Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves Embraces Hardcore Roots in a Modern Fighting Game Era
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves returns after 26 years with a brutally classic fighting experience, resisting modern trends in favor of rewarding depth and defense-heavy gameplay.
After 26 long years, SNK has finally resurrected Fatal Fury—and City of the Wolves doesn’t just pick up where Mark of the Wolves left off, it doubles down on what made the series a cult favorite in the first place. It’s a gritty, hardcore throwback that ignores industry trends in favor of challenging mechanics and deep gameplay systems, unapologetically made for seasoned fighting game fans.
While the fighting game genre has moved toward accessibility—comeback mechanics, simplified controls, forgiving inputs—City of the Wolves refuses to budge. The game features no neutral skip mechanics, strict combo timing, demanding motion inputs, and a massive emphasis on defensive play. It’s a game where mastery is mandatory and shortcuts are few and far between.
We sat down with Chief Producer Yasuyuki Oda, who explained the reasoning behind this deliberate design philosophy.
“We made a conscious effort to increase points of interaction, give the player more control, and give them more ‘chances’ to change the outcome of the match,” Oda said. “But we also made offense a lot stronger. Players who can defend well are appropriately rewarded.”
The game’s systems reflect this focus—like the new REV Gauge, which enables Street Fighter-style EX moves, and S.P.G., a timed power-up that enhances offensive options. But otherwise? No gimmicks. No easy way out. Even Smart Style controls, which aim to simplify input execution, barely hold your hand. If you’re not learning motion inputs, you’re not playing.
“Personally, I feel like these new input methods have not fully established themselves in fighting games yet… We wanted to give longtime fans the chance to play the way they always have,” Oda explained.
Despite all this, City of the Wolves is getting a modern marketing push that most fighting games could only dream of. It’s popped up at WrestleMania, been played by YouTubers like KSI and IShowSpeed, and even featured Cristiano Ronaldo as a playable character. Add to that a $2.5 million tournament later in 2025 and $1 million on the line at the Esports World Cup, and it’s clear SNK is throwing serious weight behind this revival.
But even with all that hype, City of the Wolves is still fighting an uphill battle. Steam player numbers aren’t stellar—especially compared to Street Fighter 6‘s 70k peak—but that might not be the metric SNK cares about most. Their goal seems less about winning over the masses, and more about honoring what makes Fatal Fury special.
And for longtime fans? It’s hitting the mark.
Still, one big question looms: can a fighting game that’s intentionally hard, fiercely old-school, and light on hand-holding survive in a genre that’s becoming increasingly user-friendly? Or will City of the Wolves become another cult classic sustained by a passionate—but small—community?
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