SNK announced The Path Of The Warrior: Art Of Fighting 3 R as its next game under the NeoGeo Premium Selection label. The label is a lineup of classic SNK titles from the NeoGeo console being brought to modern platforms.
Known in Japan as Ryuuko no Ken (“Dragon-Tiger Fist”), the series launched in 1992, then followed up with Art Of Fighting 2 in 1994 and Art Of Fighting 3 in 1996.
But to call Art Of Fighting 3 R a port or a even a remaster is an understatement. This “revamped” version of the 2D fighter not only adds new quality-of-life features, or even rollback netcode (the gold standard netcode for fighting games), but Art Of Fighting R is adding not one but two whole new characters into this release.
The two characters should be familiar names for those familiar with the King Of Fighters series (which brings the many SNK fighters from various games under one): classy bartender King with her Muay-Thai fighting style, and the energetic Yuri Sakazaki, younger sister of Ryo (who’s already in the roster).
Art Of Fighting 3’s roster mostly consists of new challengers that have not appeared in other titles since outside of the forementioned Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia, the two leading protagonists for this entry, which technically is a spin-off entry to the Art Of Fighting series despite being numbered. So having two more familiar faces should make newcomers perk up a little in checking out this title for the first time.
The “R” in Art Of Fighting 3 R doesn’t have a specific meaning, but as the press release mentions that it “reflects the project’s core concepts, embodied by words such as ‘reignite,’ ‘retuned,’ and ‘revival'” and also a tribute to both of the leading protagonists, Ryo and Robert.
Here is the summary of new features coming to The Path Of The Warrior: Art Of Fighting 3:
- Two new characters: King and Yuri
- Full roster rebalance: all characters receive balance adjustments
- Rollback netcode
- Expanded Training Mode features
- VS Mode
It’s cool to see publishers with a rich backlog of titles to not only bring their legacy titles to current platforms, but also doing more than the bare minimum. Quality of life adjustments are much-needed for old games to feel welcoming and meet expectations of gamers today, but having roster additions, is above and beyond expectations.
Like other Neo-Geo Premium Selection titles, Art Of Fighting 3 R is set to release on PC (Steam). No release date has been set yet.