34. Garou: Mark Of The Wolves

(Arcade/NeoGeo/Dreamcast/Xbox360, SNK, 1999)
Garou: Mark Of The Wolves is the evolution of fighting games to an art form.
The ninth (and possibly final) episode in SNK's Fatal Fury series, Garou takes everything that was good about those games and ramps it up tenfold, whilst eliminating the aspects that had become dated or redundant (such as plain shifting)

Set ten years after the previous incarnation, Garou follows the story of Terry Bogard, who has raised Rock, the son of his deceased arch rival Geese Howard, as if he were his own. Southtown has become a safer place to live, but that all changes when then aristocratic brother-in-law of Geese, Kain Heinlen, opens a new fighting tournament as a roundabout way to become the new crime lord of the city.
Upon hearing of the tournament, a variety of fresh new faces sign up, all with their own reasons for entering, be it intrigue, money or good old fashioned revenge.

Garou is a beautiful game, with gorgeous, wonderfully animated sprites and detailed, intricate backgrounds, it's in game graphics, cut-scenes, special effects and fight intros pushed the Neo-Geo console to its absolute limit and proved that there was still life in the old dog yet. There are a great array of characters that are fine-tuned to perfection, ensuring that Garou is one of the most balanced fighters ever released. A deep fighting engine, known as the T.O.P system, allows the player to decide when and where he is able to perform one of his special moves, choosing to unleash it to get an early advantage, or save it until things are looking grim. These special moves are two-tier, with the strong "S-Move" evolving into the powerful "P-Move" If in T.O.P status, then an incredible T.O.P move can be unleashed, resulting in much whiz-bang flashes and chaotic background effects.

Garou is a fighter's fighter, a game that insists on you learning each and every attack at your character's disposal. Fighting gamers who like to rely on special moves or fireball spamming need not apply, as Garou's basic strike system is designed to be far more effective and devastating, when used correctly. Anyone expecting crouch and HK to result in a legsweep for every character will be sadly disappointed. Garou is a game which rewards players who take it seriously and learn it's intricacies.

Cleary, I'm a Garou fan, after playing on home MVS for many years, I'm also now able to play on 360 (though online competition is sadly hard to find, especially considering the huge lag issues) I'm not great at Garou, only competent, but I keep coming back again and again, no matter how much my ass is handed to me. This is simply because Garou is a joy to play and humbling in its class and style. Garou could be considered the SNK answer to the awesome SF Third Strike, which was released the same year, but in my opinion, Garou has better designed characters and is simply more fun to play (Don't bother complaining fanboys, It's my opinion and I'm not interested in arguing)

Whilst Garou: Mark Of The Wolves isn't my favourite SNK fighter, it's more than likely their very best game and will be played by its fans for years and years to come.
Garou: Mark Of The Wolves rises above most games in the fighting genre, maybe any genre, as an example of what can result from nothing more than a great idea and an absolute commitment to excellence.

"Bootifull Victollllly!"