Fatal Fury

Fatal Fury, known as Garō Densetsu (餓狼伝説) in Japan, is a fighting game series developed by SNK, first released on the Neo Geo system.

Gameplay
The original Fatal Fury is known for the two-plane system. Characters fight from two different planes. By stepping between the planes, attacks can be dodged with ease. Later games have dropped the two-plane system, replacing it with a complex system of dodging, including simple half second dodges into the background and a three plane system. Characters have moves that can attack across the two planes, attack both planes at once, or otherwise attack dodge characters. The plane system was fully abandoned from later releases beginning with Garou: Mark of the Wolves.

Later Fatal Fury games have experimented with various mechanical changes. "Ring-outs" allow a character to lose the round if the character is thrown into the edges of the fighting backdrop; single-plane backdrops, where dodging is eliminated altogether, causing moves that send opponents to the opposite plane to do collateral damage. The "Deadly Rave" is a super combo used by several characters, where after execution, a player had to press a preset series of buttons with exact timing for the entire combo to execute. The "Just Defend" is a type of protected block in which players regained lost life, did not wear down the player's guard crush meter and removed all block stuns making combo interruptions smoother.

Setting
Fatal Fury and its sister series, Art of Fighting, are set in the same fictional universe; while Art of Fighting takes place in the late 1970s, the story of Fatal Fury begins over a decade later in the early 1990s. The two series are set primarily in the same fictional city of "South Town", loosely based on the real-life city of Miami. The Wolves sub-series takes place in the neighboring city of "Second Southtown".

Many characters from both Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting appear in The King of Fighters series, which is set in its own universe that ignores the continuity established in the Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting games so that the characters from both series could battle without having to age any of them.

Characters
As with most fighting games, the Fatal Fury series has an extensive cast of characters that increases with each installment. The series' primary protagonists include Terry Bogard, Andy Bogard and Joe Higashi, all introduced in the original game, and female ninja Mai Shiranui, introduced in Fatal Fury 2; these four characters have appeared in every series entry since their debut, with the exception of Garou: Mark of the Wolves. The series' most prominent antagonist is Geese Howard, a crime lord in South Town responsible for the death of the Bogard brothers' father, who is often accompanied by his right hand man Billy Kane. Other major antagonists have included Geese's half brother Wolfgang Krauser; possessed orphans the Jin brothers; and Geese's brother in law Kain R. Heinlein.

Garou: Mark of the Wolves acts as a soft reboot of the series, taking place ten years after the previous games and featuring an almost entirely new cast of fighters, with the story primarily focusing on Rock Howard, son of Geese Howard and protégé of Terry Bogard. Terry, now completely redesigned, is the only returning character in Mark of the Wolves; however, other legacy Fatal Fury characters are set to return in the upcoming sequel, City of the Wolves.

Certain characters are shared with the Art of Fighting series to more closely establish continuity between the two; for example, Art of Fighting 2 features Geese Howard and depicts his initial rise to power in South Town, while Marco Rodrigues in Garou: Mark of the Wolves is established to be the student of Art of Fighting protagonist Ryo Sakazaki. Some characters have also made appearances outside the Fatal Fury series, particularly in The King of Fighters.

Story
In 1981, ten years prior to the events of Fatal Fury: King of Fighters, Terry and his brother Andy are adopted by Jeff Bogard, only for Jeff to be killed in front of them by his former rival Geese Howard. Determined, the brothers spend the next decade training to become stronger, meeting new allies Joe Higashi and Mai Shiranui, before returning to South Town to participate in the "King of Fighters" fighting tournament being held by Geese. After winning the tournament, Terry and Geese have a showdown at the top of Geese Tower, and Geese is sent falling from the building, believed to be dead. One year later in Fatal Fury 2, Geese's half brother Wolfgang Krauser hosts a new global King of Fighters tournament in a bid to draw out Geese's killers and prove himself stronger. At the end of the tournament, Terry defeats Krauser, who chooses to take his own life in shame.

In Fatal Fury 3, set three years later, Terry and his friends learn that Geese survived his fall using a magic scroll, and now seeks to recover the three legendary Jin scrolls, said to imbue their user with great power. With the scrolls spotted in South Town, Terry and the others race to recover the scrolls before Geese while also contending with Jin Chonshu and Jin Chonrei, two Chinese orphans possessed by the spirits of their ancestors that seek to use the scrolls to resurrect themselves. Geese recovers the Jin scrolls, but chooses to destroy them so they cannot be used against him. In Real Bout: Fatal Fury, to assert his power, Geese holds another "King of Fighters" tournament, which culminates in a final battle between him and Terry. Geese is once again knocked from his tower, and though Terry tries to save him, Geese refuses and willingly falls to his death. Seeking to end the cycle of violence, Terry decides to raise Geese's now orphaned young son, Rock Howard.

