Play Art of Fighting Online
Release year: 1992 | Players: 1-2 players | Developed by SNK
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Game Review
For fans of classic SNK arcade games, it hardly gets more iconic than the 1992 fighting game Art of Fighting. For younger gamers, this series was one of the staples of the arcades during its era, riding high off the astronomical success of Street Fighter II while also pushing the genre forward in new, exciting ways. Eventually, the Art of Fighting series would merge with SNK’s other fighting game franchise to form King of Fighters – a series that still sees new releases today. However, there is still something endearing about returning to this original classic to see where it all began. If you have any passing interest in classic 2D fighting games, you cannot miss the Art of Fighting for the Neo Geo.
The game’s story takes place in 1978, as martial arts students Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia embark on an adventure to stop the evil Mr. Big and save Ryo’s sister, Yuri. Ten playable characters are in total – eight of which are unlocked from the start. While it is a bit disappointing that you can only play as either Ryo or Robert in the single-player story mode, I still enjoyed playing through the events of their journey. The special bonus stages made for a nice distraction from the main one-on-one fighting.
Speaking of one-on-one fighting, Art of Fighting’s combat mechanics may not be as deep as modern fighting games today; there is still enough nuance and strategy to keep each battle engaging. Each match follows the classic best-out-of-three formula, with each character having the ability to punch, kick and throw. Of course, each of these three moves can be used in a specific way to pull off exciting combo moves to deal devastating damage to your foes.
There is also a fourth button, which is used for taunting. Taunting is an exciting mechanic that gives Art of Fighting its main point of difference compared to the sleuth of other fighting games of its era. This is because taunting drains your opponent’s Spirit Gauge. What’s a Spirit Gauge, I hear you ask? An additional bar under your fighter’s life meter controls your special attacks’ power. A strong spirit gauge means strong attacks, so you must drop your opponent down as quickly as possible.
However, because taunting leaves you vulnerable to attacks, there is an excellent risk/reward strategy for attempting this technique. Overall, it’s a nice layer of nuance that makes each fight feel unique and different from other fighting games. I found that the more challenging battles would start with a frenzy of special attacks while our Spirit Gauges were still full, only to become more and more methodical as the timer went down.
Visually, Art of Fighting encapsulates everything that made SNK arcade games so striking in the nineties. The character designs are instantly iconic and dripped with over-proportioned muscles, crazy hairstyles, and costumes so garish that they should be well and indeed left behind in 1978.
One of the incredible technical innovations that Art of Fighting implemented was graphical scaling. This meant that the camera would zoom in and out of the action depending on where the characters were. It’s a dynamic addition that really makes each fight feel cinematic in its quality.
Art of Fighting is a classic of the fighting game genre that is enjoyable enough to play solo but is best when played against a friend. Party like it’s 1992 and enjoy Art of Fighting today’s crazy, frenetic action!
