The History of Art of Fighting: The Roots of The King of Fighters

During the 80s and 90s, fighting games dominated arcades. Without a doubt, Street Fighter II was the king of arcade machines at the time, but its competitor SNK was also not far behind with its series The King of Fighters. And, as we mentioned in our Fatal Fury article, the game's characters originate from some of the company's franchises.

The Bogard brothers, Joe Higashi, Mai Shiranui and others came from Fatal Fury. Athena Asamiya and Sie Kensou came from a platform game called Psycho Soldier. Ralph and Clark from a top-down action game called Ikari Warriors (which was adapted for the Master System as Rambo III). Robert Garcia, Ryo and Yuri Sakazaki, Mr. Karate and King, among others, came from the almost forgotten Art of Fighting, or Ryūko no Ken, in the original.

With large sprites and detailed animations, the game was a hit in Japanese arcades and laid the foundation for SNK's biggest fighting game franchise. But have you ever wondered what its origins were? Do you know the stories of each of the games and the motivations of their fighters? Let's talk about the history of Art of Fighting and, if you have any questions, leave a comment.

Produced by SNK and released in 1992 for the Neo Geo system and arcades, with later versions for consoles, it was a big bet by the company to compete with the success of Street Fighter II, bringing large sprites and a more cinematic style similar to Fatal Fury.

The big innovation was the camera zoom mechanic, which would zoom out when the characters were far from each other and zoom in when the fight was closer. In addition, Art of Fighting was one of the first fighting games to include a spirit bar system, which limited the use of special moves.

Another innovation was the presence of cutscenes to tell the story, something rare in fighting games at the time. The game also introduced a visible damage system, where the characters would get hurt as they were hit.

The story takes place in South Town, a city dominated by crime and corruption and the same one where the story of Fatal Fury takes place. The protagonist, Ryo Sakazaki, is a Kyokugenryu Karate fighter, a style created by his father, Takuma Sakazaki. He has been training since he was a child alongside his best friend and rival, Robert Garcia, heir to a wealthy family, but equally dedicated to martial arts (I've seen this story somewhere, haven't I?).

Everything changes when Ryo's younger sister, Yuri Sakazaki, is kidnapped. Unsure of who is behind the crime, Ryo and Robert set out to find her. During their search, they face several fighters, including Ryuhaku Todoh, a master of traditional martial arts, Jack Turner, a brute biker, Lee Pai Long, an expert acrobatic fighter who uses a mask and fights with claws, and King, a Muay Thai fighter who disguises herself as a man and works as a security guard.

All the fights point to the kidnapping culprit being one of South Town's biggest criminals: Mr. Big. He’s an organized crime boss who seems to be the head of the kidnapping. When Ryo and Robert finally confront him, defeating his henchmen, he reveals a shocking piece of information. The real mastermind behind Yuri's kidnapping isn’t him, but someone known as Mr. Karate!

When they finally find the man who assumed the identity of Mr. Karate, a feared masked fighter who now works as a bodyguard for the criminal underworld, they set out to look for the man and find a fighter in a white kimono and a red kabuki mask with a long nose who turns out to be, in fact, Takuma Sakazaki, Ryo and Yuri's father.

Left with no choice, Ryo faces his own father in a difficult fight, and in the end, Takuma surrenders and tells the truth: he didn’t kidnap Yuri willingly, but was forced to work for Geese Howard, the real crime boss of South Town. Geese threatened to kill his children if Takuma didn’t comply. With the truth revealed and Mr. Karate defeated, Yuri reappears and confirms that she was never hurt.

The Sakazaki family is reunited, and Takuma regrets everything that happened. Mr. Big and his henchmen escape before they can be captured, but the threat of Geese Howard continues to loom over the city. Ryo, Robert, and Takuma decide that they must become stronger to face future challenges. Although South Town remains dangerous, Ryo realizes that his journey isn’t over and that there are still many enemies to face.

The game was released in 1994, bringing significant improvements over the first. Graphics were improved, characters gained new moves, and gameplay was balanced. SNK felt that the first game was too difficult, so they tried to adjust this to make the gameplay feel more casual.

Another new feature was the inclusion of more playable characters, since in the first game we could only choose Ryo or Robert. Art of Fighting 2 was also important for establishing that the game takes place in the same universe as Fatal Fury, officially establishing Geese Howard as the villain and expanding the mythology of South Town.

Art of Fighting 2 takes place some time after the events of the first game. After defeating Mr. Big and rescuing Yuri Sakazaki, the Sakazaki family tries to return to normal life. Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia continue training, while Takuma Sakazaki, now repentant of his criminal past, returns to lead the Kyokugenryu Karate dojo. However, a new threat emerges in South Town.

