Evo USA 2025 has some wild surprises so far. To add fuel to the Kyokougen fire, an SNK classic will be joining the SNK Championship Tour 2025 alongside City of the Wolves, King of Fighters 15, and Samurai Shodown (2019). SNK announced that Art of Fighting 3: Path of the Warrior will be making an appearance as a $100k USD prize pool tournament at Dreamhack Atlanta this year, bringing the entire prize pool to $4.1 Million.
Art of Fighting 3 brought about a new artistic style and more fluid animations to the original Art of Fighting series. Most staples, such as resource-heavy special attacks and zoom-in and out camera, were still present. The 2D fighting game itself is a part of the Art of Fighting series and was the final title so far. The series mostly occurred in South Town, the same fictional backdrop of Fatal Fury, yet Art of Fighting’s events predate Fatal Fury’s first entry. Art of Fighting characters also appear in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves throughout the Arcade and Episodes modes.
Similar to what Third Strike was for Street Fighter, with main characters and rivals Robert and Ryo returning against new opponents. Art of Fighting characters found new life in other games, such as King of Fighters, post Art of Fighting 3. Eiji, King, Kasumi, and the whole Sakazaki family are regulars in the franchise. SNK has stated that there will be a new Art of Fighting game to come in the next few years by their newly formed KOF Studio.
Luckily, Art of Fighting 3 is available on Arcade Archives for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, which could lead to a practice path for those either looking to brush up before DreamHack. DreamHack Atlanta takes place from Oct. 31st to Nov 4.
