Art of Fighting 3: SNK's Misunderstood Masterpiece

SNK's Art of Fighting series has always been a little quirky when compared to other contemporary fighting games of the day. While the first game came out when developers were still trying to suss out what works and what doesn't with 2D fighters, the second and third games came out when the general game plan of 2D fighters were better established. Rather than follow suit with the wave of Street Fighter inspired knock-offs as the 1990's progressed, the Art of Fighting series stuck to its roots of being a little different than anything else on the market and Art of Fighting 3 changes things up even more.

When Art of Fighting 3 was released in early 1996, arcade goers and critics alike weren't quite sure what to make of it. Of course critics were quick to pan the game as being too similar to every other 2D fighter on the market. Yet, when Street Fighter Alpha 2 released later that year, those same critics praised that game's originality despite it being radically similar to every other iteration of Street Fighter before it; you know, all SIX of them that released in as many years - eight if you include the two different versions of the Street Fighter the Movie tie-in game. At the same time, the average arcade consumer wasn't quite sure what to do with Art of Fighting 3 as the tactics and general muscle memory that could be transferred between most 2D fighting games at the time fell apart completely. Art of Fighting 3 is just...different.

Unfortunately, there is no hard sales data available for the game - which is a shame. Given the lukewarm reception from critics and gamers, though, one can assume it didn't hit the heights SNK was hoping for as Art of Fighting 3 was the final game in the series. Additionally, the game did not receive any ports to the popular 32-bit consoles of the day. This probably had less to do with slow arcade sales and more to do with the incredible amount of animation in the game coupled with the series' signature gargantuan character sprites. Sony or Sega's machines just didn't have enough RAM to produce an accurate approximation of the Neo-Geo original. SNK's own Neo-Geo CD version (which I cover at the end of the review) was highly compromised itself even though that console has more internal RAM than even the Sega Saturn coupled with the 4MB RAM expansion cartridge. Art of Fighting 3 was just too sophisticated for consumer grade game consoles at the time, which was saying a lot for the humble Neo-Geo given it was already six years old when the game released. To take that into perspective, that's longer than most console generations!

Art of Fighting 3 has less in common with 2D fighters of yesterday or today, and actually feels more similar to 3D fighters in both animation and gameplay mechanics. Much like the maligned Samurai Shodown 3, Art of Fighting 3 is still haunted by the stigma wrought by bad mid-90's video game journalism where every fighting game that came out was considered a Street Fighter clone even if the game played nothing like it. Despite a legacy of being "that other 2D fighting game series on the Neo-Geo," Art of Fighting 3 is one of the most unique games to come out of classic SNK. While the gameplay mechanics and general tempo of the game takes some warming up to, Art of Fighting 3 presents a well designed fighter that was well ahead of the curve when it came to originality. Let's see what Art of Fighting 3 has to offer.

When Art of Fighting 3 was released, the big selling point SNK used in marketing and packaging material is the unprecedented amount of animation in the character sprites. Over the last 25 years there seems to be some confusion in the Neo-Geo community as to the animation technique used by SNK to create the incredible animation and look of the game. While many purport that SNK used an old cinematic animation technique called Rotoscoping, Art of Fighting 3 was actually produced by using a combination of traditional 2D pixel art and the more modern technique of Motion Capture. 

Not only was SNK clear in their marketing for Art of Fighting 3 that motion capture was used to create the fluid character movement, this information is also captured in development interviews as recently as 2017, in the unveiling of the game via the Japan only Neo-Geo Freak magazine (see the excerpt below), as well as being blatantly stated on the back of the AES version's box art. While it's easy to confuse the two animation techniques, they are not one and the same and produce different results in the end product. I do recommend reading the developer interview linked to above to gain some insight into the game's development and the sticking points the pixel artists ran into when using this non-traditional form of 2D, sprite-based animation. 

An Aside: SNK did eventually use a rotoscope animation technique in 2009's King of Fighters XII and 2012's King of Fighters XIII where they created the character models in a 3D environment and then painstakingly applied traditional 2D pixel art over the desired movement frames for each character. The end result is incredible.

The use of motion capture was unheard of in traditional sprite-based animation at the time and is still highly uncommon today. It produced incredible results, though, like Robert Garcia's standing kick which includes roughly 25 frames of animation from start to finish. To put this into perspective, most sprite-based 2D artwork in fighting games at the time did not include more than 4-10 frames of animation per action, give or take. Using motion capture data to create the animation sets for the character sprites resulted in very realistic looking movements rather than the exaggerated key frames of animation pixel artists traditionally used to telegraph to the player the part of the action that is most important for visual feedback. It's the realistic animation used in this game that makes the look and feel of the movements more akin to 3D fighters rather than your traditional 2D fighting games.

