Art of Fighting

Art of Fighting, known in Japan as Dragon & Tiger Fist, is a series of fighting video games created by Japanese game designer Hiroshi Matsumoto. Originally released for the Neo Geo platform in the early 1990s, it is the second fighting game franchise created by SNK, following the Fatal Fury series, and is set in the same fictional universe. The original Art of Fighting was released in 1992, followed by two sequels: Art of Fighting 2 in 1994 and Art of Fighting 3: The Path of the Warrior in 1996. A new Art of Fighting game is currently in development. The trilogy primarily focus on two martial artists known as Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia as they use their Kyokugenryu Karate to face enemies in their quests explored in the trilogy of games. Such skills are obtained across bonus from the first game while they become integrated in the two sequels with new characters becoming playable.

The franchise went to become one of SNK's biggest hits from the early 1990s for its focus on fighting engine and storytelling. This eventually led to connect it to other SNK franchises in the form of crossovers with the Fatal Fury series, with Ryo being playable in two installments among others, which would form as the basis of The King of Fighters series from SNK. Despite its fame, critical response to the first game was mixed as many considered the game inferior to previously released games like Street Fighter II, also resulting in criticism from their similarities. Nevertheless, the improvements each sequel had were the subject of praise. The similarities between Art of Fighting and Street Fighter protagonist resulted into the creation of the latter's parody character Dan Hibiki which eventually led to jokes between the companies.