Clearly, there are Monday mornings that are much more enjoyable than others, and I can never thank SNK enough for making this Monday, March 18, 2024, better. When I got up this morning, a quick check on Twitter and there, a notification that reveals to me the release of the very first gameplay trailer for Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, two years after its announcement. It’s with a heavy heart that I start the video in my bed and there, it’s not only relief, but it’s much more. The gameplay of Garou Mark of the Wolves is clearly back with new features and some readjustments, and when we know that it is considered the greatest 2D fighting game of all time, we can already dream of the return of the great SNK , the one from the NeoGeo era, the one which reinvented Versus Fighting with each new license. Well, we’ll try to analyze all of this together.
There were 2 videos of the new Fatal Fury released last night following the SNK World Championship 2023 finals in Los Angeles. A one-minute trailer to get us excited and a 2nd trailer, lasting 2min45, this time revealing the first 5 characters, showing gameplay of course and proving to us that that’s it, SNK is finally enter the big leagues of 3D fighting games, the 2D – 2.5D transition is finally made. Not without difficulty and some difficulties of course, but that’s it, it’s done!
First thing that we can unanimously say: the game moves well. It even moves really well, and we find the essence of what made SNK’s fighting games of the time so special, namely this velocity which means that I found SNK productions preferable to those of others like Capcom for example. SNK has always favored offensive play, rather than static play, and this replay of Garou Mark of the Wolves is further proof of that. But before moving on to the gameplay, we should also note the efforts made by SNK to make the visuals of Fatal Fury City of the Wolves more attractive. It’s much prettier than KOF XV, with more assertive colors, more contrast and above all less pastel. It makes it less generic and without the soul that could emerge from the graphics of KOF XV. The outlines of the characters are more pronounced in Fatal Fury, with pencil effects that can be seen on the edges of faces or clothing, which also gives it a more comic book appearance that is somewhat reminiscent of Marvel vs. Capcom 3. We like it or don’t like it, but at least there’s an artistic vision that I find more compelling.
Then, to give more flavor to this visual rendering, SNK also chose a camera closer to the characters. Look at the size of Rock Howard, Terry Bogard, Tizoc and all the others on the screen, they are massive, and as a result, each blow delivered or received creates a feeling of superpower that emerges, especially since there is a rather welcome shaky-cam side. All this reminds me of the era of the Art of Fighting games that SNK produced and which marked its time with the gigantic sprites of the characters. And then, look at the visual effects, they are everywhere, they explode everywhere, it remains fluid and hyper speed, in fact it is confirmed but the game will run at 60 frames per second. And then look at the decor, it’s alive, animated, there are plenty of things to look at, with the added bonus of real depth in the decor. No, it’s really nice. Of course, if you look closely, you feel that it is the same engine as that of KOF XV that was used, but it has clearly been improved. There is a real nice evolution between KOF XV and this Fatal Fury City of the Wolves. No really, there is reason to be satisfied with the result that we can see in this Fatal Fury 2025 and that was a bit of the fear that we had to tell the truth, because we know it, since SNK switched to 3D, the graphics have difficulty keeping up. KOF XIV was ugly, KOF XV not very convincing, the Samurai Shodown of 2019 pretty good, but nothing transcendent. It’s crazy because in the 90s, SNK excelled in 2D, they were the ones who dominated the game, whether in graphics, gameplay and new ideas.
Regarding the gameplay of this Fatal Fury which will arrive at the beginning of 2025, we clearly feel the Garou Mark of the Wolves heritage. We know that SNK did not want to position this game as Garou 2, probably for the name, and to bring back the name of Fatal Fury to the ears of gamers who would have forgotten that this saga brought a lot to VS Fighting, but in true, if we analyze carefully, it is the gameplay of Mark of the Wolves which has been transposed into 3D, or I mean 2.5D. The characters are the same, their attacks and their combos identical in every way, the feeling is also quite similar when we see the game running and then the music is also taken from Garou Mark of the Wolves. So very clearly, SNK is preparing an all-you-can-eat buffet for us guys, I think we’re going to eat very, very well when it comes out at the beginning of 2025.
In the first trailer from last night, SNK revealed some game mechanics: REVVING UP, REV GUARD, REV BLOW, REV ARTS and REV ACCEL. Rev is therefore the term that comes up each time for each mechanic in the game, a bit like Drive is for Street Fighter 6. First thing that SNK showed us is REVVING UP which is characterized by 3 gauges . And presumably, it will be possible to regain energy during combat. Vital energy, power? Both of them ? For the moment, it’s vague, but I have the impression that it is an evolution of the TOP System of the first Garou which has evolved. Remember, in the 1999 game, you had to select a specific area of ​​the life bar on the character selection screen. When reaching the area during fights, you could land more devastating hits, knowing that the TOP bar is reduced, the more devastating it was.
Then, we see the REV GUARD system which is clearly the push block found in many fighting games. This allows you to block an attack, while pushing back the opponent in order to gain some distance. We also have the REV BLOW which seems to be an overpowering attack, little EX which will undoubtedly stun the opponent. We see that the character who delivers the blow is surrounded by a green halo, that the impact of the blow is reinforced by explosions and above all a shaky-cam effect to give this impression of violence. We have REV ARTS, which seem to be the equivalent of EX attacks, that is to say doubled. For example, we see Rock Howard give us a Double Repuuken, while Terry throws us a more sparkling Burning Knuckle version. And finally, we have the REV ACCEL which seems to be an equivalent of KOF XI’s Drive Cancel with the possibility of canceling one special move with another under certain conditions. We see Terry canceling his Burning Knuckles to do a Crack Shot instead or Rock Howard changing his Hard Edge to Rising Tackle. Besides, I really like the idea that Terry’s Rising Tackle has changed and that it goes obliquely, diagonally, so stylish! Besides, I don’t know if you saw, but Rock Howard now has Terry’s Power Geyser, which will make him an ultra complete and powerful character in real life. The best of Geese and Terry brought together in one character. He’s going to be crazy!
Otherwise, regarding the confirmed characters, there is Rock Howard, Terry Bogard, Tizoc (or The Griffon for its original Japanese name) and Preecha, a new female character who looks a lot like Joe Higashi. Not only does she practice Muay Thai, but she also has the same outfit and attacks. It could well be that SNK decided to take over the female Muay Thai character who was planned in Garou 2 and who was to be Joe’s disciple. Normally, Joe Higashi should be on the roster if we are to believe the first teaser video, just like Andy Bogard and Billy Kane. Clearly, we are experiencing the return of one of the greatest fighting game sagas. So I know that some are disappointed that SNK abandoned the gameplay of the first Fatal Fury which was on several levels, but never forget that the term “Fury” in fighting games was Fatal Fury which initiated it .