Format: Arcade CD-ROM²
Genre: 2d Fighter
Developer: Hudson Soft
Publisher: Hudson Soft

It may not be as well known as Samurai Shodown, but in this case of "what you can do, I can do better" sibling rivalry, it may just be this third iteration of Fatal Fury that comes out on top. Foggy Chinese mountains, disco dance floors, and dizzying train rides are stunningly rich with detail and cute touches. The fighters are massive, and many of them have excellent faux-scaling effects, such as Billy's pole weapon, and Jubei's shoes as they are kicked off at the start of battle. But perhaps most startling of all: these sentences could apply equally to the Neo Geo original or this PC Engine port, such is the latter's quality! There are certainly fewer colors on screen and a few missing background animations, but literally everything else makes the transition intact.

Sweeping Italian riviera accordion solos, screeching guitar riffs, traditional Japanese effects reminiscent of Samurai Shodown, a chillingly good Spanish matador song that puts Capcom's "Balrog" to shame, and even some awesomely remixed Mozart-- it's all to hear in Fatal Fury Special, and it stands up to some of the all-time best game music from the era. Character voices are both crystal clear-- compliments of the PC Engine sound chip's PCM channel-- and exceedingly memorable, creating instant iconic moments for even people brand new to the series. The PC Engine sound chip doesn't quite do justice to impactful punch and block sound effects, but more than makes up for it with-- in typical "peanut butter and jelly" Duo fashion-- excellently programmed chip music intermixed with re-sampled and re-worked Red Book stage tracks, the latter of which form easily the best rendition of any of the various versions of this game, including the original.

Fatal Fury's claim to fame is its "two plane" system-- similar to the mechanic in the later Saturn game, "Guardian Heroes"-- except here, characters can not only leap between the two planes, but can also invoke a variety of attacks en route. Otherwise, Fatal Fury Special plays like any SNK fighter-- and that is a compliment to be sure; a large fifteen character cast contains a huge wealth of disparate fighting styles, with each character feeling fully distinct from the others. Like in Capcom's "Street Fighter II" titles, move sets here are easy to remember, which is a testament to character-filled design. And if anything, the collision detection is superior in this game to many other fighters of the era, including the aforementioned Samurai Shodown!

As someone brand new to the series, this reviewer has found Fatal Fury Special to be a huge and pleasant surprise! Unexpectedly, this is no "b series" game in the vein of an "Eternal Champions" or "Primal Rage"-- rather, its incredible stage designs, wonderful and instantly iconic cast of characters, and water tight fighting mechanics easily place it in the same tier as some of the genre's finest. But most extraordinary of all is how outstanding this Hudson-developed PC Engine port is. As one of only a dozen or so games on the platform that requires the extra RAM from an "Arcade" HuCard, it very obviously takes full advantage, playing more like a 32-bit release while standing almost as tall as the Neo Geo original! Move on over, big brother SamSho-- there's a new sheriff in town!