Southtown: A Brief Geography, part II

Part I
Part III

Let's go through town, now, and take a look at known locations in and around Southtown. Let's start with the map below, which is a slightly modified and labelled take on the Fatal Fury 3 map, incorporating all of the known Art of Fighting and Fatal Fury locations. Second South will be the subject of a separate annotated map further down the page.

1. National Park - The National Park is the location of Ryo's horse barn stage from Art of Fighting 2, as well as Joe's swamp stage with the prominent alligator from Fatal Fury 3. Although the coloration of the Art of Fighting 2 map seems to suggest some terrain relief, Joe's stage in particular seems to show that there are large areas of low, flat wetlands. This national park probably also extends to the other side of the river, at least as an undeveloped area if not actually administered by the park service. As it gets into the foothills further east, we come to Barbaroi Falls and the Sarah Forest from Mark of the Wolves.
2. Pioneer Plaza - It seems unusual that such a large cathedral would be located on the outskirts of town, far from where the majority of the people can easily use it. Of course, perhaps that's exactly why Mary Ryan hangs out there so much--it's quiet and lonely. Named for the early settlers of the area, this relic reflects a time before the center of commerce migrated south and west, or south and east, to the Central City district, or to Second South. Although religious Southtowners no doubt have many other options for more local churches, the cathedral in Pioneer Plaza is still the largest in town, and serves as a popular spot for Sunday Mass and for weddings of the rich and famous.
3. Garcia Mansion - Robert Garcia and his family live in this wide open quiet suburb, with bay side views, and large estates. Only the very rich can afford the exorbitant price of land here, and because they are very rich, they don't just buy plots, they buy acres and acres and build mansions surrounded by park-like gardens, forests, and other buffers that keep the hustle and bustle of Southtown itself at arm's length.
4. Southtown Airport - This international airport has flights coming in from all over the world, particular from Latin America, Europe and the Far East, as well, of course, as from other areas within the US. In addition to bringing fighters into Southtown to compete in the King of Fighters tournaments, and for other reasons, the airport itself has often become the scene for battles between super-powered fighters. Luckily, these fights tend to take place out on the tarmac, or occasionally within the vast airplane repair and construction facilities housed on the airport grounds.
   
5. Karate Gym - In point of fact, there are two karate gym locations, one from Art of Fighting and one from Art of Fighting 2. Not only that, there's a bonus area that looks just like a karate gym that would be right smack in the middle of the map where no numbers are but several streets cross. Other gyms and dojos pepper the town, of course, an artifact of the important Asian minority population on Southtown.
6. Kaluta - A Japanese garden and park, where the Todoh's train.
7. Crawley's Airfield - This small, private airfield has small, crop-duster type planes. It's located outside of the city proper, and is in a fairly rural location, not far from the National park. That said, Joe Crawley, a former military pilot, and his small airfield are well positioned to smuggle things into Southtown, willingly and knowingly or otherwise.
8. Boxing Gym - This seedy little dive is where Mickey Rogers trains. For a reforming villain and gangster, Mickey is patriotic, with a large American flag on the wall of his gym, and he manages to stay under the radar of the new wave of crime headed by Howard Connection, probably because it's a private, not a public gym.
9. Delta Park - Delta Park is east of the thickly concentrated downtown area, but because it's on the main through way headed towards East Island, a lot of traffic heads by it routinely. Delta Park is most notable for it's large statue of a Chinese dragon, shaded by balconied terraces. It was also famously the location of the showdown between Terry Bogard and the Jin boys, who were manhandling the secrets of immortality in an attempt to rule the world.
10. Mac's Bar - Mac's bar is a typical biker dive. It's dimly lit, the patrons and service are surly and world-weary, there's crackling neon signs and pool tables, and fights break out fairly regularly.
11. Chinatown - Just east of the downtown cluster is Chinatown, a densely built and packed district with a far Eastern flavor. Although it's called Chinatown, and resembles Hong Kong superficially in some respects, it's really more cosmopolitan than that, featuring lots of Japanese and other Asian residents as well as, of course, Chinese. The Southtown tourism board has purchased a few multistory buses that provide public transportation throughout this district at a low price. It's bustling open-air markets are a major tourist attraction from elsewhere in the city as well.
    
