The Fatal Fury series remains one of the most overlooked fighters in the genre. While SNK has long placed the spotlight on The King of Fighters, the franchise’s recent resurgence has begun to turn heads. Now, the Japanese developer is bringing back one of the standout entries in the long-running series: Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers, but does it still hold up today?
Although Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers may sound like a sequel, it’s actually the seventh entry in the franchise. The series has always had an unusual naming convention, starting with the original trilogy, moving into the Real Bout games, and later branching into the Wolves sub-series. Despite that confusing lineage, The Newcomers is widely considered one of the best fighters in the genre. Even 27 years later, it still stands as an all-time great.
Differentiating itself from the crowd, SNK’s groundbreaking fighting series was the first to include lanes. This allows you to leap in and out of the background, opening up a range of offensive and defensive possibilities. With Real Bout Fatal Fury 2, the system has been refined with the ability assigned to a specific button. This allows you to use the feature as part of combos or allows you to avoid and counter incoming attacks. While the idea of multiple lanes in a fighter never really took off, its implementation shows why the idea has real potential.
Fans of the series will recognize its responsive controls and diverse roster. Each character brims with personality, with moves that reflect their design. While only a few fighters have stepped out of the series, every one of them is fun to use, offering unique styles that cater to different preferences. Special attacks rely on familiar quarter-circle motions, a genre staple that makes the game approachable for players with even a basic understanding of fighting games.
The deliberate pacing of the game adds to the strategic battle you’ll face with every encounter. Characters feel different, all with unique movement types and speeds. Each step, dash and jump has a purpose and helps to create an incredible fighter that is truly a classic of the genre.
Fights build toward tense final moments where you can either snatch victory or lose it.. Aiding this are the Desperation and Super Desperation moves. When near death and your power gauge is full, you can perform this special attack, which can drastically shift the fight in your favor. It’s a great system that increases the intensity of each moment of the fight.
As the game was released in the late 90s, it has that incredible pixel art style synonymous with the era. Each character comes to life through the beautiful sprite work and stellar animations that overshadow many recent fighters. Catchy tunes back each stage, adding to the overall presentation. The new version includes features to alter elements such as scan lines, smoothing and more, so that you can alter your experience with the game.
The real highlight of this version is the ability to play online. A true classic deserves preservation, and this release achieves that while enhancing the experience with rollback netcode for smooth online matches. Unfortunately, it feels more like preservation than celebration. Additional features, such as developer interviews or unlockables, would have gone a long way in honoring the series, but instead, this release aligns with the barebones approach common to many fighters today.
Fatal Fury remains an incredible fighter and one of the greatest in the genre. With this update, SNK preserves the classic, adding visual options and reliable rollback netcode. While it would have been nice to see more features to truly celebrate the iconic title, for those looking to revisit the game, there’s no better way to do it.
