The game retains the three-plane "oversway" system from Fatal Fury 3, which features a main lane for fighting, with foreground and background planes used to avoid attacks or leap towards the opponent.

Real Bout was Geese Howard's final appearance in the Fatal Fury storyline, as the game's ending with Terry or Andy depicts the character's demise at the hands of either brother by falling off the roof of his tower, refusing to be saved by them.

[citation needed] SNK redesigned the controls and battles, and improved the sense of exhilaration and ease of use by adding two health bars and flashy effects.

[4] GamePro deemed it a major improvement over Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory, citing the greater effectiveness of the characters Bob and Mary, the more refined combo system, and the inclusion of moves which were taken out of the previous game.

They criticized the reduction from four action buttons to three, the reuse of Geese Howard as the final boss, and the music ("ranges from banal rock to obnoxious drek"), but concluded that "With its emphasis on gameplay, this is one of the best Fatal Fury games ever.

[6] While they derided the game's lack of originality, particularly its similarity to the previous installment Fatal Fury 3, Maximum assessed it as "a well-rounded and entertaining fighting title".

They particularly approved of the oversway system, the barriers preventing easy ring outs, the balanced difficulty of the one-player mode, and the two-player battles.