As i said before that i will
review another Art of Fighting game.
Therefore i play SNK's Art of Fighting 3
- The Path of The Warrior (1996).
Yes, i skip the 2nd in series. I assume the difference is more significant
between the 1st and the 3rd so i can spot it more easily and i don't need to
play the 2nd ones. Unlike the previous one that i never played before, i
finished Art of Fighting 3 two
or three times.
I feel it's waste to put the
title screen in still image what's with awesome intro here. It shows 5 playable
characters and a lass with cool grey turtleneck at the end. Although i said
that i finished this game few times, i still don't remember her name or what's
the deal with her. All i know is she's not combatant and appears at the boss
stage. It's bold step up from the 1st game, to have more playable characters in
single-player but i still settle with "The Invincible Dragon" because
i am still uncreative started with Ryo and i shall finish it with him
too. P.S: He won't be invincible once i control him.
The basic control is quite the same with the first game. 1st button to punch. 2nd button to kick. 3rd button to deliver hard blow. While 4th button to taunt. By holding forward and pressing punch or kick button, your character will take step forward a bit and initiate attack that can be followed up to create combo. This is quite extraordinary. There's also throw to make enemy grounded but deal no damage, which executed with holding backward and pressing hard blow button.
I don't know what my motivation this time but thing for sure is i kick a bloke that wears a pair of tonfa batons. Luckily, he's not as difficult as Mr. Big who also wears a pair of sticks as weapon or Ryuhaku Todoh who also first opponent. Speaking of kick move, it's executed with half circle forward motion and kick button. This inconsistency input throughout the games still baffles me!
There's no motorcycle ride intermission here. Instead, we get Ryo and Yuri walk over the map. Now, that's brown-haired Yuri Sakazaki that we know and familiar with. But she's not playable here, unfortunately. So this time, Ryo is on quest to find his friend and rival "The Raging Tiger" Robert Garcia who's missing. It's quite solid motive, i would say.
Then i beat a fat bloke who carries camping bag, on South American temple. He's more pushover than the tonfa guy.
Maybe i get too hard on him. I'm legit shoto clone and martial artist while he's just chubby man that like to swing frying pan around. Poor git. I just notice that Ryo sports a perfect mullet now. Medic_cheers01.wav
Oh, hey! A kitty. Best fighting stage 10/10. What else i can say about Lenny here? Besides she's in intro and wield a leather whip which provides significant range advantage than punch and kick can do although she can't unleash a projectile of unordinary power.
Now that i know how to charge my spirit bar (that located below the life bar) by holding down either punch or kick button. I have more freedom in unleashing special moves (that depletes spirit bar per use) than my previous playthrough where i assumed that i can only execute special weapon limited per round.
If the fighter's health is in critical situation (at least ± 25% health remaining), they flash orange and possible have access to super move. The problem is: i don't know the input for it. Leaving that aside, this stage is pretty something. There's bright parade on the back which makes this backalley even darker. There's cats that simply ignore a hooman that can throw spirit ball at his opponent because they're ignorant like real cats although i can point out that some real cats are too sensitive over something. I don't know the deal with that depressed guy over there. Maybe he witness his girlfriend watch the parade with other man so he decides to forget her with liquor after liquor. Poor git.
Meanwhile, Kasumi Todoh searches the area for Ryo Sakazaki to avenge his father that currently hospitalized on previous moment.
My next opponent is Sinclair. Not the charismatic bloke from Bioshock 2. Like in previous game, my "Hadou Ken" can be destroyed with normal attack. Because it travels straight ahead, my opponent can punches it away. On the other hand, Sinclair can conjure ghostly swords around me and i can't do nothing about them except blocking. Heavy_sf13_magic_reac03.wav
Ouch, my knee! But i have to admit your flexibility that you show on our fight.
She can spinning around with her sword. She reminds me of that masked freak in previous game. This going to take a while.
Unlike in previous game, enemies can grab me but the chance is small. But it's still bigger chance than 0%. Nevertheless, i can close in to her and try to throw her relatively safe. By the way, there's caged fight in the back with more audience than our fight. Am i not entertaining enough to you, guys?
Next opponent is shirtless buff ninja because why not? Somehow, he reminds me of T. Hawk from Street Fighter 2. Maybe because they're both buff guy with blue cloth.
I forget to show you the hundred fist "Zanretsu Ken" move on previous game. So here it is. The first time i know him (and other King of Fighter characters) from Capcom Vs. SNK , i thought the input command for Zanretsu Ken is like input for super of Blanka or Vega. Turns out i just need to press forward, back, forward + punch button. That's some Mortal Kombat style input command, which is strange for Japanese Fighting game.
Finally, Kasumi Todoh meets me and she can extract her father's revenge. Remember when i say enemies less likely to throw me? Turns out Kasumi isn't reluctant to pick me and slam me like trash bag. What a violent attitude!
This game certainly has better pace and speed's movement than the first game. My minor problem with this game is the weak-looking crouching kick. I expect some powerful sweeping kick so my opponent go down upon connect. But this kick seems not do well for me. Sometime they just fall down but most of the time they just flinched a bit. This complaint probably come from me who accustomed to Street Fighter game.
He either has partial amnesia or totally ignorant. Either way he's insolent jerk.
