Art of Fighting 2 (Neo Geo)

To do:

A lot of Regional Differences.
Arcade Archives release apparently altered the Rising Sun flag in Takuma's stage. Does it apply to other rereleases?

Art of Fighting 2 picks up the story from where the first Art of Fighting game ended.

Geese Howard#

Strike a pose, baby!
You can play as Geese Howard by changing the value of 0x1092E3 (for Player 1) or 0x1093E3 (for Player 2) in RAM to 0D after selecting a character, in the stage map, or before a round starts. Geese is a mostly complete character, and has very few physical attacks, but makes up for it with incredibly overpowered special moves and high-priority attacks. He doesn't have any pre-fight dialogue or poses, so the game will use the regular Ryo vs. Ryo pre-fight intro, regardless of what characters are chosen at the start, with both characters using an incorrect palette. His palette will also glitch when bouncing off the upper edge of the screen.

This tie is stiff... Time to take a break.

Not only does Geese have a completed character portrait, a character name, and an announcer call-out, there are also unused graphics for a second portrait that would've been displayed when he was selected in the character selection screen. He doesn't have a small selection portrait, a defeated portrait, nor any graphics meant to be used in an ending.

Geese vs. Shadow Geese Normal / Shadow / Black Light / Cinnamon Toast Geese
It is possible to have a two player Geese Vs. Geese match by using the cheats listed above. Unfortunately, he only has one usable palette; the default P2 palette is all black, palette 3 has a few purple spots, and palette 4 is... well, red.

Looks like Howard's Geese... has been cooked.
Once you finish a single fight against the CPU, the game will think that you lost and send you to the continue screen. You'll also see one of Temjin's special moves at the bottom for some reason. If you continue, you'll just fight your last opponent again. This situation makes a bit of sense - what happens when Geese wins? It means that the player lost. So the game sends you to the continue screen.

While it is possible to fight against a CPU-controlled Geese through cheats (or by getting to him via legit means), the game will glitch after defeating him, and will either loop the Ryo Vs. Ryo pre-fight intro endlessly instead of showing you Geese's ending, or force you to fight Geese again.

Additional Extra Characters#

You can also use or fight against two of the four enemy types used in the Strength Training bonus game by setting 0x1092E3 (for Player 1) or 0x1093E3 (for Player 2) in RAM to 0E or 0F before a round starts.

Grunt #1 has a few attacks and can jump, but Grunt #2 has no attacks at all and won't be able to move until the other player hits him. The characters don't have sprite zoom data, so they're always the same size regardless of how far you are from them. They have no proper animations for being knocked down and fall to the ground instantly, and when a player faces them in a versus match, the game will load Ryo's stage for the former and the Spirit Training bonus stage for the latter. It is currently unknown if the other variants of these characters can be loaded as playable characters.

(Source: zakria (TCRF Forum))

Extra Playable Stages#

You can load two of the four bonus stages by changing the value of 0x108401 in RAM. Changing it to 0E will load the Strength Training bonus level (which is an exact copy of Jack's stage, and plays its stage music) and 0F will load the Spirit Training bonus level, with no music in the background.

(Source: zakria (TCRF Forum))

Unused Title Text#

This subtitle was found next to the tiles for the Japanese title screen, and appears to use the same palette.

Hidden or Unused Graphics#

Note that the palette used in these images may be incorrect, and chosen for clarity.

Hidden Chibis#

These images are hidden in the tileset for Geese Howard's stage. These are small versions of the game's characters.

100 MEGA SHOCK Logo#

The game was technically released as a "100MEGA SHOCK!" game, but unlike others in the series, it never shows this logo during the attract mode.

Ryuhaku Todoh's Portrait#

Why has thou forsaken me, SNK?
These leftover Art of Fighting portraits for Ryuhaku Todoh are buried deep in the game's tilesets. Todoh was the only character from the original game that did not appear in the sequel, so who knows why this was left in. A suitable palette could not be found - this was the closest one available in the game.

Padding Tiles#

The following images are used as padding within the tile sets of specific characters. The graphics appear to use the same palette as the character, including the transparent color.

Jack Turner#

John Crawley#

Temjin#

Geese Howard#

Hidden Moves#

Watch on YouTubeActivating the DIP switch 2-4 enables hidden moves for every character except Geese Howard. These are performed by pressing ↓↑ + A / B, and while they require no stamina, they also barely do any damage (roughly 1 point per hit). Jack Turner is the only character that has two different moves, one per each button.

It's likely that these are either joke moves hidden by the developers, or were intended to be used for ending animations.

Debug Dipswitches#

To use these, your system must have a Debug Bios installed, or your emulator must have the Debug Bios loaded with the game.

Debug Dip	Effect
1-1	If Player 1 is playing the game, the CPU will control Player 1 until it's turned off. If Player 1 is being controlled by the CPU, turning this on will allow a person to control the character.
1-2	If Player 2 is playing the game, the CPU will control Player 2 until it's turned off. If Player 2 is being controlled by the CPU, turning this on will allow a person to control the character.
1-1 + 1-2	Makes the AI take over both fighters in a versus match.
1-3	Enables a huge data display for both characters.
1-4	Lets you control your character in the "How to Play" screen.
1-6	Neither player will die after their health is empty.
1-7	Makes a six-digit number (000000) appear under each player. The value changes as matches progress, but its intended use is unknown.
2-1	Causes the game to run slower.
2-2	Causes the game to run even slower.
2-3	Press Select to pause the game cleanly (no Pause text). This only works in Console mode.
2-3 + 2-4	Press Select to display an RGB Test screen. Changing the values doesn't seem to do anything.
2-4	Press Select to access two different sound test modes. Sound Code Direct You can change the values with the controller, then press A, B or C to play a sound. Some values will just cause all sounds to stop playing. Press D to go to the Sound Code Indirect menu. Sound Code Indirect A plays back a sound, while B lets you switch between the Code and Out values. Press a direction on the controller to change their values, but you can listen to all sound effects, voices, and music by changing the Code value. D will change the menu back to Sound Code Direct mode. Press Select on either one of these menus to exit it and go back to normal gameplay. This DIP switch also enables extra moves, as detailed in the "Hidden Moves" section above.
2-6	Activate this switch in the character selection screen. Once you choose your opponent, you'll see the special ending you get after defeating Geese Howard, followed by your character's normal ending. Additionally, some debugging data will be shown during the credits. The four "TM" values seem to show data related to the time each sequence lasts, while "DEMO" displays the ID code of the skit that's being played back. Using this with Geese makes the game play back Mr. Big's ending. Once that finishes playing, the game resets.
2-7	Stops the match timer from counting down.

Note that some effects listed at the source for this information could not be verified in emulators.

(Source: Neo-Geo.com's Big List of Debug Dipswitches)

References#

Title Catalogue - NEOGEO MUSEUM ↩︎

v · t · e The Art of Fighting series
Neo Geo	Art of Fighting • Art of Fighting 2 • Art of Fighting 3
SNES	Art of Fighting
Genesis	Art of Fighting
TurboGrafx-CD	Ryuuko no Ken
PlayStation 2	Art of Fighting Anthology‎

See Also
Fatal Fury • King of Fighters • Buriki One