12. Downtown - Downtown has known better days. While there are still active office buildings and skyscrapers throughout the district, downtown is a seedy and dangerous place, and the businessmen and women who work here don't stop for anyone or anything--they head straight to their secured parking garages when at work, and straight home in the suburbs otherwise. As East Island has become much more developed, and even Second South turned into a major high-rise district, they have done so largely at the expense of the original Southtown downtown.
13. Port Town - Although it's difficult to tell from this map, the original Art of Fighting map, as well as this other image (from the Kula team ending of King of Fighters 2000) show that Port town is really an island district, and that fat connection should be rendered as merely a slim bridge. The Port town district is, as you can imagine, mostly a working district. Docks, cranes, warehouses and factories cover the entire small island and dockworkers, crane operators, truck drivers and more keep this district bustling at all times of the day or night. Although crime has taken hold of this district, as it has all of Southtown, this is also still the district that is most capable of earning a semi-honest profit, and many folks who work here are simple and honest people. Whether in the grip of the gangs, the protection rackets, the unions, or otherwise, most people here try to keep a low profile, earn a paycheck, and go back to their homes across the bridge. The construction elevator where you can fight Hon Fu, as well as get a scenic view of the entire city is located here.
14. Docks - The stage where Temjin hangs out with his coworkers putting stuff from the ships onto trucks and vice versa. The crane scene from King of Fighters NeoWave is located near here too, as is Kula's stage on the rusted waterfront.
15. Factories - The stage where Mr. Big hangs out, as well as factory stages from King of Fighters 2000 and King of Fighters NeoWave.
16. U.S.S. Guardian - Nestled just on the mainland side of the channel that separates downtown Southtown from the Port town district is a small military base. I say small, but it's large enough to be the home berth of the carrier U.S.S. Guardian. The military keeps to itself and doesn't involve itself much in the affairs of Southtown, although they do have to cross through it frequently--if nothing else the S.S.P. Maneuver Field is on the far side of Second South, and they cooperate closely with that base as well.
17. South Station - South Station is final stop on the mainland of the Central City district. In fact "stop" is no longer accurate; as the importance of this stop has faded, most trains just rumble on past without even slowing on their way across the rail bridges to the Port town island. Because of this, South Station is generally deserted and weed-grown, and if anyone is seen here at all, they're probably up to no good. Considering this is where Ryuji Yamazaki hangs out in the game where he makes his first appearance, that assessment is even more likely to be true. Yamazaki is always up to no good. It's curious that the rail lines make an extraordinary use of steam engines still, many decades after they faded away elsewhere. The Southtown tourism board, again, keeps them on as a tourist attraction. Although railfans certainly don't come to South Station to see the steam engines (unless they want to get mugged) as the trains steam back and forth between Southtown and Second South, making their way along the coast and through the hilly lands of the National park, the Sarah Forest and passing within sight of Barbaroi falls, crossing bridges from island to island, they do indeed make a nice tourist attraction, and several times a day trains with local passengers who come just to ride the rails pass all through the metro area. Another curious fact; when fighting Yamazaki, you may notice that timber is a common load on the trains, making its way to the ships where it is an important export from the Southtown region.
18. Fitness Club - Yuri Sakazaki works as an aerobics (and possibly Zumba) instructor at this fitness club. It's pretty typical for that kind of establishment; with wide open windows to let in the sunlight, lots of lifting opportunities, tanning beds and more. While I've seen it claimed that Mr. Karate's stage is the same as the fitness club, that's nonsense. Mr. Karate's stage is an old fashioned dojo lit by basketed open fires while the fitness club is a very modern facility. They are, however, very close to each other.
19. Karate Theatre - Mr. Karate's stage from the first Art of Fighting game.
20. L'Amor - While I've focused on many of the seedier places in Southtown (not surprisingly given that both the Art of Fighting and the Fatal Fury games are gang-driven stories) the entire town isn't a cesspool. The restaurant where King worked as a bouncer, and then later as owner, L'Amor, is one such place. The rich and famous in Southtown frequently find their way here for an evening of fine dining, and listen to the piano of the highly professional musicians that King keeps on retainer. Of course, even L'Amor isn't immune from the gangs and their protection rackets, and while King hates and despises the criminals, she's occasionally been unwittingly forced into working with them from time to time. Perhaps because of this, King has gradually phased out her direct involvement with L'Amor, and opened up various more "common" establishments across town, in friendly rivalry and competition with Richard Meyer and his Pao Pao Cafes.
