Review – Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves

Who would say that Garou: Mark of the Wolves would receive a sequel after 26 years? I was cheering for Fatal Fury to return to the level of, another franchise resurrected by SNK and it worked super well. The originally Japanese company – which since 2022 has been the property of Saudi Arabia – became famous with its fighting games, such as Art of Fighting, Samurai Shodown and The Last Blade. He also dominated other genres, joining in his catalog several classics of arcade such as metal slug. Since the announcement of Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves in Evo 2022, the expectation was very high.

The sequence went into production shortly after the development of The King of Fighters XV. At EVO 2023, the first Fatal Fury gameplay trailer: City of the Wolves came up, confirming that it would follow the look at 2.5D and using. Since then they have announced some more details, promoted the game in Wrestlemania 41 and RAW, and revealed that two celebrities would be in the game as playable characters: DJ and music producer Salvatore Ganacci and soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo.

Old fighters, some new and two intruders

Of the 17 characters at the launch, we have the return of several traditional fighters like Terry Bogard, Mai Shiranui, Billy Kane, Cat and B. Jenet, among many others. Some of them have undergone significant changes in the look like Hokutomaru, who was no longer a caricatured little boy. As for the new fighters, we have four: Fill (a Joe Higashi student), Vox Reaper (the current Kain R. Heinlein), and the aforementioned Salvatore Ganacci and Cristiano Ronaldo. We also have Nightmare Geese and Fallen Rock as bosses in their dark versions. These two are not playable, just the normal version of rock.

Of course Cristiano Ronaldo’s inclusion generated controversy and, well, C7 does not match the universe of fatal Fury or any existing fighting game. It’s like placing the Bugs Bunny in Mortal Kombat. Playing with him, the conflict of the worlds is evident: C7 has no feature of fighter, their blows are performed with a “magic” ball that appears and disappears when necessary, and the celebration involves the famous jump and the cry of “Siiii!” When landing. Even their specials are pathetic. It is such a large bar forcing that it leads me to believe it was a decision coming from marketing and the prince himself.

Salvatore Ganacci at least has one reason to be in the game: he was responsible for gathering DJs from around the world to compose the game’s soundtrack. But except for the music of the main menu and some others, the vast majority sounds too generic: they are well produced, but do not create a strong bond with the character that each song represents as a theme. In gameplay, Salvatore is as bad to play as C7, with mocking blows and movements that challenge gravity and common sense.

The good news is that Roster will increase with the first season of Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, bringing Andy Bogard, Joe Higashi, Mr. Big (from Art of Fighting) and also two Capcom, Chun-Li and Ken Masters fighters. A welcome DLC that can open the range of options for the next seasons, perhaps with characters from less exploited SNK franchises such as World Heroes and Rage of the Dragons.

Episodes in South Town and Arcade mode

As a casual fighter of fighting games, I made a point of starting by testing Fatal Fury Singleplayer: City of the Wolves. We have the story mode, entitled Episodes in South Town, and the arcade within offline mode. In South Town, you choose a fighter and face increasing challenges with 1 × 1 to 1 × 4 fights, some with modifiers (favoring the opponent) and bosses. You freely browse the map by choosing which challenge to do while rising and unlocks rewards and skill improvements to the chosen character.

You explore three sequence areas – Central City, Second South and East Island – to get to the Geese Tower, your final destination to complete this mode story. You can face higher level opponents when you want if you are already used to the combos and new Rev system mechanics. Episodes in South Town ends up acting as a great tutorial, being much more fun than the basic tutorial found in offline mode, within the practical option. And once finished, South Town+ is unlocked with larger challenges. Already in Arcade, which also delivers an outcome to each character, the thing is faster: you face only 7 opponents and ready.

SGP and the Rev System

Many of Garou’s original mechanics: Mark of the Wolves are still present in this new game. The old top became SPG (Selective Potential Gear) and works basically the same way, with the option to choose the position of this bar in your HP (at the beginning, half or end). With this bar activated, you get off the Rev Blow (similar to the ex of Street Fighter) to break the opponent’s defense or attack, and be able to improve your character’s hidden Gear, which requires two full bars and the SGP are certainly the most capricious animations of the entire game.

It has perfect defense, counterattack, different techniques for creating combos, and a Limitor Pro not abusing the SGP, which is temporarily overheated if it reaches 100%. The two special bars can also be used to activate your character’s Ignition Gears and Redline Gears. And it is important to highlight that Fatal Fury Gameplay: City of the Wolves is more slower than The King of Fighters XV. This ends up favoring the more strategic combat, giving time to players react. By the way, I had no problem playing online, whether in casual or ranked match. Crossplay works very well.

As for the stages, there are several new ones but also have some revamped classics, such as the movement in motion of Terry Bogard’s stage, the submarine stranded in the port of B. Jenet, and the tizoc ring, all very beautiful. What did not please me was the simplification of the animations that occur at the bottom of the scenario, especially the people cheering. They are all presented in poor quality, with repetition of movement and with reduction in the frame Rate. They did the same thing at The King of Fighters XV.

Now if there is one thing that was missing in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves was a good art direction for the menus. It was all organized in squares, including replicating the same bad decisions as The King of Fighters XV. And there are details that you can’t understand, how there is a neat character selection screen – which appears in various ways – and not the same one that appears in the arcade, presenting a whole and ugly variation of hurt.

There are other strange things, such as South Town episodes offer just a single minigame (breaking bottles with Marco Rodriguez). And the opening animation, which is all anime style, also lacks whims of sound effects, getting too clean while the stick breaks between the fighters. Ok, they are small details, but bother.

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, even not achieving the perfection that was Garou: Mark of the Wolves in his day, delivers a great game and with space to grow much more with future updates. I have always enjoyed fatal Fury and see this return of the franchise after so long is a great achievement for the community of fighting games. May the championships come!