No Bans For Alfred, Says SNK Devs On Real Bout Fatal Fury 2 Re-Release

With the surprise return of Real Bout Fatal Fury 2 on modern platforms, there's a lot of questions swarming around. For example, who keeps trying to make the Line System happen?

Thankfully, we got to speak to the Regent of Revivals, Laurent Vernezy, the producer at SNK on the Real Bout Fatal Fury 2 project who also worked on ports for beloved NEOGEO titles like Metal Slug 3, Samurai Shodown V Special as well as Garou: Mark of the Wolves about all this and more.

So why specifically this title? Laurent waxed poetic about his love for this era of fighters.

"We wanted to bring back this classic for various reasons, such as for its very unique character roster of 23 characters drawn in beautiful dot-pixel graphics, a refined game balance and simplified game system for fast-pace and intense bouts. RBFF2 does fit very well for competition, and we are looking forward to seeing a lot of matches and tournaments in the coming days and weeks", he explains.

"RBFF2 was done and released at a time when SNK had almost a decade of experience in development on their own game system, and RBFF2 was definitely one of the most beautiful games ever released on NeoGeo", he explains.

The Real Bout Starts Online

Of course, one of the big features coming with the re release of Real Bout Fatal Fury 2 is the added online playability. Whether you've been an arcade beast since 1998 or you're simply appreciating all things retro, you can now duke it out with other players in the world.

"RBFF2 is comparatively pretty easy to get in hand, and has a pretty soft learning curve in my opinion, especially thanks to the "Combination Attack" mechanic that gives to any character (with the exception of Alfred) to perform a series of normal attacks" he says.

"I would highly recommend anyone to try out RBFF2, and see how the game is relatively simple to learn. Moreover, we ensured with this "return" of RBFF2 in a premium format to implement a very complete Practice Mode which allows to display all types of boxes (hit, hurt, grabs, etc.) so players can spend all the time they went with their favorite characters before Getting into the Ring!".

Speaking of secret character Alfred, he also assured that the pilot wouldn't be barred from online play. Alfred mains, rejoice! You'll be able to Critical Wing pressure your opponents no matter where they are, thanks to the game's rollback netcode.

"This time again, we worked very closely with our developer Code Mystics to provide the "best of the best" when it comes to online battles, thanks to their online rollback netcode", Laurent explains.

"Thanks to the high quality and stability of this netcode, we wanted to make sure that any player, regardless of the distance with other players and the quality/stability of their Internet connection, and of course of the size their communities will have the chance to enjoy RBFF2 the best way possible"

Real Bout Fatal Fury 2 And Its Unique Combat

There's also the elephant in the room- the Line System. From the visual representation in Terry's Street Fighter 6 moveset to being an optional feature in City of the Wolves, the Line System has been on SNK's mind in some capacity it feels like, just out of range by being in the back lane.

With the return of Real Bout Fatal Fury 2 also comes the return of that very system- letting you move between lanes to get away from certain attacks, while also hitting your opponents back into the center lane.

"As the game series that introduced the line system into the fighting genre, I am sure fighting game fans as well as newcomers (no pun intended!) will enjoy the depth and strategies allowed by the 2-line mechanic in RBFF2", Laurent says.

"And for those who want more "linear" battles, players can choose to play only in 1-line stages during offline and online versus matches", he assures.

With online lobbies, rollback netcode and even a dedicated training mode, the newly released Real Bout Fatal Fury 2 has everything you'd need to start a new scene going. The game's available now, released as part of a special tease at Tokyo Game Show.