SNK
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves - the return of a classic with a modern twist
The city of South Town is back.
During the fighting game boom of the early ’90s, several names were among gamers’ favorites. Whether it was their mechanics, their characters, or the limited stories, many based on the revenge seen in martial arts movies, there was always something to grab hold of. SNK is one of the brands that released several fighting titles, and although King of Fighters is more vivid in the collective unconscious, its predecessor, Fatal Fury, was also notable. Fatal Fury was an impressive title at the time; its characters, moves, and story managed to stand up to the greats of the time. And although many of these characters ended with the aforementioned KoF, the franchise had no further development and had its last title in 1999. 26 years later, the franchise is back with Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves to prove that classics never go out of style.
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is a fighting game developed by SNK that is a direct sequel to the events that took place two years later in Garou: Mark of the Wolves. In this game, there is a time jump of 10 years from the first titles of the franchise, where Terry Bogard trains Rock Howard, son of Geese Howard, the enemy of the first Fatal Fury titles. Along with Terry, there are new and familiar characters trying to win the title of The King of Fighters.
As a good fighting game, this title features a good selection of characters (17 to start), each with their unique fighting style and powers. If you’ve played a title in the Fatal Fury franchise, or any other SNK fighting game for that matter, you’ll find many familiar details. The combat is still as solid as before, demonstrated in fluid 1-on-1 combat where the speed and precision of each and every punch is important. Each of the combos has its own rhythm, so getting them right is a matter of practice.
Now, one of the extras coming to combat is the REV system. This allows players to choose a point on their energy bar where this system will kick in and allow characters to use new types. You can choose this area to be the first, second, or third third of your energy bar. This allows you to have different types of strategies, either from the beginning to be totally offensive or to have more power in the last moments of your energy.
One thing that old-time gamers can look forward to is that the game is rescuing one of the aspects that made it stand out from the rest over 30 years ago, which is two-plane combat. This allows combat to take place across two rows, giving it a greater aspect of depth. However, it’s worth mentioning that while this is an interesting detail, it’s currently only found in one stage, and unless SNK plans to expand this to other stages, it feels like a proposal that can be completely forgotten.
Touring South Town
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves has 3 classifications in how we can play. The first one is the offline mode, where we will find the versus mode, for the classic way of fighting against another user in person or against the CPU; the practice mode, to learn more about the characters through small missions; or the arcade mode, where you will choose a character and face 6 characters and a final boss. On the other hand, there is the online mode, where you can have ranked or casual encounters, check the leaderboard, or participate in the PlayStation 5 tournaments.
Finally, we have the third classification, Episode of South Town. This is a very special mode because it will allow us to follow the story of each of the characters in the game while we go through the mythical city of South Town in this option that mixes the fighting game with an RPG. In this mode we will have fights with “NPCs” while we gain experience and level up to increase the energy bar, unlock powers, and face characters from the game.
While Mai Shiranui has to return to investigate some murders, Kim Dong Hwan is on his way to find the best restaurants in the city (even though this leads him into constant fights). It’s an interesting mode that not only keeps you entertained but also serves as a way to gradually learn how to use your character. Playing it with multiple characters will also allow you to open other mini-games, bringing back those different moments in fighting games like 30 years ago. It is true that part of the presentation would have been improved if there was some interaction other than text.
Among the guest characters
One of the things that made Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves stand out was the arrival of two guest characters, DJ Salvatore Ganacci and soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo. At the time, their arrival sounded like a rather odd crossover, as it doesn’t make much sense to have two real-life characters in a fighting game. However, the adaptation of both feels quite good, even if it is a bit unique. Salvatore uses moves taken from dances and moments from his music videos, while Cristiano Ronaldo adapts soccer moves very well in combat.
It should be noted that Cristiano Ronaldo, unlike all the other characters, is not available in all game modes. The decision feels strange, as it is not clear why this is the case, and it seems like a missed opportunity. However, SNK announced a few days before the game’s release that CR7 will eventually appear in the rest of the game’s modes.
Extras and visuals
Inside Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, you can find other extras. The first one is the option to create your own color palettes for the characters of the game. On the other hand, there is the Gallery mode, which allows you to view cutscenes and moments that you can unlock in other modes. Finally, there is the Jukebox, which allows you to listen to the game’s music, as well as other classics from previous titles in SNK’s fighting franchises.
The title features a visual style of 3D character models with a cel-shading style in a comic book tone. The game is always in motion, with fairly fluid animations and no frame drops, making every moment count. The art direction helps the game a lot, and even in some modes it plays a lot with this mix of 3D, cel-shading, and comic tones. The same is partly reflected in the scenarios, which are very colorful and varied, although at times the characters who see the fights look extremely stiff and not as detailed as you would expect.
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is an invitation to revisit South Town after 26 years. Although its characters haven’t had the same spotlight as other SNK characters, their presence is still felt. The title remains a game with a solid foundation, with all the elements that made it one of the most important. However, there are details that, while not problematic, SNK needs to fix to not give the wrong perspective. From the lack of presence of CR7 or the characters in the scenarios. These are details that do not hurt this wolf that still maintains its strength.
Follow MeriStation USA on X (formerly known as Twitter). Your video game and entertainment website for all the news, updates, and breaking news from the world of video games, movies, series, manga, and anime. Previews, reviews, interviews, trailers, gameplay, podcasts and more! Follow us now!