My next opponent is Karman Cole who is the one ask Ryo to look for Robert Garcia in first place. Maybe he's getting impatient because i take long time to search for him in this whole region! So you deserve punch in junk, no good sir. There's a time before fighters can get up when knocked down. You can use this moment to attack them while still grounded activated by diagonal forward-down + punch/kick button. In Karman's case, he grab his opponent's by the collar and punch their cheek. Quite rude of him.
Finally, i meet Robert and we fight eventually. To my surprise, he pull the super move while my health is near zero and it results in Ultimate K.O. also he tears my gi! Ultimate K.O. will make the match ends immediately without the usual best of 3 rounds. To be honest, i didn't know about this before. Like not at all. By the way, i try the Haou Ken input from previous game but it doesn't work at all here. Soldier_negativevocalization05.wav
Take this Zanretsu Ken! I only earn normal K.O. but it's satisfying enough for me. After being defeated, Robert leave Freia to me and go to where Yuri is. Who's this Freia anyway?
Oh, right! Freia is the lass with amazing turtleneck. Ryo asks her to go home with him. But some shoddy name Wyler stops her to leave. You can't tell her what to do!
Then he drinks wine that he keep holding whole time, ignoring Freia's warning. Is he underage or has allergy to alcohol drink?
Oh, i see! He turns into hulk and so we fight. Then he manages to sit on me with his muscular rump. Good job, me! [Medium Sarcasm]
Don't ever try to think about to grab Wyler because he will immediately break from your hold. Meanwhile, he like to grab your face and then throw you away like ragdoll.
Besides immunity to throw and able to deal large damage, he can punches your projectile back to you. Given that he's boss in this game, but he's not as frustrating as usual SNK's boss that like to do cheap stuffs at you. He can also throw fast tornado at me but remember about projectile that can be negated by normal attack? Yes, i can kick the tornado into oblivion just fine. Overall, he's reasonably challenging boss.
Heavy_taunts05.wav. After defeated, Wyler lies down and cry for his father. I notice that there's Wyler's tombstone behind Freia, which belongs to Wyler senior. So i fought Wyler junior. Anyway, Freia refuses to leave the crybaby Wyler Jr. because she feels guilty to abandon him like her father leaves Wyler Sr.
There's no further explanation in this game but i can come up with this story. Freia's father is scientist who seek to re-create the serum that makes Captain America and he's funded by Wyler Sr. Later on, he gives up and decides to do something better, meet with Freia's mother and get married. Meanwhile Wyler Sr. is frustrated because he spends money for nothing and hang himself leaving Wyler Jr. alone with his riches and some bad memory. Year after year, Wyler Jr. eager about the Serum thus he invites Freia to continue her father research. Feeling burdened (and also fell for his handsomeness), she accept the invitation. Before the serum is complete, Ryo interferes thus forcing Wyler Jr. to drink the incomplete serum that supposed to make him become human with super strength and agility like Captain America , he becomes Hulk instead. Well, half-Hulk to be precise. Because his skin doesn't turn green, you see.
Later
At the airport, Robert is about to go home to Italy. He's half-heartedly accepts Freia's decision to stay by Wyler Jr. side. Maybe she's Robert's employee or crush or even both. Ryo Sakazaki gets another credit because he wears other something than his Gi. You never saw Ryu wears undershirt and denim, don't you?
Yuri feels sad with Robert's departure because it's pretty obvious that she hasn't told her feeling to him. Ryo gives her ticket to Italy and tells her to go after him. If it goes really smooth, Yuri and Robert will go down to "business" because Ryo isn't there between them. But as long as they happy. Is fine, isn't? Happy End!
SNK's Art of Fighting 3 - The Path of The Warrior (1996) is better than the first game (on Sega Genesis) for sure even without any bonus stages. The gameplay is faster and smoother also easier. There's no significant cheapness on CPU enemies at least that's what i feel. The mini combo system is pretty well implemented. The damage formula feels fair with decent hit detection. The ground attack and grounding throw/parry are pretty neat feature. Because the projectile can be punched, the game discourages zoning of the Shoto fighter. Instead, you're forced to rely more on non-projectile special moves and thankfully they're quite plenty and functional to use. The roster is overall adequate except for that fat kid. He's supposed to be joke character, probably. Like in previous game, spirit bar is meant to discourage special move spamming within short period thus creating intense fight. When enemies are down, you can either pound them further for some extra damage or take this opportunity to fill your spirit bar. Thus the extended grounded time adds layer of strategy. The graphic is typical chunky good of Neo Geo board's graphic. The sound effect is standard good. The music is quite neat.
Art of Fighting 3 - The Path of The Warrior (1996) is competent SNK fighting game. Sadly, it's not so well-known or at least that's what i can conclude after take glance on its channel on Fightcade 2. Perhaps, the spirit bar system and destructible projectile aren't to people's liking. To be honest, i don't like my projectile can be punched away but i also think it's fair system because i have other special move. Thus this game is in the shadow of King of Fighter or what have you. But i assure you that it's worth to try plus the boss fight is fair and well designed.
I don't think letting my sister to get laid by my friend/rival, is wise deed. So Ryo is no wiser than me, apparently.
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