--Forenote--
HA HA HA! the MadMan's Cafe is finally up in the web and you guessed it, the first entree was definitely the latest in my favorite Fatal Fury series! Anyway for those who've already read my Text or MSWrite version, there's going to be stuff here in this note that's totally new from what's been up and around for the past month.

First up, I'm sure all fo you RBS fans out there know about Geese and how to use him, as well as the four EX characters. Since Geese's somewhat different from back in RBFF here's a quick glimpse of how to use him. First up Geese's most distinguished move... his tackle throw can't be used in reversals since it has a slight lag before he can throw the opponent. This time his normal tackle throw (cloud reverser) seems very useful because it off-balances the opponent and you can do combos while they're stunned. Next, his most often used move known as Reppu-ken comes out very fast and erases projectiles while it travels. All of that makes it a very useful move plus it's very big, but be careful not to overuse it because its recover time isn't that great. Geese's Shippu-ken comes out very fast, can be shot up to a maximum of four spitballs per screen, can hit opponents lying on the ground, can't be guarded downwards AND if aimed near their feet, can't be guarded upwards either. All of the mentioned factors makes the move very evil, but it also can be dodged by using the line system. His Jaei-ken now travels very fast, makes him basically invincible in his lower half, etc... you'll have to see it yourself. The feirce one can grab opponents in the air too, plus it can't be tackle throwed. Unfortunately Geese's Raging Storm got weakened and can't hit opponents in the other line, but his Thunder Break does, and is a lot more useful than before. This time around the computer uses Geese's Deadly Rave as well, even in a setting of Level 2. Takes good damage too, unlike in RBFF.

1- Basic Gameplay
A button = punch, B = kick, C = Fierce attack.
You still have a POW meter and a double life bar like in RBFF.

I've emphasized in my previous notes that this game is combo based, but I also find that guarding is a very effective action in RBS, especially since special moves don't scratch off much energy this time. So as much as people hate to throw (which reminds me of one particular compadre of mine who goes nuts every time he gets thrown), throwing seems to be a nessecity in this games. In RBS your opponent can't escape out once they're thrown, and they can't roll to the other line either.
I've mentioned that you can still change your direction in the air with the D button like RBFF, but there's one major difference. In RBFF, you were able to change direction after a small jump, which was a really cheap and quick way to end the game (as well as get people annoyed). This time you can only change directions in a normal or high jump, so that's been taken care of. Unfortunately the line system can be used cheaply (Check out #4 in the "Line System" section of this guidebook), so the system seems evened up, in a bad way.

The POW system hasn't changed from RBFF. If you power up over half the bar you'll get "H-Power" which'll let you do a move called Break Shot, a catchy name for nothing but Guard canceling. If you power up to a full bar you'll get "S- Power" which is a DM, and if your life bar is blinking you'll be able to do a P- Power" in place, which is a SDM. Use of the Line-roll takes off 25% of the meter while Breakshot takes off 50%, and the DM/SDM takes off 100%. But don't hesitate using it because this time it builds up upon guarding as well.

The rounds seem to end pretty fast because some of the combos and special moves take up colossal amounts of damage (i.e.: Kim's combo which can drain almost a full bar in 5 seconds, Mary's Straight Slicer"s", etc...). The meter turns red very quickly, but after that it seems to go down a lot slower, even on SDMs.

There's only 8 Stages for the game, compared to the 19 character in the game. Terry, Duck and Mary shares the beach stage. Mai, Andy and Sokaku shares the Japan stage. Joe, Franco and Bob shares the Brazil stage. Cheng, Yamazaki and Hon-fu shares the Hong-Kong stage. Tung, Chon-shu shares the China stage. Kim and Cho-shu shares the Korea stage. Billy, Laurence and Krauser all hog a whole background to themselves in the order of English pop music stage, Entrance to Krauser's castle, and balcony of Krauser's Castle. Geese seems to have his old stage as well, but I've never gotten up to him myself.

