Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves Review

I’ve always been a big fan of fighting games, and nothing compares to the satisfaction of beating up some random videogame character who probably doesn’t deserve it. I promise I don't have anger issues… That’s why I was excited to see that a classic fighting game was making a comeback. Fatal Fury is a series that has been around since 1991, with the first seven titles all appearing on the Neo Geo console. Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is the first new release in the franchise in 26 years! Sure, some of the characters have made appearances in other titles like Super Smash Bros. or The King of Fighters, but it’s not the same; it doesn’t count. The main protagonist in the series, Terry Bogard, known as the Legendary Hungry Wolf, is here, along with his friends and rivals from earlier Fatal Fury games. Though I do have to mention the biggest surprise in the roster, Cristiano Ronaldo, a forward for and captain of both Saudi Pro League club Al-Nassr and the Portugal national team.

The vibrant main menu of Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves has multiple options to check out: you can play the game online (with cross-play), where you can participate in ranked matches, casual matches, or join a room with friends. Offline mode lets you play locally against other players in Versus. Arcade allows you to play through the story by choosing one of the 15 available characters, and Practice mode helps you improve your skills. The Gallery includes movies, artwork, and voice lines for all the fighters’ moves and attacks. In the Albums section, you can even create your own playlist with the songs you want to hear while fighting.

When you start Arcade mode, you’re greeted with a large roster of fighters. Many will be familiar if you’ve played other Fatal Fury games, but there are a few new additions. You can choose from four different colour schemes for each character and select the type of Selective Potential Gear (S.P.G.) placement from Accel Ratio, Flux Ratio, or Final Ratio. This might sound a little confusing, but it just means the gear activates at different points in your health bar: early, mid, or near defeat. When triggered, your attack strength increases, allowing you to inflict extra damage. You’ll also gradually recover health and gain access to REV Blows. A REV Blow lets you shrug off incoming attacks while you counterattack. Finally, you choose the CPU difficulty level, with the default set at three.

To attack, you’ll use the face buttons to perform light and heavy punches and kicks. The left and right triggers let you perform combinations of punches or kicks, and the shoulder buttons offer mashups of light punch and kick or heavy versions of the same. This feature lowers the skill barrier significantly — you don’t need perfect timing to chain moves together, just hit a single button!

I have to mention the visuals in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves — they’re amazing! There’s so much detail on the characters, and the lighting effects are fantastic — you can even see clouds of dust. The 2.5D style adds real depth to the stage. The fighters and their shadows are always moving, making them feel alive. Their legs move independently, with the lower and upper parts articulated like real limbs, giving the impression of muscles and joints instead of stiff animations.

Fatal Fury takes place in the same fictional universe as the Art of Fighting franchise, though they’re set in different time periods. Art of Fighting is set in the late 1970s, while Fatal Fury begins in the early 1990s. Both are set in South Town, a city that feels like it’s influenced by Miami. Each fight transports you to a new area of the town. For instance, the second fight against Yuri is in Central City; you face Hokutomaru at the fair in East Island, and Terry calls Second South home. Each stage includes animated background elements.

On East Island, fair rides move and people cheer you on. On the train behind Terry, yellow ducklings stroll past. Thankfully, these background animations never distract from the fight. Each stage begins with a stylish intro panel showing the fighters and their introductions. Every location has its own unique look and feel, so it never felt like I was brawling in the same spot; it was like a city-wide tour through town.

Each fight consists of three rounds, first to two wins. The winner is the first to win both. A cool detail: the time of day changes between rounds — you might start in the afternoon and finish in the evening. With S.P.G. placement and various REV attacks, every battle felt incredibly satisfying. You don’t need to memorise insane button combinations to pull off large attacks, and it’s a great feeling playing as a smaller fighter who can take down a much larger opponent. I felt powerful! The only tricky part is managing your attacks — use too many of the special attacks in a row, and your character can overheat, forcing you to switch to smaller attacks to cool down.

Playing against friends is always a blast. The special REV abilities and S.P.G. mechanics help level the playing field. I felt like I stood a chance even against players who were great at memorising combos — especially since you can’t spam powerful attacks due to the overheating system. Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves supports cross-play, making it easier to find online opponents across different consoles.

In the latest update, Episodes of South Town has been added, where you select a character to explore South Town with. You aren't stuck with only this character; you can swap at any time. In this mode, you are given Quests to complete to progress through the story. You will open up new areas to explore with solo and skirmish stages to challenge you. It also shows you how difficult your battle will be based on the label's font colour. Blue is below you, white is the same, yellow is one or two higher than you, and red is at least three levels higher. These battles only last for one round, so they could be over in a short amount of time.

I’ve had a lot of fun playing Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. It was easier to pick up than I expected — I thought I’d need tonnes of practice and memorisation just to avoid getting destroyed. I also appreciated that the Arcade mode gives you a glimpse into each character’s backstory. The stories are short, but if you're looking for more of a challenge, you can always raise the CPU difficulty. If you enjoy fighting games, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is definitely worth checking out. Or, if you are a massive fan of Cristiano Ronaldo and want to beat up guys using a football and powerful kicks, here is your chance.