Art Of Fighting

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a game by SNK
Genres: Action, Adventure/RPG, Arcade Classics, Fighting Games
Platforms: NeoGeo, Sega GenesisGenesis, SNESSNES
Editor Rating: 7/10, based on 11 reviews, 14 reviews are shown
User Rating: 7.3/10 - 8 votes
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See also: Download Fighting Games, Arcade Games
Art Of Fighting
Art Of Fighting
Art Of Fighting

NeoGeo games like Fatal Fury and World Heroes have enjoyed much success on 16-bit systems, largely because of good port-over programming. Although none have been as hot as their 100-megashock cousins, some have been warm and some have been cold. Art of Fighting is a popsicle.

This Old Art of Mine

Art of Fighting hasn't changed much since its 1992 debut on the Neo∙Geo. You still fight against a crew of hard-hittin' heavies who have information on your kidnapped sister. You can still choose to be Ryo (the brother) or Robert Garcia, a family friend who wants to see the bosses of South Town go downtown.

Playing through several different scenarios like bars, back alleys, and the obligatory brawl in front of the fighter jet, you face each of South Town's gang members in a two-out-of-three match. You can also play against a choosing from all of South Town's prized pugilists.

ProTip: In a one-player game, you have to obtain the Super Death Blow through training. In a two-player game, you come equipped with it. Wipe out an opponent right from the start!

Art Corny

The graphics are clean but unimpressive. All the fighters and backgrounds move with agonizing slowdown, so you'll appreciate the sights even less.

The music and sound are the most feeble, ear-gouging, nails-on-a-blackboard annoying effects to be found in a game to date. You probably never thought you'd see the day when you'd miss Lee's maniacal screeching and Jack's heavy grunts.

Controlling the moves is no artwork, either. By the time you execute most moves, the other player has executed you. The special moves are also a port from the NeoGeo game, so if you played it, you won't have to figure out too much on your own.

Open Art Transplant

There's nothing new in AOF, this title in the doldrums alongside other lackluster fighting games. You've either seen it, done it, or not cared about it a million times before, and the same can be said about this sojourn through South Town. This game rests somewhere between a rock and an Art place, and has "Rental" written all over it.

Make sure you're pretty close to your opponent when coming in with a kick. Regardless of form, a lot of times your move ends up short, and your computer opponent will show no mercy.

Download Art Of Fighting

NeoGeo

System requirements:

  • PC compatible
  • Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP
Genesis

System requirements:

  • PC compatible
  • Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP
  • Game modes: Single game mode

Player controls:

  • Up, Down, Left, Right - Arrow keys
  • Start - Enter (Pause, Menu select, Skip intro, Inventory)
  • "A" Gamepad button - Ctrl (usually Jump or Change weapon)
  • "B" button - Space (Jump, Fire, Menu select)
  • "C" button - Left Shift (Item select)

Use the F12 key to toggle mouse capture / release when using the mouse as a controller.

SNES

System requirements:

  • PC compatible
  • Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP
  • Pentium II (or equivalent) 266MHz (500MHz recommended), RAM: 64MB (128MB recommended), DirectX v8.0a or later must be installed

Game Reviews

Art of Fighting is the latest Neo-Geo arcade classic to make the jump to the SNES. Although not as deep or strategy-intensive as Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat, this fighting game is pugilistic poetry if you get the moves down and the timing right.

'Ave a Little Art

It seems there's trouble in South Town. Someone has kidnapped Yuri, and her brother Ryo is out to track 'em down. Ryo's mentor, Robert Garcia, also wants a piece of the action.

ProTip: Use the kick against Jack in Mac's Bar. Jump high and sweep low.

In one-player mode you choose either Ryo or Robert to brawl through eight levels in the alleys, streets, bars, clubs, and anywhere else evil rears its ugly head. To help you in your quest, you have extensive training in martial arts and a variety of special power moves.

The CPU competition is fierce. You face some of the most skilled fighting masters known to man, including back-street brawlers like Micky, bouncers like King, and giants like Jack.

Be sure to back up and defend whenever you come out of a tangle with Lee Pai Long.

He goes into his Fan Blade Kick whenever he gets the chance.

The one-player story mode is this game's strong suit, but you can also fight against the computer in a best-brawler mode, or against a friend. You may want to brawl with a bud first, since the controls are a tougher to master than the moves. Get yourself a good, dependable joystick.