21. East Side Park - Although the other interpretation of Southtown that I've seen has the East Side Park and Southtown Park as two separate entities, although really close to each other, I think this is a much better and more likely arrangement--Southtown park is just a generic name for East Side Park, which is just one place. Sporting a large Ferris wheel, a castle, a fortune teller, a roller coaster on a large fake mountain peak, an aquarium, and a large greenhouse and shopping area underneath a massive glass roof, East Side Park offers a variety of entertainments for Southtowners. It can be seen from Hon Fu's stage after the elevator rises high enough above the roofs of the warehouses and factories, it's also a stage in Art of Fighting 2 and Real Bout Fatal Fury. The Aquarium for Mai's stage in Fatal Fury 3 is located here, as well as, probably, the aquarium from King of Fighters 2000. The greenhouse from King of Fighters Neowave, where the blimp flies overhead, is also here, and although the Ferris wheel from King of Fighters XI is no doubt meant to be the London Eye, I'm going to rule that the East Side Park essentially copied their design, so that that can be in Southtown too.  The view from Hon Fu's construction elevator shows that there is a rocky hill or small mountain here too, and that East Side park nestles right up in its lap.
22. Pao Pao Cafe 2 - The Pao Pao Cafe is a fixture of Southtown, so Richard Meyer hired his associate Bob to open this Central City Pao Pao 2 on the mainland. Instead of a Chinese theme with a massive statue of a dragon, this one features a Polynesian theme, with changing lights in the face of a giant tiki idol. The exterior back alley of this cafe can also be seen in King of Fighters XI, which shows us a number of young delinquents loitering about long after they should be somewhere else, but highlights the dangerous sport of bullet bike racing through the Southtown alleys in the predawn hours. Because super-powered fighters frequently hang out in (and get into fights in) the Pao Pao cafes, they have a tendency to do so outside on the streets as well.
23. Geese Tower - Leaving Central City and the mainland behind, Geese tower is located on a small island east of East island, along with a number of other high rise buildings. This island, as well as most of East Island, is hyper developed, looking like a south Atlantic version of Long Island. Geese Tower itself is the most important landmark here, to the point where the small island has acquired the common nickname of Geese Island. Geese Tower itself is the tallest building in town, and his office takes up the entire top floor. On top of his office is his open air roof, decorated like a Japanese temple (although oddly sporting numerous American flag motifs as well) including several very large statues. Both the office and the rooftop have been pictured several times as game stages by SNK--the former in Art of Fighting 2 and King of Fighters NeoWave, the latter in Fatal Fury, Fatal Fury Special, Fatal Fury 3, Real Bout Fatal Fury, Real Bout Fatal Fury Special and Real Bout Fatal Fury 3, not to mention it being a prominent location in Capcom's Capcom vs. SNK. In Fatal Fury 3 the roof caught fire and was significantly damaged, having to be rebuilt.
24. Southtown Bridge - On the map this looks like a fat connector again, but it's not--this is the Southtown bridge, a large suspension bridge (the largest of many in town) that connects East Island to Geese Island. Fights have happened both on the bridge itself (Fatal Fury, King of Fighers NeoWave) as well as at the base of its pillars (Real Bout Fatal Fury, King of Fighers '94, King of Fighters '98).
25. Pao Pao Cafe - The original Pao Pao cafe, which has featured as a location across all three main SNK fighting game series. Again, the map makes this look like it's on a fat land bridge; it's actually a slim man-made bridge, or series of them more accurately, that connect East Island to the Central City mainland.
26. Parking Garage - There's lots of parking garages throughout Southtown, as in any major urban downtown area. The one where you meet Mr. Big happens to be very close to the Pao Pao.
27. Howard Arena - Named after Geese, after a donation from him restored this park, Howard Arena is Japanese garden and temple, not unlike the Byodo-In temple on O'ahu in Hawai'i. It's frequently very quiet here, and few people visit the "arena." Possibly that's because fighters like Andy Bogard and Tung Fu Rue are often here, and as sworn enemies of Geese Howard, folks are worried about getting caught in the crossfire. For whatever reason, it seems more prone to rain on the Howard Arena than in the rest of town, although I'm sure that's an artifact of perception rather than a reality.
    