Perhaps what has been even more stunning to me than the hidden Geese Howard was the special "EX" characters I found out about just the day after I completed writing this Guidebook. Thanks to the local arcades (seven in all) which provides me with all these great infos, I had to rewrite portions of this Guidebook... again.
But I have no regrets, mostly because the "EX" characters seem evil, and evil rules. The other reason why I don't regret writing about the Ex characters is since most of them seem pretty techninical so far as I've played them.

ExAndy's eyes are wide opened, looks a bit posessed like by some creature from the X-Files, actually is smiling, and he looks a lot more like a ninja.
In this EX version, Andy has no "Flying" projectiles (Remember KoF96' mon ami?) and his Neo Gei-hishouken doesn't hit the other line. He's lost his uppercut but gained his old flaming flipkick from RBFF. His Quicksilver his 2 times once by his fist and second from his shadow which flys in front of him, and it looks way cooler than his normal one. Unfortunately it has a horrible recovery time and if you miss, you stand frozen for a while.By now you should realize... yup, beginner's shouldn't use Ex characters.
Also, this pertains to the other 3 Ex characters as well, but his combo arts seem different from normal Andy's, as well as some of the normal moves.

Billy has no pupils in his eyeballs (all white), he looks as though he's done some mad drugs, and he sounds like he's just come out of a mental hospital (note: all these stuff are from the victory screens, not from the fighitng screens). Yup he's seriously sick, and he seems to enjoy beating up on kids too. Maybe they changed the English version a bit so they won't get sued by any associations.... who knows.
Anyway, ExBilly seems to be almost identical to the Billy in RBFF, so he has his old SDM and his counters too. The only difference seems to be his DM, which is back to the FFS version. ....Guess what, he's probably stronger in his EX version than his normal state. As long as Billy users don't mind using a character who looks like a modern Frankenstein, take advantage of him.

Ex Blue Mary looks more like Bloody Mary in the 1P color, and she has that purple color like 2P Nakoruru in the other. She also has a wicked smile on her face and what she says to Mai is totally different from her normal self. I like her Ex version better actually.
Last time I mentioned that ExMary seemed somewhat mysterious to me, but I've been able to master her now, and she's very, very interesting. Her straight slicer is slow but it needs on holding back on, plus it can do good damage with the crab clutch addition and her ground attack. Her Vertical Arrow is an aerial grab but it rarely hits, but it can lead to good damage too with the addition of the snatcher and ground attack. Her AB dodge is totally invincible and she can do a special throw duing it. Only she has some BIG problems. First up, she has very few combo arts and very short reach so she's not much of a offensive character. Second she's not meant for beginners- her add-on moves like the carb clutch takes excellent timing, and as for the crab clutch if you miss, you're opened to pretty much any attacks. Her AB dodge is totally opened at the end too, so if the opponent is close by and you miss out on her throw, you're asking for a big one there as well. On the other hand if you're no beginner, she'll become a nightmere for the opponents. That and her DM, which is back to the old one from RBFF and way quicker. what's more, if it's done close up to the opponent, she grabs upon her waking up just like her SDM from her normal version. I've got no idea on her SDM, but it must be a throw.
So ExMary is a totally throw character, perhaps even more than Street Fighter's Zangief. You'll know what I'm talking about once you see her special chain combo/combo arts which I have unlisted on this guidebook just for reader's fun.

EX Tung... I haven't tried him out yet. He seems to be rather technical, especially since his Ex is almost identical to the Weak FFS version.

Now on to "normal" characters-

Terry-
His voice is different. Ok so everyone's voices are different, but his power wave sounds a lot deep in throat than before. This time he appears with his jacket off, throws it in the air and lands it right on his body. His background music is back to the old one from FF2/FFS and his monkey's still present.
Terry seems pretty strong. Although his Power Geyser doesn't hit the other line, it comes out pretty fast and seems tilted a bit to the front so there shouldn't be much problem hitting opponents. He still has his Round wave which hits the other line but goes nowhere, and now a new move called the Power Charge which tumbles the opponent long enough for a rising tackle, etc. The motion to his Triple Geyser changed, but he seems strong enough without it- both his normal and special moves drain life as much as they used to in RBFF.

