Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves prepares to REV it up

The SNK World Championship took place over the weekend with the top King of Fighters 15 players gathering in Los Angeles to battle for supremacy. While the competition played out on stage, SNK was also holding private early demos for the publisher's next big fighting game, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. This is a big title for SNK, marking the Fatal Fury franchise's first official title released in the 21st century. Shacknews was among those invited to take a first look.

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves boasts a striking new art style. Beautifully animated stages complement more sharply illustrated characters that stand out with a more defined cel-shaded look. A handful of returning characters are ready to butt heads again, along with some newcomers. These characters include:

• Terry Bogard: The face of the franchise, Terry has aged, but he's still a capable fighter. After spending years training Rock, the two are separated until a new tournament brings them back together.
• Rock Howard: Son of Geese, Rock finds himself at a crossroads in a new tournament, especially as he learns that his mother is still alive.
• Hotaru Futaba: A new entry to the series, Hotaru seeks out her missing brother and is determined to follow any leads that might send her his way. Her strength and agility are a sharp contrast to the gentle soul that celebrates with her animal buddies after a win.
• Tizoc: A masked wrestler, the debuting Tizoc fancies himself a defender of the children. He's more of a grappler, capable of knocking down opponents with hard lariats and high-flying maneuvers.
• Preecha: Another debut for the series, Preecha is more interested in science and research. However, her boxing shorts and her taped-up hands and feet give her an air of familiarity. Indeed, she is the prized pupil of Fatal Fury staple Joe Higashi and is capable of stringing together some heavy-hitting kickboxing combos.

City of the Wolves promises to bring back a number of classic Fatal Fury mechanics. Just Defense, for example, rewards players who manage to block at the moment of impact, allowing them an opening to strike. Combined with Hyper Defense (which can create distance from perfectly-timed parries), players can respond with a variety of different moves. It's also possible to keep opponents on their toes by using a two-button combo to feint specials and get them to drop their guard. S.P.G. (Selective Potential Gear) gives fighters a boost for as long as it's active and can be positioned in either the start, middle, or end of a fighter's health bar.

As for what's new, City of the Wolves introduces the new REV system. This mainly centers on a meter placed in the bottom corner, which opens the door for a variety of offensive and defensive mechanics. REV Arts, for example, work similarly to Street Fighter's EX moves, allowing players to hit a souped-up (or slightly different) version of a special move by completing it with both punch or kick buttons. REV Arts moves can also be combined to flow into a string of moves known as REV Accel. REV Guard is executed with the shoulder button and puts distance between fighters after blocking an attack. Lastly, there's REV Blow, which can only be used when S.P.G. is active. REV Blow takes priority over most incoming attacks, essentially canceling out the incoming blow and delivering a powerful attack. The REV Blow attack can also be used as a combo finisher on its own.

There's a lot that the REV Meter, but players must be wary not to abuse it. The REV Meter can be overheated after overusing REV mechanics. If fighters keep up the pressure on an overheated opponent, they can drive them into a Guard Crush state and leave them with a longer hit recovery time.

The last thing to note is that SNK has seen where the winds are blowing with fighting games. The classic Arcade Style controls are returning as the default way to play. However, City of the Wolves is also adding a new Smart Style that assigns each button an action. This is being implemented partially as a way for SNK to welcome in players who are familiar with Terry through his Super Smash Bros. Ultimate cameo.

SNK hopes to have Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves ready to release in early 2025. However, the team is still in the process of taking feedback. With that goal in mind, the first public demo will be available at EVO Japan from April 27-29. A demo coming to EVO in Las Vegas isn't necessarily guaranteed, but something worth keeping an eye on.

This preview is based on a private demo played on-site at the SNK World Championship in Los Angeles. The final product is subject to change.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?