Fatal Fury Real Bout 2 ~The Newcomers~ Original Soundtracks

I was surprised when SNK announced the coming of "Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers". I was then surprised at how lazy SNK has gotten with their music. When I bought this soundtrack I was expecting something different. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Anyone who has purchased the soundtrack to "Real Bout Fatal Fury Special" or especially "Real Bout Fatal Fury" (which were both excellent soundtracks) will find little difference with this one. Many of the songs are "remixes" of original themes from Fatal Fury 3 or Real Bout Fatal Fury Special. The only true remix I found here was Andy Bogard's theme, which I think is better than the previous versions.

The three new character songs are cool, especially Li Xiangfei's theme, which is upbeat and sounds very cute. Rick Strowd's theme has that serious tone to it. The secret character Hannah has a theme with that happy-go-lucky feel to it.

Aside from the three new character themes, there are only a couple of other new songs, including the introduction theme and some that possibly have to do with the match-up screens and character selects. They aren't all that great and anyone who remembers that annoying option mode music from Fatal Fury 1 and 2 will find it here as well.

For those who haven't heard the previous soundtracks, you will find many cool songs here. Many of them are remixed from both Fatal Fury 2 and Fatal Fury 3. There are a few originals as well (at least to those who haven't heard the Fatal Fury Real Bout Special soundtrack). The Real Bout originals include themes for Mai Shiranui, Blue Mary, Franco Bash, Chon Chu and Chon Rae, Kim Kaphwan, Lawrence Blood and Wolfgang Krauser. All are cool, but I found Kim Kaphwan's theme to be the best. It has a hard rock feel to it and also reminds me of his old Fatal Fury 2 theme. Mai Shiranui's theme sounds more Japanese than the previous two games; Mai fans will like it. Franco Bash has a heavy metal feel now. I personally don't like it too much, but I'm sure those who are into electric guitars will want to hear it. Blue Mary's theme is jazzy and one of the coolest tracks I've ever heard in an SNK game.

Chon Chu and Chon Rae's theme still has that evil feel to it, which suits them just fine. Lawrence Blood's has yet another Spanish song, with a lot of guitar. It sounds nice, but not something you'd expect from a bad guy. Finally, Krauser gets another Mozart melody. It's pretty boring compared to the old one he used to have.

Overall, this is a good soundtrack. Unfortunately, since most of the songs aren't original, you may want to pass it up. It is just too similar to Fatal Fury Real Bout Special. However, if you don't own the previous soundtrack, it's worth a look.