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It's been 25 years, many of us weren't probably even born yet, but finally, we have laid our callous hands on the new Fatal Fury installation. And today, I'm here to bring you the most relevant updates that came in with the game.
The game's great, nothing to say about it, it's pretty cool, the graphic'sare gorgeous and for the first time (excluding KoF) we are gifted with a ton of material that expands upon the characters' personalities and relationships, really fleshing them out as never before.
The story, personally, was quite enjoyable as well, and it was honestyl difficult to match the colossal expectations that generated spontaneously over more than two decades, but the team nonetheless managed to do a good job.
That said, to make this thread I've analyzed the gameplay, the arcade stories, the "Episodes of South Town" mode, the various conversations that can be unlocked through said mode and the official animated trailers. These stories aren't always straightforward or match with each other, but for our purposes I will consider most of them to be credible "what ifs".
The only things I won't delve too much into is each character's capability of defeating Fallen Rock, the final boss, who's presented as exceptionally powerful, and various modes suggest he may have been defeated by the joint forces of Terry, Kain, Billy and Rock's inner struggle.
That said, all characters, while presented at different levels of strength, skill and reputation, also appear as relatively even in power to each other, so scaling shouldn't be much of an issue.
I know Krauser and a whole lot of new stories and content are about to come out, but I rekon it's best to sort these updates first and then follow up on the rest.
As always, you can find all the references in my sandbox (forgive the brainrot), as copy-pasting them all here on the forum is quite the hassle because of coding issues.
Music, master:
General updates:
Subsonic speed: The verse until now didn't have a clear rating for speed, due to lack of feasible feats to calculate. Fortunatelt, COTW came to our aid with several feats that put all the characters on a solid Subsonic level.
I believe this can be applied even to characters who haven't appeared in Mark of the Wolves and City of the Wolves, as the main characters don't seem to have progressed immensely in strength and speed, while backscaling is allowed thanks to students and youngsters being somewhat relative to the veterans.
Fighters on the level of Kain and Blue Mary can move and attack at a speed almost faster, or effectively faster than the eye can see, while ninjas such as Andy Bogard, Mai Shiranui and Hokutomaru can dash away in the blink of an eye.
Stamina: So far all the characters have Superhuman stamina due to stage transitions showing the passing of several hours between a bout and the other. While COTW may not be extremely in-line with these depictions, due to its story being much more nuanced, the characters can still spend whole days fighting and taking on hordes of foes. The reference here will be Episodes of South Town as a whole, since it's basically what happens in every single story.
The whole roster has been demonstrated the ability to undergo many battles over the course of a single day, facing other skilled fighters in streaks of single matches or taking on whole gangs of assailants, often alone or with little aid.
Chi Manipulation and Possibly Non-Physical Interaction: COTW gifted us with many more details on the nature of ki. While they don't inherently bestow any fancy, additional ability, it's nice to learn of such developments:
Ki is the manifestation of a person's spirit energy. It is not physical in nature and is drawn upon by the most skilled fighters in order to launch physics-defying projectiles or manipulate natural elements such as fire. Preecha theorized ki could be used to hurt ghosts, due to its ethereal nature. Although never directly proven, a ghost immune to fire and physical attacks was afraid of an incoming ki blast and felt the need to deflect it for self-defense.
Explanation note for EOST dubious canon to be put on every file:
The storylines narrated in the Episodes of South Town game mode are of dubious canonicity, being a collection of tie-ins with the main story or true "what ifs". They occasionally contrast with what is otherwise narrated in the arcade mode, as well as clashing with each other. Furthermore, their position within the timeline is uncertain as well, as they reference events and story elements that occur either before or after the latest "The King of Fighters" tournament, occasionally even mixing-up the sequence of events. As such, they are put under closer scrutiny and any detail and information provided regarding the game's lore and characters is still considered legitimate, assuming they don't directly contradict more legitimate sources.
Now, on to individual characters:
Terry Bogard:
Possibly 9-A via Triple Geyser: So, the first animated trailer and then official game intro, shows Terry generating a massive explosion with his Triple Geyser during his final confrontation with Geese Howard, and I calculated it to be 9-A. First of all, it would only scale to the Power Geyser, due to being explicitly an exceptionally powerful technique, much stronger than his normal attacks. It would not scale to Geese either, as his own strongest technique, the Raging Storm, was swiftly overpowered, causing his defeat. Geese didn't outright die from this attack, it's true, but I'm wary of performing direct scaling to his durabilty, as even 10-B humans can survive 9-B impacts, and it would just make him a stone wall impervious to all weaker attacks, which is totally not the case. So, this rating would be a special trump card for Terence alone.
