What a coincidence, I was just thinking about this game today. Fatal Fury 3 has some of the best presentation of any Fatal Fury game, and that's really saying something. The art is great, the character interactions are hilarious, the music is classic and the level of detail is staggering.
... but I also never really got into it. In my view, the game suffered from two main problems:
1. Having three different planes, as opposed to two, made things really awkward. And since there are still four attack buttons, the plane shifting is mapped to two buttons. I think AB moved to the front plane, and AC to the back? And then there was another button combination to attack someone in the other plane, but I could never keep it straight... It took a lot of getting used to, and I felt as if I was always hitting the wrong button combination. The AI seemed to be able to read my mind, and real life opponents just flailed around. Not fun.
2. The PS2 version ruins the Hidden Moves. In order to do these moves, you need to hit the start button. But the start button simply brings up the menu, unlike the start button on the NeoGeo versions. So every character loses their Hidden DM. Nice job there.
I'd love to give the game another chance some day. Here's some cool trivia:
- This is the first FF game Takashi Nishiyama and Hiroshi Matsumoto worked on. They had previously worked on King of Fighters and Art of Fighting, and would continue to work on most of the remaining FF games.
- In Mai's stage, Jubei (from FF2) sometimes appears swimming in the aquarium. What's he doing in there??
- Kyo and Kensou also cameo in the background of the Pao Pao cafe. I think this is the only time that KOF characters cameo in an FF game, rather than the other way around. Maybe.
- The reptiles in Joe's stage (an alligator and a turtle) have some weird quirks. In the fourth round, a bow appears on the gator's head. Also, performing Sokaku's Demon Staff Toss can cause the turtle to jump.
There's probably lots more stuff I don't know about too. SNK really outdid themselves with this stuff, and I love it.