Fatal Fury Special (Sega CD)

avatar
(Edited)


Review of Fatal Fury Special for the Sega CD from the April 1995 issue of Diehard GameFan


Fatal Fury Special is a 2D fighting game that was released for both the home and arcade versions of the Neo Geo hardware in 1993. The original Fatal Fury was perhaps the earliest competitor to Street Fighter II though it was actually developed at the same time by the original creator of the first Street Fighter game. Fatal Fury Special was the third game in the series though not really a true sequel.


Sega CD screenshot


To make an analogy, Fatal Fury Special is to Fatal Fury 2 what Street Fighter II Turbo is to Street Fighter II. In addition to speeding up the game play, Fatal Fury Special tweaked the play mechanics allowing combo attacks among other things. Also, the characters that were only computer controlled in Fatal Fury 2 could now be selectable by the player.


Sega CD screenshot


Fatal Fury 2 was well received by both players and critics and was quite popular. In addition to the original Neo Geo versions, it was also ported to a variety of other systems including the Super Nintendo, Sega CD (a review of which appears at the top of this post), Game Gear and PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16. These ports received more mixed reviews but were generally positive. The main criticisms typically had to do with graphics and sound compromises that had to be made on less powerful hardware.


Sega CD screenshot


There would continue to be Fatal Fury games released throughout the rest of the decade for the Neo Geo. Most fans of 2D fighting games are probably already well familiar with the Neo Geo and the various fighting games available for it. If not, then this game, along with most of the other Fatal Fury games, are definitely ones you should try. While other ports are ok, you probably want to stick to the Neo Geo version or an emulation of it.

Screen shots above are from the Sega CD version of the game.

Read more: https://www.megalextoria.com/wordpress/index.php/2021/11/28/fatal-fury-special-sega-cd/



0
0
0.000
9 comments
avatar

First, thanks for the memories, this was a great read and reminded me of all those issues of Gamefan I used to own (nearly a complete set, including the trade show exclusive release).

They certainly had a way of making you want to at least play the games they covered. Didn't they? Their layouts were always amazing and out of this world compared to the "newspaper" style designs of their competition. Too bad management were less than optimal, shall we say.

I worked with Dave Halverson and a few alumni from the glory days of Gamefan 5+ years ago. I won't do it again. That is for sure. Regardless though, the magazine is remembered well and is a treasure in the gaming world. At the end of the day, that is what matters.

0
0
0.000
avatar

I still have most of my old gaming magazines around. Mostly Electronic Gaming Monthly and VideoGames & Computer Entertainment. I have a couple of issues of Gamefan but for some reason it wasn't one I picked up as much. It might have just been a matter of what was on the shelves in stores near me.

I wish print magazines were still economically viable. I know EGM made a run of it again several years back and it didn't last long in print form. Retro Gamer is about the only magazine I see on the shelves these days. Nice magazine but expensive.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Oh yeah, Gamefan was one of those harder to find magazines. This was due to the distribution partners they had at the time. Those distribution problems were fixed well into the life of the magazine (around 1997/1998 when the mag was sold to Metropolis Publishing, I believe). By then it was too late though, the Internet had already set out to sink its teeth into print mags and Gamefan's designs suffered without key personnel from the previous years.

I have probably 400 gaming mags still - I have probably 75% of the EGM's printed and about the same for VG&CE. I got to work with Bill Kunkel (the Game Doctor) on a few projects. One being starting my public relations company prior to his passing.

I also worked with Steve Harris, and Dave Halverson to negotiate preserving their magazines in digital format (via www.outofprintarchive.com, sadly, I had to leave the project many years ago). Via that site we were able to preserve the first few issues of Gamefan (which were offered briefly on Gamefanmag.com when it was functioning). The deal with Steve Harris never birthed anything for fans to enjoy though many test issues were completed.

We tried print magazines with my own websites, Retro Gaming Magazine (now defunct due to hosting issues) and Gaming on Batteries. Sadly, neither made it past issue #3. Costs were too high, sales too low, and inexperience in the publishing world added up to failed ventures.

Many of the staff that worked on RGM and GoB Mag worked on issue #5 of the rebooted Gamefan Magazine.

It was a fun dream we got to live for a short period of time. Certainly something I would never trade for anything.

0
0
0.000
avatar

I can imagine it was pretty neat to be able to work with people like Steve Harris and Bill Kunkel. That's video game journalism royalty if there were such a thing.

Some one should come up with a website that is laid out more or less like a magazine in the sense that it has typical magazine sections (cover story, features, reviews, tips, etc.). Any of these thing could be archived at any time and replaced by new content. But, anyone at any time could press a button to receive a print copy of the current "issue" via some sort of print on demand service for a fee. Optionally, they could subscribe to a monthly copy that had the best/most popular content of the month. There's my million dollar idea, now someone with unlimited time on their hands and unlimited money just has to run with it :).

0
0
0.000
avatar

That is indeed a million dollar idea. Could you imagine if that was a browser plug in? Maybe offer a handful of templates and then a couple services to have it printed with.

Okay, quick, let's delete this stuff, move to DMs and discuss this. Lol.

Seriously though, it could be huge if someone took the idea and ran with it.

0
0
0.000
avatar

You just made me want to play this game again.

0
0
0.000
avatar

nostalgia!! I was so happy when fatal fury characters got included in KoF series, but then SNK went bankrupt. I thought I would never see them again... 😣

0
0
0.000
avatar

Sadly, the last Fatal Fury game was Garou: Mark of the Wolves in 1999. However, the King of Fighters series still continue with the 15th game in the main series due out early next year.

0
0
0.000