Fatal Fury 2 is the sequel to Fatal Fury: King of Fighters, and the second installment of the Fatal Fury series. The game was released on December 10th, 1992 for Arcades and the Neo Geo.
Picking up a year after the events of the first game, a new King of Fighters tournament has been announced, this time held by a mysterious new sponsor. The tournament now spans internationally, with fighters from around the world competing to be the best.
The game refines the mechanics introduced in the previous installment, this time offering a full four-button moveset consisting of two punches and two kicks. The lane system has been redesigned so that players can now knock each other into different lanes, as well as new stage hazards like electric fences or bull stampedes. Another big addition is giving every fighter a unique "Desperation Move", a powerful move that's accessible only at low health.
A year later, SNK released Fatal Fury Special, an updated version of the game with additional characters and features.
The roster consists of:
- Returning: Terry Bogard, Andy Bogard, Joe Higashi
- Newcomers: Mai Shiranui, Kim Kaphwan, Big Bearnote , Cheng Sinzan, Jubei Yamada
- Bosses: Billy Kane, Axel Hawk, Laurence Blood, Wolfgang Krausernote
Special added these characters:
- Returning: Tung Fu Rue, Duck King, Geese Howardnote
- Secret: Ryo Sakazakinote
This game has examples of the following tropes:
- Anti-Villain: Wolfgang Krauser may be out to fight you but he's otherwise not implied to be evil, and if he wins he's actually pretty nice about it, making him unique among fighting game final bosses.
- Artistic License – Geography: Most of the stages in 2 and Special are Theme Park Versions of famous locales:
- Andy's stage takes place in Venice, on top of a boat floating down one of the canals. Yet in the background, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Colosseum are visible. In real life, those landmarks are on the other side of Italy, with Pisa over 3 hours away from Venice, and Rome over 5. The stage also has the Rialto Bridge and the Doge's Palace, which are from Venice, but the buildings around them are not correct.
- Terry's train stage is stated to be in West Albuquerque, New Mexico. But somehow this train magically passes by Monument Valley in Arizona and Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, which are over 300 and 800 miles away respectively.
- Big Bear's stage is located in Alice Springs in central Australia, with Uluru/Ayers Rock in the background. However in real life, Uluru is 500 kms away from Alice Springs.
- Laurence's stage takes place during the Running of the Bulls at Plaza de Toros in Pamplona, where the Sagrada Familia Basilica can be seen in the background. In real life the Basilica is located in Barcelona, some 500 kms away.
- Ascended Extra: The manga adaptation gives the girl from Terry's arcade ending the name of Medea Khmer and depicts her as his love interest.
- Avenging the Villain: Billy Kane seeks revenge against the Bogard brothers and Joe Higashi for the death of his boss Geese Howard.
- Big Bad: Wolfgang Krauser, the Earl of Stroheim, and organizer of the King of Fighters tournament. He seeks to battle with Terry Bogard in particular, as the latter defeated Krauser's half brother, Geese Howard.
- Clockworks Area: Billy's stage is a Clock Tower, where a power-hit can fling an opponent over into the gears for some extra damage.
- The Dragon: Laurence Blood serves this role for Krauser via being his right-hand man.
- Heel–Face Turn: This game serves as the debut of Raiden's face persona, "Big Bear".
- Promoted to Playable: Raiden, one of the bosses from the first game, appears as a playable character under the name Big Bear.
- Scenery Porn: There's no denying that the backgrounds in this game are gorgeous. Some standout examples include Terry's, Mai's, Cheng's, Tung Fu's, and Krauser's stages.
- Ship Level: Andy's stage is on a large gondola in Italy, and Mai has one on a raft.
- Shock and Awe: The electrified ropes in Axel's stage.
- Token Female: Mai Shiranui is the sole female fighter of the game, as well as the first in the series.
- Traintop Battle: Terry's stage is on a flatbed train car.
- Worf Effect: Wolfgang Krauser does this in the vanilla Fatal Fury 2 game. After you complete the second bonus stage and begin to fight the "bosses",note you'll be treated to brief intermissions showing Krauser finishing random curb stomp battles against Michael Max and Hwa Jai, Duck King and Tung Fu Rue, and then finally Richard Meyer. By annihilating the characters from the first Fatal Fury game, it helps to establish that Krauser is the new Final Boss and a very serious threat.
- World Tour: Riding on the coattails of Street Fighter II, Fatal Fury 2 has a worldwide tournament for a backdrop, rather than having all the action confined to Southtown like several of the games in the series (not counting the Special games, which are Dream Match Games). The fighters travel all the way through the U.S.A., Italy, Japan, China, Germany, etc.
- Worthy Opponent: Krauser seeks battle with Terry specifically because the latter defeated Krauser's brother, Geese Howard.