Despite being released on one of the largest arcade ROMs of the day, all that animation took up a huge amount of expensive memory real estate. On a 298 mega bit cart (roughly 37 mega bytes), SNK could only fit ten characters. Of those ten characters, series protagonists Robert Garcia and Ryo Sakazaki clearly had the most work put into their sprites. While the other characters look and animate quite well, Robert and Ryo are definitely a cut above the rest of the cast.

Along with the lavish animation sets, SNK retained the series' staple huge character sprites which allowed the artists to show an incredible amount of detail in every animated frame. Like the two Art of Fighting games before it, Art of Fighting 3 employs the use of screen scaling techniques to add a dramatic flair to each battle by zooming in on the action when the sprites are in close range and panning out to show more of the arena the further they are from each other. Sadly, details like real-time character damage were dropped in favor of presenting a more clean, anime inspired look which fit the general shift in 2D graphic styling in fighting games during the mid to late 1990's. 

In traditional SNK fashion, the background art is absolutely gorgeous. Some stages like the Mexican temple with its excellent water animation and impressive waterfalls are still visually arresting almost 30 years later. While other stages aren't impressive at a glance or even in a screen shot, in motion you discover a litany of tiny details far, far into the distance. Classic SNK's backgrounds always had an impressive sense of depth and place, and that effect is in full force here. Each stage presents a new set of fun easter eggs and details to discover, so take some time to explore them the next time you play. I guarantee you'll notice details you've never seen before. 

The stylized introduction sequence and after match visuals are also worth noting. These large sprites look almost CGI in quality, as that was a popular art-style of the day thanks to games like Killer Instinct, Donkey Kong Country, and the Neo-Geo's own Pulstar. Surprisingly, though, these elements are traditional 2D pixel art. To my knowledge no CGI was used in the game which makes all the objects and elements in the game even more impressive as a historic piece 27 years later.

Some modern day fans still consider Art of Fighting 3 to be the most beautiful classic 2D fighter ever created, edging out even Capcom's Street Fighter 3: Third Strike and SNK's own Garou: Mark of the Wolves. Regardless of your opinion there, I think most would agree that the cohesive art direction, incredible animation, attention to detail in the sprites and backgrounds, and the excellent presentation that tie all the elements together present a level of pixel art mastery that few 2D games of yesterday and even today can match. Art of Fighting 3 is a true work of art through and through. 

Thankfully, it's also a very good video game. 

Rather than being set in Southtown and staring Ryo Sakazaki as the lead protagonist of the story, the focus now switches to Robert Garcia who is searching Glassvalley City (in Mexico?) for his childhood friend Freia. Ryo is the only playable character from the Sakazaki family, so Yuri and Takuma sit this entry out. The other eight playable characters are all new, and each one plays a part in the story in a unique way that is told through their storyline sequences as you work your way through the one-player mode. The characters in the game are a bit of a mixed bag of designs overall with some being downright weird (Wang), to others being quite boring (Lenny Creston). While the Art of Fighting games never had the strongest supporting cast, it is unfortunate that fan favorite characters like Yuri Sakazaki and King are absent. 

SNK simplified the action buttons a bit for Art of Fighting 3 by removing the pressure sensitive normals found in Art of Fighting 2 and replacing them with static actions like the first game: 

• A punches

• B kicks

• C is a strong attack (neutral, throw (forward+button) or reversal (back+button)

• D performs a taunt. 

To add complexity, all characters have an uncommon amount of command normals for a 2D fighting game - moves where you hold a direction on the control stick and press a button. Like Virtua Fighter, you can think of these command normals kind of like special moves as most command normals have specific properties that lead to different options upon hit. 

Let's take my boy Ryo for an example: 

• Press forward + punch to perform a quick punch that hits mid. From here you have additional options.

  • • Forward + punch, punch for a quick two hit.

    • Forward + punch, kick for a quick two hit that knocks down.

    • Forward + punch, punch, kick for a quick three hit that knocks down.

• Press down-forward + punch for a standing uppercut that sends the opponent into the air.

  • • Follow up with any combo string above for a juggle.

• From these two basic set ups you can play with a variety of combos, moves, and follow-ups.

More than any other 2D fighting game, you get knocked down a lot and many normal moves pop the opponent into the air on hit to begin a juggle. Again, much like a 3D fighting game but some of these moves make little sense. Robert's back+punch does a spinning back fist that will launch the opponent on hit. This makes little logical sense. Still, rather than focus on what does/doesn't make sense (I mean, they are throwing ki blasts out of their hands...), just roll with it and learn what moves are a natural juggle on hit and what moves may not naturally juggle but will on a counter hit with your character of choice so you can make the best option to punish. 

