Art of Fighting 2

"A Highly Underrated Classic 2D Fighting Game"

SNK and Neo Geo are two very famous names, when it comes to making great 2D fighting games. Back in the 80s and 90s, many SNK 2D fighters rocked the arcades. The Art of Fighting 2 was no exception. The best thing about this game was that it gave the players a different experience. While most other games tried to imitate the proven formula developed by Capcom’s Street Fighter franchise, this game came out with a unique fighting system. While most contemporary games required at least 4 buttons, this game was pretty much playable with just three buttons. Now let me discuss the positive and negative aspects of this great game:

Gameplay
Score 8/10
I already mentioned that this game had a different style. This factor was responsible for its popularity as well as unpopularity! The game was challenging for a fighting game freak, but it was damn difficult for most newbies. Even veteran players from Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter had a hard time figuring out this game. And to be honest, against the cpu, there is only 2/3 strategies which work fine. Anything else will result in experiencing embarrassing defeats.

The basic gameplay is based on four buttons; punch, kick, a kick/punch/slam combo button and a taunt button. In arcade systems, the buttons are denoted as A,B,C,D, consecutively. Pressing A and B hard will result in strong punches and kicks, while pressing them lightly will result in a light attack. The C button is used mainly for slamming down opponents. This button is also used for the finishing moves and some other normal moves. The D button is used for taunting and draining down ones spirit bar. Now this is another interesting feature of this game. In addition to a life bar, this game also has a spirit bar. Every time you use a special move (e.g. fire ball, upper cut, etc.), a portion of your spirit bar decreases. Once it’s empty, your fireballs wont travel any distance, and you can’t even attempt many special moves. You’ll have the restore the spirit bar by tapping and holdin A, B, C or D. This works as a balancing mode, hereby reducing the usage of special moves. In MK and SF, you’ll see that special moves are the things that win games. But in modern games, the emphasis is more on body attacks, e.g. kicks and punches. This is more prevalent in 3D fighters. This is amazing how SNK incorporated this feature in a decade old game like Aof2. This was perhaps the second game (after Aof1) that put more emphasis on “non special” moves. However, most players didn’t like the idea way back then, and Aof2 never got the popularity most other SNK games received at that time.

Sound 10/10
The sound effects are great, with clear pronunciations and excellent sound tracks. Amazingly, Yuri’s soundtrack from Aof2 was remixed and used in King of Fighters 2002, as the soundtrack of the women’s team, such nice were the sounds of this game. Most sounds and soundtracks mesh pretty well with the intensity of the fights, and the character of the fighters. Takuma’s Karate Gym has a simple, ambient and serious music, while Yuri’s theme gets a funky beat and John’s one a patriotic touch(!)

Characters 8/10
Aof2 can boast some of the more original characters of the fighting game genre. We’ve seen shotokans and ninja’s, but we haven’t seen koyokugenryu karate or shiranui ninjitsu beforehand. Similarly, we got kick boxing, regular boxing and a lot more original and fusion fighting styles in this game. Every fighter has at least 4 or 5 special moves, and a finishing move each. So you can spend a lot of time experimenting with different players and fighting styles.

Graphics 8/10
The graphics in this game is damn good, compared to many games of the same time. The rotating camera is a nice touch, e.g. the camera zooms in when you’re fighting close, and it zooms out when the fighters are standing far apart. As time passes, and the fighters get beaten up, they also show marks of bruises in the face. This damage effect is also a nice feature, which is not present in many fighting games.

Extras 8/10
By extras I mean the story line, bonus game modes, and unlockables. Well there’s nothing much to unlock in this game, apart from fighting against Geese Howard (the main villain of Fatal Fury series and the ruler of South Town) as a special boss character. No, you can’t play as Geese. But fighting against him is an unique experience, and requires achieving a number of perfect victories, and not losing a single round till beating up the regular boss, Mr. Big. The story behind Aof2 is a continuation of the same of Aof1. In Aof1, we saw Yuri trying to utter something about Mr. Karate, the mysterious masked man who abducted her, and fuelled the rescue journey of Ryo and Robert in south town. In Aof2, we get to know that Mr. Karate is actually Takuma Sakazaki, Ryo and Yuri’s father, as well as Robert’s master. Takuma seeks revenge over Geese, his former partner, who made him abduct his own daughter. Every character has different stories, which are sometimes linked together. All together it’s a well knit story. The other extra that you can get is the humorous endings and credits. In the credits screen, you’ll see some very funny images of the fighters from the game. Viewing those images are well enough reasons for finishing the game with every character. You can also humiliate the female fighters by finishing them off with a special move. If done properly, the fighters will lose the upper portion of their clothing. Others will lose something, too.

There are three bonus games in Aof2, and all of them are quite good. You learn a stronger version of one of your special moves, beat up 20 opponents in a short time or chop down an apple tree with a single blow—all three gives you some bonus, in the form of a larger health or power bar, or the ability to use a devastating new move. All these adds icing to an already delicious cake!

Learning Curve 2/10
This is where the game lacks, dearly. It takes a lot of time mastering this game, and many people lose interest after giving a few tries. The special moves are quite tough, as well. To become a master at this game requires a lot of practice. Multiplayer aspect is okay, but again you can easily get smashed by an experienced fighter. You can’t do too much in this game by just blocking.
Overall Rating: 8/10
Despite a steep learning curve, this is a nice game, and it should have received more acclaim from the fans.

Have a nice time with classic games!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/23/04