A vast improvement over its predecessors...even if I got to it three years after its release...
So, back to Southtown after Krauser's KOF tournament. Everything seems to be better, Richard Meyer's opened a new PaoPao Cafe, but something's a miss. A criminal named Yakazaki has come to town, along with a detective hot on his trail, and looks like Geese didn't die after all, what a shame : ) I was pleasantly surprised to find the big nose in the corner wasn't a new character. Anyway, everyone involved is looking for the Scrolls of Immortality, including two weird-looking brothers. I'd say a better-than-average storyline...
The game setups up like the first one (can't remember the second one at the moment). The first fight you choose out of 4: Bob, Franco, Blue Mary, or Joe. Depending on who you pick first, the path of the four may be more difficult than others. The in-game action is fast-paced, a lot faster than at least previous installments, and that's a great thing. Switching from foreground to background is like tic-tac-toe, bing-bang-boom! Also, depending on the stage, if you end a fight in a certain way, you or your opponent can be sent flying off in the background (usually into water), it's not a fatality but whatever. The characters are redrawn well and the sound effects are great (BARE KNUCKLE!). Ah, the beginnings of Busta-Wolf, I can hear it lol
So, this is a very good outing, I was very surprised since I bought that 2-pack basically for SS2. Unfortunately, until they released Battle Archives Vol. 2, this was the last US release of the Fatal Fury series for years, with the Real Bout Fatal Fury branch off staying home in Japan (I never knew about it until a few years ago). With that, it's also the best game in Battle Archives Vol. 1, which you should go check out.