Overview

While it was the first entry in a subseries, Real Bout Fatal Fury was actually little more than an enhanced version of Fatal Fury 3. Its score followed suit and only featured a few new tracks. As a result, SNK struggled to produce a truly unique arranged album for the game.

Body

The soundtrack for Real Bout Fatal Fury featured very little new and, inevitably, the same is true for its arranged album. This time, most of the character themes from the Fatal Fury 3 arranged album are absent, replaced by themes from new characters. However, half of the tracks on this album are still shared with its predecessor: Bob Wilson's "The Taste of Honey", Jin Chonshu's "Encounter", the successive tracks for Geese Howard, and the vocal theme "The Remains of My Love" — are conserved between the albums. There are some enhancements in the reprises — for instance "Kissed by Geese" features a more robust band performance, while "Encounter" is lifted from the series' symphonic recording — but they'll be too few to interest those already acquainted with the arrangements.

Unfortunately, the new arrangements on the album are also a mixed bag. Expanding considerably on the ideas of the original, "Duck! Duck! Duck!" will amuse some listeners with its funky riffs and silly voice-overs. However, many, many others will find it cheesy and irritating. As the first full-length arrangement — following the absolutely skippable opening fanfare — it also makes it difficult to take the album seriously. The arrangements for the other returning characters, Kim Kaphwan's "Seoul Town" and Billy Kane's "N-D-R", stay close to SNK's classic rock sound. While their invigorating melodies are their main source of appeal, guitarist Jun Kajiwara and keyboardist Nobuo Kurata offer some standout solos.

The album also suffers from a lopsided structure. Once listeners have heard the lighter themes for the new characters and Bob Wilson, the other two thirds of the album are dedicated to the climactic final boss and ending themes. With so little preceding them, it makes the final boss themes sound underwhelming and the end credits ballad even more contrived. If the ending weren't inflated enough already, SNK also decided to arrange two brand new tracks for the closure — a rock-operatic version of "Lost in the Fog" and a full operatic version of "Transient Life" — both featuring the voice of Ken Nishikiori. The ambition behind each of these tracks is admirable, and the latter features especially rich stylings, but the end result is pretentious and confusing.

Summary

The Real Bout Fatal Fury soundtrack managed to supersede the Fatal Fury 3 soundtrack with an encompassing selection of reprises and new tracks. Unfortunately, the arranged album did not manage to achieve the same, since it only offers partial reprises and few new arrangements. It is badly structured, with a silly introduction building up towards a premature finale, and features no must-listen exclusives. Stick to the Fatal Fury 3 arranged album instead.