Fatal Fury: 1st Contact review by substance J

Fatal Fury: 1st Contact is a port/remix of Real Bout Fatal Fury 2, featuring some of the same gameplay elements, and the two new characters (Xiangfei and Rick), and it is housed on a 16 Meg cart. It's the 2nd fighting game to be ported specifically with NGPC in mind, and is a marked improvement (graphically) over KOF R-2.

Graphics - A
The visuals in Fatal Fury are quite simply, stunning. Character sprites are large and full of detail, animation is silky, and the background graphics are just plain beautiful. The color depth is very good, showing off details such as separate shades for hair and skin. But I almost find the characters overshadowed by the immense scale of the backgrounds (which is a good thing). In KOF R-2, the BG graphics were detailed, but seemed sort of unattached to the action happening onscreen. In Fatal Fury, however, the BGs are even more impressively drawn, and they seem so very organic. The perspective and art quality is so dead-on, it creates the feeling that the characters are really part of their own world, rather than just standing in front of a Bluescreen. Also, after beating the game, you are presented with two static pictures of whichever character you used. Too cool! I just love that sort of thing, and the pics look very good (the most colorful art I've seen on a portable thus far).

Sound - B-
The SFX are standard fare, mostly reused clips from KOF R-2. But the music is really good, mostly because it fits each setting well. The staff roll music is really catchy.

Gameplay - C+
This is kind of a tough call. There's not much to say about Fatal Fury's gameplay, and that's not a good thing. First of all, there are some bits that really annoy me. You're presented with very few options to customize your gameplay experience, and there is only one, yes, one mode of play. Maybe SNK ran out of room, or maybe they just forgot…but I'd like more than just arcade mode, thanks. A survival, team, or story mode would have been wonderful. But I simply cannot stay interested in playing Arcade mode over and over again. Especially with only the most basic of options, such as difficulty settings and so forth.

Though, on the plus side, Fatal Fury certainly does play well enough, and it has a good selection of characters. Some of which have never appeared on NGP before (such as two of my personal favorites, Billy and Yamazaki!). The basic gameplay is very similar to KOF (without teams, of course), but quite a bit slower (strategic or sluggish, you make the call), and of course it features FF's wacky Super Meter! The AI is much more intelligent than in past Neo Geo Pocket fighting games, and it can make for some very nerve racking fights! Solid gameplay overall, though now I wish SNK would have diversified the character roster a bit, simply because many of the characters featured in FF have recently appeared in other NGP fighters. I think it would have been worthwhile to exclude Mai and Terry, and put in some old faces like Duck King (gotta love him!), and others (Franco Bash, maybe?).

Overall: C+
Fatal Fury: 1st Contact is totally competent, but ultimately uninspiring. The gameplay is solid and the graphics are tremendous, but if you own any other NGP fighting game, FF will most likely be an underwhelming experience. It lacks even the most simple of gameplay features, which we usually take for granted. There are two hidden characters, and the character portraits are definitely worth beating the game for (though you can't save the pics - another downfall), but I simply cannot bring myself to play FF on a regular basis, especially when it's sitting next to the mighty KOF R-2. My final rating is a bit harsh. If this game were on any other system (Gameboy Color, Wonderswan), it would be fantastic. But in the crowded world of NGP fighting games, it becomes lost in pack. FF is basically three steps forward and two steps back in terms of the total package - Nothing terrible, nothing to go crazy about.