I have never played a “Fatal Fury” game, but I’ve known about their existence through the culture of fighting games which I am a part of. I personally love fighting games of all kinds and I do understand the concepts of them quite well.
For that reason, I think it is fair for me to say that the character Terry Bogard is even more faithful to his roots than even Ryu and Ken. As the mechanics of Terry were showed off, at first glance Terry is so close to Ryu’s move set that it wouldn’t be too far off if I were to say that Terry was an echo of Ryu. However, as the presentation went on we were given a taste of just how amazing this character can be. Terry can execute his moveset similarly to Ryu and Ken with movements from his own games with quarter circles and the like being the bread and butter of how you’d want to play this character. But he goes further than Ryu and Ken. Terry has a unique system all to himself that allows him to use enhanced moves from his games to KO people once he goes past 100% damage on himself.
That would be great on its own but he even has the ending lag cancelling feature like Ryu and Ken. This allows him to be more faithful to his fighting game roots while also being yet another combo heavy character that can dish out monstrous damage.
If looking at professional smash has taught me anything, it’s that combos are king. Even if the combos are not true and people can fall out of them as long as there is a string that can be done the best characters can use them. Characters like Peach and Joker are top tiers because they have a combination of combo potential and killing power that other characters simply don’t.
Terry Bogard seems like he’ll be just like a top-tier with his insane killing power and combo game.
However, there are a couple noticeable weaknesses. When not past 100%, Terry can’t use his best tools and thus his killing power is completely neutered compared to normal characters. Even getting to 100% can be difficult because that would mean you’d need to be constantly taking punishment without dying. Killing people in this game can happen to characters as low as 50% and you’re expecting people to survive until 100 to use his best moves?
Another noticeable flaw is his lack of ranged moves. His neutral B is like a hadoken from Ryu or Ken but travels on the ground. When he’s in the air it barely moves any distance at all. That’s probably going to be his biggest problem; his lack of range will make zoning him out easier than on his other fighting game counter parts.
With that said, it is difficult to tell whether or not he’ll be viable in competitive play without seeing him at high level. I do have hope because people are already showing off true combos killing people from 0% from the center of the stage.
Next week, I will give my more in-depth impressions of the character.
Terry Bogard released at the end of the presentation to those who have bought the fighter pass and is available for purchase now.
Edward Park is a second-year student majoring in English education. EP909756@wcupa.edu