The reason I'm proposing to make it a possibly, is due to Geese's Episodes of South Town introduction, which offers a different depiction of the battle's ending, one more in line with the same scene from the original Real Bout.
Both versions are featured within the game and it's another case of the same even being portrayed in different ways in contemporary sources from the same game. I'm willing to include it anyway, but leave the door open to it not being the main canon.
Rock Howard
Fallen Rock: Fallen Rock is the final boss of most arcade stories and EOST modes, and it's essentially Rock Howard possessed by the ghost of one of his ancestors due to his blood relation. More details down here. It should be added as an extra key to his file, alongside a lengthy note or summary for what caused the possession. Moreover, Rock's transformation is reiterated again in several EOST stories, usually due to Nightmare Geese's malevolent influence, which triggers his so-called evil blood (but does not possess him). It is also implied to have occurred multiple times, but once again, canon is hazy, so I will make sure to properly explain all of his as well.
Mai Shiranui
Kim Kaphwan
Social Influencing (His wrathful aura could utterly terrify his son Dong Hwan and cause even Tizoc to reel back in fear)
Andy Bogard
Joe Higashi
Tizoc
THE NIGHTMARE NEVER ENDS!
Our favorite weeb mobster transcends the grave and returns as a canon(ish) ghost, which comes with a whole lot of new abilities and thus requires a new key.
First, additions for his alive self:
Now, onto the never-ending nightmare!
And that's about it, hungry wolves!
It's been lengthy and a little tiring, but we're far from the end and a new world of updates approahces! So, let's discuss this first round and await together for what's to comes!
The game's great, nothing to say about it, it's pretty cool, the graphic'sare gorgeous and for the first time (excluding KoF) we are gifted with a ton of material that expands upon the characters' personalities and relationships, really fleshing them out as never before.
The story, personally, was quite enjoyable as well, and it was honestyl difficult to match the colossal expectations that generated spontaneously over more than two decades, but the team nonetheless managed to do a good job.
That said, to make this thread I've analyzed the gameplay, the arcade stories, the "Episodes of South Town" mode, the various conversations that can be unlocked through said mode and the official animated trailers. These stories aren't always straightforward or match with each other, but for our purposes I will consider most of them to be credible "what ifs".
The only things I won't delve too much into is each character's capability of defeating Fallen Rock, the final boss, who's presented as exceptionally powerful, and various modes suggest he may have been defeated by the joint forces of Terry, Kain, Billy and Rock's inner struggle.
That said, all characters, while presented at different levels of strength, skill and reputation, also appear as relatively even in power to each other, so scaling shouldn't be much of an issue.
I know Krauser and a whole lot of new stories and content are about to come out, but I rekon it's best to sort these updates first and then follow up on the rest.
As always, you can find all the references in my sandbox (forgive the brainrot), as copy-pasting them all here on the forum is quite the hassle because of coding issues.
Music, master:
General updates:
Subsonic speed: The verse until now didn't have a clear rating for speed, due to lack of feasible feats to calculate. Fortunatelt, COTW came to our aid with several feats that put all the characters on a solid Subsonic level.
I believe this can be applied even to characters who haven't appeared in Mark of the Wolves and City of the Wolves, as the main characters don't seem to have progressed immensely in strength and speed, while backscaling is allowed thanks to students and youngsters being somewhat relative to the veterans.
Fighters on the level of Kain and Blue Mary can move and attack at a speed almost faster, or effectively faster than the eye can see, while ninjas such as Andy Bogard, Mai Shiranui and Hokutomaru can dash away in the blink of an eye.
Stamina: So far all the characters have Superhuman stamina due to stage transitions showing the passing of several hours between a bout and the other. While COTW may not be extremely in-line with these depictions, due to its story being much more nuanced, the characters can still spend whole days fighting and taking on hordes of foes. The reference here will be Episodes of South Town as a whole, since it's basically what happens in every single story.
The whole roster has been demonstrated the ability to undergo many battles over the course of a single day, facing other skilled fighters in streaks of single matches or taking on whole gangs of assailants, often alone or with little aid.
