Real Bout Fatal Fury Special...SNK was finally able to break away from the Fatal Fury 3 sprites and create a bunch of brand-new ones, with gorgeous animations, packed into a smooth and stylish game. Some of the backgrounds here are my favorites in the series. The lane system finally feels right, and dodging back and forth between lanes is a lot of fun.
So, how's the translation? It continues the line that Real Bout set: less crazy than the previous game. Instead of not quite reaching the dizzying heights of FF3, RBS doesn't even reach the levels of wacky that Real Bout hit. If I had to make a guess, I'd say that the editor had the time to do a quick once-over and worked their magic on a few win quotes, but left the endings untouched. There are a number of typos, which always suggest rushing to me. Given that RBS would've been in production around the same time as King of Fighters 96 and Samurai Shodown IV, it's easy to believe the editor was stretched a little thin.
The story is sparse, as benefits a dream match game, but there are plenty of special win quotes to go around. Much like in the original Fatal Fury Special, these are concentrated on the main characters, but everyone gets in on the fun, even palette-swapped clones.
Fighters once again have copy, so I'll be providing my translations. I can't find a source for if these ever got translated into English, so they'll be all mine. Please enjoy.
Status
All done!