Art of Fighting

Art of Fighting is a fighting game in which you get both a little story and a versus mode to play with a friend. In story mode, you play as Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia set out to find Ryo's sister who has has been kidnapped.

Art of Fighting comes at you with the kind of simplified gameplay that was encountered in all the games of its time. Besides the story mode in which you play as either Ryo or Robert, you are free to choose from one of many characters and challenge yourself or a friend to a few rounds.

Apart from the direction keys, you only get a two more keys for punches and kicks, as well as a utility button that swaps punch, kick and throw attacks. Art of Fighting brought a new and interesting feature to the series from back in its day. It provided the spirit gauge which once full, enabled the player to perform very powerful attacks.

Each fighter in Art of Fighting has a different background story and with it, a different fighting style. Basic moves look the same but their combinations and special moves are not alike. You can play as a former boxer, a martial arts instructor, a Muay Thai fighter and others.

The emulation used for this game is good but compared to the real game, it moves kind of slow so you have to be a bit patient with it until you get used to the rhythm.

To sum things up, Art of Fighting is a decent emulation of the original game despite the fact that some of the source content is missing. Gameplay is a bit sluggish but after a while, you get used to it and things start falling into place. It’s an enjoyable game.