Fatal Fury 3
is
BONKERS.
I'll let other people talk about the gameplay changes and the decision to throw out most of Special's cast. But the script... The dialog is very natural, suggesting a native speaker worked on it. It's also riddled with typos, suggesting a native speaker under a lot of time pressure.
The story is far and away the most ambitious Fatal Fury ever got. The fact it was a gigantic flop shows why SNK dropped back to less story than FF1 in Real Bout, and not even Mark of the Wolves got to FF3's heights of unique pre- and post-fight dialog, cutscenes with sprites that take up most of the screen, and three separate endings.
So it's a bit sad when the translation just goes completely off-script.
In fact, this is around the last time an SNK translation goes completely off the rails. Just talking about Fatal Fury, Real Bout noticeably pulls it back, RB2 is straight and dry, and Garou has a straightforward translation with just a bit of old-school SNK charm. It's like they realised that Art of Fighting 2 and Fatal Fury 3 were over the top and knocked it off.
Since FF3 has a ton of material and I have a soft spot for ambition, I'll throw in the fighter title and the little first person introductions from the manual. And since Rage Quitter 87 did scan in the English manual, I can finally provide a comparison! Please look forward to it.
Status
Manual comparison: Done!
Move name comparisons: my work is never done