FATAL FURY WILD AMBITION

Written by wagesofsyn

screenshots courtesy of SUPERNAUT

Fatal Fury Wild Ambition was the first Neo Geo Hyper 64 conversion on the PSX... the first of 2, actually. SNK attempted to kind of retell the original Fatal Fury story (a great story, if you ask me) in 3D with modern looks and move sets for the characters. While a great idea in theory, the conversion was somewhat lackluster, and wasn't the intended proverbial hat toss into the 3D arena as SNK would've hoped it would be. 

Graphics 

For all of PSX's power, this game must've utilized about half of it... If that. The characters look rough, easily surpassed by their fellow 3D fighters of 'Tekken 3' or 'Dead or Alive.' The backgrounds are a completely unanimated (!) 2D backdrop, easily detectable the first time you move your character. The special moves are impressive, however, and some of them are just cool to look at (Billy's Salamander Streamer and Geese's Raising Storm are 2 perfect examples of this). The characters are big, and impressive looking enough (in size, anyway) to keep the attention on them. 

Gameplay 

The game plays similar to the Real Bout outings, but the controls aren't as responsive as one would hope they'd be. Special moves are easy to pull off, and it's easy to chain them into combos. Fighting can be VERY cheap at times when trading blows with the computer, but your learning curve shouldn't take that long. Action is fast paced, and smooth character animation helps timing attacks considerably. 

Sound 

This is possibly the worst sound I've ever heard in a PSX game. The music is crisp and clear, but the sound effects... they're horrible! It sounds like someone recorded them on a crappy microphone in a basement somewhere! It's INCREDIBLY washed out and almost painful to listen to. The music is decent, and turned up loud enough, it drowns the crappy sound effects out effectively. 

Final Thoughts 

I was excited when I heard a new Fatal Fury game was coming to PSX, and it was 3D, so I knew I'd never played it before. Initially, I was let down when I played it, because it wasn't on par with other 3D fighters out at the time. But playing it for this review made me realize how good a game it really is. It's fast paced and fun, and it already has characters I like, something I can't say about any other 3D game out there. A definite A for effort, SNK, but the delivery could use some work. 

- John Gillerlain 

Overall: 6.9 / 10

by SUPERNAUT

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