Platform(s): PC (version reviewed), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series
Genre: 2D Fighting Game

26 years.

26 f***ing years.

That’s how long many 2D fighting game fans who cherished the SNK brand had to wait for the follow-up to Garou: Mark of the Wolves, the previous Fatal Fury installment. It was arguably one of the best fighting games of all time next to Street Fighter 3: Third Strike. So to not have a follow-up years later was quite a traversty for the series that put SNK on the map back in 1991, as well as agonizing for fans & legacy players.

After numerous bankruptcies and all sorts of drama, SNK came back to life and is fully backed by interested parties from 2019 onward. You can see signs of SNK going back to the well with 2019’s Samurai Shodown entry before reverting back to their cash cow The King of Fighters series. So one can assume the company might go back to their roots making a pure 1v1 2D fighting game back to where it all began: South Town.

So is Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves worth the long-as-heck wait? It sure is, and this is clearly the game SNK wanted to make after many, MANY obligations.

The Original Kings Of Fighters

Unlike its 2D fighting 3v3 cousin The King of Fighters, Fatal Fury sticks to tradition: a 1-versus-1 fighting game on a 2D plane where fighters duke it out in a best-of-three bout. Each of the 18 playable characters have their own styles of fighting and archetype to adhere to.

All-rounder Terry Bogard has a fireball, a horizontal move, and an anti-air to cover his shoto bases but has a few tricks up his sleeves to hit hard like his normals and advantage-giving Crack Shoot. Big boy Tizoc deals the most damage with his command grabs and simple-yet-deadly one-two punch combos, but can’t close the gap as effectively as half the cast if from afar. He does have his Olympus Over elbow drop as a solution to that problem, as it’s a move that makes him do a special jumping arc to go with his attack. Well-endowed pirate B.Jenet is a wildcard with a jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none moveset, while Hokutomaru can rushdown his opponents with his Andy Bogard-taught ninjutsu moves while also zoning opponents out temporarily with his shurikens.

Veterans will get used to the Fatal Fury/Garou: Mark of the Wolves’ returning cast, but they’ll be pleased with the new blood. Preecha is a student of Fatal Fury/KOF’s Joe Higashi and adopts a ton of multi-hitting moves and crazy kicks while bringing in some new cross-up shenanigans and tech. Vox Reaper is a pupil of Garou: MOTW boss Grant who has far-reaching normals for footsies and can close the gap easily with his command grapples and multi-hitting strikes. Plus he has a divekick to catch unaware folks who guard up for his ground game.

The other two additions from real life -Cristiano “CR7” Ronaldo the famous football player and Salvatore Ganacci the real-life DJ – also have their own tricks up their sleeves. CR7 has quite an okizeme (the art of mixing up an opponent getting up from a knockdown) gameplan with his plasma football/soccer ball moves. Salvatore can temporarily float around the screen and strike down onto opponents with his esoteric fighting style, along with some of-kilter rushdown tactics.

While I do wish their animations were in line with the rest of the colourful cast, they’re pretty decent additions to the roster. There is really nothing to hate about these selection of characters, each being better and hard-hitting versions of the archetypes you’ve seen in other fighting games.

Apart from that, the fighting game engine is also why you will play Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves for hours on end. While typically-played on the surface, the game brings in a slew of new and improved past mechanics to keep things fresh. The REV system lets you chain combos effortlessly but at the cost of putting you at a disadvantage if you go over the limit. The S.P.G (Special Positional Gear) bar lets you use special REV blows that usually compensates a character’s weakness (as well as being armored moves that take regular hits) as long as their health bar is within the S.P.G’s position.

You can choose to put it at the tail end of your bar, or right at the start if you believe in starting heavy and early with your offense. REV blows can be chained with your combos and can act as a counterattack for players who mash buttons too often, so there’s no reason not to use them to the fullest. You will really miss them when they are unavailable, so you have to be smart with positioning your S.P.G gauge especially in a heavily-competitive setting.