Andy
He still has his lagtime-less special moves. His projectile comes out fast, flys fast, and he recovers fast from motion. Too bad it only reaches half a screen. In his new move he looks like he's homping his opponent to death. But then again so's Cheng's throw..

Joe
I suppose it depends on the user, but Joe seems to be strong as well. I've seen a player get 13 wins in a row with him. His DM hits 6 times max and he hasn't lost any moves. His new move comes out slow, but it can still be used for combos.

Mai
Her costume is back to the sexy one in FFS/KoF, but mind all of you readers, she really isn't that revealing at all- in fact I'd say that her be-hind is more emphasized than her chest. Either way she still looks better (and more like a ninja than a Geisha girl) back in her old costume. Her 1st round victory pose is the traditional "Nippon Ichi!" while her 2nd round victory pose is new- she sits down on the ground exposing her legs and says 'Ocha-noko-Sai sai!" which can be translated as "Peice of Cake!" in English.

Mai seems strong, but not cheap, one reason being that her A attack is can no long hit crouching opponents. Her fire replica from RBFF & FF3 has totally been renewed and now not only is it strong from the sides like before, it totals anyone hovering over her (except if they're air-guarding) and it's invincible for a while.
Her triple fan throw from RBFF has been replaced with uppercut fans which can be done multiple times(like Genjuro's triple slash move in SS3), and it finishes off with stabs of fans similar to that of Billy's special chain combo in RBFF. This uppercut fan of her goes flying in the air, so it might be effective as an anti-aerial move.
Her DM is nowhere as useful as it once was: this time she goes flying diagonally into the air, so if you miss, you're Shish-ka-Mai. Her SDM isn't much of use either because although it's a throw = unguardable, even a stoned gerbil would be aware enough to dodge a girl flying 1 mph across the screen while shooting out pink shadows.

Kim
I'm sure that players remember his cheapness in RBFF where all you had to do was press the B and C buttons, no skill needed. Well guess what, he hasn't changed a bit. In fact he might be even worse now that there's the new line system. I've seen Kim hit the opponent 3-4 times on the same line, push them over to the opposite line, follow them up with a kick and finish off the combo with his crescent slice. Took practically a whole life bar.
And yes, there was a player having a winning streak with him. Fortunately the guy was well-humored and forfeited after his stomach started to rumble. We have some weird players here, I guess.
A Phoenix appears in his SDM, and his new move can erase projectiles.

Duck
He seems to have powered up a bit, but then again he wasn't so strong to begin with. Will his chick ever grow up?
Duck's got himself a nice looking Combo Art this time, where he breakdances while going forward and then rises upwards into the air like his old move in FFS. Quite some people chose him than I had expected, but noone was good enough to win a full set.
Duck's DM counts as a 16 hit combo now, and it does substantial damage. He's still got his dance for his SDM but it ends much quicker now.

Billy
His DM is still the same old fire roll, and it's still weak against line attacks. Billy's SDM hits twice in a swing upwards and then downwards, so even if you guard the first hit, if you stay guarded crouching down you'll be hit from the second one.

Bob
His new move comes out very fast, hits multiple times and must be guarded downwards. Just hitting the C button like crazy does good damage as a chain and it can be comboed. This is extremely unfair, because if Bob sees you guarding up he can combo the chain into his new move and hit you, if he sees you guarding down he can combo his chain into his DM which has to be guarderd upwards, and if you weren't lucky enough to guard, he can combo his chain into his SDM. When his somersault kick (Bison Horn) gets guarded, he flips all the way back to his edge of the screen, and not even Terry's crack shoot can counter it.

In the beginning of the game, Bobby comes dashing from the opponents side of the screen (like Sakura from SFA2) while Richard Meyer waits for him.
I've seen 3 of Bobby's victory poses, the most interesting one where he dances with Richard who plays the maracas. I've seen a player getting 22 in a row with him, and believe me he wasn't that good. Sure tells us something about video games, eh?

