Overview

The main appeal of SNK's fighting games, and their soundtracks, are their strong characters and the themes that accompany them. In the late 90s, the company produced an eleven part series of character sounds collections — each dedicated to a popular character from the Fatal Fury, King of Fighters, and Samurai Shodown series. Containing a mixture of originals, arrangements, and voiceovers, they provided an expansive tribute to each character. The seventh entry in this series is dedicated to Ryuji Yamazaki, one of the secondary characters in the Fatal Fury franchise.

Body

It was somewhat surprising that SNK decided to dedicate a character album to Ryuji Yamazaki. The character made a relatively late debut in the Fatal Fury series as a sub-boss on Fatal Fury 3 and only became a playable character in the Real Bout series. While he made a strong impression in a short time, he never stood out quite like Terry Bogard or Andy Bogard did. Art of Fighting's Ryo Sakazaki or Fatal Fury's Joe Higashi would have had bigger and better stories to tell.

As a result of the character's brief history, this album features just one theme: "C62 -Shirokuni-". Combining hard guitar riffs with an ambiguous synth melody, it fits the dangerous sub-boss character well. It stays close to SNK's signature sound with its rock focus, but sounds quite a bit cooler and darker than other character anthems in the series. The Fatal Fury 3 arranged album features a greatly fleshed-out version of this theme, combining his signature riffs with excellent solos, whereas the Real Bout Fatal Fury Special versions introduce a somewhat warmer jazz vibe.

This sound collection is little more than a compilation of five different versions of the same theme. However, listeners also receive four dialogue tracks that trace the origins of the character and his original voice collection. Even for Japanese speakers, these additions are unlikely to warrant the asking price of 1500+ JPY.

Summary

While the entire SNK Characters Sound Collection series is based on a dubious concept, this album is particularly unnecessary. It is dedicated to an unimportant character and features very little musical content. Skip this in favour of the Fatal Fury 3 arranged album instead.