  • In the Bonus Stage, try to master the Super Fire Blow. It wipes out one-half to three-quarters of an opponent's life bar.
  • In the last round against King, use a power move to knock him out and reveal a secret...

Art Works

The graphics in this game are a fair translation of the NeoGeo version's, although not as smooth or detailed. There's some slowdown, and a few sprites are missing from the animations. Your ears take a little beating. The sound effects are all standard fighting noise, with lots of screeches and groans, although it doesn't interfere with the action.

Fighting's Alright

Art of Fighting is a fair play, but it doesn't play fair. At the number three difficulty setting (there are eight), the game is not only hard to beat, but the computer cheats every chance it gets. What's more, at lower skill levels, victorious players aren't even rewarded with the true ending, which allows you to play against one of the Fatal Fury characters. The challenge versus the lowdown CPU is definitely for the fighter with lots of patience. If that's you, you'll love this game of fighting. If not, stick with the bigger, more honest bruisers like MK or SFII.

When it comes to SNK fighting games I always feel that the Art of Fighting is the one that most people forget about. This was the second fighting franchise that they released after Fatal Fury. Of course, most people these days recognize some of the King of Fighters series. While most people know this game as a staple on the Neo-Geo. Today, we are checking out the 16-bit version that was released for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive.

I Will Save My Sister

One thing that is very impressive with this game is the story. It is about a young girl called, Yuri who has been kidnapped by a major crime boss. Well, her brother the martial artist, Ryo is having none of this, and he along with his friend, Robert set out to get her back and put a stop to this crime boss. The story that Art of Fighting tells is way better than most other fighting games of the day. You see before each fight; you get a bit of story that moves things along. These days we have very cinematic fighting games, but when this game was released this was a very novel approach.

2 Bad Dudes!

Fatal Fury only had three playable characters, but this one only has two! That is right, you can only play as Ryo or Robert! You can fight as others if you are fighting against a friend, but there are only the two characters to play as if you are playing on your own. Of course, in comparisons to games like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat this is very, very lacking.

Fighting Street

The fighting action in the Art of Fighting is decent enough. Like most other SNK fighters, you have two punch and two kick buttons. If you have played Street Fighter before the special moves are done is a very similar way here. You do also have this very cool special meter. You need to hold down one of the attack buttons to charge it up. This does leave you vulnerable, but if you charge your meter then your special attacks will do far more damages.

The gameplay is rather shallow in comparison to other fighting games, but to be fair it is actually quite a bit of fun. The only problem is the AI can be incredibly cheap, especially on the higher difficulties. They can instantly react to pretty much anything you can do!

Hey Who Shrunk My Fighters?

The Neo-Geo was a powerhouse; however, I do feel that they managed to capture what made that game special here on the 16-bit Sega as best as they could. The characters are much smaller, but that was to be expected. The levels are not the most exciting in the world, but they capture the look of the arcade well enough. There are some decent tunes here too, some of which will get stuck in your head. So, while it is clearly a downgrade from the Neo-Geo original, it looks decent enough to me.

Looking back at an older fighting game like Art of Fighting is kind of tough. While I feel the game is very, very limited in comparison to its competitors such as Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. I do feel that the story it tells is rather cool and more cinematic that most people will remember. The actual fighting is solid and SNK really did lay the groundwork for a pretty successful series. Some of the stuff in this game is actually referenced in the King of Fighters series to this day!

7.5

Final Score

Pros:

  • I really enjoyed the story that the game told
  • The game looks decent on the Mega Drive/Genesis
  • Pulling off special moves is fun
  • I liked the super meter gimmick the game had
  • Fighting against a friend is fun

Cons:

  • The game's presentation is much “smaller” than the arcade
  • The overall content is very lacking in comparison to other fighting games of the day
  • Manufacturer: Takara
  • # of players: 1 or 2
  • Difficulty: Moderate
  • Available: November 1993
  • Number of Levels: 8
  • Theme: Fighting

Ryo Sakazaki's sister has been kidnapped by some of Mr. Big's men. Bad move! It's not a good idea to aggravate one of the world's most skilled martial artists. Now he and his friend, Robert Garcia, must take matters into their own hands and track down her whereabouts. Together, they will bring down Mr. Big's men. Once Mr. Big is defeated, they will face their greatest challenge in Mr. Karate. Like Ryo and Robert, he has superior skills. It is believed that the only way to beat him is to master the powerful Hao-Ken.

