Buriki One

Buriki One is a one-on-one fighting game whose controls are a departure from traditional works by SNK. The control system uses two buttons for movement, keeping the player on a 2-D axis. Pressing the left button moves the character in the left direction and pressing the right moves in that direction. Double tapping each button produces a dash in each corresponding direction, used for evasion and closing distance. Pressing both buttons makes the character block.

By using the joystick, the player can execute attacks of varying damage levels. By pressing the joystick in the forward direction, the player executes a medium attack, up-forward produces a stronger attack, and down-forward gives the weakest, but fastest, attack. By combining various movements of the stick, special attacks can be performed for increased damage. Unlike common fighting games, however, no ranged attacks are present, keeping the preferred fighting distance between players at close quarters.

The game is set in 1999 as fighters from across the world gather at the Tokyo Dome to compete in the World Grapple Tournament. Each contender has their own fighting discipline, ranging from the popular styles of boxing, karate and professional wrestling to the lesser known arts of aikido, tai chi and Muay Thai. The winner will prove their fighting style is the superior one. The fighters are:

Gai Tendo - The lead protagonist, a 17-year-old fighter who uses a self-styled martial art. He has been training by himself at Okinawa ever since graduating middle school. Character voiced by Nobuyuki Hiyama.

There was little known the game's content in early promotion of the series, except that the game would feature Ryo Sakazaki as well as a protagonist named Gai Tendo who used self-taught martial arts. A major part of the game's development was to make to emphasize realism. According to SNK, the game focused on "more realistic fighting" and employed a completely new control system that was carefully designed. In Ryo's case, his gameplay was developed to convey a sense of realism, to the point he cannot perform projectile maneuvers that might appear in other games.

One of the defining features of this game is the incorporation of television-style direction throughout. For example, the pre-match introductions of the fighters are designed to resemble actual television broadcasts of martial arts tournaments. Furthermore, the staff roll, which resembles the staff credits of a television program.

Ryo's inclusion in the game led to rumors in Japan that the game was originally going to be called "Art of Fighting 4" by Video Games Magazine who noted that players would have to get used to its innovative gameplay style to beat it, comparing it to boxing. However, the fact that the game was originally designed to appeal to arcades made it feel difficult for the game to be ported. In Japan, Game Machine listed Buriki One in their June 15, 1999 issue as being the most-successful arcade game of the month. Despite lacking console ports and fame outside Japan, Buriki One was praised by trade writers as an obscure fighting game that nevertheless has a notable fighting system different from other IPs.

The game was mentioned by GameDeveloper for its realistic style, similar to the samurai game Bushido Blade; GameDeveloper found it different from previous SNK games that had repeatedly used the same 2D fighting game designs, instead feeling like a wrestling game. Nevertheless, they still felt that mastering the gameplay took time.