Real Bout 2: The Newcomers

Disclaimer 1: If you're new to the series, the Fatal Fury games follow this path: Fatal Fury, Fatal Fury 2, Fatal Fury Special, Fatal Fury 3, Real Bout 1, Real Bout Special, Real Bout 2, Garou: Mark of the Wolves. This is why Real Bout 2 is most commonly compared to Real Bout Speical rather than the first game in the Real Bout sub-series.

Disclaimer 2: Read my Real Bout Special review before reading this.

After only four months in development Real Bout 2 was released in early 1998 to generally positive critical and commercial success. There's unfortunately no hard sales data I can find, though. That said, due to the lack of any console ports until the Playstation 2 compilation pack called Fatal Fury Battle Archives Volume 2 many years later, one could assume that Real Bout 2 didn't sell quite well enough to warrant porting to any other consoles of the day. Real Bout 2 was also one of the last four games released on the Neo-Geo CD before it was canned completely in 1999. Despite all that, SNK did create a generous stock of AES cartridges for their die-hard audience so it's not too hard to obtain these days if you're after a Neo-Geo AES collection. Well, the Japanese version that is - the US version is quite rare and expensive. 

Fans of the Real Bout sub-series fall into two camps: those that prefer Real Bout Special, and those that prefer Real Bout 2. What makes Real Bout Special and Real Bout 2 so competitive is that while they both look extremely similar, they are very different games. Real Bout Special gave the series a much needed graphical and gameplay update in early 1997 that completely changed how you approached the game. With a flexible combo system, over the top special moves, and the most robust implementation of the line-sway mechanic yet, many fans thought SNK had hit the limit of what they could do in a Fatal Fury game. It is a masterpiece of a game for sure...so it was a bit of a surprise when news of Real Bout 2 started to leak out of Japan. Real Bout 2 (RB2) is the sequel many fans think the series never needed (me), while others feel it is the sequel Real Bout 1 (RB1) deserved. 

Given that Real Bout 2 was made in just four months, one has to wonder if the flow of the game is a byproduct of a rushed production schedule, or if it was in the initial plan before development began which is why it was given such a short development window? The Hyper Neo-Geo 64 game Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition also released in 1998, so that is most likely where the bulk of the development money went. Whichever is the case, Real Bout 2 is a blazing fast game. In order to streamline the experience down to the bare essentials, the team removed the following features completely:

• Pre and post-fight character quotes.

• Pre-fight animation sequences.

• Post-round 1 win poses

• Score tally screen

• Stage intros

These decisions turned a lot of SNK fans off (me included, initially) due to how rich the story experience is in most of their fighting games. SNK games are typically dripping with personality, and a lot of that personality comes through in the interactions between characters when they aren't fighting. Even Real Bout Special, another "dream-match" title with no storyline, still relied on the characters' relationships in order to lean into their personalities pre and post fight. Real Bout 2 has none of that - not a single drop. 

That said, many fans and newcomers to the series like that approach as these players typically just wanted to jump in and fight. Real Bout 2 embodies that spirit by having the announcer yell "GET IN THE RING!" immediately after you select your character. The transition from the Vs. screen to the game screen is the "Round 1" announcement, and then you start the fight the moment you see your characters on screen. What's more, you can even press a button to skip the transition. It's just nuts. 

Between each two round set there isn't even an eight second window before the next match, against the next opponent, begins. And it really is only a two round set. In the event of a double KO the win will default to whomever won the first round. Or, in the case a double KO happens in the first round the game will give both players a win token, and then the match will be decided by round two's winner. The timer also moves quicker than in prior games. It's bonkers how quickly they got the game to flow, but it works and it's stylish to boot.

The line-sway system works more akin to Real Bout 1. Rather than be able to freely switch between planes, you can only sway temporarily into the other plane - meaning you have to approach this mechanic very differently than Real Bout Special if you're coming off of that game. When you move into the background plane you can stay there for about three seconds or so if you don't attack. In that time you can move and dash left and right, neutral jump, press A for a high attack, B for a low attack, or C for a heavy attack you can usually combo off of. You can also press D to just sway back to the foreground. But once you commit to an action you are forced back into the foreground plane. Basically, you cannot fight on the sway line like in prior game.

Combos in Real Bout 2 are more deliberate than Real Bout Special which could feel a little "dial-a-combo" at times. While I personally enjoy the zany, long combos in Real Bout Special, Real Bout 2 is a bit more restrictive. Most characters can still chain A,B, and C together, and can do this low for a quick sweep combo. Similarly, most characters also are able to press punch or kick multiple times for a quick series of hits. For example, pressing B twice in a row with Mai or Terry will do a quick double mid-kick, while pressing A four times with Xiangfei will do a cool looking 4-hit combo. These quick series can usually be followed by a 2-in-one with a special or even a sweep for a knock down! That said, if you're used to how combos work in Real Bout Special, you may have some trouble with the transition here as many of the combo strings in your muscle memory just wont work. 