The story continues in Garou: Mark of the Wolves, taking place ten years later. Terry and the now grown up Rock are invited to participate in the new "King of Fighters: Maximum Mayhem" tournament. The two later learn that it was organized by Rock's maternal uncle, Kain R. Heinlein, who seeks to use Geese's fortune to make Second Southtown an independent city-state ruled by violence. When Kain reveals that Rock's mother Marie is still alive, Rock leaves Terry to go with Kain in order to learn the truth. The story is set to continue in the upcoming Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves.

Several other Fatal Fury games have been released, though these games' stories are not a part of the main series canon. These include Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition, which retells the story of the original game with characters from later entries, and Real Bout Fatal Fury Special: Dominated Mind, in which new protagonist Alfred stops the evil White from filling the power vacuum in South Town after Geese's death.

Development
Series producers Takashi Nishiyama (Fatal Fury~Real Bout Fatal Fury 2) and Hiroshi Matsumoto (Fatal Fury 3~Mark of the Wolves), were the planners of the original Street Fighter (where they were credited as Piston Takashi and Finish Hiroshi). Matsumoto is also the creator of the Art of Fighting series.

Main games

 * Original sub-series
 * Fatal Fury — The first game of the Fatal Fury series allowed players to select one of three characters, Terry Bogard, Andy Bogard, and Joe Higashi, as they fight against eight computer-controlled opponents, ending with Billy Kane and Geese Howard. When a second player joins in, they have the option of either playing cooperatively with the other player against the CPU or competitively against each other. The game was ported to SNES and Sega Genesis by Takara.
 * Fatal Fury 2 — The immediate sequel revamped the controls from the original game, adding punch and kick buttons of different strength levels and allowing the player to change between fighting lanes at will. Terry, Andy, and Joe return, along with five new playable characters (including Mai Shiranui and Kim Kaphwan). This time, the player faces off against the other seven characters (as well as a clone of their own character) before fighting against four computer-only bosses, culminating with the new antagonist Wolfgang Krauser. The game was ported once again to the SNES and Genesis by Takara. A PC Engine Super CD-ROM² was also released by Hudson Soft in Japan, which utilized the Arcade Card.
 * Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory — Fatal Fury 3 revamps the previous lane changing system and introduces a new type of combo techniques known as "Combination Arts". Terry, Andy, Joe, Mai, and Geese return from Fatal Fury Special, along with five new playable characters (including Blue Mary), along with three boss characters (Ryuji Yamazaki, Jin Chonshu, and Jin Chonrei), for a total of thirteen playable characters. It was ported by SNK to the Sega Saturn. A Windows 95 version was also released by Cyberfront.
 * Real Bout sub-series
 * Real Bout Fatal Fury — Real Bout Fatal Fury simplifies the controls and introduces a "Power Gauge" allowing the player to perform super-powered special moves. The Fatal Fury 3 character roster returned (with the boss characters now being regular characters), along with Duck King, Kim Kaphwan, and Billy Kane from Fatal Fury Special. Geese Howard reclaimed his status from the first game as the final boss. This game was also released for the PlayStation (in Japan and Europe) and the Sega Saturn (in Japan only).
 * Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers — The final game in the Real Bout sub-series, Real Bout Fatal Fury 2 retains twenty of the characters from Real Bout Special and introduces two new characters; Li Xiangfei and Rick Strowd. The game also featured a new secret challenger named Alfred.
 * Wolves sub-series
 * Garou: Mark of the Wolves — The last 2D era Fatal Fury game released for the Neo Geo. Set a decade after Real Bout Special, Terry Bogard returns along with a new cast of characters, including new protagonist Rock Howard, Geese's son and Terry's protégé, for a total of fourteen playable characters. The lane-change system was discarded in favor of techniques such as "Just Defend". It was ported to the Dreamcast (released under the title Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves) and PlayStation 2 (in Japan only).
 * Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves — A new 2.5D Fatal Fury game, currently in development. In addition to returning Mark of the Wolves characters, City of the Wolves marks the return of other characters from previous Fatal Fury games.

