Fatal Fury: First Contact

It's not like SNK has never tried before, but Fatal Fury may be solid, but that's the only thing going for it.

Alright, let's be fair about this whole review up front. I played this game after playing many of the later fighters on the Neo Geo Pocket Color, so my review may fall on the jaded side of the fence. But as the first full fledged fighter on SNK's wonder system, Fatal Fury: First Contact is extremely well built. It has a wonderful play system, filled with depth in control, combos, and tons of variety. The graphics are wonderful, and even stack up against later fighters on the platform.

The problem for me lies in the replay. Unless you have a friend, and this is your only fighting game, you won't be coming back too often. There isn't much here to collect, and with nothing in the way of secrets to uncover, I find it rather a dull prospect beating the game with each character.

If this game is the first, and only fighting game you plan on owning on your Neo Geo Pocket Color you will have an extremely well balanced, fine handiling game. However, if you already own Samurai Shodown or SNK vs. Capcom I would steer clear from this game.