Art of Fighting combines the best aspects of hand-to-hand fighting games with fighting games that have a story. This keeps the player interested and involved. The plot gets heavier the closer you get to finding Ryo's sister.

Although the memory usage has decreased, the graphics are nearly identical to the NEO-GEO version. The scaling has remained intact. There are loads of digitized voices from each fighter's attack. You can play as the same player!

With virtually no advance warning, Sega will be releasing Art of Fighting in Japan. This should be a pretty faithful reproduction of the first 100-Meg cart from SNK. However, the zooming feature which moves in for a close-up view has been cut. This is actually a bit of relief as the zooming could be annoying in the thick of battle. Purists, of course, will moan but I'll take playability over gimmicky effects any day.

You know the plot. Ryo Sakazaki's sister has been kidnapped by the infamous Mr. Big. Now, Ryo and his friend Robert Garcia must track Big down by defeating his henchmen. By piecing together clues, they will eventually get to Mr. Big himself, but... is he truly the last guy?

Art of Fighting is a very close representation of the arcade, even without the zooming feature. The graphics are really well done. It seems that Sega has realized that Neo-Geo games are popular among game players.

Based on the super-hot NEO-GEO arcade game coin-op, Ryo and his friend Robert must use all their strength and skills to battle and defeat the toughest fighters ever assembled. South Town is no place for the weak. In this urban battle zone Ryo and Robert brave the mean streets in order to rescue Ryo's kidnapped sister. These two fighters are big. Powerful. Strong. Each with special skills game players love to use.

  • Manufacturer: SNK
  • # of players: 1 or 2
  • Difficulty: Moderate
  • Available: April 1994
  • No. of Levels: 14
  • Theme: Fighting

One of SNK's first fighting games now has a sequel with more fighters, more moves, more special attacks - more of everything!

Newcomers to the art are Yuri Sakazaki, Temjin, and Eiji Kisaragi. All three are gifted with exceptional fighting skills. Yuri is the sister of Ryo Sakazaki. She was kidnapped in the original Art of Fighting and has developed her fighting skills to fend for herself. Temjin is a heavy-set character with incredible power and speed. He has honed his skills using Power Drops and an assortment of special attacks. Eiji Kisaragi is perhaps one of the toughest fighters among all of the fighters in the game. He has the uncanny ability to deflect fireballs or any projectile from any enemy. He also has great range when he uses his sword. There is one slight character change. Mr. Karate has now taken off his mask and is known as Takuma Sakazaki - the father of both Yuri and Ryo Sakazaki!

This sequel has improved the graphics over the original in that it has more colors and detail. The sound, too, has improved quite a bit with realistic punches and grunts. As well, the music jams.

  • Manufacturer: Takara
  • Machine: Super NES
  • Theme: Fighting
  • No. of Levels: 8

Master the ART...

What would you do if your sister was kidnapped? Probably celebrate. But that's not what Ryo Sakazaki did. He went to look for her in the rugged South Town. Always willing to fight, Robert Garcia joined in the fray. Ahead of them lies a series of vicious fights where they will obtain the clues needed to rescue Ryo's sister. Deadly martial artists, willing to risk all for victory, will join you. The only question is how?

The Super NES is pushed to its technical limits with Art of Fighting. Each level scales in to show the wild action, and there's a lot to see! A whole assortment of special moves can be learned, with graphic cinemas and cool bonus rounds that add to this cart's entertainment value. A bit sized down from the Neo version, it's still a worthwhile game. One of the better fighting carts around.

'Tis the season for fighting games, thanks to the Street Fighters and Mortal Kombats of the world. Throwing its hat into the 16-bit ring is Art of Fighting, Takara's new beat-em-up for the SNES. Don't let the hype about the other games make you overlook this gem -- it looks like it packs a wallop!

Art of Street Fighting

Fans of the Neo∙Geo arcade original will be thrilled with this new game. All the thumb-busting action of the coin-op has been retained. Want more? Takara has thrown in a few surprises, as well. Once again, Ryo is duking it out with the toughest fighters of South Town as he searches for his kidnapped sister. This time, though, there are eight additional difficulty levels that have never been seen before.

