This is my list of which Fatal Fury games are fun and balanced for casual players such as myself in single-player. Since these games are generally very difficult for casual players, in this context 'better' usually means 'easier'.
Highly recommended:
- Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers (Neo Geo) - 0 continues on diff 1/8
- Real Bout Fatal Fury (Neo Geo) - 3 continues on diff 1/8
- Real Bout Fatal Fury Special (Neo Geo) - 0 continues on diff 1/8
The jury's out:
- Fatal Fury Special (Neo Geo)
- Garou: Mark of the Wolves (Neo Geo)
- Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition (PSX)
Not recommended:
- Fatal Fury: King of Fighters (Neo Geo) - Unfair - used >30 continues on dif 1/8
- Fatal Fury 2 (Neo Geo) - Horribly unfair - used >90 continues on dif 1/8
- Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory (Neo Geo) - Unfair - used >40 continues on dif 1/8
Here's an overview of the original releases of Fatal Fury games:
FATAL FURY (Neo Geo)
1991 Fatal Fury: King of Fighters
- Two planes
- Playable: Terry Bogard, Andy Bogard, Joe Higashi
1992 Fatal Fury 2
- Two planes
- New playable: Andy Bogard, Big Bear, Jubei Yamada, Cheng Sinzan
Kim Kaphwan, Mai Shiranui
1993 Fatal Fury Special
- Very similar to FF2, but many new characters
- New playable: Billy Kane, Axel Hawk, Laurence Blood,
Wolfgang Krauser, Tung Fu Rue, Duck King, Geese Howard
1995 Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory
- Three planes
- New playable: Sokaku Mochizuki, Bob Wilson, Hon-Fu, Blue Mary,
Franco Bash
REAL BOUT (Neo Geo)
1995 Real Bout Fatal Fury
- Three planes
- New playable: Ryuji Yamazaki, Jin Chonrei, Jin Chonshu
1997 Real Bout Fatal Fury Special
- New playable (from FFS): Tung Fu Rue, Cheng Sinzan,
Laurence Blood, and Wolfgang Krauser
1998 Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers
- New playable: Li Xiangfei, Rick Strowd
GAROU (Neo Geo)
1999 Garou: Mark of the Wolves
- One lane
- New characters, except for Terry Bogard
Fatal Fury SNK SNES 1992 C 2 logs Fatal Fury GEN 1993 C 3 logs Fatal Fury 2 SNK Neogeo 1992 C 10 logs Fatal Fury 2 SNK GEN 1994 C 4 logs Fatal Fury 3 SNK Neogeo 1995 C 4 logs Fatal Fury Special SNK Neogeo 1993 1 logs Fatal Fury SNK Neogeo 1991 Nov 1 video C x 2 9 logs Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition SNK PS 1999 1 logs SNK Neogeo 1999 C x 3 6 logs Garou: Mark of the Wolves SNK 360 2009 1 video C x 5 6 logs NeoGeo Battle Coliseum SNK 360 2010 C 1 logs Real Bout Fatal Fury SNK Neogeo 1995 C 3 logs RBFF2: The Newcomers SNK Neogeo 1998 1 video C x 9 13 logs RBFF2: The Newcomers SNK Neogeocd 1998 1 logs Real Bout Fatal Fury Special SNK Neogeo 1997 C 1 logs