Art of Fighting (Neo Geo)

To do: Source code (not from the PC Engine version)

In Art of Fighting, Ryo Sakazaki and his best bud Robert Garcia beat up a bunch of thugs to rescue Yuri, Ryo's younger sister, but only end up with the very first cliffhanger ending featured in a fighting game.

What's more, this claims to be the very first game to feature a "Dress Break".

Unused Graphics#

Group Picture#

This picture of the game's cast in chibi form is stored near the end of the graphic data in the game, including the line across John's body. The palette is incorrect, and it is currently unknown if this picture can be displayed during normal gameplay.

Time Over Animations#

While most of the fighters are not playable in 1-player mode (except Ryo and Robert), they still have a "time over" animation that's only shown in the Initiate Super Death Blow bonus stage. By modifying the value to 02-09 at address 1092C3, you can play with the rest of the characters in 1-player mode, and see their unused animations.

King Chest Damage#

Watch on YouTubeWhile the whole cast has visible head damage, King was originally planned to be the only character with chest damage. Some of the animations were seemingly complete before the feature got removed; her famous "undressing KO" feature seems to be a leftover from it.

Alternate Todoh KO#

Watch on YouTubeFor some unknown reason, Ryuhaku Todoh has a bunch of unused damaged sprites with alternate heads, one with short hair and the other completely bald. Neither of them have his characteristic moustache and/or headband.

Unused Music#

Playing the sound code x0741 via a Neo Geo music player such as M1 or a modded system that uses the Universe Bios will start this song, which is not used anywhere in the game. This song was also omitted from the game's original soundtrack album.

Unused Sounds#

Stage 1 Name#

The in-game announcer typically mentions the stage name and number while you're in the map of South Town. It does this for every stage except for the first one, since the map isn't shown when you start a game. Regardless, the game does have a sound clip for the very first stage that is never used. You can listen to it by playing sound code x07D4 on a Neo Geo music player.

Voice Clips#

There are three unused voice clips in the game.

Ryo: "Doushite nanda, Yuri?"

Robert: "What did you say?"

Presumably, these two clips would've been used in the ending, had it not been a cliffhanger. Ryo's voice comes immediately after Yuri tries to tell you Mr. Karate's real identity in the original soundtrack. However, the second clip is not included.

This sound is used in Lee's "time over" animation. However, it cannot be heard normally because, as noted above, the time over animations for everyone besides Ryo and Robert are themselves unused and also because Lee is the only character that doesn't have a kneeling defeat pose.

Announcer Voices#

Won

Lost

Perfect

The above sounds were likely meant to be said by the announcer when you won, lost, or someone got a perfect win - but the announcer never says anything other than "Round X" and "Fight". Despite never being used, these three sound clips were included in the game's original soundtrack.

Regional Differences#

Title Screen#

Japan	US/Europe

John Crawley#

John has a couple of region specific voices:

Taunt:

Victory:

References#