Lets talk about...Art of Fighting!

[Zerodash]

Where KoF's Ryo, Robert, Yuri, Takuma, King, Kazama, Mr.Big, Kasui and CVS2's Todo originated...

Art of Fighting is one of SNK's original fighting franchises that died out immediately after it became good.

The first, released in 1992, played VERY clunkily. Its saving grace were the HUGE sprites and the fact that the fighters would bruise and swell as they took a beating- Mortal Kombat 5 is hence NOT the first fighter to offer such an aspect.

AoF2 was released in '94 and featured a full roster of fighters. Despite the huge sprites, the game was so horrid it was nearly UNPLAYABLE. Interestingly, a long-haired Geese Howard was the final boss (AoF is supposed to be a prequel to Fatal Fury which was a prequel to KoF'94).

AoF3 was released in 1996 and was amazing. It sported huge, GORGEOUSLY animated (rotoscoped?) sprites. In fact, the animation RIVALS that of SF3! One of the best-looking 2-D games ever made. The slick graphics were complimented by a very tight fighting system that fixed every problem the first two AoF games had.

Sadly, AoF3 failed to gain enough attention and $$ to justify the continuation of the series or even a home port. To make matters worse, very few MVS cabs in North America have AoF3 in them.

AoF 1 and AoF 2 are complete ass.

AoF 3 is one of the best 2-D fighters SNK has ever made.


Thats my take on AoF.

What are yours?

[PaCrappa]

The great and mystifying PaCrappa predicts that a man named Technosphile will visit this thread with many words of opinion.

Pa

[Dyne]

i was never into it....why were the characters so HUDGE!!??

[lithium]

AOF3 stunk. Awful stuff. I think people are too blindsided by its graphics. There was practically no fighting engine to speak of.

I liked AOF1 and 2 for their music, charactes, story and the nice little details they threw in. But they too did not play very well.

AOF is a franchise that just never got off the ground. Fatal Fury, SS and KOF all got many more things right way before AOF did, and so it's no surprise AOF was abandoned.

Interestingly, Lastblade was developed by the same team who did AOF3. They obviously did their homework.

[Zerodash]

Originally posted by Dragonmaster Dyne
i was never into it....why were the characters so HUDGE!!??

They were so hudge because back in the days of sprites and arcades, you needed a gimmick to draw in arcade goers. Hence the sprites.

Might I also add that AoF 1 and 2 had the STOOPIDEST announcer voice ever.

[Tain]

I agree with lithium. I really don't think AOF3 plays even half-decently.

[gameoverDude]

AoF 3 is OK... but I really hate that they took out King and Yuri from the character lineup.

AoF 2 is way too hard. If you make it to Mr. Big in this one, you may wish you hadn't.

The first one does have a cool announcer calling out the bonus game after you pick it (in Japanese). As far as BGM goes, John's is my favorite in that game, with Lee's and King's tied for a close second. The control is stiff, but it can be coped with after a few plays. AoF1 is actually my favorite in this series.

The series is fairly decent, but if Playmore ever decides to release AoF and KoF collections at the same time I'll pick up the latter first.

[Freeter]

AOF2 was actually worse than its predecessor in the gameplay dept. If you made it to Geese, consider yourself an expert.

AOF3 was ok, yet uninspiring. Kasumi was cute with her little translator book though

[Soviet_Commando]

I don't care what anyone says, King is the greatest character SNK ever came up with and AoF would be nothing without her.
Who remembers her secret?

[Adrian]

She really is a man?