The city’s real crime boss, Geese Howard, finally decides to take action. He organizes a grand fighting tournament, the King of Fighters, where the best fighters are invited to compete. However, the tournament isn’t just a competition – Geese wants to use the event to reassert his dominance over South Town and eliminate anyone who might threaten his position. Ryo, Robert and Takuma attend the tournament, suspecting that there’s something behind the competition.

In addition to the well-known fighters, such as King and Lee Pai Long, new fighters enter the competition. Among them are Eiji Kisaragi, a ninja from the Kisaragi clan who wants to destroy Kyokugenryu Karate, John Crawley, an American military-style fighter, Temjin, a Mongolian fighter, and Karman Cole, a bodyguard for a big businessman. In the middle of the competition, Yuri Sakazaki also enters the tournament, proving that she’s ready to fight with her brother and Robert.

The Sakazakis discover that Geese had bigger plans. He was using the tournament to test the fighters and find someone strong enough to serve him. At the end of the tournament, Ryo faces Geese Howard and manages to defeat him, but he refuses to accept defeat and flees, vowing revenge. With this, Ryo and his friends prove once again that they’re a force to be reckoned with in South Town, but they know that the danger isn’t over yet.

This one was made in 1996 and represented a major change for the franchise. Unlike the first two games, Art of Fighting 3 focused on new characters and moved away a bit from the original plot. The game was developed with a new interface that brought much more fluid animations, using motion capture to give more realism to the blows.

The result was one of the best-looking games on the Neo Geo, with huge sprites and impressive animations. However, this change in focus didn’t please fans of the series, who expected a direct continuation of Ryo and Robert's story in South Town. The game ended up having less commercial impact than its predecessors and marked the end of the main franchise, with its characters being integrated into the universe of The King of Fighters in the following years.

The story of Art of Fighting 3: The Path of the Warrior focuses on Robert Garcia, who embarks on a personal journey to Mexico. He’s searching for a woman named Freia Lawrence, a childhood friend who mysteriously disappeared. Freia was involved in secret research into a dangerous experiment, and Robert wants to find her before something worse happens.

During his search, Robert ends up crossing paths with Wyler, a powerful man obsessed with recreating a secret formula that supposedly increases human strength. Freia was a key piece in this research, and so Wyler is desperate to find her. He believes that with this formula, he can become invincible and dominate the world of crime.

Robert's journey takes him to face several fighters in Mexico. Among them is Rody Birts, a henchman of Wyler who tries to impede his investigation, and Lenny Creston, a detective who is also after Freia for her own reasons. In addition, new warriors appear, such as Karman Cole, an agent hired to monitor Wyler's actions, and Kasumi Todoh, Ryuhaku Todoh's daughter, who seeks revenge against the Sakazakis for her father's defeat in the first game.

While fighting these adversaries, Robert discovers that Freia has fled to escape Wyler's ambitions. She knows that the formula isn’t perfect and may have dangerous side effects, but Wyler is determined to use it anyway. In the end, Robert finally finds Freia and tries to protect her, but Wyler appears, already under the influence of his incomplete version of the formula. Transformed into a monster of enormous strength, he challenges Robert to a final battle.

The fight is intense, but Robert manages to defeat him. With his defeat, Wyler realizes that the formula wasn’t the solution he expected and collapses. Freia decides to stay in Mexico to try to repair the damage caused by her research, while Robert returns to South Town, reflecting on everything that has happened.

There's no word on a possible Art of Fighting 4 at the same time that the game isn't completely dead! A Japanese magazine, Famitsu, posted in its New Year's messages column from developers across the country some interesting statements coming from SNK, not only about Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves — but apparently a new Art of Fighting game in development as well.

The most impressive information from the posts came from famed former Capcom producer Yasuyuki Oda, currently at SNK, who had a bit to say about upcoming projects.

“2024 will be the year we fully reveal ‘Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves’”, Oda said, as translated. “We’re doing our best to create content that all fighting game fans will enjoy.”

“In our new headquarters, which have been moved to Shin-Osaka, we’re also working on other projects such as ‘Fist of the Dragon and Tiger’ at the same time. We’re actively hiring more staff as well, so please apply.”

For those who don't know, Fist of the Dragon and Tiger or Ryūko no Ken is the original Japanese title for the Art of Fighting games, and this reveal should be quite exciting for longtime SNK fans.

Now, we just have to wait and see if what's coming is a remake or a sequel. What about you? What do you think of Art of Fighting? Do you prefer The King of Fighters? Leave a comment and tell us what your favorite SNK franchise is.