Fatal Fury Battle Archives Vol 1 - PlayStation 2

First Off, This is only for Fans of the Old-School Beat 'Em ups from SNK. If you loved any of the Fatal Fury or King of Fighters games than this is totally worth every penny. SNK decided to re-release its entire Library to celebrate its 15th Anniversary and I am happy they did so. You can now get all of you favorite SNK titles for under $20 each very easily. This title was at the top of my list and well worth it.I play a ton of PS3 games but, I regularly go back to my PS2 library due to my Generation 1 PS3 backwards Compatibility. This title as well as many other SNK collections such as Samurai Showdown & Metal Slug Anthology are on my top 10 list.

Won't play, won't even register in PS2.

I used to own the SNES version of Fatal Fury Special (FFS) when I was a kid. I played the hell out of it. Taking time to learn all the desperation moves and beating Geese and Wolfgang Krauser (the bosses) mercilessly. Later as I got older I ended up owning the Neo Geo original and playing that until I couldn't keep my eyeballs open anymore.But, when you need a quick buck, selling vintage videogame systems is too easy.I had no idea this collection was released in the US until the other day. I looked at the price and said 7 bucks (at the time of this writing) for a small piece of my childhood ... NO WAY! (definitely WAY though).I bought it, spent hours playing with it, then wondered what took me so long to rebuy this (especially at it's price).There are a couple of cons though (taking off the rose tinted glasses):There's some flicker in FFS at the character select screen. Not a big deal really, but it can be a bit annoying sometimes. Also, sometimes the music cuts off for no reason. And not just when you have the arrange mode turned on. While we're at it, how is it that the original cartridge music is nearly as good if not better than most of the arrange stuff? I'm mostly speaking about FFS and I'll tell you this, in some instances the music is very far removed from the original stuff (Andy's Italy stage comes to mind).Gameplay ... ok, it's a bit too tight. No slip ups. You have to have impeccable timing with this game, esp for the desperation moves which can make or break you. And let's not even talk about the computer AI. Apparently the AI never has to charge their charge moves and they also have a special power where they can perform a throw while you're in the middle of special move.The graphics are dated. There's is barely anything going on in the background. Very sterile and if you're lucky, maybe a 2 frame animation (if you're lucky, mostly there's nothing going on).Fatal Fury 3 of course is the exception in this package. If you played 1, then 2 and FFS, then 3 in that order, you'll see some big graphical changes occur from each step. FF3 in my opinion is more like a beta version of the Real Bout series. FFS is the last classic game made in this set. The last of the old SNK before they started hitting their prime (they peaked in 1999 in my opinion). So Fatal Fury 3 is more of teaser of what was to come. The gameplay, graphics, and sound (ok, that's debatable but I'm biased) are far ahead of the other games in this set and more in line with what most modern fighting games are about. Fatal Fury 1 is interesting to "check out" while Fatal Fury 2 is made irrelevant with FFS.Now ... WHY I LOVE THESE GAMES:Say what you will, but FFS has some great music (which SNK redid over and over again in other games and series) and not to mention some interesting characters. This game was made out of love and respect for the characters. In fact, I still hear cries from people for Jubei to make a return in KOF someday (really doubt it since he was so damn overpowered in this game).Also, FFS introduced the fighting game world to desperation moves. You know, those supers and special combos you love so much in SFIV, 3rd Strike, MVC3, even as old as Super Street Fighter II: Turbo, it all started with this game. The characters were starting to come into their own and it was only a matter of time before Kim, Terry, Andy, Geese, Mai, and others would become popular KOF staples.Old school as it is, it's damn fun and not too hard. I'd recommend playing this in beginner until you know those special and desperation moves in your sleep. The actual backgrounds while "frozen", are still a sight to behold. Future games in the KOF series and other non related fighting games would borrow from it (to be fair, the old ping pong ball went between SNK and Capcom a lot in those days, right down to SNK hiring Capcom's staff and vice versa.)Final Word:Even this game were 20 bucks, I'd say go for it. I know it's available on the Wii and 360, but this is a nice package and it feels like you get so much more for your money here. Also, no one is ever online to play in the 360 version. Kind of makes the online play pointless if you ask me.

If your like me and can't afford to buy a neogeo this is a way better alternative but now a decent ps2 controller is getting hard to come by. Still its easier to get a ps2 controller than it is to get a neogeo. There's even a few parts here that aren't in the PS store so if your a huge snk fan this will be perfect for your collection!

Bought this and Volume 2 arrived and not Volume 1. Not the worst thing in the world but it’s false advertising.Wanted Vol. 1, got Vol. 2

Works great. Not much to say about it except that it's a very fun game. If you love NeoGeo this is a must have.

SNK just keeps them coming. After seeing their spectacular Metal Slug series get packaged for the holidays with Metal Slug Anthology, and only meer months after another fighting franchise (Art of Fighting) was packaged in a nice, affordable package; SNK's flagship fighting series Fatal Fury gets the same treatment. Fatal Fury: Battle Archives Vol. 1 compiles Fatal Fury, Fatal Fury 2, Fatal Fury Special, and Fatal Fury 3; all of which are emulated from their Neo Geo arcade counterparts almost perfectly. And if you've played Art of Fighting Anthology, then you know this is both good and bad. The original Fatal Fury features archaic controls, while Fatal Fury 2 and Fatal Fury Special (both of which are relatively the same game) suffer from similar age spots. Fatal Fury 3 however remains the best of the bunch, taking the series' innovative two-plane 2-D fighting engine to new heighs with crisper animations and tighter combos. Fatal Fury 3 is reason enough to pick up this collection (and the price tag doesn't hurt either), but once again, like they did with Art of Fighting Anthology, SNK Playmore dropped the ball with any sort of supplemental features. Yeah, there's a music and color palette feature to tinker with, but some articles or interviews or anything else would have been more than welcome here instead. All that aside, Fatal Fury: Battle Archives Vol. 1 is a decent collection of one of the finest 2-D fighting franchises ever, and hopefully, there will be more to come down the road.

Great classic collection and at such a cheap price it's a steal.