July 05, 2025

Ads From the Past 504: When Fighting Was an Art (Literally) – “Art of Fighting” for SNES




Ah, the 90s. A time when video game ads weren’t just selling you pixels—they were selling you raw attitude, grit, and the promise of becoming an unstoppable force in the neighborhood arcade (or at least in your living room). And today’s blast from the past delivers all that and more: say hello to Art of Fighting on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System!

🖼️ Just look at this ad. You’ve got two buff dudes—Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia—throwing fists in the foreground while ghostly blue faces loom behind them like the cast of a martial arts soap opera. Dramatic? Absolutely. Effective? 100%.

🔥 "Arcade Smash Hit!" …Now at Home!

Originally a hot title on the Neo Geo, Art of Fighting made its leap to the SNES thanks to Takara, a company well known for porting arcade games to home consoles. And this ad wastes no time telling you what’s at stake: "South Town is no place for the weak." You better believe it.

You and your buddy Robert (if you're lucky enough to have a Player 2) are out to save Yuri, Ryo's sister, from the darkest alleys of South Town, a place where apparently every bouncer and martial artist in town hangs out waiting to rumble.


🕹️ Why This Ad is a Time Capsule of Gaming Greatness

This ad checks every 90s marketing box:

Muscle-bound heroes? Check.
Menacing neon-lit villains? Check.
Exaggerated bullet-point features? You better believe it:

  • "Huge graphics plus blazing fast animation"

  • "Cinematic zoom-ins and zoom-outs"

  • "Dozens of secret moves to discover and master"

Translation: you're gonna spend the next 4 weekends figuring out how to throw a fireball without accidentally doing a flying kick into a wall.


🎤 The Real Story: What Made Art of Fighting Stand Out

While it may not have been as famous as Street Fighter II, Art of Fighting had some unique tricks up its sleeveless jacket:

  • Zooming Camera: The screen zoomed in and out dynamically as fighters moved closer or further apart—rare for its time!

  • Spirit Gauge: Special moves weren’t free—each cost "spirit energy," making players think twice before spamming Hadoukens.

  • Facial Damage: Fighters actually showed bruises and swelling mid-match, giving battles a visceral edge few games offered then.

It was innovative, flashy, and tough as nails—perfect for an era where beating a game meant bragging rights at recess.


💾 Final Thoughts: Nostalgia Punches Hard

This ad may scream "90s testosterone overload," but it's also a reminder of how Art of Fighting helped shape the fighting genre. It was more than just fists and pixels—it was style, substance, and just a bit of cheese (in the best way).

So here’s to the golden age of game ads, where every flyer looked like a movie poster and every match felt like a martial arts epic.

👊 Did you ever play Art of Fighting on SNES or in the arcade? Got memories of yelling at the screen when Mr. Karate wrecked your last life? Drop a comment below and let’s talk retro!


Share:

0 comments:

