Fatal Fury: Is it worth it? Play and decide ⚠️

A masterful sequel to one of the genre's most beloved games 🎮🔥, albeit with a blemish that's hard to ignore. More than 20 years ago, SNK shocked the world with Garou: Mark of the Wolves, and since then, Fatal Fury has become a relic for fans of the classics, cherished by those who harbor nostalgia and wrinkles alike.

But that spark that seemed to have faded resurges with Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves—a grand return with more investment than the next unsustainable AI startup—and is arriving with a vengeance to claim its place in the world of fighting games.

Does City of the Wolves have what it takes to compete in a market dominated by titans like Street Fighter and Tekken? Based on what I've played, it has a very good chance: good combat, a strong visual identity, and a respect for tradition, all combined with polished mechanics that make it appealing to both veterans and new players 👊🕹️.

A sequel 26 years in the making, City of the Wolves is brought to you by SNK, a company as familiar with developing spectacular fighting games as it is with throwing skinny blondes off towers. It's a 2v2 brawler that revisits many of the company's most iconic and beloved characters, giving them a twist and revitalizing the cast for a new audience. For fans of old-school fighting games, this is a huge event, filled with the joy and bustle of a group of childhood friends reconnecting. It's certainly one of the most exciting fighting game releases this year. 🎉👊

Its landing in the current gaming landscape is also explosive. You get everything you'd expect from a standard fighting game package: an arcade mode, online lobbies, combo tests, and a detailed tutorial. Plus, it features a dedicated story mode called Episodes from South Town, which takes you through a fresh narrative for all the characters, tons of unlockable art, and even an extensive jukebox. It's a game brimming with content, truly offering value for your money as far as fighting games go. 💰🎶

Episodes from South Town is a good starting point, as it will be the first stop for many new players. Discussions about what makes a solid single-player mode in fighting games are a tired discourse that persists. Frankly, while this mode may not have the cinematic appeal of a Mortal Kombat release, it's a great way to tell a new story in the world of Fatal Fury while teaching beginners the ropes.

Filled with quality art and battle modifiers, you progress through the city, engaging in fights and learning more about your selected character. It's also a fantastic way to slowly introduce players to the dynamics of City of the Wolves. As you progress through this mode, you unlock universal mechanics that gradually introduce you to what is a fairly complex fighter. 🏙️💪

Your reward for completing this mode can be found in various collection tabs filled with art, short stories, and music. In fact, there's an entire catalog full of Fatal Fury soundtracks from decades past, taking you straight back to the sounds of years past. In terms of the extra goodies you unlock, it feels like a treasure chest for fans of the series. You can even create custom color schemes for your favorite character! Now, this isn't a full-blown costume system like you see in games like Tekken 8 or Street Fighter 6, but it's still a nice touch that adds a bit of personal expression—and that makes all the difference. 🎨✨

All of this may sound like small details without much importance, but it is these types of additions that help make City of the Wolves sits down as a faithful sequel that understands how important this game is to young people in their 30s and beyond. A group that often finds itself devouring nostalgia. 😌💖

Historically, SNK has struggled with the transition from brilliant 2D sprite work to 3D. With the release of King of Fighters 15, it seemed to have achieved this, offering fans vibrant and distinct visuals for an energetic and spectacular game. However, with City of the Wolves, SNK seems to have finally achieved its goal. could make it even better.

It's a visual feast that your eyes can't help but examine for every detail. The environments are beautifully animated, filled with small moving objects and spectators cheering on your fight. Lovingly recreated favorites from Mark of the Wolves also return, evoking the good old days. Nearly every character is presented as a true embodiment of the old 2D artwork on which SNK built its legacy. 🌟🌈

What doesn't look good, however, are the menus. It's clear the team has opted for a minimalist approach, keeping things simple with a black and yellow color scheme, separating key elements with flat boxes. It just... looks cheap. Rushed and not particularly attractive. Plus, with how complicated these menus can be to navigate, it really bothered me. The online lobby, for example, looks like it was designed by an office worker with some free time to experiment with Google Sheets, not a team working on a multi-million-dollar project. 🥴🚫

All these modes and little details in City of the Wolves would matter little if the game itself was shallow – if it didn't feel good to play, if you didn't feel like your first few fights were a stepping stone to an ocean of skill expression. I'm happy to say that SNK, which has long proven its ability to create games Exceptional fighters, they've really outdone themselves here. City of the Wolves is a beautifully crafted fighter, especially in an era where aggressive play seems to be the direction their competitors are headed. 💪✨

The secret to the game's appeal from a gameplay perspective is that it's a meticulously crafted defensive fighter. Blocking at the perfect moment grants a Perfect Defend, allowing a counterattack and healing a bit of health. That's pretty standard, but you have high and low dodges and REV Guarding, both adding ways to mitigate incoming damage. Guard cancels are especially exciting: if you block fair At the right moment, you can instantly launch a special move that can completely turn a fight in your favor.

