Fatal Fury Ultimate History Bitmap Books (Image: Bitmap Books)
Whether it’s the 50 Indie Games That Changed the World, the Sinclair ZX Spectrum Visual Compendium, or my personal favourite, Go Straight: The Ultimate Guide to Side-Scrolling Beat-βEm-Ups, Bitmap Books has a fantastic section of texts covering lots of different genres and platforms from the entire history of video games.
It also has a smaller sample of books dedicated to individual games and series, specifically The King of Fighters and Metal Slug. It’s perhaps not surprising, therefore, to discover that its latest deep dive explores another SNK game, and one that recently made a return following a lengthy absence.
Available for Β£34.99 (or Β£54.99 if you opt for the Collector’s Edition), Fatal Fury/Garou Densetsu: The Ultimate History looks back at everything from Real Bout Fatal Fury and Fatal Fury Special, to Garou: Mark of the Wolves and Wild Ambition – a 3D entry that I didn’t actually know existed.
If you’ve purchased another video game tome from Bitmap Books, then it should come as no surprise that Fatal Fury/Garou Densetsu: The Ultimate History is a thing of beauty.
The book absolutely oozes style, featuring hundreds of pages of screenshots, character sprites and concept art. It’s true pixelated perfection.
I love the foldout map of South Town at the beginning of the book, complete with a key describing all of the iconic locations, not to mention the planning documents showcasing the famous multi-lane combat system.
However, the giant dual-page screenshots capturing special moves, backdrops and characters are the star of the show, often providing more context and information about fighters, fighting styles and what inspired some of the in-game locations.
Fatal Fury Ultimate History Bitmap Books (Image: bitmap books)
The book itself is broken down into chapters covering each entry in chronological order, beginning with Fatal Fury: King of Fighters from 1991, and ending with last year’s City of the Wolves, which was the first new entry in more than 25 years.
Considering the game only launched last year, I wasn’t sure if City of the Wolves would feature at all, so it was a pleasant surprise to see nearly 25 pages of coverage.
The game chapters are bookended by a fascinating Fatal Fury history piece at the start of the book, and interviews with various developers and pixel artists towards the end.
The inclusion of the historical deep-dive spanning more than 30 pages, plus the 18 page interview piece, ensures that while the team at Bitmap Books have put style first, there’s more than enough substance for fans keen to find out more.
It was particularly interesting to discover more about how the first game was created and what came before, as well as learning about how a natural disaster impacted development of Fatal Fury 3.
Fatal Fury Ultimate History Bitmap Books (Image: bitmap books)
A good video game book will leave me with an urge to play the series or genre in question. I can’t tell you how many different beat-em-ups I played after grabbing the Go Straight book, and have added plenty of titles to my Spectrum thanks to the Sinclair ZX: Visual Compendium.
Reading Fatal Fury/Garou Densetsu: The Ultimate History has definitely given me the itch to play as many Fatal Fury games as I can find, all the while giving me renewed motivation to master City of the Wolves.
I even picked up a copy of NeoGeo Pocket Colour Selection in order to check out Fatal Fury First Contact, and it’s a lot better than I was expecting.
Based on the number of hours I’ve pumped into the series since reading Fatal Fury/Garou Densetsu: The Ultimate History, it’s fair to say that the latest entry from Bitmap Books is an easy recommendation.
The book is a timely reminder of the importance of the Fatal Fury series is in the history of the 1-v-1 fighting genre, something that’s easy to forget after its more than 25-year absence.