Followers

Contact Form

Name

Email *

Message *

Labels

1984 Comic (3) 32x (12) 3DO (41) 3DS (108) 3DS pic of the week (53) Acclaim (2) Action Figures (77) Activision (2) advertising from the past (505) affiliates (5) Affinity Sorrow (4) Alexis Lalas (1) amiga (8) anime (68) anime girl of the week (1) Animonday (39) Anniversary (7) Apple (31) arcade (43) Art (1) Art Gallery (1) article (9) Ascii (2) Askys (1) atari (60) Atari800 (12) Atlus (25) Bandai (5) blast from the past (1) Book (5) Bootleg Game of the Week (79) capcom (38) Capture Card (1) Cassette (1) Cats (9) CDI (9) CDX (1) CIB Sunday (29) Club Nintendo (5) Cobra Team (2) Coleco (1) Colecovision (4) Coming Updates (6) Commodore (30) Computer Fix (5) convention (6) Countdown (15) Data East (1) Diet and exercise (3) Disney (5) DOS (153) DOS Month (49) DOS Thursday (14) DOSBox (55) Dragon Ball (2) Dreamcast (64) Dynamics (1) e-zine (18) EA (3) earthquake (1) Ebay Shoppe (14) Electrobrain (1) emulation news (294) En Espanol (2) Enix (8) Etsy Shoppe (20) Famiclone (43) Famicom (579) Famicom Friday (33) Famicom Guide (69) Famicom Pirates (160) Fceux (72) Final Burn Legends (3) Final Fantasy (2) Find of the Month (36) Flea Market (4) floppy (25) Forgotten Finds (16) Futurama (1) Fuzhou Waixing Computer Science and Technology Co (2) Gadgets (29) Game and Watch (11) Game Arts (5) Game Gear (109) Game-bit of the day (996) Game.com (4) Gameboy (425) Gamecube (135) Games (45) games turned into anime (1) Gamestop (3) Gasha Figurines (1) Gay (1) GBA (221) GBC (194) Geeky love (1) Genesis (498) Gijoes (15) GroovyMame (4) Halloween (4) Handhelds (11) Hatari (3) Hector (1) Hentai (1) holidays (29) Hoxs64 (1) IBM (1) Instagram (1) intellevision (12) ipad (1) Iphone (1) Ipod Upgrade (3) ISO Tool (7) Jagulator (2) japan (1) Javascript PC Emulator (1) jDosbox (1) JMednafen (1) Job (6) JoyToKey (1) Jpcsp (98) JRPG (28) Keyboard (1) Kittens (7) konami (16) Labels (17) Labor day (1) Laptop (1) Latest Finds (1981) legos (3) Life (12) Limited Run Games (7) Loot Crate (1) Luigi (1) Luis Games (2) Luitello (1) Lunar Silver Star Sega CD (1) Lynx (4) Magazines (45) MAME (34) MAME for XBOX 360 (2) MAME PLUS (25) MAME Plus Plus Kaillera (18) MAME PLUS XT (13) MAME32Plus Ash Build (16) MAME4droid (7) Mameinfodat (1) Mangas (11) Manual Monday (51) Marios (14) MasterGear (4) MD.emu (2) MedGui (3) Mega Man (26) Mega Man 7 NES (1) Merry Christmas (14) MESS (225) MESSinfo (5) Meteor (2) Miami Beach (1) Micro64 (25) Mii (15) milestone (14) Mini Arcade (7) MoarNES (1) Mod (3) Monster Ball Go (5) Mother 3 (2) movies (16) MP3PlayerPlugin (5) MrDo DS (1) MSX (8) MSX emu (2) msxDS (3) multiMAN (16) Mupen64k (1) Mupen64Plus (14) Mushroom (1) music (12) My Gaming Area (1) My NES (8) N64 (196) Namco (8) Namcot (2) napple (1) Natsume (4) NDS (162) NECA (12) nemulator (1) neo geo (9) neo geo pocket (5) Neo Raine (3) NeoCD (1) NeoGamma (8) NES (871) NES prototype (3) NES.emu (2) NESbox (1) NesDS (16) Nester J (4) Nestopia (2) NestopiaX (3) New Banner (4) New Year (11) News (406) Ngage (1) nGlide (2) NGP.emu (1) nintendo (77) Nintendo Switch (142) Nintendo Switch 2 (3) Nintendulator (8) NIS (2) NitroGrafx (1) Nuevos Juegos (1) nullDC (2) ODAMEX (4) Odyssey 2 (2) Ootake (13) Open BOR (7) Open Emulator (8) OpenMSX (1) OpenTTD (5) Osmose (1) Packard Bell (1) PangDS (1) Password Wednesdays (14) PC (500) PC Engine (109) PC6001VW (3) PCE.emu (2) PCE/ibmpc (1) PCE/macplus (1) PCSX Reloaded (53) Pcsx2 (112) PearPC (1) Persona4 (3) Personal art (1) Peru (1) Phoenix (1) Pinball (1) Pins (3) Pirates (12) Playing then Playing now (13) PMPlayer Advance (1) PokeMini Emulator (2) Pokemon (151) Pokemon Go (14) PokemonCardoftheWeek (58) poll (7) Pom1 (1) Posters (1) PPREFS (4) Pride Month (1) ProGrammaX (3) Project 64 (21) PS1 (437) PS2 (241) PS3 (121) PS3 Game List (1) PS3 MAME (1) PS4 (193) PS5 (20) PSP (96) PSP 3D plugin (2) PSP Custom Firmware (10) PSPident (2) PSvita (61) PSX Emulation Cheater Codelist (1) PSXjin (2) puNES (25) Pypdp8tk (2) Q-Gears (1) Q4Wine (1) Qaop (1) QMC2 (52) Question Session (2) Rage (1) random (2) Random Fact of Video Game History (1) RemoteJoyLite (1) Reproductions (7) retro cheat page (23) Retro Comics (18) Retro Copy (1) Retro Excremental Fecal Matter of the Week (1) Retro Freak (1) Retro Game Ending (4) Retro Game of The Week (173) Retro Gaming (167) Retro Gaming Articles (8) Retro Gaming Life Podcast (2) retro news (670) Retro Tuesdays (10) Retro-Tips (1) Retrobeat Tuesdays (40) retrobit of the day (361) Retrowear (1) retroweb (6) Rising Star Games (1) Rom Center (1) Rom Collection Browser (1) Rom Manager (13) Rom Vault (5) RPG (64) Sailor Moon (1) SammyStudios (1) Save Game Manager (12) ScummVM (5) SDLMAME (15) SDLMAME4Ubuntu (9) Sega (37) Sega Ages (8) Sega CD (68) sega cd 32x (3) Sega Master System (108) sega pico (3) Sega Saturday (14) Sega Saturn (143) SegaSaturday (29) SharpBoy (3) Shopify Shoppe (62) Shoppe (4) SNES (649) SNES9x (15) SNES9x Euphoria (1) SNES9x GX (1) SNES9x-PS3 (2) SNESmulDS (1) SNK (2) soccer (3) Sonic (20) Sony (4) Speak and Spell 1978 Simulator (9) Speccy (9) Spectaculator (1) sports (6) SPU2-X (8) Spud (1) SquareEnix (9) Squaresoft (9) SSF (17) SSNES (11) Stella (41) Stella DS (3) Step Mania (6) Stream (3) Summer Days (1) Sunsoft (3) Super 7 (5) Super Pro Fighter (1) Super Wild Card (1) Supermodel (3) Surreal 64 (3) Taito (6) Techno (2) Tecmo (7) TempAR (3) Tengen (2) Test 7 (5) Thank You (2) Thanksgiving goble goble (5) THQ (1) ThunderMAME (1) TikTok (1) TMNT (135) Toys (122) TR64 (1) Tradewest (1) Trading Cards (44) Translated Games (6) Trinitron (1) Trip to Peru (23) TRS32 (1) Turbo Grafx (97) Twitch (4) uBee512 (2) UberNES (1) UKNCBTL (4) Unreal Speccy Portable (3) USB Loader GX (3) vacation (1) Valentines Day (2) VBA GX (1) VBA-PS3 (1) Vba-ReRecording (15) VBANext-PS3 (1) VectrexWii (2) VGMToolbox (6) VHS (21) Vic20emu (1) VICE (5) village (3) Virgin (2) Virtual Box (10) virtual boy (12) Virtual Gameboy (5) Virtual Gameboy Advance (8) Virtual Jaguar (26) Virtual Library (3) Virtual T (1) VirtualC64 (1) Visual Boy Advance (13) Voodoo (1) Wii (148) Wiiengine (1) WiiHandy (1) WiiMC (3) Wiirtual Boy (1) WiiU (48) WinApe (1) Windows 3.11 (1) Windows 95 (2) Windows XP (1) WinDS (10) Wine (18) WinFellow (1) WinTVC (1) WinUAE (25) WinVICE (2) WinVZ300 (28) WolfMame (2) WolfMESS (2) Wonderwasn (1) Working Designs (5) world cup (2) XBMC4XBOX (1) XBOX (79) Xbox 360 (122) Xbox One (40) Xebra (1) XM6 (3) XM6i (3) XM7 (7) Xroar (3) XSeed (2) Yabause for Pandora (1) Yabause Wii (6) Yape (3) ykhwong's DOSBox (6) Youtube (112) Yu-gi-oh (162) Yu-gi-oh finds (36) Yu-gi-oh!CardoftheWeek (70) Z26 (4) zelda (19) Zx Spectrum (2) ZXMAK (5)

Blog Archive

About me

This is a site dedicated to retro gaming in particular but it'll have other things as well. We are open minded to all sorts of gaming included non-video gaming. Please take a chance and explore what we offer! -Famicom Freak

Theme Support