SNK's Mega Drive / Genesis port of Art of Fighting is a lot harder than your typical fighting game, thanks to its punishing AI and challenging single-player campaign. But a new ROM hack has recently set out to change just that, improving the number of options available so that anyone can play no matter their skill level.
The hack called Art of Fighting Upgrade was published on romhacking.net yesterday (September 18th) and implements a wide range of difficulty tweaks and quality-of-life improvements (including SRAM Hi-Scores). It is the work of BillyTime!Games (the talented ROM hacker behind Ghostbusters Special Edition and Eternal Champions - Special Edition), who also recently provided an AI Nerf for another fighting game: Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3.
Here are some of the features included in this latest patch:
- Region Free
- Controls defaulted to Config-D if Six Button controllers are present
- Restored Very Easy and Easy Difficulties from JP Version
- Infinite Continues (All Modes)
- Stage Cycling during Versus Mode
- Increased meter gain (1.5x Multiplier) in Ice Break bonus game (Story Mode)
- Increased timer from 18 to 25 seconds for Death Blow bonus Game (Story Mode)
- New Cheat Code: Hold P2 and P1 Start at the title screen while highlighting 1 Player. Continue to hold until character select appears to immediately unlock the Haoh Shoukou Ken Death Blow in story mode. The cheat needs to be re-entered when returning to the title screen.
If you fancy giving it a try, you can download the patch now from romhacking.net. You can watch a video of it in action below: