Three Questions about Fatal Fury difficulty

[dsheinem]

I'm the first to admit that I'm not very good at fighting games, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying them anyway and persevering through as many credits as needed to learn the system and kick some ass. I recently picked up the second "Fatal Fury Battle Archives" disc for the PS2 and figured it was time to give the series a try, as I'd never played it before for more than a few minutes.

I started with the first game in the series (on FFBA: Volume 1) and found the difficulty to be bone-crushingly hard. On the default "normal" difficulty I couldn't get past about 3-4 rounds before more or less hitting a wall. When I turned it down to "Easy" I was able to get to the penultimate fight only after much trial and tribulation, only to lose repeatedly to Billy Kane.

So I thought to myself "well this is just an unfair, cheap quarter-muncher." However, when doing some research it turned out that the difficulty I am having may be due to overly-tough to execute special moves - they are frequently reviewed as laggy, buggy, glitchy, and inconsistent. Considering I have difficulty pulling off even the simple special moves with consistency, I am inclined to agree.

So all of that preamble brings me to my three questions:

1. Are the glitchy special moves a problem for the series, this particular game, these compilations, or just this game on the compilation?

2. Is the series as a whole much more difficult compared to other fighters? I can usually get by in most Capcom, SNK and other fighters (Mortal Kombat, Tekken, etc.), but is this difficulty something I should expect if I want to make my way through the series?

3. Since I don't have a Neo-Geo, would I be better served to play another port of this game?

[the7k]

I remember the first Fatal Fury being difficult, and the special move inputs were a big part of that. Remember, this was made by many of the same people who worked on the original Street Fighter, and the original Street Fighter had many of the same problems.



I can't remember Fatal Fury 2 or Fatal Fury Special that well, but I am pretty sure they made the command list a lot more manageable. However, I put a lot of time into Fatal Fury 3. It felt right, and I actually like it just as much as the Real Bout Fatal Fury series - if not more. You should have plenty of fun with that one.

[dsheinem]

I remember the first Fatal Fury being difficult, and the special move inputs were a big part of that. Remember, this was made by many of the same people who worked on the original Street Fighter, and the original Street Fighter had many of the same problems.

I can't remember Fatal Fury 2 or Fatal Fury Special that well, but I am pretty sure they made the command list a lot more manageable. However, I put a lot of time into Fatal Fury 3. It felt right, and I actually like it just as much as the Real Bout Fatal Fury series - if not more. You should have plenty of fun with that one.

It's not that the moves are complex, it is that they don't register regularly (or else they are being way too exacting). For example, D, DF, F + Punch only seems to register maybe 1/2 the time, even though I feel like I am doing the move the same (on ether a stick or a control pad) each time. The moves are actually pretty simple - which made me think I'd enjoy the game as overly complex moves annoy me. But when they don't like to register...

[Assman]

The only experience I've had is with FF Special for XBLA, but I didn't seem to have any excessive problems with execution other than those inherent with the 360 D-pad. Oddly enough, I had way more trouble trying to play it with my Street Fighter 4 Fightpad (I think it may have to do with how unresponsive the diagonals of the pad are).

Since you're playing on a PS2, I'd say, "well, it's probably that crappy D-pad", but if you have the same problem on a stick, that's obviously not the case. Have you seen if the same problems exist with the other games on the compilation, namely FF Special (if it's even on there)? If so, maybe that compilation is just screwy.

If you have a 360, you could also just download the trial version of that game and see if you have the same control problem.

[GamerMON]

I can't wait till my Joysticks get here. I really want to play Samurai Showdown 1-3 on the orginal hardware.

[pepharytheworm]

I am not really good at fighters also and I found Fatal Fury to be one of the easier fighters to me. Now the SNES version I had a lot of trouble, not so much with Billy Kane as with Raiden. I have the PS2 , SNES and NGCD version of the original. I find that the Neo Geo CD version is the easiest to me, I can do the specials in the PS2 version but the pad makes it harder.

My advice to you is to use the plane system more to your advantage, its good for dodging and getting the upper hand against your opponent if used right.

But I will agree that the first one is one of the hardest in the series. Mostly due to only being able to select from three characters with Terry being the best.

If you tired the others in the series, how are you at them?

[dsheinem]

I am not really good at fighters also and I found Fatal Fury to be one of the easier fighters to me. Now the SNES version I had a lot of trouble, not so much with Billy Kane as with Raiden. I have the PS2 , SNES and NGCD version of the original. I find that the Neo Geo CD version is the easiest to me, I can do the specials in the PS2 version but the pad makes it harder.

My advice to you is to use the plane system more to your advantage, its good for dodging and getting the upper hand against your opponent if used right.

But I will agree that the first one is one of the hardest in the series. Mostly due to only being able to select from three characters with Terry being the best.

If you tired the others in the series, how are you at them?

No, I wanted to play through this one first and then try the others. Raiden was an asshole, and did give me a tough time until I finally just got lucky and beat him. I do use the plane system as much as I can, the problem is just simply unresponsive controls. It is hard to beat characters that more or less require you to time special moves properly when you can't execute the move. My general question is: is this a fault of the game or just my version of it?

[the7k]

It could be the fault of the compilation. I've heard just about all the SNK compilations have some sort of faults to them, and I remember Metal Slug Anthology having laggy controls. Haven't played the FF collections, but they may suffer a similar fate.

[the7k]

Well, I've been playing it for a bit. Yeah, the controls are kinda weird, and pulling off special moves is really tricky. Here's my tips for beating the harder enemies.

Raiden: Wait for him to spit, and then Burning Knuckle him.
Billy: Throw him, which will brake his staff. Burning Knuckle him repeatedly as he cowers so he'll die from chip damage.
Geese: You cannot escape from death. In all seriousness though, the only good strategy I came up with is try to get him to go into the second plane. When he leaps at you, punch at just the right time, sending him back to the second plane. Repeat. A lot. And pray to God you don't screw up.

[wip3outguy7]

Hehehe... Geese is easy. Just jump at him without attacking (empty jump?) and throw him when you hit the ground. Do it over and over again to great victory.