Further evidence that HAMSTER simply does not care about continuity, next week the Switch eShop will be graced with none other than the final episode of Ryūko no Ken, better know among us westerners as Art of Fighting. We assume we will see Art of Fighting 2 somewhere in 2018.
Despite the cast continuing to endure within The King of Fighters franchise, 1996's Art of Fighting 3: The Path of the Warrior was the third and last standalone entry in the series. It might be hard to believe with a system that is mostly populated by one-on-one fighting games, but this one actually does quite a lot to distinguish itself from the norm, starting with the control scheme and the way you can seamlessly string combos together. The stunningly fluid animation of the characters is due to SNK going with rotorscoping techniques, used previously in such genre defining games as Karateka, Prince of Persia, Another World and Flashback. Overall it is quite a unique and standout game among the many SNK brawlers already available on the Switch.
We might as well take advantage of this news to ask the NL community to help us settle this one once and for all: who would you pick as being the best between Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia?
Comments 34
Skiping [sic] AoF2...
Hooray, as this is easily the best in the series.
The best of the trilogy in my opinions. It's too bad this is the final game in the 2D franchise as the fourth was a terrible 3D sequel.
Oh, my. I may have to download it just for those animations.
@retro_player_22 There was a fourth?
@ECMIM I concur, but I am sure it will show up eventually. Also the SNES conversion of "AoF2" is for me one of the finest fighting games in the system, but it remains mostly ignored in the West.
@retro_player_22 I am unaware of such game's existence. Care to elaborate?
@retro_player_22 @Captain_Toad Are you perhaps confusing it with "Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition" on Hyper Neo Geo 64?
Beautiful animation. Might be the final fighting I buy from the Neo Geo series.
Ooooh that bass line on the Qixotec Temple! <3
Love this rocky jazzy music! One of my favorite Neo Geo OST!
This game was a sound & vision delight at that time. The fighting system was also interesting with some new mechanics like the Ultimate K.O and simple combos execution. But I have felt it was somewhat clunky, like the gameplay state in first 2 AoF games, and in the end it didn't come to its full potential, while KoF was rocking with its flashy flow and aggressive combos. But it is still a good game, this AoF3, if you are a 90s fighting games aficionado!
Robert Garcia is obviously the best. He doesn't even take his shoes off!
Any good NeoGeo platformers yet to be released? Not a fighting fan other than Smash.
@justin233 The best one will be released before the end of the year, "Top Hunter".
@Captain_Toad Yeap, it's called Buriki One which only features one returning character (Ryo Sakazaki) alongside a new roster. Also it's only released for the NeoGeo 64 arcade machine which is SNK's arcade answer to games like Virtua Fighter and Tekken.
@Shiryu Nope there was a game called Buriki One which was suppose to be the next generation Art of Fighting as it is fully feature in 3D and was release for NeoGeo 64 arcade machine. It didn't had such huge popularity at the arcade so it never got a home release.
@retro_player_22 Yiikes! Never played it.. and I think it is better I never do.
@Shiryu Thank you! I’ll have to look into it.
@retro_player_22 Super obscure game on an obscure console! Are you sure this is AOF 4, because this looks nothing like AOF!
A wrestling game Featuring Ryo from the Art of Fighting series!
This is by far the best in the series, but the second one has a great roster so I do hope they get around to that one eventually.
Hopefully this Switch release helps bring attention to this game's beautifully smooth animations and great spritework.
You always hear talk of SFIII and Garou's amazing sprites,
but this one never gets brought up.
its been over a month now since the release of mario bros arcade and still no news on when the next nintendo arcade game is coming out or even which one its gonna be... cmoooon hamster
Can't wait for this! Though it still bugs me that Yuri is in the game but you can't play as her. Grr!
@Shiryu That's a crazy amount of sprites they were able to fit in on the Super Famicom version AoF2! Lots of obvious compromises, but still an impressive feat!
This is the best of the Art of Fighting series. Good game
@retro_player_22 It has a different name, different gameplay system, and only one returning character, so how is it considered part of the same series? It looks like it was intended to be the first game of a new series with a guest appearance by Ryo.
Are the Street Fighter games, Final Fight games, and the Saturday Night Slam Masters games all considered to be one big series just because they share characters? The Tekken and Soul games due to Yoshimitsu?
@BulbasaurusRex It kinda connect to the original Art of Fighting in a way that Ryo is now age and is soon to be the next Mr. Karate. SNK also made two other games that is similar in process to this. Garou: Mark of the Wolves and Samurai Shodown: Warrior's Rage (just so you know like Buriki One this one plays nothing like the 2D SS as well), in those games only one or two characters of the past returns while everyone else are brand new to the series. In Mark of the Wolves, only Terry Bogard returns, in Samurai Shodown: Warrior's Rage (the third SS 3D fighting game), only Haohmaru returns as playable character, Hanzo is also in the game but he is not the same Hanzo as the past version and Nakoruru as well as Rimururu appeared as cameo or NPC only. More info about the Buriki One game can be found here.
http://snk.wikia.com/wiki/Buriki_One
Best one in the series, but I still can't stand AOF. Hopefully the Fatal Fury Real Bout games will come soon to Switch.
For anyone curious the next batch of Neo-Geo games coming to Switch are: (taken from NintendoEverything)
"Seven more NeoGeo games are on the way. We can look forward to Art of Fighting 3: The Path of the Warrior, Street Hoop, Fighter’s History Dynamite, Soccer Brawl, World Heroes, Top Hunter: Roddy & Cathy, and The Last Blade."
The game looks a lot like a 2D Virtua Fighter.
@Lroy thanks for the info there. I can go with Street Hoop, Last Blade, and Top Hunter. Still no Pulstar unfortunately.
Robert Garcia, which reminds me that few people read the full article.
"The stunningly fluid animation of the characters is due to SNK going with rotorscoping techniques, used previously in such genre defining games as Karateka, Prince of Persia, Another World and Flashback."
You just mentioned some of the games that defined my early gaming.
I pick Dan Hibiki as the answer!
Also, will probably look into this one, I have the trilogy on PS2, but for this one, why not.
Why are we playing catchup with these titles anyway? Just put all of them out at once they are already out on other systems so what's the hold up? Just like with Nintendo ACA so far only Mario Bros with no timeline for other releases.
@GameOtaku they need their own space. releasing multiple titles at once would hurt sales
@Bustacap
I don't see it that way. If I want to buy a certain game I'll buy it if I don't want to buy one I won't
I'm tempted on this one, but I think I will skip it.
The only unmissable fighters are KoF '96, Fatal Fury 3, all Real Bout, Samurai Shodown 2 and Last Blade.
Anyway Art of Fighting 3 is decent (plagued by mediocre animations).
Another baby step closer to Baseball Stars Professional . . . keepin the faith . . . .and holding my breath . . . .
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