Fatal Fury: The New Battle Review

Hi there! Let’s not waste anymore time, and get to a review of the 2nd Fatal Fury movie, a.k.a. The New Battle.

Story/Setup
Serving as a sequel to the first movie (and thus adapted from the 2nd game), The New Battle takes place shortly after the events of LotHF. We find Geese Howard (The main villain from the previous movie) retreating to the mountainside, where he meets his half brother, Wolfgang Krauser. Wolfgang finds out who defeated Geese, and proceeds to find Terry Bogard to defeat him out of revenge. Terry is defeated, and becomes so dismayed by the loss, he becomes a homeless drunk & goes underground, quitting fighting in the process. What follows is a path of redemption through fighting for Terry, but he’s not alone on this journey, as his brother Andy joins him, along with his friends Joe Higashi and Mai Shiranui, and a young boy named Tony (Who says to early on to Terry that he wants to be just as strong as him).

The New Battle has a more substantial story that LotHW. You have more going on, both in front of the viewer, and behind the scenes. Luckily, it still has the simplicity of the first movie, along with the occasional moment of goofy humor & oddness. Again, I can get into this.

Setting
Much like Legend of the Hungry Wolf, The New Battle is set in the typical urban setting of the early 90s. Unlike LotHW, there’s a little more variability in terms of locations: Early on we see a martial arts temple (which looks quite peaceful & serene), some Germanic ruins about halfway through the movie, and a imposing & gothic castle right at the end (Which serves as the locale of the final battle of the movie). These 3 locations do add a little more spice to the film, and thus keeping your attention for a little more time.

Characters
The New Battle has a expanded list of characters within it. It isn’t heavily expanded, however, as this movie has 13 characters, whereas Legend of the Hungry Wolf had 9. You have some returning characters from the first movie like Terry & Andy (Makes sense when you consider the context of the story), but you have some new characters enter the fray, like Wolfgang Krauser & Mai Shiranui. Other than the expanded list & new characters, it’s like Legend of the Hungry Wolf all over again (To be fair, Mai seems to have more energy in terms of character & voice).

Animation
The New Battle has better animation than Legend of the Hungry Wolf (Despite being released just a year later in Japan). It still has the same problems that Legend of the Hungry Wolf did (Mainly the jaggedness), but they aren’t as noticeable. In fact, the characters in this look a little bit smoother than they did in the previously mentioned movie. It’s higher up on the animation totem pole, but only by a post or two.

Voice Acting
See the Legend of the Hungry Wolf review for details.

Episodes & Episode Length
Like Legend of the Hungry, The New Battle is a feature length movie. Unlike the review Monday, this movie is a little bit longer. An hour and 8 minutes, to be exact. With a expanded story, it’s not surprising to see a film that runs longer. Just like Legend of the Hungry Wolf, this is the kind of movie to watch in the afternoon if you want to kill time.

Availability & Pricing
The New Battle is even harder to find than Legend of the Hungry Wolf! Over on Amazon, there are only two ways to get it: the DVD collection that has the Legend of the Hungry Wolf on it (See that review for details on Availability & Pricing), and a solo VHS release from 1999. Unfortunately (Or fortunately, if you don’t like the Fatal Fury series) there are only 12 used copies available at this time. Luckily, pricing for the used copies starts at just over a dollar, but like I said in the Legend of the Hungry Wolf review, I wouldn’t risk buying a used tape.

Extras/Other
Since I downloaded this, I don’t know what the extras are.

General Impression & Rating
The New Battle is a better movie than Legend of the Hungry Wolf. Not a heavily better movie than LotHF, as this one still has some problems, but the improvements in story and just about everything else create a better feature film. There’s even more of a fun energy to things because of the improvements, which create a better viewing experience!

Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture gets a 7.2 out of 10.

See you all this Friday, when I’ll conclude the Fatal Fury reviews with the last film in the series. Until then, stay Otaku!




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If you’d like to watch the movie, then click on the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYUtoPcGOfg