Introduction
Fatal Fury Special is the updated version of Fatal Fury 2 for the Neo Geo MVS (Arcade), and Neo Geo AES (Home Console). Notable changes to the game include faster gameplay and a combo system. All characters from Fatal Fury 2 return, with bosses Billy Kane, Axel Hawk, Laurence Blood, and Wolfgang Krauser now playable. Duck King, Tung Fu Rue, and Geese Howard from the original Fatal Fury are also added to the roster, with Geese acting as a sub-boss to Krauser. Ryo Sakazaki, the main character from Art of Fighting, appears as a secret boss and is playable in the home versions of the game.
Fatal Fury Special is available on the Wii Virtual Console, Xbox Live Arcade, and the PS2 in Fatal Fury Battle Archives Vol. 1. Other home versions exist that predate this consoles on the Sega CD, Turbo CD, and SNES. A handheld version (with only 9 characters), is on the Game Gear.
Notation
Joystick Notation
- F - Forward - Tilt stick forward/towards the opponent. (X-axis)
- B - Backward/Back - Tilt stick backward/away from the opponent. (X-axis)
- U - Up - Tilt stick upwards. (Y-axis)
- D - Down - Tilt stick downwards. (Y-axis)
- QCF - Quarter circle forward/Hadouken/Fireball - Tilt stick downwards, then to downwards and forward, then forward.
- QCB - Quarter circle backward - Tilt stick downwards, then to downwards and backward, then backward.
- HCF - Half circle forward - Tilt stick backwards, then to downwards and backward, then to downward, then to downwards and forward, then forward.
- HCB - Half circle backward - Tilt stick forwards, then to downwards and forward, then to downward, then to downwards and backward, then backward.
- DP - Dragon punch - Tilt stick forwards, then to downward, then to downward and forward.
- Charge - Hold a tilt - Hold the stick in either B or D (Depending) then move to F or U respectively.
Button Notation
Expressed in the form: Notation - Move - (Neo Geo Default Map)
- LP - Weak/Light/Low/Jab Punch - (A)
- HP - Heavy/Hard/High/Fierce Punch - (C)
- P - Any punch - (A/C)
- LK - Weak/Light/Low/short Kick - (B)
- HK - Heavy/Hard/High/Roundhouse Kick - (D)
- K = Any kick - (B/D)
Occasionally people may use "Notation" and "Move" interchangeably.
Descriptors
Connectors
- +: Used between two other pieces of notation to signify that they should be performed at the same time. i.e. "X" + "Y", "X" should be performed at the same time as "Y".
e.g. F + HP
State Modifiers
- s. - The following move should be performed in the standing position (neutral in the Y-axis). i.e. s."X", perform "X" whilst standing.
- c. - The following move should be performed in the crouched position (held down in the Y-axis). i.e. c."X", perform "X" whilst crouching.
- j. - The following move should be performed in the "in the air" position (After having held up in the Y-axis). i.e. j."X", perform "X" whilst in the air.
Miscellaneous Notation
- DM - Short for "Desperation Move", which is the super move of each character.
- Tap/Rapidly - Repeatedly press a button.
- Deep/Close - How close a move is performed - When the sprites are overlapping.
- Far - How close a move is performed - When the sprites aren't overlapping.
Game Mechanics
Crawl
Hold DF to crawl along the ground. Sometimes called an offensive crouch.
Line Sway
Press A+B to jump to the opposite plane. If both fighters are on opposite planes, they cannot perform special moves, but can still move left or right. If a player is on the upper plane, he/she can jump, while the player one the bottom plane can crouch. If the player on the upper plane attempts to crouch, he/she will roll to the bottom plane, while the player on the bottom plane rolls to the upper plane if he/she attempts to jump.
Attacking a player on the opposite plane will have the character do a Line Sway Attack, depending on the button pressed. Press A or B for the Low Line Sway Attack, and C or D for the High Line Sway Attack. Pressing left or right on the D-Pad will move the character into that direction during the attack, instead of making the attack home-in on the opponent. All this attacks are overheads.
Strong Attack
Also known as the Line Blast, done by pressing C+D. When this attack connects, the opponent is thrown to the opposite plane. This attack can be done while crouching. The speed and hitboxes of the attacks vary by character and the current plane in which they are.
Throw
Press F+C when close to the opponent to throw them. Joe Higashi, Cheng Sinzan, Billy Kane, Laurence Blood, Geese Howard, and Wolfgang Krauser can also throw with F+D. Other characters have multiple throws with D (such as Big Bear and Axel Hawk), and some have air throws (Mai Shiranui and Duck King).
Dizzy Points
Every character in FFS has a stun gauge which when filled will make them dizzy. From the All About Garou Densetsu Special book, here are the stun points for each character:
Jubei, Tung Fu Rue: 11
Mai: 13
Terry, Billy: 14
Andy, Chin, Duck: 15
Joe, Kim: 16
Laurence: 17
Axel, Geese, Ryo: 18
Krauser, Bear: 22
Defensive Attack
Press F+A while blocking. Sometimes called Guard Attack or Counter Attack (the latter is used in KOF94). This attack has upper body invincibility and can be canceled. It can be done while blocking a whiffed attack.
Guard Attacks have been ranked based on how each scores on a number of categories: reach, start-up, how easy it is to use, and finally, how well it compliments the rest of the character's moves.
| Character | Reach | Start-Up | Ease of Use | Complimentary Factor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Geese | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 |
| Andy | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| Joe | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Axel | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Mai | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Bear | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Jubei | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 |
| Cheng | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| Krauser | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Terry | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| Duck | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Billy | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Tung | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Laurence | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Taunt
Press C while far away from opponent. Can be stopped at any time by pressing a direction in the D-Pad or any button.
