Art of Fighting

Review

by Brett Alan Weiss

Hats off to Takara for creating a reasonably accurate Super Nintendo version of a Neo-Geo game, given the limits of the Super Nintendo. Art of Fighting looks, sounds, and acts basically as it should, even after including the scaling effects, distracting and useless as they may be, in this 16-bit cartridge. Then again, the SNES is very proficient at handling scaling. Just look at some of the levels in Contra III: The Alien Wars.

Still, though faithful to its source material, Art of Fighting is flawed. It looks and plays a whole lot like Street Fighter II, without the hard-hitting fun, while Mortal Kombat II, offers superior gameplay, speed, and controls. Also, despite the storyline mode and bonus rounds, Art of Fighting lacks variety. And why doesn't the B button do anything? In the heat of battle, you'll press it on purpose or by mistake and your character will just stand there being pummeled. A spirit indicator (indicating character determination and will) is somewhat cool, though, since these things will have a lot to do with the outcome of the match. The story mode, while not exactly Hemingway, does increase your empathy with the characters. The music is big and loud, but gets repetitive after extended play, and the sound effects, especially the voices, seem somewhat muffled. The graphics are probably the best part of this game, showing off nicely shaded characters and an overall look comparable to some of the best fighting games out there. If getting a Neo-Geo is cost-prohibitive, and you simply must have a copy of Art of Fighting, you shouldn't be too disappointed with this version of the game.