28. West Subway - The west subway is the busiest stop in Southtown. Oddly, it's the only stop we know of, although clearly a subway that doesn't go anywhere isn't of much use to anyone, so the lack of detail does not imply an actual lack of other stops. As well as the actual subway stop, made famous in Real Bout Fatal Fury, there is an above-ground L-train or People-mover type train can be seen in the background of Duck King's stage in the original Fatal Fury, proving that such transportation exists in Southtown as well.
29. Dream Amusement Park - The Dream Amusement Park is a complex with lots of different attractions, including a pirate ship, a Big Thunder type roller coaster on a fake mountain spire, a large ferris wheel, a cowboy town, and an Egyptian themed area complete with sand and pyramids and other ruins.
30. Sound Beach (Sand) - Although many fans discussing the geography of Southtown seem
    
    confused by the location of Sound Beach relative to Happy Park you have to keep in mind that the original Fatal Fury map was not meant to be an accurate image of the layout of the city, just an iconographical representation of the various areas in which you had to go to fight opponents. The image of Happy Park shows that it's clearly not on the waterfront itself--Sound Beach therefore wraps around most if not all of the southern shore of East Island. It needs to--it's been illustrated in game stages many times and always differently, meaning that it needs to have enough geographical differentiation to allow for wide, white sandy beaches, marinas, piers, and waterfront shopping areas and more all along the beach. Surfing is obviously a popular pastime, so it must face the Atlantic and get decent waves. There is also a Jeep-based lifeguard service on the beach, although it's not clear how extensive an area they cover. And, according to King of Fighters XI, there's even a shop where you can buy, rent, or have repaired surplus military vehicles like jeeps. Sound Beach is usually one of the very first stages you encounter in the very first Fatal Fury game, where you fight Michael Max next to a surf shop right on the beach itself. Sound Beach returns again as a sheltered marina as Terry's stage in Fatal Fury 3, as a nightlife hotspot in Real Bout Fatal Fury, and as an idyllic white sand beach in Real Bout Special and King of Fighters XI.
    
31. Sound Beach (Marina) - The Fatal Fury 3 map locates Sound Beach here, and has a sheltered marina.
32. Happy Park - The last location for Southtown proper, before we turn to Second South, is Happy Park, known only from a single appearance in the first Fatal Fury game. It's clearly not on the waterfront itself, and is notable for it's pleasant plazas and pedestrian traffic, it's old country Bavarian architecture, and as the location where the Real Bout martial arts store is located--a place where the fighters who frequently pass through Southtown get new martial arts uniforms, gis, fighting gloves, and more.