The mobility options are also generally unsafe as well given the way the physics are programmed. More or less, Art of Fighting 3 feels heavy. Like really heavy. Even though the game plays more like Virtua Fighter, the floaty feel of those games are not translated over in 2D. That said, there are some mobility mechanics that do react more realistically that add to the weighted feel of the game. For example, if you rush toward your opponent with a dash (double tap forward), your dash has recovery frames on stop you cannot cancel out of. This is highly uncommon in 2D fighting games which typically have a frame cancelable animation that allows you to block immediately at the end of a dash or run. What's more, some characters are able to attack out of their dash animation. Ryo, for example, can do a pretty powerful running kick that is generally safe on block as it causes quite a bit of block stun for the opponent. Landing from a jump also has recovery frames. While dashing and jumping recovery frames are short, the gist is that you must approach your opponent very, very carefully. Much like Samurai Shodown 3, Art of Fighting 3 is a game of very intricate footsies and spacing.

Another mobility oddity for a 2D fighter are your options when you've been knocked down. If you press nothing your character will stay prone on the ground for quite a long time compared to contemporaries. But if you wiggle the control stick you can get up faster. This mimics the different prone options seen in 3D fighting games where you can often press nothing to stay on the ground longer, which has some utility. For example, if you're fighting against an opponent who likes to do a meaty attack (sticking out a move where the active frame connects with your hit box when you're getting up off the ground) and you stay on the ground, their move will wiff and you'll get up in time to do a quick counter. 

At the same time, Art of Fighting 3 wouldn't be a 2D fighter without a bevy of special moves performed with controller motions. Each character has at least four special moves that use a portion of your spirit gauge upon execution, like prior games in the series. Special moves will use a portion of your spirit gauge and will become less effective the more you use them until you recharge your gauge. Thankfully, the spirit gauge is more forgiving than in prior Art of Fighting games, requiring much less spirit energy to use specials. When you deplete part of your spirit gauge, simply hold any action button to refill it. Like prior games in the series, though, taunts from the opponent will also deplete your gauge so it's a good idea not to put too much distance between you and your opponent at any time during a match. You can also refill your gauge if you hold down an action button after directly after being knocked down by the opponent. 

Every character also has a very high-damage Super Desperation Move (SDM) they can perform when they are about to be KO'ed - much like Fatal Fury 2/Special. When your character begins flashing red you can do their SDM which requires a large portion of spirit energy. Most SDMs are unblockable or have priority over other moves that makes them very, very dangerous. The trade off is it uses most of your spirit gauge and you are wide open for a counter if you miss. This mechanic turned off a lot of critics when the game came out in 1996, but since everyone has access to this unblockable it makes the game feel like real, dangerous fist fight. Again, the comparison with Samurai Shodown 3 comes out due to that game also being very dangerous where three well placed counters can end a match within seconds. 

Finally, if all that didn't already sound like Virtua Fighter with fireballs, you can also perform two types of pursuit attacks. Once you score a hard knock down you can press up + punch to fly to your opponent and perform a grounded attack. Because some attacks will knock the opponent down right next to you, you can also press down-forward + punch to perform a grounded pursuit attack. This isn't the first 2D fighting game to incorporate this mechanic, though. That goes to Capcom's Vampire Hunter (Darkstalkers 2) which released the prior year. 

The Art of Fighting games have always been more about slow paced, methodical battles, but Art of Fighting 3 is in a league of its own and, as I've mentioned, is more like Samurai Shodown 3 than any other SNK fighter. If you expect this game to play like any other 2D fighter, you'll sit down your controller within a few minutes in frustration. This is a game about footsies, spacing, and juggle set ups that will carry the opponent across the screen - kind of like modern Tekken just not as aggressive. Every move, including your mobility options are unsafe and all inputs must be calculated. 

No, Art of Fighting 3 doesn't have quite the depth of Virtua Fighter 3, which released the same year, but if you approach it more like Sega's series rather than other SNK fighters you'll find a lot of enjoyment out of the unique mechanics.

Another innovative addition to Art of Fighting 3 is the inclusion of character specific buffs that are unlocked when you use a character on their birthday. In the MVS and CD versions of the game, the hardware keeps track of the date and time, and you'll get a little message on the title screen for the game that denotes who's birthday it is. As far as I know, the AES version does not have any way to store the date and time consistently due to the lack of a persistent battery on the motherboard (like a lithium ion coin), so I've never experienced this mechanic playing on that hardware variant. This is probably for the better as, mechanically speaking, having one character on a specific day get a damage buff can mess with balance. Still, it's a neat way to play into the intricate background stories SNK created for their characters and interacts with them in a meaningful way through gameplay. I mean, I feel extra powerful on my birthday...