Chi Manipulation and Possibly Non-Physical Interaction: COTW gifted us with many more details on the nature of ki. While they don't inherently bestow any fancy, additional ability, it's nice to learn of such developments:
Ki is the manifestation of a person's spirit energy. It is not physical in nature and is drawn upon by the most skilled fighters in order to launch physics-defying projectiles or manipulate natural elements such as fire. Preecha theorized ki could be used to hurt ghosts, due to its ethereal nature. Although never directly proven, a ghost immune to fire and physical attacks was afraid of an incoming ki blast and felt the need to deflect it for self-defense.
Explanation note for EOST dubious canon to be put on every file:
The storylines narrated in the Episodes of South Town game mode are of dubious canonicity, being a collection of tie-ins with the main story or true "what ifs". They occasionally contrast with what is otherwise narrated in the arcade mode, as well as clashing with each other. Furthermore, their position within the timeline is uncertain as well, as they reference events and story elements that occur either before or after the latest "The King of Fighters" tournament, occasionally even mixing-up the sequence of events. As such, they are put under closer scrutiny and any detail and information provided regarding the game's lore and characters is still considered legitimate, assuming they don't directly contradict more legitimate sources.
Now, on to individual characters:
Terry Bogard:
Possibly 9-A via Triple Geyser: So, the first animated trailer and then official game intro, shows Terry generating a massive explosion with his Triple Geyser during his final confrontation with Geese Howard, and I calculated it to be 9-A. First of all, it would only scale to the Power Geyser, due to being explicitly an exceptionally powerful technique, much stronger than his normal attacks. It would not scale to Geese either, as his own strongest technique, the Raging Storm, was swiftly overpowered, causing his defeat. Geese didn't outright die from this attack, it's true, but I'm wary of performing direct scaling to his durabilty, as even 10-B humans can survive 9-B impacts, and it would just make him a stone wall impervious to all weaker attacks, which is totally not the case. So, this rating would be a special trump card for Terence alone.
The reason I'm proposing to make it a possibly, is due to Geese's Episodes of South Town introduction, which offers a different depiction of the battle's ending, one more in line with the same scene from the original Real Bout.
Both versions are featured within the game and it's another case of the same even being portrayed in different ways in contemporary sources from the same game. I'm willing to include it anyway, but leave the door open to it not being the main canon.
- Air Manipulation (Via Cosmic Strike Geyser)
- Enhanced Senses (His instincts allowed him to sense Billy Kane's underlings stalking him)
- Extrasensory Perception (Could sense Chun-Li's aura. Felt the trail of pressure Kage Wolf left behind himself)
- Regeneration (Low; Was brutally beaten up by Kage Wolf, so badly to require hospitalization; nonetheless, a simple nap was all he needed to fully recuperate and be restored to fighting condition)
- Social Influencing (Despite his usual, jolly attitude, Terry can quickly turn serious and assume a behaviour that is frightful enough to overwhelm an expert fighter such as Dong Hwan. Even when sporting a calm behavior, Terry gives off an intense fighting aura. When he was only a kid, Terry could fend off an aggressive dog through his sheer assertive dominance)
- Resistance to Mind Manipulation (Resisted JP's attempt to enslave his mind, enduring excruciating mental tortures until his aggressor gave up; most notably, JP's Psycho Power had previously been able to control fighters the caliber of Andy Bogard, Mai Shiranui, Hotaru, Preecha and others)
- Intelligence: Terry is also an accomplished street artist, having painted numerous murals around South Town and being widely praised for his prowess.
Rock Howard
- Managed to defeat Nightmare Geese.
- Enhanced Senses (Could feel Andy Bogard coming up to him from behind)
Fallen Rock: Fallen Rock is the final boss of most arcade stories and EOST modes, and it's essentially Rock Howard possessed by the ghost of one of his ancestors due to his blood relation. More details down here. It should be added as an extra key to his file, alongside a lengthy note or summary for what caused the possession. Moreover, Rock's transformation is reiterated again in several EOST stories, usually due to Nightmare Geese's malevolent influence, which triggers his so-called evil blood (but does not possess him). It is also implied to have occurred multiple times, but once again, canon is hazy, so I will make sure to properly explain all of his as well.
