Art of Fighting is a series of three fighting video games released in the early 1990s for the Neo-Geo console. Chronologically, this is the second fighting game series by SNK Playmore, having previously launched a similar line called Fatal Fury, the events of which unfolded in the same fictional universe in the same way. The games were released at intervals of two years: the first appeared in 1992, the second, Art of Fighting 2, in 1994, and the third, Art of Fighting 3: The Path of the Warrior, in 1996. This is the first SNK product to feature character design by famed illustrator Shinkiro, who later worked on designs for Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters.
The gameplay of Art of Fighting consists of several consecutive fights with opponents, each fight, like in most similar games, consists of two or three rounds. Each character has a unique fighting style and a number of special techniques. Three basic attacks are available to the player - a punch and a kick - another button is designed to switch between these attacks and to perform throws through oneself. The fourth button is used for sarcastic mockery of the opponent. Under the life scale, each fighter displays the so-called “spiritual strength scale”, which allows you to use special techniques - as unique attacks are performed, the scale decreases, and the blows become weaker. With the start of a new round, it is restored, in addition, replenishment of the scale can always be accelerated by mocking the enemy - in this case, part of the strength of the spirit will pass from the opponent to the hero. During the passage of the story mode, the character can master a particularly strong super attack, in the first and second parts for this it is necessary to successfully complete one of the bonus levels, while in the third game the death attack is available by default. Each of the three games also features "Desperation Attacks", which the player can turn to when their fighter's health is low, when their lives are in critical condition.
Among the interesting innovations in the genre is a view camera that depends on the distance between the fighters. If the characters converge, the camera zooms in, if they diverge, it zooms out. Thus, the movements of the fighters became more free, with the rejection of the fixed scale, the invisible borders disappeared, which did not allow the heroes to move away from each other further than the width of the screen - the movements limit only the real borders of the level. The sprites of the characters change during the fight, goggles, hats fall off, bruises, abrasions appear, etc.
The plot of all three games is based on the confrontation between two students of the karate school, Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia, which unfolded in the late 1970s. Ryo is the son of famed martial artist Takuma Sakazaki, the creator of the kyokugen technique, while Robert is the wayward offspring of an Italian billionaire. The events of the first two parts take place in a place called South Town (often used by SNK battle arena, in particular, present in Fatal Fury), the third - in some fictional location in Mexico. The games echo the plot of Fatal Fury, for example, Geese Howard is featured in the second part, his ascent from a simple corrupt police officer to the crime boss of the South Town mafia is described. Takuma mentions Jeff Bogard, the stepfather of Fatal Fury protagonist Terry Bogard, who dies at the hands of Geese.
At first, the games were actively released in the form of slot machines, but then they were ported to many home consoles, and were repeatedly released as part of various collections and collector's editions. A full-length anime based on Art of Fighting was made, but it was not very successful.
The character sprites from AOF are colorful, and noticeably larger than those from Street Fighter 2. While they are certainly "beefier" than their SF2 counterparts, the characters also come off as a bit more "rigid" - not only in terms of animation, but also in the gameplay itself as well. While the AOF is a decently fun gameplay system, that slight feeling of stiffness certainly held the game to the big, and in particular contrasted the "smooth and silky" gameplay that gamers experience at the end of the Capcom arcade. Speaking of tough, a few of the AOF's character design also lack the department's originality, to say the least. Also, several character designs and special moves seem to "brazenly" take inspiration from Capcom's SF2 universe. To be fair,
The visual arts of combat were unmistakably impressive in 1992 (and many years after). The character actually threatens to become bruised as the fight progresses, and the backgrounds are big, colorful, and moody. One of the most notable visual aspects of the background is the scroll effect, which was very impressive at the time. This effect also gives players a wider view of the battlefield, an "original" visual element for a fighting game in its time. Click effects and projectiles also made a statement in AOF, although some were clearly SF2's rip-off effects.
One area where the art of combat is "challenging" in Street Fighter 2 is the bonus games. During the player's run, though in the story mode they are eventually given the option to choose between 3 different bonus missions which include: Bottle Break, Ice Break, & Initiate Super Deathblow. All of these bonus games were exciting, fun, and definitely helped AOF stand apart from the rest of the fighting games.
Overall, Art of Combat was an attractive arcade game, especially when compared to other arcade games in 1992. AOF had a decent storyline for a video game, interesting characters, rousing music, cool super moves, and innovative extras that other fighting games lacked. The original arcade version of the AOF was great, but unfortunately the domestic ports don't really live up to the original in terms of graphics. The Snes and Genesis versions featured much smaller, less detailed 2D sprites and the characters and stages were missing graphic details and animations. The cool scrolling effect also doesn't translate well to domestic ports. Needless to say, make sure you play the arcade version to get the full art of combat experience!