Real Bout Fatal Fury Special

Real Bout Fatal Fury Special is a 1997 fighting game released by SNK for the Neo Geo platform. It is the sixth installment in the Fatal Fury series and the second game in the Real Bout sub-series, following the original Real Bout Fatal Fury. Real Bout Fatal Fury Special features all new graphics and returns to the two-level plane system from Fatal Fury 2.

Though gameplay is two-dimensional, characters can move between two different planes during battle. Breaking an opponent through one of the barriers located on either side of a stage causes them to become stunned.

The game retains the cast of the original Real Bout, with the addition of Tung Fu Rue, Cheng Sinzan, Laurence Blood, and Wolfgang Krauser from Fatal Fury Special, with Krauser serving as the new final boss. Geese Howard, who was canonically killed off in his own KOF tournament during the previous game, appears in this game as a hidden final boss in a special “Nightmare Match” and as an unlockable playable character in the home versions, Geese’s alive appearance is because of his own ending from the original Real Bout where it takes place after he reigns victorious in his own tournament. The game also features hidden “extra” versions of Andy Bogard, Billy Kane, Blue Mary, and Tung Fu Rue for a total of 23 characters (24 if counting Geese).