Music is an important part of any fighting game as it helps to elicit not only the mood of the scene or the personality of the character it represents, but also the feelings the player should experience in the moment. Art of Fighting 3, like most other SNK soundtracks, has an interesting and varied assortment of tunes that fit the story, scenes, and characters perfectly. Unlike many of their other soundtracks, though, Art of Fighting 3 caries through a leitmotif in most of the stage background themes. This general melodic theme uses different instrumentation to create a unique soundscape for each background or story sequence it's used in. SNK used this approach for their Last Blade series that debuted in 1997 to great effect as well. Voice overs are well done as expected, and sound effects are an evolution of the general design of prior Art of Fighting games. The music, though, is to be noted due to the unique approach. I wouldn't say the soundtrack overall has the same level of polish as a Fatal Fury or King of Fighters game, but it's still quite good. 

Art of Fighting 3 is unique, quirky, and beautiful. It's unlike any other fighting game before or after it, including the prior games in the series. That said, much like Sega's Virtua Fighter, button mashers need not apply. This is not an approachable game where some button mashing can eek out a win every so often. Art of Fighting 3 is a game all about finesse, and it will take you time to learn how to play it even at a beginner level. If you're willing to spend some time getting to learn a classic 2D fighter that nobody else really knows how to play, though, you'll find a lot to love here despite not having much competition in the modern era. That's a shame, too, as I feel the modern fighting game community would lose their minds if we understood the meta in this game as well as all the games I've mentioned throughout this review. At the end of the day, give Art of Fighting 3 a shot if not just for the visual splendor of the art direction. The gameplay on offer is not for everyone - but not all games are. 

So, aspiring Neo-Geo collector, is this game worth your hard-earned cash? Well, that's tough to answer. A complete Japanese copy of Art of Fighting 3 has jumped up in price in the 2023 retro game market to around the $1000 mark or more. Just two years ago it was right around $500. How much you pay will depend on how you source the game as well, with direct from Japan sourcing being much lower than Ebay sales. A US copy? That will run you $6000 or more these days. 

Thankfully, the game is right around $30 on Neo CD (see notes below on the Neo CD version)...but the MVS version will still run you an eye watering $500 or more these days - which is surprising. As stated in the intro, Art of Fighting 3 did not see any ports to other consoles of the day more than likely due to other hardware just not being technically up to snuff to handle the insane amount of 2D animation on display. Today, you can pick it up on Hamster's Arcade Archives series for $8 on most digital storefronts. You can also grab the game on the Playstation 2 (and on PS4/5 digitally) in the Art of Fighting Collection which includes true ports of all three games in the series for around $11 and is the best bang for your buck. 

If you're just getting into AES collecting, hold off and grab some more sure-fire hits before you take the plunge on Art of Fighting 3. It's a great game to be sure, but if you have little experience with it there is a good chance you'll sell it sooner than later to get some more sought after games in the AES library. If you're only after "collecting" your Neo-Geo AES games and not playing them...well, it does look great on your shelf.

The Neo CD Release Notes:

Not all games in the Neo CD library are arcade perfect (sans loading), and Art of Fighting 3 is one of the worst offenders. In order for matches to load completely on the Neo CD's 7mb of RAM, SNK reprogramed the way scaling works which effectively shrunk the size of the characters by a quarter at default making this effect far less dramatic than the MVS/AES release. Smaller characters = less memory real estate. The backgrounds also never scale in all the way either, so you don't get as much up-close detail as you do in the source material. What's more, there are numerous small artistic differences in color and shading - some for the better, others not so much. The arranged CD soundtrack is generally excellent, but it has a very different feel than the (also excellent) cartridge music which is a bit more subdued and relies less on electric guitar. The CD version also adds some added storyline sequences for the boss characters along with additional voices in the pre and post-fight scenes - so that's a nice touch. 

Still, it's just a shame that the huge character sprites and scaling effects, the visual glue that holds the series together, had to be radically compromised to make the game work on the console. The diminished scaling effects and the smaller character sprites hurts the gameplay accuracy to the source material due it significantly changing your positioning around the screen. Basically, the arcade and CD versions of the game play similarly, but not exactly the same. Things just work...differently in Art of Fighting 3 CD. Not bad, just different. 

Despite these compromises, SNK leaned hard into the Neo CD version at retail. Promotion of the game was on fire and included many adverts in popular Japanese game magazines of the day. SNK also printed a limited edition of the game for SNK die-hards that came bundled with a bunch of extra goodies including a replica of Robert Garcia's coin. The CD version of the game has its fans, though, and some I personally know prefer it to the original release. I'm not one of those people.