Blue Mary
I've only seen 2 people pick her, and one of them's me. I sucked, only being able to win a streak once and bringing disgrace to the name "blue" by dripping blood all over (yup, the blood's still in this game). Of course I've gotten better since then and I hit 10 in a row easily with her, together with Yamazaki. But the other guy, man was he good at using her (don't take it so literally)!!! He had excellent timing, but more than that he knew just the right moves to do at just the right time.

Mary's spin fall can now be guarded while ducking (although it hits multiple times). And as though that wasn't enough, SNK took out Mary's main 5 hit combo. Luckily this dude was nice enough to show us how to use her in his 38 (whoa!!!!!) winning streak.

First, the guy never used her spin-fall and did jumping fierces instead. More than that, if the opponent missed a move, he'd always stick in a straight slicer and add the sting fang (electric shock) and ground attack right after, taking away about 70% off the life bar just with that 3 hit. Her Vertical arrow can still hit twice and grab, and now it flys more sideways than before. Her new throw is useful too because of its long range and enablement of a ground attack right afterwards. And perhaps the most interesting thing is her new DM which is invincible in the beginning, is no longer a throw, goes through the opponent, has no recovery time but can easily be thrown.
One funny problem about Mary's DM: once you hit the opponent she dashes left and right while doing attacks, but since she's not invincible during that time, she can still be hurt by some leftover residue. I've once seen her go right into a leftover of Cheng's floating projectile while she was in her motion.

Franco
Franco's moves take up a lot of damage, but they all come out very slowly. He takes his time doing his projectile as well.
His Double-gong move has been totally renewed together with most of his graphics, and his new Guts-Dunk special seems to be a good anti-air defense.

Sokaku
His new move is mysterious- it doesn't do much damage and only erases the opponent's projectile, and sometimes his face looks like a Demon, or as one writer put it, Zankuro. His DM hits both lines and his SDM is slow, but unguardable.

Hon-Fu
He doesn't seem to have changed much from before, but his off-the-wall-and-back move has quicker recovery time. Thank goodness that his flaming knunchuck rises a lot higher than before so it can easily be countered, becuase in RBFF that was about the only move needed to win the game.

Yamazaki
He was another favorite character that people kept on using. Lucky for him, he didn't lose any moves at all.
First up, his jump kick is much, much better now that it goes way sideways.
As you all might know, he can now do his snake arm downwards like a foot sweep. Unfortunately its aim (up, down, or middle) has to be chosen by the button you execute the command in, so you can't wait for the opponent to make the first move like in RBFF. His Snake Arm cancel isn't as quick as like RBFF either. This time he shoots his arm in all 3 directions if you hold on the move for a while.
This time you can control his projectile counter to reflect or just grab by the length of time you hold the C button. His knife slash looks renewed (really sticks it into the opponent). His DM hits from the beginning now so you can combo it from A-C, but since he takes his time to put his hand back in his pocket, so doing it while the opponent guards is a deathwish for combos. He's got a new throw where he head butts the opponent to flames, and his "Drill" SDM uses it a bit too.

Chon-Shu
His uppercut flys straight upwards, hits multiple times, and sucks the opponent inwards to his rotation. His SDM still looks the same as before...
Chon-shu can DM from his jump as well as do his normal projectile or his warp. He seems like a warp-based character, even his Breakshot being it.

Chon-rei
Not a popular character at all. I thought that people would keep on using him to cheap out on the games, but he seemed to be powered down compared to RBFF.
His projectile can be powered up for about 5 different levels by holding on to the button. His Quick-elbow move still doesn't throw the opponent afterwards like Chon-shu's, but I don't think he really needs it. His normal moves seem pretty good, and especially his jump fierce which he attacks with a energy-ball in his hands. His DM may look small compared to before, but it hits a pretty good range because of the slightly visible wave which surrounds it. Still comes out pretty slow and can't hit opponents in the other background. In fact I don't think any of the DMs can hit the opposite line.

Cheng
He has a nice looking wife who looks nothing like a tub of lard himself. A generous number of players (no beginners) picked him.

