South Town

South Town (サウスタウン) is a fictional city that appears in the Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting, and The King of Fighters series of games.

Story
South Town is located in the south coast of USA - most likely the state of Florida, South Town is very much based on Miami. As time passed, it also attracted the Italian and Chinese mafia due to its profitable location for the black market. Some time during the 1960's, the mafia mysteriously disappeared and peace returned to the streets. In reality, they were slowly being conquered by the pseudo police agency, Howard Connection. Mr. Big and his mafia is currently one of the biggest gangs that oppose it.

Art of Fighting
Since the 70s, South Town has been ruled by crime. The first known crimelord of South Town is Mr. Big. Before the events of Art of Fighting, Mr. Big was losing control of South Town to the young Geese Howard. Big then started to look for allies and found the karate master, Takuma Sakazaki. Mr. Big asked Takuma to join him, but Takuma didn't want to get involved with crime. Mr. Big kidnapped Yuri to make Takuma join him, thus triggering the events of Art of Fighting.

A year later, Mr. Big lost control of the city to Geese Howard. Geese spared Mr. Big but made him his underling. Geese created the first The King of Fighters tournament and invited the Sakazakis and Robert in the name of Mr. Big. Ryo Sakazaki won the finals and as his Ryuuko Ranbu broke through Geese's Deadly Rave, Geese who ran away to Japan. Jeff Bogard, one of Geese's Hakkyokuseiken rivals, was back in South Town with his two adoptive sons. Geese then came back to South Town and killed Jeff in front of his two sons.

Fatal Fury
Terry Bogard and Andy Bogard, Jeff's sons, swore to take vengeance on Geese. Terry traveled the world learning several martial arts and chi techniques from the Hakkyokuseiken school, while Andy traveled to Japan to learn Koppouken and Shiranui-ryuu ninjitsu.

They came back in 1992 for The King of Fighters tournament Geese was holding and were aided by their good friend Joe Higashi. Terry defeated Geese who then retired to the mountains to train harder to get his revenge against Terry. The town was freed from Geese, but not for long.

In Fatal Fury 3, a criminal named Ryuji Yamazaki came to South Town. Terry and company became aware of his presence and started looking for him. During their search, they were surprised to see that Geese was still alive as they believed that he was dead. Terry fought again against Geese in Geese Tower. Their fight started a fire there and Terry had to be rescued by a helicopter while Geese was nowhere to be found. Terry was dropped off at Yamazaki's location. They fight and Yamazaki was defeated. Terry was then teleported to Delta Park where he met Jin Chonshu and Jin Chonrei, holders of the Jin Scrolls of Immortality. They were planning to take over the city and eventually the world. Andy came to Delta Park and aided Terry against them. During the fight, Geese sneaked behind them and stole the scrolls from them. Geese started to rule over South Town yet again.

A year later, in Fatal Fury Real Bout, crime was back in South Town. Terry tried to challenge Geese but was unsuccessful. When Geese started a new The King of Fighters tournament, Terry and his friends entered. Terry ended up winning the finals and received the chance to fight Geese once again. Terry and Geese fought in Geese Tower's temple. Terry eventually defeated Geese with a Power Geyser. Geese was sent falling from the tower, but Terry saves him. Instead of being spared to atone his crimes, Geese instead releases himself from Terry's grip, falling to his death as an act of committing a suicide.

South Town now belongs to its people.

The King of Fighters
The finals of The King of Fighters 2000 were to be held in South Town. Zero masqueraded as Ling to fool Heidern and executed his plans of world conquest. He intended to use the Zero Cannon, a space-based super weapon, against NESTS headquarters. He led K', Maxima, Vanessa and Ramon to a place where a generator was absorbing their energy and sending it to the cannon. Zero fired several shots of the cannon on South Town, destroying the whole city. The cannon only stopped when Kula Diamond destroyed it.

It was believed that South Town was NESTS's headquarters and that Zero wanted to destroy it. However, NESTS was not destroyed along with the city. After the incident, all of South Town's residents worked hard to reconstruct the city. Surprisingly, South Town being devastated has little mention in 2001, and is thriving in 2003.

East Island
A man-made island in the southern section of South Town. It is usually the setting for the Fatal Fury or The King of Fighters series.


 * Pao Pao Café - This is the bar and restaurant of Richard Meyer. Richard serves up a variety of dishes and drinks from his homeland and abroad, such as the crocodile meat that Joe likes or the common hot dog that Terry loves. Richard also stages live capoeira stage performances in a separate deck of his store, featuring capoeira enthusiasts or occasionally Bob. The stage doubles as a place where he or other fighters can spar with one another. Terry and his friends often gather here to have a drink.


 * Geese Tower - A skyscraper where Geese Howard lives and also where he met his end. It serves as his personal base of operations for the Howard Connection. It is located on the far east island area of Southtown and has a 180 degree view of the entire city. At the top of the tower, there is a Japanese garden with a dojo. Some Japanese statues are present there, as well as (ironically) some American flags.


 * Sound Beach - The most famous beach of South Town. Michael Max, Terry Bogard and Blue Mary are regulars here. Located in the south part of town, it is also a famous resort spot for surfing.


 * West Subway - This is the subway on the East Island side. It also has a plaza area and neigborhood.


 * South Town Bridge - Southtown's prominent suspension bridge connecting East Island to its small neighboring island that hosts Geese Tower. Despite its location and lack of prominent access, it is usually a hotspot in particular for the semi finals and finals of local fighting tournaments.


 * Howard Arena - A private fighting arena owned by Geese Howard. It has a Chinese temple and small lake.


