My Played Video Games Review: Fatal Fury 2 for the Sega Genesis

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Fatal Fury 2 is a 1992 fighting video game released by SNK of Japan for the Neo Geo arcade and home console, and later ported a version for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive published by Takara in 1994.

This was a good sequel to Fatal Fury of which I have posted a review before. Even though its gameplay was good, it never caught on in my country due to Street Fighter II's massive popularity during the early 1990s.

The box cover art for the arcades and the Neo Geo game console was different. (Image source)

The Story

Our 3 heroes return to clash with new challengers in the "Sultan of Slugs" Battle Royale. After a year of hard training, Andy, Joe, and Terry take on the world. Fatal Fury 2! Special attacks burst with more action. Dual-plane battles bring you to the next stage in the fighting game evolution. With easy maneuverability and fast choreography to boot.

Sega Genesis box and cartridge of the game. (Image source)

The Graphics and Sound

The graphics might be a bit grainy, but here the character sprites looked bigger and better. And the animations have improved. The stages look great and few fighting game series can compare with it. The background scenes, you might notice, are moving slowly and changing. Also, the stages change color according to the time that has gone by.

The sound is great. The tunes are kind of catchy too and can really rival the Street Fighter II's soundtrack. The sound effects are also well done. There are actually more voice-overs for the characters' special moves.

Gameplay video sample of Fatal Fury 2 in versus mode. Watch in 360p for near TV resolution of that time.

The Gameplay

This game feels actually better in gameplay value than Street Fighter Champion Edition. There are 12 characters to choose from, even the 4 bosses. The controls are smooth and special moves are easy to pull off.

As for character balance, well things like the shorter charging time for charged-based special attacks characters made the game more balanced. The ability to fade in the background also removed the advantage of the projectile-using characters. It made the game more balanced and also give it more depth than Street Fighter's cheesy fireball traps.

The replay value is good. You may want to try out almost all of the characters to see which fit your playing style the most.

My Verdict

Fatal Fury 2 is one of the best fighting games on the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. It is also a game not well known to most people who only knew of the Street Fighter series. Fighting game fans who like the King of Fighters series should really play this game and see how some of their favorite characters had looked during the early days.

Play it on the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive console or on a Sega emulator. Have fun playing matches with a friend.

Let's keep on gaming in the free world!