Side games

 * Special sub-series
 * Fatal Fury Special — An updated and refined version of Fatal Fury 2, including faster game speed. The roster of twelve characters from Fatal Fury 2 returned, with the four CPU boss characters now playable, along with three returning characters from the original Fatal Fury (Duck King, Tung Fu Rue, and Geese Howard). Ryo Sakazaki from Art of Fighting appears as a secret final boss. The game was once again ported to the SNES by Takara, with a Sega CD version by JVC, and a PC Engine version by Hudson Soft (once again utilizing the Arcade Card).
 * Real Bout Fatal Fury Special — Like Fatal Fury Special, Real Bout Fatal Fury Special retained many of the characters from the classic Fatal Fury games; Cheng Sinzan, Laurence Blood, Tung Fu Rue, and Wolfgang Krauser return from Fatal Fury Special. All sixteen of the characters from Real Bout Fatal Fury return, with Geese Howard now being a secret final boss and hidden playable character. "Extra" versions of Andy Bogard, Tung Fu Rue, Blue Mary, and Billy Kane also appear as secret characters. It was also released for the Sega Saturn in Japan only. Iori Yagami from The King of Fighters series is also a playable character in the Game Boy version.
 * Real Bout Garou Densetsu Special: Dominated Mind — A PlayStation game based on Real Bout Special, it features a new story mode starring Alfred (from Real Bout 2) as the main protagonist, and includes a new main antagonist named White, based upon Alex from the movie A Clockwork Orange. Dominated Mind discards the multi-lane system from the previous Fatal Fury games and introduces new moves such as hidden unlockable super moves and super cancel moves (known in the game as "Final Impacts").
 * Miscellaneous Entries
 * Fatal Fury: First Contact — A portable fighting game loosely based on Real Bout 2. It featured the exclusive character Lao, playable only in the two-player versus mode, along with twelve of the characters from Real Bout 2.
 * Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition — A 3D fighting game that retells the story of Fatal Fury, but with many of the original characters replaced with characters from the later sequels such as Mai, Kim, and Yamazaki, as well as introducing two new characters (Tsugumi Sendo and Toji Sakata). The PlayStation port of Wild Ambition featured an older Ryo Sakazaki as the new Mr. Karate (from Buriki One) and Duck King as secret characters.

Compilations
Two compilations have been released:
 * Fatal Fury Battle Archives Volume 1 (PlayStation 2, SNK Playmore, 2006). The compilation contains original versions of Fatal Fury, Fatal Fury 2, Fatal Fury Special and Fatal Fury 3. It has a language option for each game between Japanese and English. It was released in the United States in August 2007.
 * Fatal Fury Battle Archives Volume 2 (PlayStation 2, SNK Playmore, 2007). This compilation contains Real Bout Fatal Fury, Real Bout Fatal Fury Special and Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers. The language option offers Japanese, English, Spanish and Portuguese. It was released in the United States in April 2008.

In other media
The Fatal Fury series inspired a trilogy of animated productions produced by NAS with SNK, featuring character designs by Masami Ōbari. The first is a television special that aired in 1992 on Fuji TV titled Fatal Fury: Legend of the Hungry Wolf (Battle Fighters Garou Densetsu), which adapts the plot of the first game. It was followed in 1993 by another television special Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle (Battle Fighters Garou Densetsu 2) based on the second game, which also aired on Fuji TV. A theatrically released film followed in 1994, titled Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture (Garou Densetsu: The Motion Picture), which features an original plot and new characters. The first two TV specials were released on a single laserdisc and later on DVD.

VIZ Communications picked up the license for the trilogy and produced English dubbed versions of each of them, releasing them straight to VHS, and later on DVD. They were later released subtitled, with the first two Fatal Fury specials released in one video titled Fatal Fury One-Two Punch. The subbed version of Fatal Fury 2 features a scene involving a rematch between Joe Higashi and Big Bear (Raiden) that was cut from the dubbed version. The English DVD release of the TV specials, Fatal Fury: Double Impact, features this scene. If chosen to be viewed with the English dub, it would temporarily go onto Japanese with English subtitles during this scene.

Many soundtracks, manga comics, other books, video tapes, and drama CDs have been released in Japan for the series as a whole and for each of its individual entries. A brief OVA set after the events of Mark of the Wolves, titled Memories of Stray Wolves, was packaged with the 15th anniversary soundtrack collection. The events of the first game were also loosely adapted in the web series The King of Fighters: Destiny.

Characters from Fatal Fury have gone on to make guest appearances in various fighting games such as Dead or Alive 5: Last Round, Tekken 7, Fighting EX Layer, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and Street Fighter 6, as well as games from other genres such as Fall Guys.