I am an avid devotee of fighting games. After completing a lengthy “touching grass” session, I quickly revert to picking up a controller and sitting in training mode to master the combos that will help me prevail during heated online matches. Imagine my excitement when SNK shocked the FGC (Fighting Game Community) during EVO 2022 when it revealed the development of a new Fatal Fury. As the first fresh entry in the series since the 1999 release of Garou: Mark of the Wolves, hardcore franchise followers such as myself had high expectations for SNK’s foray back into a fighting game not named The King of Fighters or Samurai Shodown. After putting it through its proper paces via its abundance of offline and online content, I walked away feeling that my high hopes for Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves had been fully met.

The hallmark of any fighting game worth its weight in gold is the feel of its moment-to-moment fisticuffs and the freedom of player expression attached to mastering its intricate combat mechanics. City of the Wolves earns high marks regarding both elements – the feedback that arises from landing a high-powered blow is impactful, and the flashy combos that come from linking enhanced special moves into one another are fun as hell. The game’s central “REV System” provides the opportunity to utilize each character’s magnified version of their specials, plus it gives players a special block that pushes their foe away to gain some crucial breathing room. The REV System also equips players with an attack that can go through an opponent’s offense, as the character performing it is guarded by a green shell of armor.

Garou’s “T.O.P.” (Tactical Offensive Position) has now been christened as the “S.P.G.” (Selective Potential Gear). This system adds another welcome layer of strategy as it lets you choose when to have access to your character’s mightiest maneuver. Alongside those battle mechanics are a host of other moves that are equally beneficial to the offensive and defensive pillars of the game. City of the Wolves stands out as one of the most mechanically rich fighting games on the market right now. Thankfully, the game’s detailed tutorial mode and eight combo trials per character do an exemplary job of breaking down the intricate ins and outs of everything you can learn and master.

Another pillar of the best fighters ever made is their roster. This is the first stumbling point for the game, sadly. The launch roster of 17 characters is filled with 13 returning favorites from across the lengthy timeline of Fatal Fury releases, two newcomers inspired by their recognizable mentors, and two out-of-left-field guest entrants. I’m more than pleased with the familiar faces that make up the bulk of this game’s starting lineup – Rock, Terry, B. Jenet, Kevin, Mai, and Dong Hwan are some of my favorite series pugilists, and I’m overjoyed at seeing them make their grand return with new moves and even redesigned costumes to mark their franchise homecoming. The newest roster arrivals, in the form of Vox and Preecha, are great due to their quality character designs and respective move lists that act as cool callbacks to the characters that inspired them.

The only sore thumbs that stick out when you take a look at the character select screen are the real-life presence of world-renowned soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo and the DJ/record producer Salvatore Ganacci. While they may be fun to play (which came as a shock once I finally took them for a spin!), their oddball inclusion as playable characters is laughable. Those two guest spots would have been much better served by being filled by Garou’s Freeman and Kim Jae Hoon. I understand that Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund's 96 percent ownership of SNK likely resulted in Ronaldo and Ganacci being added to the game since the Saudi Royal Family is fond of those two personalities. Even still, City of the Wolves’ first batch of guest characters is a complete bust. Everyone besides those two characters are strong launch roster picks, and thanks to the first season pass coming with every purchase of the game at no additional cost and the promise of every Fatal Fury character eventually making their return, the game’s roster will only grow stronger over time.

The current batch of fighting games genre enthusiasts consume offers more than just your average arcade mode playthrough, which is accompanied by a special cutscene or art panels that depict your chosen character’s journey – they also include meaningful single-player content that lends it more replay value. It became clear that City of the Wolves’ development team considered that favorable trend when creating offline modes for its game, since there are plenty of activities to enjoy when you’re not in the mood to hop online. Arcade mode lets you tackle seven opponents as you find out what is truly “Geese’s legacy” and what pushed each “King of Fighters” tournament entrant towards entering it in the first place. I can’t lie - I laughed and I damn sure cried as the story conclusions connected to Marco, Terry, Gato, and Preecha, played out. My jaw also hit the floor at the sight of some of Fatal Fury’s most beloved characters popping up during certain scenes – they obviously won’t stay as NPCs for long!