 * Dream Amusement Park - The most visited amusement park of South Town. It has a giant Ferris wheel and a wild west themed area with jugglers and entertainers.


 * East Side Park - A natural park. This park is a rival to Dream Amusement Park and possesses an aquarium and a shopping mall inside.


 * Happy Park - A park surrounded by stores. In this place existed a shop called "Real Bout".

South Town Bay Area
A section of the living district near South Town's peaceful bay. Also the entrance for most of the city's ports.


 * Rich Residential District - district where the high class society of South Town live. The Garcia family also have a house here.


 * Kyokugenryu Dojo - the place where Takuma Sakazaki set up his first dojo. It seems to be the main headquarters of the dojo chain. It suffers from poor student rates as many of them resign nearly as soon as they're admitted.

Central City
City in the center of South Town.


 * Chinatown - The neighborhood where the Chinese residents of the city live. Created by 17th century Chinese immigrants, this place serves locals exotic Eastern goods. This is where Li Xiangfei's mother resides.


 * Lee's Medicine Shop - a pharmacy run by Lee Pai Long, though business is slow due to Lee being too absorbed in his work to accept many customers. It is located in Chinatown.


 * Central Park - a large park located in the middle of the district. It is basically a miniature amusement park. One of the attractions includes a fortune telling service.
 * Karuta - A Japanese-style restaurant managed by Ryuhaku Todoh. It also contains a dojo where Todoh teaches students. After he was defeated by Takuma, Ryuhaku closed his place in Japan to work here. Since it is near an extravagant and popular road, it receives a moderate amount of students. The dojo itself is managed by Todoh's wife, Shizuko.


 * Mac's Bar - A bar created in 1964. The bar is frequented by a group of riotous motorcyclists known as the Neo Black Cats led by Jack Turner.


 * Restaurant L'Amor - A classy restaurant near the port side of town. King was formerly this place's bouncer.


 * Fitness Club - A place where people can exercise and workout. Yuri apparently works here part-time as an instructor.


 * Boxing Gym - A place where Mickey Rogers is known to train. It is located in the northeastern part of Central City next to the zoo. It was being remodeled when Art of Fighting 2 took place.


 * National Park - Located in the suburbs of Central City. The environment is similar to equatorial forests with some exotic animals living here. Joe Higashi always trains in this place with Hwa Jai. Ryo Sakazaki has a farm here. John Crawley also has his personal airport built near here.


 * South Town Airport - The regional airport of South Town. Aside from conducting international flights, it also is a manufacturing factory for new airplanes. In the King Of Fighters Maximum Impact 2 Ending, Kyo Kusanagi is seen talking to Yuki on a cellphone here and Iori Yagami is seen in the middle of the runaway watching Kyo's plane head back to Japan


 * Paopao Café 2 - A subsidiary of the first Paopao, this one is managed by Bob Wilson.


 * East Side Park - A huge park in the south part of Central City. Has an aquarium and several other attractions. Listed as being in the southern part of the Central City in Fatal Fury 3, but in Real Bout Fatal Fury, it is shown as being located on East Island.


 * South Station - A deserted train station. It used to run rides to Port Downtown but was discontinued due to increasing number of violent gangs.


 * Delta Park - This park possesses an aquarium, a zoo, a forest and a small river which runs through it. Located in the southeast part of Central City and near the vicinity of South Town Bridge. The architects who designed the park separated it into three areas, based around the themes of "water", "forest", and "fire". The "water" and "forest" areas feature majestic dragon statues which the park is famous for. The "fire" area has an unusual landscape, featuring objects made out of animal bones. The architect who designed it stated that he "wanted to express a certain kind of disaster that sleeps in the deep consciousness of humans".


 * Pioneer Plaza - In a place named in homage to the pioneer who first came to the land of South Town. Located northwest of Natural Park with a busy church. Blue Mary always comes here.

Port Town
Southwestern part of town with ports for ships and aircraft carriers. It is place of public trade though it suffers from poor public security.


 * Port Town Dock - The port area of South Town. Port Town possesses docks and it is there where several ships take anchor, such as the carrier The Guardian.


 * Port Downtown - The most dangerous place in Port Town. Mickey Rogers used to terrorize the area.
 * Port Town Factory - A factory used as a hideout by Mr. Big during the time Art of Fighting takes place.
 * The Karate Gym - Takuma Sakazaki's dojo while under the guise of Mr. Karate.

Similar locations

 * Second Southtown

Trivia

 * Though not officially confirmed, South Town could be a combination of a lot of locales in the American state of Florida. The city part may be modeled after Miami. South Town's inclusions of multiple and prominent theme parks may likely allude to the city of Orlando; in particular, Dream Amusement Park may be modeled after Walt Disney World (though evidence is present in Hon Fu's stage in Fatal Fury 3 you'll briefly see a landmark which looks a lot like Cinderella Castle from the park's famous segment of Magic Kingdom) and East Side Park appears to be an amalgamation of popular wildlife themed parks such as Busch Gardens and Sea World. The ports may be modeled after many towns that are built in western Florida by the Gulf of Mexico, most particularly the area of Hillsborough Bay and the cities of Tampa and Clearwater.
 * Perhaps its most infamous trait of being a place where "only the strong survive and where the dreams of the weak are torn apart and left for dead" is likely inspired by slogans made in Rust Belt era Detroit, where bootleg offhand merchandise such as shirts and bumper stickers bearing the phrase "Detroit: Where the weak are killed and eaten" were made popular for tourists as the era marked the city becoming one of America's most dangerous cities in due time.