Out of the many different SNK fighting games that were released in the early 90’s, the original Art of Fighting was one that generally wasn’t anything all too special, at least, when compared to their other games. It did introduce several elements that would become staples in the fighting game series, such as with the Spirit Gauge, and it made changes to the overall formula that I was a big fan of, such as with bonus stages that actually did something rather than wasting your time, but all in all, it was just another SNK fighter, with not much else going on for it to really be all that memorable or loveable. Of course though, since this is a fighter from SNK, it is contractually obligated to get a follow-up of some kind, so eventually, we would get the sequel to that original game, Art of Fighting 2.

Not gonna lie, I wasn’t looking forward to checking this game out. I didn’t think that it was gonna be really bad, but I had a feeling that, now that I have played so many of the other SNK fighters, or just more fighting games in general, I was going to end up hating this one in comparison to everything else that I had experienced. Thankfully though, that ended up not being the case, and instead, what we are left with is… yet another generic SNK fighting game. Despite that, as a whole, I would say that it is better than the original AOF, and if you were a fan of the original game, you will easily be able to get into this one, enjoy it, and start kicking ass all over again.

The story takes place a year after the events of the original AOF, where Ryo and Robert had saved Yuri and learned that the one that kidnapped her is, in fact, Ryo’s father Takuma, who was forced to kidnap Yuri under orders of a man named Geese Howard (where have I heard that name before…), who just so happens to be setting up a King of Fighters tournament to recruit contestants into his gang, so it is up to Ryo and Robert to enter the tournament to take him down, which is about as generic of a plot that one could expect from a fighting game like this, but then again, it fits pretty well with the game as a whole, so I will let it slide. The graphics are pretty good, being an improvement over the original, both in terms of animations and the designs of characters and environments, but it doesn’t look much different from other SNK fighters, the music is good, well-fitting each environment the fights take in, and going along well with the ass-kicking you will be doing, but none of the tracks themselves are all too memorable, and the control/gameplay are the same as always, with veterans of the genre being able to jump in right away, with there being improvements to be seen… as well as some downgrades.

The game is your typical 2D fighter, where you take control of one of 12 different fighters, face off against plenty of different opponents in many different locations, throw out plenty of different punches, kicks, grabs, and special attacks to fight back against your opponent and show you are the best fighter around, take on several bonus games to either increase your health, strength, or Rage Gauge (which is just the spirit gauge, except rage) further so that you can get an advantage over your opponents, and be the last person standing as you truly harness the art of fighting…. while also making sure that you don’t break your hands in the process. Many fighting game fanatics should be very familiar with how this goes at this point, and AOF 2 doesn’t really do that much to try to change any of that up, which doesn’t really make it any better or worse than the original to me, but it does still manage to be fun for a good bit before you move onto something else.

The only real new addition to the series that can be seen is where now, before each match, each of the characters will taunt their opponents with banter before a match, which, I will admit, does add a lot of personality and charm to this game as a whole, and it does make me wanna see all the different dialogue options that you can possibly get in the game. The only downside to this dialogue though is that, since this is an early 90’s SNK game, the translation of said dialogue is hilariously awful, which admittedly does make it more entertaining, so if you haven’t seen or read any of these lines yet, you should do yourself a favor and look them up, cause it is rich. Aside from all that, it is still your typical fighting endeavor, and as a whole, the game does still play alright. It implements all of the same features from the original, the combat is fun and satisfying to pull off once you get the hang of it, and thankfully, unlike the original game, you can actually play as more than just two characters in the main mode, so that makes it all the more enjoyable. Although, is it just me, or does the movement and executing of moves in this game feel pretty stiff when compared to other fighters, sometimes bordering on being unresponsive? It’s probably just the form of emulation I used for the game, but I dunno, something about it did seem kinda off, but not enough to where it kept me from playing.

What did keep me from playing though, eventually, was the difficulty, because HOLY HELL, it is no joke in this one. I mentioned back in my original AOF review that that game felt easier when compared to every other fighter I had played at that point, even when it was set at the same difficulty I usually set these at, but in terms of this game, it is a whole other story. Even by the second match, I was getting knocked down left and right, losing matches non-stop, and while I was able to get an upper hand on the opponent at some point and proceed through more matches, the AI just kept progressively getting more ruthless, which is more of what I would expect from an SNK fighter, but they are flat out vicious here. Or maybe I just suck. Either way, this time around, the difficulty is no joke.

Overall, despite the hard-as-hell difficulty and the lack of any substantial new changes, AOF 2 is what I would consider a slight improvement over the original game, making the game feel much bigger, better, and more fun to play then the original, while also not being anything too noteworthy to get your mitts on right away. I would recommend it for those who were fans of the original game, as well as those who are a big fan of old-school fighting games, but for everyone else, there are plenty of different options that you could check out over this. But man, I sort of feel bad for Art of Fighting, y’know. I mean, there’s gotta be some way that the series could become better, as well as more memorable, rather then just being another fighting series made by SNK that most completely forgot about. Perhaps, what could help it out would be with………. a crossover…

Game #510