The last Fatal Fury game was released in 1999 after helping kick off the fighting game craze that swept through arcades everywhere. While developer SNK’s other franchises like King of Fighters and Samurai Ahowdown have received modern entries, Fatal Fury was left on the back burner, until now. A whopping 26 years after the release of Garou: Mark of the Wolves, a sequel is coming Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. I was lucky enough to attend a preview event during the SNK World Championship 2024, and it looks like City of the Wolves will continue the recent trend of amazing fighting games.
The preview event included five characters to check out. The roster included returning characters Terry Bogard, Rock Howard, Tizoc, and Hotaru Futuba as well as newcomer Preecha. I spent a short while playing as and against all of them. Undoubtably, the full City of the Wolves roster will show off even more. But, the selection provided a solid overview of the game’s fundamentals and how they interact with different playstyles. There is a lot to City of the Wolves, however. It is a complicated game with layered mechanics. They all weave in and out of one another to create a fascinating sandbox.
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At the center of Fatal Fury‘s modernization is the new REV system. Emulating the revving of an engine, the REV system encapsulates multiple tools at one’s disposal. Each one raises the player’s REV meter, overheating them if it ever fills completely. There are REV Arts, REV Blows, REV Block, and REV Accel. Using a REV Art augments special moves. This makes them more powerful or can change their behavior to catch opponents off guard. REV Accel is another offensive mechanic that chains special attacks to create massive combo strings. For defense, players can also use REV Block, a shield-like block that pushes opponents further away.
Then there are REV Blows, which rely on the new Selective Potential Gear (S.P.G.) mechanic. S.P.G. is a portion of the player’s health meter. You choose to set it at the beginning, middle, or end of your meter before a match starts. While the meter is in that zone the player’s health recharges slowly. Attacks also deal more damage and REV accumulates more slowly. While S.P.G. is active the player can use a REV Blow, a powerful overhead attack. These open up even more combos and mix-ups.
The ability to manually place the S.P.G. before a match begins opens up a fantastic layer of depth and choice to Fatal Fury. Dropping it at the front of the meter favors more aggressive play. Putting S.P.G at the end can be just enough to keep you alive at the tail end of a match. It can be a lot to keep track of on top of one’s REV meter. But, together, they make for a riveting cocktail of possibilities. Old mechanics also return, like feints and perfect blocks. City of the Wolves will have an extremely high skill ceiling. Even after playing for just under two hours I was just scratching the surface of what was there.
To try and help introduce players to its mechanics on the road to that ceiling there are two control methods: arcade and smart. Arcade is a classic control set-up that requires precise inputs and controls. However, it also gives you complete control over your chosen fighter. Meanwhile, smart provides an introductory setting. It features one-button combos and simplified inputs so anyone can pull off flashy moves. It won’t ensure newcomers wipe the floor with veterans, but it will help them hold their own while learning the game’s systems.
Those systems bring us back to the characters in the demo. Tizoc is a muscled and aggressive grappler favoring REV to close gaps and apply pressure. Meanwhile, Rock empowered a few more defensive options with REV to break free from opponent pressure and adopt a more adaptive play style. Preecha and Hotaru both focus on long combos utilizing long-range attacks and unrelenting pressure respectively. Seeing how the modest sample roster interacts with the game’s mechanics inspires a lot of hope in me for the full cast. There are so many options and elements to consider during any given moment of City of the Wolves. There are countless possibilities for variation and unique approaches.
Wrapped up in a beautiful comic-infused visual style, City of the Wolves is looking as though it will mark an explosive return of the classic franchise. There is a lot more for fans to wait to see and learn about Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves leading up to its release. From what has been shown so far, City of the Wolves looks primed to satisfy fans and introduce new players to the series.
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is aiming to release in 2025.
