrible...probably the worst
I've ever heard (at least Mario 1 was catchy and didn't annoy you till the
3rd day). Game sounds were poor quality Street Fighter 2 sounds. After my
first time through it, I kept the stereo I hooked up to the Nintendo system
off. If you are a fan of good sound, STEER CLEAR!!! (Must give credit for
effort on the voices)
Game Challenge
The challenge is in play control (see below). when I started the game, I
was rusty since I hadn't played since 1995, and i forgot many moves. I
went on-line and got an FAQ and went to work. I played for 2 hours and
didn't get past the second guy. I then read the FAQ entirely, trying to
figure out why the moves weren't coming out: turns out there is a forced
pause between doing the motion and pushing the button. after I adjusted
my street fighter hands for this, I blew right threw the game (except I
never used the "dragon punch" move on purpose unless my opponent was
FAR away. the game was on level 4 out of 8 "stars." I should mentions
that when you know the "final counter attack" move (or whatever it
was called), the game is a ton easier....also, if you take the time to
drain your opponent every time he powers up his spirit meter or is
knocked down, you'll also have an easy time. too easy, in fact.
Replayability 0.5 out of 10
The game has only 2 playable characters for the story mode, with I think
every character available for VS. mode. player 2 can join in during your
playing the story mode, but then you have to restart from the beginning!!!!
You cannot start a story mode game from the player 2 side. both characters
are nearly identical!!!! (Think the difference between Ryu and Ken in Street
Fighter 2...next to nill). the moves cannot be done fluidly, the control stink,
and the only real fun after awhile is making sure you KO king with a special
move just to see her in a bra...and even THIS got major censored. The ending
does not differ for either character, except that your character is shown
about to kill the father, and then Yuri (the girl) asks your character to stop.
I was done after my second time through. you may not make it that long.
Game Value 1 out of 15
I am a fan of the Neo-Geo system...I never owned one, never played a home
version, but I admired many of it's features and still do. I bought Takara's
"The Battle of Destiny" (the Japanese version of Fatal Fury) and loved it.
In a sense, this game is really good for me as i can't find Neo-Geo Gold
home systems or games around where I live any longer. The game is long
gone from arcades, and for that nostalgia, I say that it wasn't bad. I bought
it at a used game shop for $11.00 ($11 dollars is $6 short of how much I
paid for my Super NES of Street Fighter Alpha 2, probably the best fighter
game to come out on the Super NES all things concidered). I took the thing
back on Wednesday and got Super Street Fighter 2 (Super NES) and $0.78
change. Get it for a collection, but not for anything else. unless you like torture.
Game Play -99 out of 99
Here is my biggest gripe about this game: There simply is no play
control....this game (the original version, too) is a rip-off of Street Fighter 2.
They ripped off the moves from Street Fighter 2, they ripped of parts of the
character's stories from Street Fighter 2, they ripped special move animations
from Street Fighter 2, and they ripped off the MOTIONS to do moves from
Street Fighter 2. The problem is, each time they ripped off something,
they changed it a little bit to avoid copyright trouble with Capcom
(or something). So, rather than smooth, fluid motions like Street Fighter 2
has, moves have to be done slowly enough to register.....ever thought it
SAYS a move is Forward, Down, Down-forward + punch, you have to do it
like F, D, DF, -, Punch.....you push punch after the motion, not with the last
key of the motion. it's frustrating, you can't combo in a "dragon punch"
(I don't know what their version is called), fireballs come out at bizarre
times, it feels sluggish....the real fight here isn't the battle to save Yuri...it's
the battle to control your character!
Overall 1 out of 10
This game stinks period. Buy a Neo-Geo if you want this game. it's probably
cheaper anyway.