Despite sporting the same iconic red and white dress for over three decades, SNK is giving the iconic Mai Shiranui a revamped look in her upcoming Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves appearance. Fans quickly spotted Mai’s traditional attire in her City of the Wolves trailer, but it seems her nostalgic threads are not an alternate costume.
We learned Wednesday from CotW developers that the old costume was simply part of one of Mai’s gameplay animation sequences, and now we have footage of that exact exact sequence.
There’s a playable demo version of CotW at Tokyo Game Show that features Mai as one of the playable combatants and Japanese gaming site Goziline was able to capture some footage of their Mai mirror play session.
When Mai launches into her hardest hitting Super, a flurry of sakura blossoms cover the screen as she undergoes a rapid wardrobe swap for the bulk of the attack animation. Here we see her in her old school dress as she spins, slaps, and spikes her opponent for maximum damage.
The sequence ends in a fiery blaze that overtakes the screen, and once the flames die down Mai reappears in her standard CotW attire. Check it out right here:
舞ちゃん！#SNK #餓狼伝説 #FatalFury pic.twitter.com/hieXu4Bmtp
— Goziline公式 (@goziline_staff) September 26, 2024
This very well may come across to long time Mai fans as disappointing as nostalgia costumes tend to be beloved add-ons for older fighting game characters. Given that City of the Wolves is still in development, we’d still go as far as to hold our breath for a proper nostalgic Mai alternate appearance.
Developers did articulate that the reason for Mai’s update is found in the truth that this game is set some 10 years later on the Fatal Fury timeline, and an aging Mei does not want to reveal as much skin as she has in the past.
In other major City of the Wolves news Street Fighter’s Ken and Chun-Li have been revealed as DLC characters, so be sure to check out our coverage of that announcement if you haven’t already.
City of the Wolves launches early 2025 on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Steam, and Epic Games Store. Pre-order DLC characters, including Ken and Chun-Li, with the Season 1 pass in the Special Edition ($59.99).