Fatal Fury’s revival after 25 years is feeling more and more like a love letter to the series from those who worked on the originals as well as those who grew up playing the SNK fighting games.
This weekend we even got to see that Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is going so far as to directly reference the classic anime from the early ’90s.
In the first demo available at Evo Japan 2024, players were able to uncover Terry Bogard’s Hidden Gear attack called Cosmic Strike Geyser, which makes the original protagonist kick the opponent into a whirlwind and then punch the ground like a Power Geyser to create a big burning twister.
Fans were quick to pick up on the move looking very similar to Terry’s Hado Senpukyaku that appeared a few times throughout the trio of Fatal Fury anime.
Terry’s New Secret Move in CoTW Fatal Fury OVA.#FFCOTW #COTW #FF #FATALFURY #SNK #EVOJ24 #EVOJAPAN2024 #EVO pic.twitter.com/QtZuBNzHqt
— MMaker (@SNK_Lover) April 27, 2024
Longtime SNK Producer Yasuyuki Oda confirmed in a post online that is indeed the case with the game’s artists requested to capture the essence of the legendary Masami Obari, who directed the first Fatal Fury anime film and worked on the following two as well.
Oda goes on to write that he’s been moved by hearing from so many fans thanking him for reviving Fatal Fury as well as receiving letters, which are giving the team extra motivation to work hard on the project.
光栄です‥
復活の餓狼伝説‥感無量です‥
作品の完成を楽しみにしております https://t.co/eDiDvEVNN1— 大張正己 /Masami Obari (@G1_BARI) April 27, 2024
Obari also took note of the anime move’s return and posted online that it’s an honor and is overwhelmed with emotion seeing the resurrection of the series he was involved with over 30 years ago.
The animator and designer was previously brought back to direct a special animated short for The King of Fighters 15, so he’s still been working with SNK in more recent times too.
CONFIRM AND COMPARISON!
Oda-san confirms that COSMIC STRIKE of the HADO SENPU KYAKU, is in fact paying homage to Obari ! There is the video and posts made! #CotW #FFCOTW #FatalFury #EVOJapan2024 #EVOJ2024 pic.twitter.com/hCUpubTQXU— Kitty SNKaboom ░O░R░O░C░H░I░ ░I░N░ ░B░I░O░ (@KittyKaboooom) April 27, 2024
This isn’t the only callback to classic Fatal Fury we’ve seen this weekend either, as City of the Wolves’ character select screen harkens directly back to the original three games.
On top of that, SNK also announced Marco Rodrigues will finally be making a playable return to the new game as well.
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is currently in development for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC with a release window slated for early 2025.