Once you’re done training and playing through each character’s Mission mode (to get an overview of their playstyle and combo routes) then you can head online to play with friends and online rivals. The version we played didn’t have the servers up yet, but if it’s anything like the two Open Beta sessions, the connection and networking should be prim and proper. The options and user interface really needs work though; half the time I’m not sure where certain options like adding friends or changing room options for private matches are unless I’ve spent more than a few hours fiddling through the menus.

Legends Of The Hungry Wolves

SNK could have ended things with a single-player bunch of training options and a multiplayer mode, but they went the extra mile with their passion project for lore hounds of the series. Fatal Fury: COTW’s Arcade mode and Episodes of Southtown mode give fans of SNK games what they’ve wanted: much-needed closure.

Every story beat from past Fatal Fury games have been answered and bookended to satisfy everyone. Yes, they do tease the future, but no plot point is left unanswered and everything is resolved. You even gain more insight on the characters in the latter Southtown mode. Newcomers may want to get context from a recent SNK=published Fatal Fury story recap video, but otherwise it’s a huge treat for everyone who kept up.

Episodes of Southtown is basically a role-playing game mode where you pick any of the fighters and level them up to unlock story beats and quests. You pick a character who starts at level 1, then complete quests which usually consists of beating up one fighter in a best of 3 match, or a gauntlet of foes ranging from the base roster to some EOST-added jobbers who use moves straight out of the KOF series (like Leona’s Moon Slice or Yashiro’s ground pound). You can equip passive power-ups like Special Attack buffs or even a power-up that boosts your strength tenfold if your life is at 10 percent, provided you play through everyone’s EOST quests to its story end to unlock these buffs bit by bit. It is quite a grind, but that’s the whole point of this mode, and it’ll only take you an hour or so to level up one character to Level 40.

After completing that character’s story, you can unlock South Town+ which lets you fight enemies and take on quests up to Level 99, with even some conditions including getting through a gauntlet without getting hit. Yes, it’s easier said than done so you’ll need to level up enough to equip enough passive buffs to even go toe-to-toe to the likes of Nightmare Geese or Fallen Rock in this new difficulty. Overall, it’s a great timesink and also fleshes out each character’s personalities and modus operandi. My only gripe is that you have to go back to the selection screen to adjust your S.P.G; you can’t unlock it while on the EOST map screen and it only unlocks once you are at Level 16. Hopefully the developers can patch that up so that adjusting your S.P.G. for this mode is less cumbersome.

They Can’t Contain…

Despite those niggling issues and some graphical oddities and the two extra characters from the real world, that isn’t enough to sour the latest Fatal Fury game. Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is really the full package for SNK fans and fighting game veterans looking for a new 1v1 fighter that can go toe-to-toe with this generation’s Street Fighter 6. The 17-character roster (with 5 more coming) have a ton of variety and expanded moveset for all sorts of playstyles, the game’s aesthetics are full of life and uniqueness, the fighting mechanics are a good balance between simple and complex with tons of nuances, and the extra single-player modes will keep you occupied. It is truly a sublime fighting game experience for both newcomers and veterans.

Of course, your love for this new throwback-slash-return-of-the-fighting-game king may depend on your tolerance of supporting its notorious backer, but that’s another tale for another time. For now, welcome back, alpha wolf. We’ve missed you dearly.

Pros

• Great 1v1 fighting game mechanics with both offensive and defensive options.
• Varied cast of playable characters, from grapplers to hybrid zoners.
• Arcade Mode gives much-needed closure for Fatal Fury and SNK fans.
• Episodes of South Town mode is addictive.
• Expansive online and competitive options from online play to Ghost mode.

Cons

• A few graphical hiccups, especially for PC version.
• Real-life guest characters look awkward compared to the rest of the cast.
• Online play menu screen needs redesigning and overhaul.

Final Score: 90/100

Review copy provided by publisher. Online play hasn’t been tested since it wasn’t active until 21st April; based on our Open Beta Test hands-on, the online is stable and good. We’ll update this review over time if things change, though it wouldn’t affect the overall base product in terms of content & game mechanics.