Then there are REV blows, armored attacks you can only use when you're at specific portions of your health bar, offering incredibly potent reversal opportunities. Adding a level of strategy, you can choose where you want that portion to be, a decision that could make all the difference in particular matchups. What other fighting game offers this defensive complexity? Well, there isn't one. Not even close. 🤔🔍

If you're reading this and thinking that City of the Wolves sounds like a challenging game, you're right. You really do need some skill with directional inputs, and it's harder to string together combos here than in some other modern games. That's just what the doctor ordered, I'd say. But, while I'm happy with this state of affairs, I must point out that a portion of players will try the game and turn away. Such is the perpetual curse of fighting games. There is a smart control option, which provides auto-combos and a dedicated special button, but more than other comparable control schemes in contemporary fighting games, this feels like a departure. 🚀🎯

You see, with Smart Controls, your options in a match are severely limited. They don't feel especially competitive at an intermediate level—they're fine for trying out new characters, getting to know what they offer, and ultimately making an informed decision about who you want to spend your time and energy learning by switching to the default, arcade-style control scheme. This, for me, works. It's powerful enough to be useful in super-casual matches against friends, without giving you the tools to overwhelm other players online. 👥⚔️

The final must-have for any modern fighting game is good netcode – gone are the days of poor connections between you and your friend an hour away. Here again, SNK nails it. The matches I played online with people in the UK felt silky smooth, and I was even able to get matches against other players in the US without much trouble. With City of the Wolves, the only real obstacle between you and online play with friends is the awful lobby system. Once you manage to navigate that, it's all joy. 🌐🎊

If I were to end the review here, City of the Wolves would receive an overwhelming recommendation. It would be a true champion of a new era of SNK, made with real passion and oozing quality in almost every aspect of the game. But there's one stain on City of the Wolves that's impossible to ignore, and one that has drawn heated criticism from fans in the run-up to release. That stain comes from SNK's owners, who have transformed what would otherwise be a near-perfect package of a fighter into a sportswashing effort. 🌍✖️

This blemish comes primarily in the form of famous soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo and DJ Salvatore Ganacci. It could be argued that these were included to attract more players to Fatal Fury, which is certainly understandable. Fighting games remain, of course, a largely niche genre, while Ronaldo is one of the most well-known soccer players in the world.

However, their inclusion as playable characters here and their ties to the Saudi Arabian government’s other sportswashing efforts mean that what should have been a game exclusively celebrating the Fatal Fury series also feels like an advertisement for a country ranked fourth in the use of slavery, bombing innocent people in Yemen, and displacing native villages so the country can build exorbitantly expensive buildings that are never finished. 💔⚔️

SNK's main owners, the MiSK Foundation, have Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as their chairman, and there has been criticism over the perceived influence on the game's roster due to the inclusion of both figures. Ronaldo's actual signing with Saudi Arabian football club Al-Nassr has been highlighted by Amnesty International as part of a wider pattern of sportswashing in the country. Ganacci, meanwhile, has received criticism for playing at Saudi-backed music festivals and for allegedly enjoying a close relationship with the Saudi royal family.

Ultimately, what this means is that City of Wolves, with all its absurd marketing spend, joins the ranks of Liv Golf, the Esports World Cup, and Premier League football team Newcastle United as a billboard for the country, meant to distract you with all its glitz and glamour from its real problems. Perhaps you'll watch the Esports World Cup and observe the game being played at its highest level; you'll hear a Steve Aoki track in the game and decide to go on vacation there, or maybe you'll open a business there. 🌟🏖️

There will be many of you reading this who will say, "Okay, so what?" I want to play my video games. I absolutely understand that perspective. SNK has deservedly created a brilliantly deep and engaging fighting game here. Even if you can ignore the ethical questions City of the Wolves raises, the guest fighters are still irritating.

They're a bit overly referential with their move lists, clearly opting to recreate popular stances and moves that don't fit with sensible attacks within the world of Fatal Fury. It's a bit odd that Ganacci and Ronaldo are here above other classic Fatal Fury characters, isn't it? Especially when there are decades of familiar faces that people love and deserve a place in the game. 🤷‍♂️🥋

It's a decision each player will have to make for themselves. If you're willing to accept the ethical dilemma, there's a solid gold fighting game here. But, personally, it's too strong a connection to ignore—a real stain on a masterful sequel to one of the genre's most beloved games. 🖋️💔