Art of Fighting Anthology review

Art of Fighting is one of those odd series that helped to define a genre, yet somehow never managed to become even remotely popular itself. It’s kind of the old-school, 2D fighting game equivalent of former Jessica Simpson hubby Nick Lachey’s boy band, 98 Degrees. Only more influential, as if Nick had then taught the far more successful Justin Timberlake how to sing or how to have lots of sex with gorgeous-but-superdumb pop divas back when they were sane enough to be attractive.

Don’t misunderstand our comparison: there’s no naked Britney, Jessica, or other dim-witted blondage on this disc. Nor is there singing. But there does appear a collection of three old fashioned, flat-as-paper, arcade-style Neo-Geo punch ‘em-ups: Art of Fighting, Art of Fighting 2, and The Path of the Warrior: Art of Fighting III.

The trouble is, that’s actually not a lot of game even for a bargain price. The original Art of Fighting had only two playable characters in single-player mode, moved sluggishly and really couldn’t do Street Fighter II’s laundry even though it tried some things that Street Fighter later riffed on (super moves and taunts, for example).