Actually Cheng is a pretty interesting character to watch. He has an new counter-move in which he inflates like a balloon. If you hit him during his inflation, he bounces to the edge of the screen, ricochets and rolls back to hit the opponent. His ol' roll takes off a good portion of a life bar with only one hit (although its beginning isn't so fast), and his projectile/ DM still drops downwards. His SDM is no use because it can be line dodged....
He sounds just like Tung.

Tung
Remember him in FFS? Well... he still seems to suck. But not to despair, he can power up during his taunt! ...Okay, it's not that useful either.

Actually Tung plays pretty strong when the computer uses him, but when it comes time for a human player to control your oldie-ness, noone had the keen reflexes like the CPU. He now has an Anti-aerial projectile which should help him out a lot. His old thousand-kick throw isn't a throw anymore, but it hits multiple times and jumps upwards. He still has his burn-knuckle and the "Show-ha!" move. Tung's DM is still the same, and I think that his SDM is a powered-up version of his anti-aerial-macho-replica move from FFS.

Laurence
I suppose Laurence is Krauser's right hand as Billy is to Geese. Anyway, Blood seems to be pretty useful, especially his DM which now hits multiple times and is much easier to execute than in FFS since it's the same as Geese's DM command. His bloody cutter (air cape) now takes 2 step to execute, and his new bloody saber move can be executed 3 times in a row (like Genjuro's triple slash from the SS series).
Although it's still too hard to tell, I've tried using him once and he seems pretty strong. He can do the ol' dodge from FF2, which is also identical to the dodge in the KoF series. His ol' Bloody Cutter ( air cape attack) can be altered to a knife throw or a throw, so you can fly over to your opponent who's guarding for a expected cape attack and throw them instead... His SDM is Bloody slow, but the computer loves falling for it.Every one of his special moves has the word "Bloody" in it, including his SDM which has the most corniest name I've heard of : Final Death Bloody.
Is Luarence Gay? When fighting against particular not-so-muscular- guys, his taunt is a love call.... with a throw of a Rose.
When Laurence loses, he says "Adios!"

Krauser
He looks totally out of place... in his own castle. Let's face it, SNK's trying to make a total bafoon out of him. His background music isn't the requiem anymore (damn), but it's still classic and it sounds nowhere as muffled & mono as his ol' music on the cartridge version of FF2/S & KoF96'. It matches his stage very well, but not himself.

Krauser has his own version of Geese's Deadly Rave, which I haven't been able to complete yet. There seems to be 3 different ways of doing it, and i've seen at least one where he ends it with his Gigatec Cyclone. He has a special combo very similar to billy's multiple hit stick in RBFF. His Blitz balls are extremely fast, his Kaiser Wave can be powered up 3 levels, and at its maximum it can hit the opposite line. His SDM is a throw, but it has a extremely wide range. I was right, BJ Love is doing his voice again. Krauser's regained his ol' "I'll chizzle your Gravestone..." voice when he comes out as the last boss, but he sounds like an evil warlord compared to the time back in FF2/S where he sounded like a Royal Kaiser. Personally I think his new one is definitely different, but I enjoy it. An opeara singer (female) can be seen in the beginning of his stage. His Counter throw only works against jump attacks and special moves. He's also 2 new throws one which is a rehash of his "throw high and punch up") and the other which stuns the opponent for a while so you can combo them.

I've seen 4 victory poses for Krauser as well as Mary. One's where he pulls his hand from the air just like KoF96, second's where he puts his cape back one, third's where he mumbles some stuff (hope he's saying "You were good..."), and the last's where he shoots a ray of energy out of his body like Chon-shu in FRRB.
His underhand Blitz ball now has to be guarded ducking, and his Kaiser Wave comes out fast enough that he can hit the opponent right after he sees them jump. His SDM resembles that of Bob's from RBFF, where he floats up while twirling (except in Krauser's case, it's really a throw).
All this makes him sound pretty invincible but normally his DM can easily be avoided with the line dodge AND be countered right afterwards, but even more his big physique makes him a sandbag for Combos.

