November is almost here, which means a number of things. Thanks Giving, one of my favorite holidays is fast approaching. More games to get excited for and wonder just when I'll get around to playing. It also means another fighter will be joining the ever growing Super Smash Bros. Ultimate roster: Terry of SNK/Fatal Fury/King of Fighters fame.
When Ken showed up to join his best friend and rival, Ryu in Smash Ultimate, I always thought Terry would make a great fit. I wasn't too surprised when he was announced (and I somehow managed to avoid finding out about him being leaked, thankfully) but I was nonetheless thrilled that Terry was getting the chance to thrown down in Smash Ultimate.
Back in the head-days of game magazines, I would read GamePro religiously and it was in those pages that I've first read about SNK's NEO-GEO, the home console version of SNK's hit MVS hardware. The $600 price tag for the unit and $250 for each game, ensured that I would never own one, but the games on the NEO-GEO still caught my attention. Fast forward to the early 2000s and SNK is releasing their old games on systems I actually owned such as the PS and PS2. After years of playing Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter and only being able to see Terry and the gang on websites and game mags, I was finally able to play some KOF and Fatal Fury titles. King of Fighters 2000/2001 on the PS2 and King of Fighters 2002/2003 were among some of my most played fighting games with my friends even though I wasn't great at fighting games (still not great BTW). In the late 2000s, I picked up Fatal Fury Battle Archives Vol. 1, not knowing at the time that this was the series that birthed Terry. The first Fatal Fury certainly felt ridged, which was to be expected from the first game. Fatal Fury 2/Special and Fatal Fury 3 were much more enjoyable fighters. Capcom vs SNK 2 only gave me a greater appreciation for Terry and company.
Between the Fatal Fury and KOF games, Terry was always a fun, easy character to pick up, which is import for any fighting game to have. Terry's truck-driver like character design is also quite humorous as well as his broken English and that seems to be in tact for Ultimate. I think fans would riot if that part about Terry was dropped. Hearing "Busta Wolf! Power Wave!" and the like without that broken English in Smash just wouldn't feel right.
SNK games have some killer music so as stoked as I am for Terry getting in Ultimate, I'm just as jazzed for the music selection we'll get for his stage. If Suzaku Castle is any indication (we got all of the Street Fighter II CPS-I and CPS-II themes), we'll more than likely get all of the stage themes from the first Fatal Fury. This includes Michael Max Theme, Tung Fu Rue Theme, and of course, Geese Howard's Theme. Some Fatal Fury 2/Special tracks could be used as well, if not original tracks, arrangements. Before Ken was in Smash, his theme made it into Ryu's stage in the previous game so I'd say Pasta (the title of Andy's theme and Andy being Terry's brother) is a safe bet.
With Terry being a big player in the King of Fighters games, I hope we get some KOF beats as well. I really, really want ESAKA from KOF '94 to make it in. Nettou King of Fighters is a lesser known game but anyone that has played some Mega Man ROM hacks has more than likely come across Mr. Karate's Theme, a fantastic chiptuine jam and I'd love for it to get arranged in Ultimate. The latest KOF entry, KOF XIV has some bangers and if I had my say, I'd definitely go with Saxophone Under the Moon and Survivors Under the Sky. I wouldn't mind a few Metal Slug tracks being in the game as well, but I realize that is quite the long shot. Regardless, I'm looking forward to seeing the full selection of music tracks on Terry's stage. Now come on and give us that November Direct, Nintendo!
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