Three-round battles will bring out the best in Ryo and his opponents, all of whom are armed with a variety of special attacks and secret skills. Ryo had better watch that Ultra-Drop Kick and the Attack of the 100 Blows, or he's gonna eat pavement! Fortunately, he has some moves of his own, including a taunt that makes attacks less effective. To beat all opponents, however, he'll have to master the unique Super Attacks. When he does, he'll get the biggest surprise of all, one that involves another Takara fighting game, Fatal Fury. Sound intriguing? We won't spoil the surprise.

Graphics Violence

According to Takara, Art of Fighting takes advantage of every graphic trick in the book. The sprites will be large and well animated, the backgrounds detailed and imaginative. You'll see zoom-ins and zoom-outs, just like in the movies, plus a full rainbow of dazzling colors. Add in the stereophonic "sound of violence," and Art of Fighting just may be a masterpiece in the making!

Test out your fighting style in Art of Fighting – part of the second fighting game franchise created by SNK and part of a trilogy of competitive fighting game titles released for the Neo Geo platform in the early 1990s. The original Art of Fighting released in 1992 with two sequels that shortly followed. In this active fighting style game, each player faces various opponents with unique fighting styles and special techniques. The two basic attacks are kicking and punching and the player uses a utility button that switches between punches, kicks, and throws. As the player, you can also taunt your opponent by utilizing the fourth button – which will also drain an opponent’s spirit gauge. During this intense battle game, there is a “spirit gauge” underneath the character’s life bar. As characters use up their special techniques, the spirit gauge lowers as the special attacks weaken. This unique game was also one of the first fighting series where you could perform “super attacks” during a fight, which the character learns after achieving one of the bonus rounds. With its highly designed graphical scaling – the character can move away from each other while the camera zooms out to keep both players in sight on the screen. Also, check out the bruises and cuts on the characters as each fight progresses with vivid graphic textures. In this multi-player, arcade style game, follow the struggles of the students of the Kyokugen Karate Dojo – Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia during a background set in the late 70s. Ryo is the son of the Karate discipline’s creator and Robert is the wayward son of a billionaire family from Italy. It is set in Southtown – a common location for SNK games. Art of Fighting supports Arcade, Neo Geo CD, PlayStation 2, Sega Mega Drive (AoF), SNES (AoF, AoF2), TurboGrafx-16 (AoF), and Wii Virtual Console platforms.

All fans of the Neo-Geo will definitely recognize this title. In Japan, it is Fists of Dragon Tiger, but here, it's our own Art of Fighting 2!

The SFC version remains completely faithful in translation. All the special moves, super death moves and the low energy comeback moves are all here. Also, the hidden character Geese Howard is retained from the Neo game!

In Vs. Mode, there are plenty of new options, like a tag-team style of game play reminiscent of King of the Fighters.

THE GOOD

The sheer achievement of porting this game onto the SF without losing any game play mechanics.

THE BAD

The character sizes have been reduced significantly, and many frames of animation have been lost.

THE UGLY

It's either the battles that Major Mike and Trickman have constantly, or Jack Turner.

  • MANUFACTURER - SAURUS OF JAPAN
  • THEME - FIGHTING
  • NUMBER OF PLAYERS - 1 or 2

Mr. Big, a very mean dude, has just kidnapped Yuri. Only Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia have the ability to rescue her from Mr. Big's nasty clutches.

While sporting the usual fighting plot and beat-em-up goals, Art of Fighting employs a "zoom in/zoom out" feature that brings you much closer to the action!

To win you must fight your way through eight incredibly challenging matches and face the final boss to rescue Yuri. You can also challenge a friend. Select from eight warriors and see who masters the Art of Fighting.

Test your skill in the Bonus Stages!

In the first round, your fighter must break a block of ice in two with one fell swoop! For an added challenge, the second bonus round has you slicing the necks off five beer bottles. In the third, you must repeatedly damage a target for a short time.

With Yuri captured by the forces of Mr. Big, Ryo and Robert have pledged to get her back, no matter what the cost! This comical fighting game features the cast of Art of Fighting in a 'Super Deformed' style! There are 13 characters to fight against or play as. All the special moves and backdrops are retained from the arcade edition but the SD characters add to the fun!

Mr. Big has taken a young girl named Yuri against her will. Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia take to the streets to locate her. Engage in six incredible matches before facing Mr. Big in a battle to the finish! Each match puts you face to face with one of Mr. Big's minions. Watch for this hot Super NES cart in December!

Snapshots and Media

NeoGeo Screenshots

Sega Genesis/Mega Drive Screenshots

SNES/Super Nintendo/Super Famicom Screenshots