Back Dash
Move the joystick back twice to retreat. Characters are invulnerable for a few seconds during the back dash.
Basic Strategy
Advanced Strategy
Whiff-Canceling
I was experimenting with some of the whiff-cancelling like you've seen in the videos. It's pretty simple most of the time; with Geese, for instance, do D, D/F+C, F+C to to a crouching fierce immediately cancelled into Double Reppuken. Or Axel: Do QCF + B~A or C (in case you're not familiar with this notation, it means you press B then ASAP press A or C; it's best to put one finger over one button and one over the other) to do a standing B whiff-cancelled into Tornado Upper.
The interesting thing is that unlike in SF, some moves can't be whiff-cancelled; with Axel, for example, his far standing D cannot be whiff-cancelled. There's no real rhyme or reason as to which moves can be whiff-cancelled, it seems to be totally random; using Axel once more as an example, I thought his standing D didn't work because it is not a bufferable move. So I tried his sweep, a move which *is* bufferable, and that doesn't work either. So you'll just have to go by good ol' trial and error to figure it out. I can semi-consistently do Big Bear's close standing C -> command throw whiff-cancel, the one you've seen on the video; it's kinda hard to do and doesn't have any real purpose since his command throw is easy to do on the ground anyway.
Duck King's crouching D -> DM whiff-cancel, on the other hand, seems VERY useful...except it's insanely hard. I have only managed to do that once out of many tries, and still don't know how I did it. A good tactic I learned from this "experimenting": Geese's crouching C -> Reversal is a useful whiff-cancel to know. It's easy, too: All you need to do is move from Back to Down/Forward and press C, then move to Forward and press B or D. The reason it is useful is because the beginning animation of crouching C is clearly visible to the opponent, which can bait them into the reversal. And one more peculiar little note: It seems that you can whiff-cancel a normal move into a command normal.
Take Duck King, for instance...do his crouching D, and IMMEDIATELY move the joystick to the D/F position. You'll see the beginning animation of the crouching D and then it'll go straight into his slide. This is REALLY weird, because you could never do this in SF. But I like it.
Credit to Josh-TheFunkDOC
Tiers
Tier-list
Tier List from 2004.11.4 http://www.ii-park.net/~garosp/
| Joe | Kim | Mai | Andy | Billy | Jubei | Geese | Terry | Krauser | Axel | Cheng | Duck | Tung | Bear | Laurence | Totals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joe | - | 3 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 91 +21 |
| Kim | 7 | - | 6 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 89 +19 |
| Mai | 5 | 4 | - | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 85 +15 |
| Andy | 5 | 4 | 5 | - | 5 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 83 +13 |
| Billy | 4 | 7 | 4 | 5 | - | 6 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 83 +13 |
| Jubei | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | - | 3 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 79 +9 |
| Geese | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 | - | 5 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 77 +7 |
| Terry | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | - | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 67 -3 |
| Krauser | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 4 | - | 7 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 66 -4 |
| Axel | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | - | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 63 -7 |
| Cheng | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 4 | - | 5 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 59 -11 |
| Duck | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 5 | - | 2 | 6 | 8 | 57 -13 |
| Tung | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 8 | - | 7 | 6 | 54 -16 |
| Bear | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | - | 5 | 49 -21 |
| Laurence | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 5 | - | 49 -21 |
- Kim is no longer the dominant force he was once considered, he's not even Rank 1 anymore, Joe is. The Top tier is a lot more closely contended as well.
- The Top 5 looks more or less the same, with only Terry dropping in the ranks, and Andy receiving a massive boost from rank 11 to joint 4th.
- Bear goes from joint 6th to joint bottom, I wonder what made the guys at gamest think he was good to begin with.
- Jubei goes from a fairly mid tier character to just outside the big 5, no doubt to his insane traps.
- In the gamest tier list, everyone apart from Kim (rank 1), Cheng and Tung (rank 14 and 15), you could argue everyone else is more or less in a mid tier, but in the later tier list, there looks to be much more defined tiers.
January 1994 GAMEST tier list
| Kim | Mai | Billy | Joe | Terry | Bear | Axel | Geese | Jubei | Krauser | Andy | Laurence | Duck | Cheng | Tung | Totals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kim | - | 6 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 91 +27 |
| Mai | 4 | - | 5 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 77 +7 |
| Billy | 6 | 5 | - | 6 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 76 +6 |
| Joe | 5 | 5 | 4 | - | 6 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 74 +4 |
| Terry | 5 | 3 | 6 | 4 | - | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 73 +3 |
| Bear | 2 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 5 | - | 6 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 71 +1 |
| Axel | 3 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 4 | - | 5 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 71 +1 |
| Geese | 3 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 5 | - | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 70 +0 |
| Jubei | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 5 | - | 7 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 68 -2 |
| Krauser | 3 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 3 | - | 5 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 68 -2 |
| Andy | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | - | 6 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 66 -4 |
| Laurence | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | - | 6 | 5 | 6 | 64 -6 |
| Duck | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 4 | - | 5 | 4 | 64 -6 |
| Cheng | 3 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | - | 5 | 59 -11 |
| Tung | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 5 | - | 58 -12 |
The Characters
FFS Links
Creators of fantastic Matchvids (Japanese)
The original FFS Supersite (Japanese)