Released in September 1992.
This game is known in Japan as "Ryuuko no Ken" (translates from Japanese as 'Dragon and Tiger Fist').
A bootleg of this game is known as "
Fit of Fighting".
SNK's second fighting-game franchise. It was the first fighting game by SNK to feature the character designs of former SNK illustrator Shinkiro, who would go on to do the character designs for the later "Fatal Fury" and "
The King of Fighters" games.
This is the first fighting game to feature the 'camera zoom' - where the camera zooms in when the fighters are close together and zooms out when the fighters move away from each other. This is also the first fighting game to utilize a 'spirit meter'. Every time a special move is executed the spirit meter is depleted accordingly. The more powerful the special move, the more it depletes. When it's empty special moves can't be done anymore, however, you can recharge the spirit meter by standing still and holding the A or B button leaving you totally defenseless.
The Haou Shokou Ken was referred to as the Haou Ken (or as the game put it, the 'Haow-Ken'). Its similarity to Ryu's (of "
Street Fighter" fame) Hadou Ken forced the name change.
The character's fighting stance and their victory pose depends on how beaten up they are.