Fatal Fury Special |
Sega CD |
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Review by Matt Paprocki |
JVC |
Fighting |
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Graphics: 7 |
Sound: 9 |
Gameplay: 8 |
Overall: 7 |
Load times can really ruin a fighting game. If you're forced to wait 15-seconds in-between rounds, chances are you will be bored when it comes time to fight. "Fatal Fury Special" does a fine job in this regard and makes for a nice home port. It's only missing some animation and background detail.
Just about everything from the AES and MVS versions of this decent fighter is included here. The intro is almost 100% perfect, all the voice samples are present, and a hidden character in the arcade, Ryo, is here from the start. You can even select the MVS's difficulty level. The AI is far less aggressive here, especially on the lower difficulties. That's either a good or bad thing depending on your point of view. The Neo Geo version also feels just a hint faster at times (and not because of the slowdown). The biggest loss here is, not surprisingly, the graphics. The sprites look great (though they no longer scale), but the backgrounds are butchered. Nearly every hint of detail has been removed (except for Mai's stage, it's really accurate) and the time of day no longer changes with the rounds. Duck Kings stage arguably takes the biggest hit, losing all of the lights and most of the crowd. Most of the stages also seem awfully small. There is some slowdown when the screen gets clogged with projectiles and many frames of animation have been lost. Still, the sprites are almost the same size as they were in the arcade and really look impressive on the hardware.
There's a limited selection of fighting games for the Sega CD. You can enjoy yourself here, get slaughtered by insane AI in "Eternal Champions," or torture yourself with the first person FMV "Supreme Warrior." The choice is yours. But, if you have the ability to play AES or MVS carts, that's the obvious way to play. |