- All of Rock's standard abilities, plus some different explanations for his martial arts, as he uses a Geese-like fighting style. He's also stronger than his normal self, as it taps into his inner potential, and it seemingly took the combined efforts of Terry, Billy and Kain to take him down, while Rock himself was simultaneously fighting off the possessor from the inside.
- Multiple Selves (The vengeful spirit of Jin Tairyu possessed and transformed Rock's body, in the attempt of reincarnating himself in a similar vein to what his ghost siblings had tried to do years ago upon possessing Jin Chonshu and Jin Chonrei, Rock's distant cousins. Jin Tairyu's spirit was eventually expelled thanks to Rock's strength of will combined with his friends fighting his possessed self in the real world)
- Light Manipulation (His aura emits a blinding light that can even pierce through sunglasses)
Mai Shiranui
- Additional Acrobatics: Can reach rooftops by bouncing up between walls, leap off them undamaged and dash across buildings
- Magic and Power Nullification (Ninjas utilize magic to perform their Jutsu and Mai knows techniques to dispel them)
- Teleportation (Via Ouran no Mai: Akasuzumi)
- Extrasensory Perception (Felt Vox Reaper's malicious aura from far away, despite his efforts to suppress all traces of his presence)
- Additional Cloth and Hair Manipulation: (Also via Ouran no Mai: Akasuzumi. Could perfectly copy Chun-Li's appearance and dispel the disguise in an instant)
Kim Kaphwan
Social Influencing (His wrathful aura could utterly terrify his son Dong Hwan and cause even Tizoc to reel back in fear)
Andy Bogard
- Weakness: Suffers from an old wound that never fully healed and still represents a grave concern to his health
- Extrasensory Perception: (Could feel the presence of a dog that was following him. He could also sense the inner malice of a man. Felt that another man was spying him from a distance)
- Instinctive Action (Years of fighting experience have allowed him to dodge a sneak attack from Vox Reaper before even thinking)
Joe Higashi
- Extrasensory Perception (Sensed the presence of a man behind him. Felt Kim Kaphwan's energy inside his son Dong Hwan. Sensed Rock Howard's strong aura and ki, and deduced he had been trained by Terry Bogard)
- Social Influencing (Could involuntarily exert an unapproachable aura born of sheer excitement. Let out a frightful gaze upon getting serious, scaring out even his own student, Preecha)
- Intelligence: Took over the Howard Connection after Geese's demise.
- Aura (When readying for a battle, Billy gives off an intense aura whose effects could be perceived even by a skilled fighter such as Cristiano Ronaldo I never imagined that one day I would have had to wite such a sentence)
- Extrasensory Perception (Her instincts let her feel the malice pervading an area where crime was being committed, and guided her to the culprits. Sensed Vox Reaper's aura, which made her deduce he was a fighter and a criminal)
Tizoc
- Air Manipulation (Via Daedalus Slalom Turn Sunset)
- Intelligence: Tizoc was an uncontested champion, before the crushing defeat he suffered against Vox Reaper
- Explosion Manipulation (Via JB-14)
- Enhanced Senses (Felt the presence of an assassin that was stalking the car he was in. His senses guided him to where a brawl had recently taken place)
- Extrasensory Perception (Could sense Nightmare Geese's evil lingering energies and Rock's negative aura stirring inside him)
- Minor Levitation (Can raise himself off the ground)
- Intelligence: He is now the de-facto ruler of Second South, a portion of South Town that has grown independent from the rest of the city.
THE NIGHTMARE NEVER ENDS!
Our favorite weeb mobster transcends the grave and returns as a canon(ish) ghost, which comes with a whole lot of new abilities and thus requires a new key.
First, additions for his alive self:
- Social Influencing (Social Position and Reputation: Geese Howard is globally considered a respected businessman as the man at the helm of Howard Connection. However, he is infamously renown among the citizens of South Town for a plethora of reasons, from his shady demeanor and wide-spread rumors, which arouse suspicion among the general civilians, to outright hate and antagonism from those who are aware of his criminal activities, as Geese's absolute rule brings even the most abysmal crook indirectly under his heel. Geese reputation of dangerous man is furthered by his strength, skill and ruthlessness as a martial artist, for everyone in the fighting word has at least heard word of his reputation and the many stories tied to him. (note
roof and evidence of these notion is found all throghout the ''Fatal Fury'' and ''Art of Fighting'' series of video games and related material, either directly or indirectly. They become even more prominent in the latest game, ''Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves'', due to its richness of lore, storytelling and conversations between characters) Instigating Fear: Geese is intrinsically an imposing and menacing man, striking even for those who don't know him, and few have the fighting spirit necessary to stand their ground against him. - Extrasensory Perception (Could perceive and identify Terry Bogard when he approached the Geese Tower for the first time)
- Weakness: Suffers from the lingering pains of an old wound dealt to him in the past, which ultimately proved fatal to him, as a sudden seizure prevented him from launching the Raging Storm meant to counterattack Terry's Power Geyser.
