Ryuuko no Ken Ten-Chi-Jin SNK Best [PS2/JPN]

Art of Fighting I
   The familiar Neo Geo logo chimes on screen along with a warning about export. A photograph of Robert, Ryo, and Yuri appears only to have the glasses cracked. A game demo starts with a faithful recreation of the sound and music of the Neo Geo original. Upon pressing START the following options appear

Game Level..........MVS / Easy / Normal / Hard
Language.............Japanese / English / Spanish

   The fighters fill up nearly 3/4 of the height of the screen when they're close together and roughly 1/2 the height at their furthest distance apart as allowed on screen. The game may be played with the D-pad or analog thumbstick. For this particular game, we found the analog pad friendlier to use with special attacks a breeze to pull off.

   When the camera pans in and out, the frames of animation for the background graphics have been compromised. There are noticeable breaks in the background animation frames when fighters close in and leap out. The main part of the action is however fluid with big fighters jumping and attacking like natural born bruisers. When the fighters are standing in place and seemingly just jittering around, there are noticeably fewer frames of animation than the Neo Geo original. Similar to the original Neo Geo game, the shadows of the fighters flicker something fierce which can be slightly distracting.

   Art of Fighting offers two game modes: VS Mode and STORY MODE. Only Ryo or Robert may be chosen in STORY MODE. A total of 8 fighters are featured in the game.

   Robert walks or rather prances faithfully to the gait that he exhibited in the Neo Geo original. He seemingly tiptoes everywhere in light-footed fashion. The fighters spit blood when they get smashed in the face and everyone suffers from bruising. After a fighter gets clobbered a few times, his face will become swollen and disfigured. After a few more blows, it turns paunchy and purple. At the end of the bout, the faces of the fighters are wrecked like ripe pieces of broken fruit.

Art of Fighting 2
The intro of the game depicts the events of the first AOF and how Ryo and Robert busted heads to help a sister out. Press START and three options appear:

Game Level.........MVS / Easy / Normal / Hard
Game Speed........85% / 100% / 115% / 130%
Language.............Japanese / English / Spanish

   In addition to Robert and Ryo, any of the other 10 fighters may be chosen to use as a champion. The shadows flicker again underneath each fighter and the control feels slightly more substantial than the first game with each fighter seemingly exhibiting different "weight" from one another. For example, controlling the pot-bellied Jack feels more weighty than the svelte Yuri who moves faster and is more agile.

   As in the first AOF, frames of background animation have been removed which makes for slightly disjointed camera action as fighters ramble in and out of range. For a jittery experience, play the game at 130% speed and view the stuttered background as it scrolls in and out. Playing the game at 85% speed allows for a more thoughtful experience in that every move may be thought out and button mashing is theoretically kept to a minimum as you think through your next move in deliberate fashion. Adjusting the speed of the game speed to 85% appears to also slow down the music to 85%.

   Faces get bruised and swollen after a few punches connect and Jack loses his sunglasses with a single punch to show off his newly swollen face.

Art of Fighting 3
   Robert the Raging Tiger is on a mission to help a friend and the Latin fighter takes center stage. Press START and the following options may be toggled:

Round & Time.........Round [1/3/5] and Time [30/60/90/Infinity]
Language................Japanese / English / Spanish / Portuguese
Level.......................Easy / Normal / Hard / MVS

   The most visually impressive Art of Fighting game with crisp clean graphics and faithful animation of the characters. The frames of animation in the game appear intact. Robert literally dances on the battlefield with his fancy footwork while Ryo just bends his knees in place while pumping elbows.

    A total of ten fighters are featured in the game including Robert and Ryo. There's an Arabian sword handler named Sinclair, a goliath with busted up pants named Wyler, Karman who wears a crimson leisure suit, and Wang-Koh-San, a corpulent type with blue Keds, aviator goggles over his head and a sack of goodies strapped to his back. Cowgirl Lenny-Creston whips up a storm with her lasso and her jeans are tattered at the knees like a pair of distressed Evisus that young hipsters wear... except she looks about 40 years old and is unlikely to get any younger.

   The blood blows out ruddy and shocks of it blast away whenever a punch or kick connects. Art of Fighting is the most polished of the three games in terms of conversion quality. The camera pans in and out of the action smoothly and accommodates the brisk action on screen. The shadows still flicker noticeably however.

   We suspect most players will spend the most time on AOF3. It's visually on par with native PS2 fighting games and the kitschy Neo Geo magic is retained for old school fans to relive Neo Shock love.

NCS Consensus
   The visual impact of the first two Art of Fighting games suffers somewhat from the disjointed background animation due to the aforementioned missing frames. Thankfully, it's only a visual niggle that doesn't affect the fast paced action or the flow of the control as a gamer crushes the competition. Perhaps it is ironic then that Art of Fighting 3 which required the most memory in the Neo Geo original is the truest PS2 conversion in terms of animation quality.

   NCS' library of Neo Geo software is pretty much complete from Neo cartridges to MVS cartridges to all of the conversions on the PS1, DC, PS2, and Xbox. The Art of Fighting Collection is another welcome addition to our SNK archive although we would have enjoyed a Gallery Mode brimming with old artwork and character sketches.

   This item is also known as Art of Fighting Collection.

Region Lock-out
    Please note Japanese Playstation 2 games will not boot on USA or European PS2 consoles due to the inherent region-lockout on Playstation 2 game discs.

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