After 26 years, SNK's iconic series howls again.
But do the mighty still rule?
Roster
Returning from Garou - B. Jenet, Gato, Kain R. Heinlein, Kim Dong Hwan, Hokutomaru, Kevin Rian, Marco Rodrigues, Hotaru Futaba, Rock, Terry and Tizoc.
New - Preecha (student of Joe) and Vox Reaper (Grant's apprentice).
And two more, which I'll get to later.
Fatal Fury - Billy Kane and Mai.
Bosses - Fallen Rock and Nightmare Geese.
Design and moves are pretty how you remember, but Billy and Mai have been given a trendy makeover, as the former ditches the bandana and wears designer shades, with Miss Shiranui in a biker jacket and leather pants. However, her traditional red and white kunoichi dress is displayed during her Hidden Gear.
Season one pass:
Andy, Chun-Li, Ken, Joe and Mr. Big.
Before Street Fighter 6 (and ignoring mobile games), Mai and Terry¹ also appeared in Dead or Alive 6 and Fighting EX Layer.
¹And Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Methods of Mayhem
T.O.P. (Tactical Offensive Position) is renamed S.P.G. (Selective Potential Gear).
Before match begins, we must select when Accel, Flux or Final kicks in.
Just Defense is expanded to Hyper Defense, protecting against attacks that hit multiple times.
Punish and Wild Punish are new.
Super moves (Gears) become available once meters are filled, with Ignition and Redline taking one and two meters.
Hidden Gears require both bars and S.P.G. to be active.
The much hyped Rev system are enhanced versions of specials and come in three types:
Blow (puts distance between characters), Accel (for chaining attacks and combos) and Guard (pushes opponents away).
Overindulging will result in gauge overheating.
S.P.G. and the Rev system are very similar to SF 6's Drive Impacts and Drive Gauge respectively.
Taunts
Easily overlooked, but tap light punch, light lick and heavy punch together. This can also be done immediately after a KO.
Stages
Preecha (IP Science Centre) and Vox Reaper (Training Ground) are unremarkable, but most from Garou get brand new settings:
Gato (The Summit) Jenet (B. Port), Kevin Rian (South Town Zoo), Hotaru (Philanthropy Park) and Marco (Yuri Fitness Club).
Mai's Hippopo Village is basically Sound Beach with new bells and whistles. As a side note, Bob Wilson can be seen in the background.
Things get pretty wild at the zoo, as apart from a spectator wearing a Mars People tee, an ostrich with machine guns strapped to its wings references Metal Slug 3.
There are two versions of Dream Amusement Park and Geese Tower.
Bar "Street Stars" is shared between Rock and Dong Hwan.
Frame rate in Terry's Freight Express is terrible, and not even a trio of Duck King's adorable chicks can rescue situation.
Title screen
Online
Ranked - vie for the top of the leaderboard.
Casual - head-to-head, with score or rank unaffected.
Room - for friends and challengers.
Jukebox
Albums - a selection of AES/MVS tracks from the Art of Fighting and Fatal Fury series.
Other Titles - a bunch from The King of Fighters XIV and SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy.
Color Edit
Other examples include Street Fighter Alpha Anthology, Capcom vs. SNK 2, Neo Geo Battle Coliseum and Guilty Gear Isuka.
Fun geeky fact.
The first fighting game giving licence to alter hair, clothes etc was the FM Towns version of Super Street Fighter II (1994).
You're welcome.
Practice
Training, Missions, Tutorial and Versus, classic and special (gauge auto refills and S.P.G.).
Gallery
Movies - story and cutscenes.
Artwork - stills.
Voices - battle lines (grunts, taking damage and so forth).
Offline
Arcade
Five opponents later, then his/her rival.
Largely though, we take on Fallen Rock, a twisted version of Geese under the influence of the Jin scrolls, with appearance based on KOF '96, albeit topless.
Nightmare Geese (who debuted in Real Bout Fatal Fury Special) can only be fought on Lv. 5 difficulty without losing a match.
Episodes of South Town
Affectionately known as EOST, base screen has three sections which are soon unlocked.
Home character
Select whoever to chill on a chair in the company of Jenet's motley crew of Lillien Knights.
Showcase
Landmarks describe Art of Fighting, its sequel, Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory, Garou and this.
Minigame
Marco helms a bonus game from Art of Fighting (1992). Rather than mashing a button to build gauge, cutting bottles is executed by d-pad and tapping buttons.
Capcom 'borrowed' this for SF 6.
To South Town
Answer to SF 6's World Tour originates from the PS1 version of SF Alpha 3.
Beginning in Central City (against Garou's main intro music), story involves taking on a series of Quests, usually against Fatal Fury-esque characters Hypen, Mosburg, Balone and Buggz. Lv. reflects HP and XP gains additional skills, special items and unlocks stuff in Showcase and Gallery.
Beating area boss (a regular character) opens East Island, leading to Second South and South Town+, with Fallen Rock or Nightmare Geese waiting in the wings.
Complaints
Cristiano Ronaldo (only playable in Training) and Salvatore Ganacci.
The new incarnation of SNK is owned by the Misk Foundation and operated by Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman.
Say no more.
Honestly, what were they thinking?
Content in Jukebox and Showcase in EOST is bizarrely random and incomplete.
South Town should've been an actual place to explore and story mode quickly gets boring.
Apart from the literal train wreck that is Freight Express, stages don't change and frame rate distracts.
Screen tearing is shocking in the PS4 version.
Victory quotes lack nostalgic charm and mainstays share zero chemistry.
Verdict 6/10
Gimmicky guest characters (and other issues) do not destroy a pretty solid experience, but overall, I wasn't in the pink today, boy.