Now, onto the never-ending nightmare!
- Immortality (Types 7 and 4/8. The mystic influence of the Jin Scrolls - fabled relics said to grant immortality to their owner - and Geese's regrets have bound a portion of his soul to the physical world. Thus, his resentful ghost began to haunt South Town, seeking to finally quench his remorse. Nightmare Geese could truly be vanquished only by individuals with a strong relation to him, such as Terry and Rock, as defeat at the hands of other people, namely Preecha and Marco, would only drive him away temporarily; such incapacitation could even last only a few moments)
- Situational Incorporeality and Teleportation (He normally appears as a shadow resembling the form he had in life, flickering in and out of the edge of reality; He can phase through walls and vanish at will, reappering immediately in the same spot or moving elsewhere, to resume his hunt for strong victims)
- Likely Inorganic Physiology (Takes a physical form when fighting and is vulnerable to damage, but his body appears to be composed of pure light and spectral flames)
- Limited Invisibility (His shadowy specter is invisible to normal people, as long as he does not touch them or is touched by them, at which point the victims are enabled to see him. However, martial artists can see him without having to first engage him in a fight)
- Flight (Capable of floating in the air)
- Extrasensory Perception (Could feel the energy emanated by the bodies of martial artists)
- Aura (Overwhelming; Gives off an intense aura that unnerved another ghost and even a fighter such as Preecha)
- Social Influencing (exerts a powerful psychological influence over his victims, leaving those he defeats frantic with trauma, confusion and fear)
- Fire Manipulation (Can imbue his attacks with the spectral flames that make up his body)
- Corruption (Around the time Nightmare Geese first appeared, his evil energies began to spread from the Geese Tower -his former HQ- and throghout the entirety of South Town. Such a miasma began to affect the most vulnerable citizens in nefarious ways, namely sending them into combat-crazed trances or fostering the evil inside them and heightening their already-violent tendencies. Rock Howard was especially affected by these energies, for the so-called "evil blood" inherited from his father intensified its hold over his mind the closer he got to the Geese Tower, until it took him over completely and released his cruel, second personality (notes: 1. Hotaru stumbled upon two individuals whose minds were completely clouded by the craving of seizing the girl's martens, even if it meant doing it by force; upon having been beaten back to sanity, they woke up unaware of what they had done and assumed their fondness for these animals had just gone overboard. A similar thing occurred to Rock Howard, who revelaed himself to Hotaro as his alternate persona, Fallen Howard, before being similarly restored back to his normal self. Although never explicitly confirmed, it is suggested that all of them may have been influenced by Nightmare Geese's energies. 2. Kain was faced with a disastrous wave of riots all across Second South and a surprising amount of assassination attempts directed at him, much more than the usual. Several other criminal parties were indeed conspiring to topple his rule, but their sheer numbers and the degree of destruction they laid after them appeared was both unexpected and suspicious. Their bulk appeared to be attracted by and concentrated around the Geese Tower, and their aggressiveness grew in proportion to their proximity to it. Kain eventually felt the wicked energies located within the Tower and received definitive confirmation upon witnessing Rock being taken over his evil side as his blood resonated with Geese's lingering essence. 3. The effects of Nightmare Geese's lingering energies are mentioned only in a few storylines of the ''Episodes of South Town'' game mode, and lack entirely from additional sources, such as SNK's official animation which promoted the release of Nightmare Geese. As such, this is effectvely the most controversial of his abilities and may likely be absent from the main canon. However, its relevancy within alternative storylines earned it a mention within Nightmare Geese's skillset)
And that's about it, hungry wolves!
It's been lengthy and a little tiring, but we're far from the end and a new world of updates approahces! So, let's discuss this first round and await together for what's to comes!
