Q&A: YASUYUKI ODA

The veteran Fatal Fury developer looks back at the series

how did the two-line battle system come about?

At that time, 3D games were not the mainstream. Adding another fighting background and solid expressions were factors that had made the Fatal Fury series such a success.

what made geese howard so popular?

In his first appearance in Fatal Fury, he was the stereotype of a ‘Godfather’-type character with some influences from the Japanese culture. Then, players were able to select him in Fatal Fury Special, and he gained a stable popularity. Geese and Billy were created by designers specialised for these two characters.

why is Fatal Fury Special so loved by fans? Fatal Fury Special was the first SNK fighting game to take account of versus battles. The fighting game genre was about to become mainstream in the Japanese arcade game market at that time and Fatal Fury rode that wave as well. In addition to this, the game had a huge roster for the time as well as stages and sound effects and music of high quality.

why did you introduce a character from

Art Of Fighting?

Bringing Ryo Sakazaki to the Fatal Fury Series from Art Of Fighting was a great idea. Although we were planning to keep Ryo’s appearance secret until the game release, Ryo was announced on a huge screen at Tokyo Game Show. That moment was too awkward for me.

tell us about the ring-out system.

The ring-out system in Real Bout Fatal Fury received positive impressions from our fans. However, we added later a new system in Real Bout Fatal Fury Special. As Real Bout Fatal Fury Special’s focus was versus battles, we decided to remove the system that would lead to accidental falls and not be liked by fans.

why was terry Bogard updated for Garou: Mark Of The Wolves?

Terry’s design was becoming quite classical at the time of developing Garou: Mark Of The Wolves. We also wanted to show an older and peaceful Terry by changing his outfit.