syltefar.com: Fatal Fury

Fun Fatal Fury Single-player Games

This is my list of which Fatal Fury games are fun and balanced for casual players such as myself in single-player. Since these games are generally very difficult for casual players, in this context 'better' usually means 'easier'.

Highly recommended:
- Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers (Neo Geo) - 0 continues on diff 1/8
- Real Bout Fatal Fury (Neo Geo) - 3 continues on diff 1/8
- Real Bout Fatal Fury Special (Neo Geo) - 0 continues on diff 1/8
- Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves (PS5) - 0 continues on diff 2/8

The jury's out:
- Fatal Fury Special (Neo Geo)
- Garou: Mark of the Wolves (Neo Geo)
- Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition (PSX)

Not recommended:
- Fatal Fury: King of Fighters (Neo Geo) - Unfair - used >30 continues on dif 1/8
- Fatal Fury 2 (Neo Geo) - Horribly unfair - used >90 continues on dif 1/8
- Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory (Neo Geo) - Unfair - used >40 continues on dif 1/8

Overview

Here's an overview of the original releases of Fatal Fury games:

FATAL FURY (Neo Geo)
1991 Fatal Fury: King of Fighters
     - Two planes
     - Playable: Terry Bogard, Andy Bogard, Joe Higashi
1992 Fatal Fury 2
     - Two planes
     - New playable: Andy Bogard, Big Bear, Jubei Yamada, Cheng Sinzan
       Kim Kaphwan, Mai Shiranui
1993 Fatal Fury Special
     - Very similar to FF2, but many new characters
     - New playable: Billy Kane, Axel Hawk, Laurence Blood,
       Wolfgang Krauser, Tung Fu Rue, Duck King, Geese Howard
1995 Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory
     - Three planes
     - New playable: Sokaku Mochizuki, Bob Wilson, Hon-Fu, Blue Mary,
       Franco Bash

REAL BOUT (Neo Geo)
1995 Real Bout Fatal Fury
     - Three planes
     - New playable: Ryuji Yamazaki, Jin Chonrei, Jin Chonshu
1997 Real Bout Fatal Fury Special
     - New playable (from FFS): Tung Fu Rue, Cheng Sinzan,
       Laurence Blood, and Wolfgang Krauser
1998 Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers
     - New playable: Li Xiangfei, Rick Strowd

GAROU (Neo Geo)
1999 Garou: Mark of the Wolves
     - One lane
     - All new characters, except for Terry Bogard

CITY OF THE WOLVES (PS5)
2025 Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves
     - One lane except for one special stage
     - Playable: All characters from Garou, except Freeman, Grant
       + Billy Kane, Mai Shiranui
       + New characters: Cristiano Ronaldo, Preecha, Salvatore Ganacci,
         Vox Reaper