The power meter in Real Bout 2 works the same as in Real Bout Special with S-Power and P-Power levels, as well as a Break Shot (alpha counter) mechanic that uses half of your super meter. See the Real Bout Special review for more on how the meter works. 

Real Bout 2 has the largest cast in Fatal Fury history at 23 characters. All characters from the prior game make a return, plus three new characters: Chinese waitress Xiangfei, Native American fighter Rick Strowd, and American pilot Alfred - the secret boss. While it's nice that all characters returned from Real Bout Special, the entire cast had sweeping (some have drastic) changes to their move sets. Normals were tweaked, special moves were changed considerably or removed entirely, and new ways to access familiar moves were added. I'm not a big fan of many of these changes, and I'm usually open to new experiences with familiar characters. 

My problem with many of these changes or additions is I feel they were changed just to give players something different rather than to enhance the gameplay. For example, Terry still has his Power Dunk move, but the input was changed to down-forward + Kick then press up-forward + punch - basically, it's linking two command normals together rather than one clean motion. His Power Charge? Press A+B together, then press forward, then press A again. Why? Terry doesn't even have moves that use the old inputs for either of these moves! It's shenanigans like this that turned me off when it came out. Many characters were stripped of their best features from Real Bout Special and I feel the game suffers for these drastic and often baffling changes. 

Right off the bat, if you're coming from the prior games in the Fatal Fury series, you can tell the majority of the development resources put into the two new main characters Rick and Xiangfei. The level of animation on these characters is a step above the rest of the cast. It is a bit jarring as some characters (looking at you Bob Wilson) retain key animation frames dating back to 1995's Fatal Fury 3! Both Rick and Xiangfei are a lot of fun to play and fit well into the Fatal Fury universe. Actually, I think they play the best out of the cast as they were developed specifically for this game. Sadly, this is the only game Rick was ever in despite him being a total bad-ass, but Xiangfei wiggled her way into a few King of Fighters games. To be fair Rick is also included in the Neo-Geo Pocket Color release Fatal Fury: First Contact which is essentially a portable version of Real Bout 2. On a personal note, I only play with these two characters when playing this game. 

Despite the game being bare-bones when it comes to presentation, it is still bold and striking. The FMV animated attract sequences make a big statement and follow the quick pace the of the rest of the game. The title screen is a beautiful piece of pixel art, and the character select screen has my favorite character portraits in the series. As I've already said, the basic animation sets and character sprites are the same as Real Bout Special, but some new animation frames were added for new moves or changes to old ones. Backgrounds look good overall, but are not quite as interesting as those in Real Bout Special. There are a few standouts, though, like Xiangfei's Chinatown market. That said, there are also a few duds, like Terry and Rick's shared background in the middle of the US's mid-west region - it's just as boring as the real mid-west (I should I know, I live there).

Music is great, but like most things in this game, it's all reused from Real Bout Special except for the new pieces created for the newcomers and the select screen jingle. All four new pieces are phenomenal, though, but the character select theme and Rick's theme are especially awesome. Sound effects and voices are also all from Real Bout Special, so they are all excellent as well.

All in all, there is a lot to love about Real Bout 2. It's a solid, well designed fighting game despite a short development cycle. While I hold Real Bout Special in higher regard for a variety of reasons, Real Bout 2 is still a very solid effort and I get why there are so many people who enjoy it over its predecessor. If you really like Real Bout Special, though, you might find this game hard to transition to. Conversely, if you played this game before Special, the same could be said. Real Bout 2 is both a game nobody asked for and a game that many fans prefer - it sits in a weird middle ground where nothing feels quite right but doesn't feel wrong either. If you're brand new to Fatal Fury and the Real Bout series, and Real Bout 2 is your entry point, you won't be disappointed.

So, should you buy it? Well, that's tough to answer. First up, it's expensive. Starting around $400 for a CIB Japanese copy, it typically sells for $500 or more. If you want the US edition be prepared to pay upwards of $10000 (yes, that's $10k) in 2023 because...collectors. Second, Real Bout Special is roughly $150 cheaper and it's my favorite in the series (next to 1993's Fatal Fury Special, but that's mostly due to nostalgia). Most casual Neo-Geo fans will only have one of these games in their AES library given the high cost of owning both. If going MVS or Neo CD, buy them both - they are each very affordable and can be had for under $50 bones. 

My recommendation is this - if you have a Playstation 4 you can download the game Fatal Fury Battle Archives 2. This was a late PS2 release that has all the Real Bout games in one collection. They are pretty decent ports to boot and do not use emulation. Give yourself some time with both Special and Real Bout 2 and decide which you like better for yourself. This collection is only $11 bucks, so it is well worth it. You could also try both games on the Arcade Archives release on modern platforms for $8 a pop as well, but if you're on Playstation 4/5, go for the Battle Archives set. It's a much better deal and has loads of fun extras!