Then there are training mode missions, which include the surprising integration of survival and time attack modes for players looking for more ways to challenge themselves. Finally, there’s the RPG-like mode “Episodes of South Town.” The single-player focus is stronger here as you take on increasing levels of adversaries, level up your character, equip them with stat-boosting skills, and follow side stories different from the ones featured in the game’s arcade ladder. There’s a good amount of fun to be had here as you unlock new avatars and titles for your online profile, art pieces that act as reminders of Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting’s rich archives, and extra color edit patterns. There’s even a little minigame that’s all about chopping bottles in half via timed button presses. Episodes of South Town can be completed with any character of your choosing (besides Ronaldo), and once you beat the mode’s default difficulty, you can raise it to face even stronger foes and unlock additional goodies. My biggest gripe with Episodes of South Town is its “Robust Roulette” secret fights. There’s no fun in beating up a near-invincible golden foe who randomly falls to a single crouching punch after one too many retries on the player’s end. Nevertheless, City of the Wolves offers a fun suite of offline modes that I enjoyed way more than I thought I would – here’s hoping future DLC characters get arcade mode and Episodes of South Town updates of their own.

Three more of the game’s offline elements were equally amusing, and that’s the game’s color edit, two-lane special versus, and jukebox modes. City of the Wolves’ appealing art design pops off the screen as everything is covered in a 2D sheen that evokes the look of an American comic book. Flashy hit sparks, cool-looking “Ignition Gears” (super moves), and cinematic “Redline Gears” (SUPER super moves!) all look incredible as each character dishes them out. The characters themselves can have their costumes altered, which is a cool callback to the color edit mode that soaked up so much of my time back when Capcom vs. SNK 2 also featured that option. I’m scared to look at how much time I’ve poured into making alternate renditions of Terry’s outfit that are similar to the costume color schemes of Street Fighter’s “Shoto” masters (I’m sure it’s maxed out at three or four hours!). My Robin, Nightwing, Naruto, and Strider Hiryu color edits for Hokutomaru look badass, by the way!

Two-lane battles, which is the original way Fatal Fury games were played, are featured as a selectable option for offline and online versus battles and are another cool callback to the series’ storied past. The game’s special versus mode options also deserve props – they produce a party-mode-like atmosphere for casual players who just want to go crazy with automatic power gauge refills, a permanent S.P.G. bar, and more. And I have to shout out SNK’s commitment to offering an abundance of songs that can be attached to stages during your offline and online play sessions. Being able to choose from classic Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting tunes is just further proof of SNK’s devotion to giving its fans a kitchen sink’s worth of non-gameplay content to stay busy with. The main complaint I have about the custom stage theme playlists is the fact that your preferred songs don’t play during rounds of arcade mode and Episodes of South Town. Fingers crossed that that minor issue gets patched sooner rather than later.

The most crucial component of today’s fighters is their online modes and how good their implementation of rollback netcode is. Thanks to the matchmaking fixes implemented during City of the Wolves’ two open betas, my online playtesting period on PS5 went off without a hitch. I encountered a majority of strong crossplay connections to other players across PC (Steam) during my extensive ranked, casual, and room match sets. The worries I had about this game’s open beta online woes carrying over to its launch have thankfully been whisked away. Besides competitive online play, there is also a mode that allows you to train a clone that mimics your playstyle and take on clones of other players. As veteran players upload their clones over time, City of the Wolves’ online player base will have another fun challenge to overcome as they test their mettle against clones of fighting game tournament champions. Add on the fact that you can participate in lobbies that adopt special versus mode rules, and you have an online suite that runs well and offers a myriad of combat rulesets to choose from.

Verdict: Strongly Recommend

‍Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves marks the triumphant return of one of SNK’s most revered IPs. It offers a smorgasbord of modes that give casual newcomers a wealth of single-player content to bask in, and well-functioning matchmaking and rollback netcode for dedicated online warriors. A diverse set of battle mechanics that covers both the offensive and defensive aspects of combat, an eye-popping art style, and a long list of songs, both new and old, also point to just how much there is to celebrate about this quality 2D brawler. While the presence of two real-life personalities as guest fighters is disappointing, the rest of the game’s launch roster is worthy of applause. SNK’s other premier fighting game franchise now has a modern-day entry that can proudly stand side by side with the likes of Capcom’s Street Fighter 6 and Arc System Works’ Guilty Gear Strive. Suffice it to say, the fangs of this wolf are still sharp!

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Fatal Fury: City of Wolves has an official launch date of April 24, 2025, on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. If you pre-ordered, you can play SNK's next fighter TODAY April 21, at no extra cost on the above platforms.