Extra Stuff
There's lots of extra stuff inside the game that Fatal Fury fans would just love, especially the jigs that takes place before and after the fight. Here's a list of the stuf I've seen so far:

1- Terry and Mary
In the beginning of the match, Mary's dog runs over to Terry's monkey, Terry's monkey does a Power Geyser and hops on to Mary's dog and they run out of the screen together. Sometimes the monkey missing landing on the dog and hops out of the screen by itself. Jubei sometimes makes an appearance too, flying.

2- Joe
Hwa Jai comes out in his Victory pose.

3- Kim
When he loses the last round, his 2 sons come out and steps to their father, angrily looking at the victor. Also, Choi and Chan from KoF makes a special appearance in the right edge of his stage flying sometimes when the match is set.

4- Kim and Yamazaki
Hon-Fu comes out for a second to arrest Yamazaki, but Kim tells him to step back and he disappears.

5- Cheng
When he loses, his wife comes out and looks at her beaten up husband, startled.

6- Yamazaki
Depending on the opponent, he comes out with Hwa Jai dead in his hand.

Some of the animation from RBFF seems to be cut out while some other parts of the game has more. For instance, Mary's hair doesn't fall down with animation when she loses, but her victory poses has a lot of more frames than before. All the projectiles seems to be much well animated and actually looks like a leash of energy than a huge yellow M&M. If you compare the game to the old Fatal Fury special, you'll know where that 394 megs went.

Sincerely written in Jan. 19. 1997',
Howlin' Mad -H-

If you have any questions or comments, send an e-mail to my long and exhaustive address. Again, this Guidebook is free for distribution but do not alter any part of it. Ok, keep that memorized!

AfterNotes

Geese is hidden in the game, and he has quite some new voices. I've sent most of them out to the net, so if you're lucky you might be albe to find his voices on a wave file.

There has been few points about this game which really disappointed me, so here I go:
1- No special stuff when winning/ losing
I've played the game a lot during the past week, and there's not much extra stuf when you lose. FF3/RB had a zoom-in when you were pushed off the screen, RBFF had quick skits had you been pushed out of ring, and for the latest in Sam Sho', there was a "Fatality" imitation. So far there's really none of that in this game. You dn't even see the loser beaten up when you win.

2- Game play too short
Although the game seems very balanced, each round ends very quickly cuz' there's so many chances to attack the opponent, thanx to the new line system. Also, it seems like this game was made very specifically for versus humans. When playing the computer, there's ONLY 8 fights or so, where the last 2 are always Laurence and Krauser. This is worse than FF2 folks.
The first enemy can be chosen, and you go rotating the remaining stages. Thus you can't meet up with 2 (or more) characters who share the same stages. This measns that if you pick Andy as your first enemy, you'll never meet up with Mai since they Both share the Japan stage.

3- Extra stuf only happens on 2P
As I said previously, this game was really meant to be played human versus human. so, you won't see that much special openings when you fight the computer. BUT there are special openings meant just for VS CPU too, like the scrolling in the USA stage or Krauser's "I'll chizzle your gravestone, sleep well..." voice in the last stage.

4- Bad Ending, good skit
The endings are not worth playing the game for. You have big sprites (movable pictures), the same ones used in the "VS" screen, talking 5 or so sentences to each other and that's all.
But there's one good thing about the ending- remember the skits that took place in FFS during the credits roll? Well it's back and powered up, plus there's a whole number of them now (I'm guess ing 20 or so).

One last thing. Here's a list of current Items that I sent out and should be Lurking around the Net'---
1- 28 Pics of Screen shots of RBS (Pic series 1)
2- 16 more new Screen shots of RBS (Pic series 2)
3- 4 Wave files of character voices, includes rare samples of
Terry, Andy, Joe, Mai, Mary, Cheng, Tung, Billy, Laurence, Yamazaki, Krauser and not to mention Geese.
4- FaQ, Which you're reading this moment. There's a text version and a MSWrite version, but it doesn't really matter since you're reading the stuff on this web page already!

RBS is a product of SNK Co. Copyright 1996, 1997.