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We had the opportunity to have an exclusive interview with Yasuyuki Oda, the chief producer of Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, and Joshua Weatherford, producer and translator, to discuss the upcoming fighting game that marks the series’ return after a 26-year hiatus. The conversation revealed several interesting aspects about the development and future of this anticipated title.
Bridging the Generation Gap
One of the most significant challenges in developing City of the Wolves lies in the generational divide within the development team. As the franchise returns after more than two decades, the team faces the unique challenge of maintaining its legacy while bringing fresh perspectives to the table.
“One of the most difficult things that we have right now is that a lot of the new staff members that we hired are younger and they’re not really quite acquainted with a bit of an older title like Fatal Fury,” Oda explained. This situation has created an interesting dynamic where veteran developers must take on the role of mentors.
“Having to kind of teach them, like this is what Fatal Fury is, this is how it should be. But also adding onto that new stuff, it’s kind of like the most difficult challenge that we’ve had so far,” Oda elaborated, highlighting the delicate balance between preserving the series’ identity and evolving it for modern audiences.
Competitive Edge and Accessibility
In today’s crowded fighting game market, City of the Wolves aims to carve out its own niche through a two-pronged approach combining marketing strategy and thoughtful game design. The team is actively working to maintain public interest through strategic announcements and collaborations.
“Our strategy right now, at least on the marketing side, is that we pull stunts like yesterday,” Oda shared, referring to the announcement of Street Fighter characters joining the roster. “We’re always adding, we’re always announcing new things. So on that front we’re trying to keep it fresh and in the public mind.”
On the gameplay front, the focus is on creating an accessible yet deep fighting system. “We wanted to make sure that it’s simple to get into. You can play, you can start right away, you can pick up the controller and do some specials, do some smash, you’ll be able to get far,” Oda emphasized. He further noted that “there are mechanics in place that help push new players into becoming more and more proficient at the game the more that they play.”
Street Fighter Collaboration
The surprise inclusion of Street Fighter’s iconic characters Ken and Chun-Li represents a significant milestone in fighting game collaborations. This crossover wasn’t a simple character swap but rather the result of extensive behind-the-scenes work between two legendary fighting game companies.
“Actually this hard work on both ends from Capcom and SNK originally came from Capcom asked to work something else together and that happened about two years ago at Evo Las Vegas,” Oda revealed. “This is the hard work of two years in the making finally able to release and announce it. We’ve been working hard on it but yeah it’s kind of how it worked out.”
Character Selection and Future Content
The approach to character selection in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves demonstrates a careful balance between narrative continuity and fan service. The development team has placed particular emphasis on resolving long-standing plot threads while ensuring the roster remains exciting for both new and returning players.
“This time one of the biggest focuses was the story. So obviously there was a lot of cliffhangers on the previous game. So we wanted to make sure that a lot of those characters who especially their stories were left unfinished to go in and finish them,” Oda explained. He added that they’re also “taking into account the popularity of characters and things like that.”
Looking to the future, Oda revealed extensive post-launch plans: “Going forward we have at least three years of DLC planned already, so there’s gonna be a lot of fan favorites coming in from there as well.”
Weatherford provided additional context about their different approaches to various franchises: “It depends on the series. So in Fatal Fury, because the story is a very key aspect of the series, that’s probably one of the more important aspects… But if it’s a different title like King of Fighters, it’s probably a little bit of a difference. The story isn’t as big of a focus, it’s more about popularity, play styles, team synergy, stuff like that.”
Long-term Vision
The development team’s ambitions for Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves extend far beyond its initial release. Drawing inspiration from the enduring popularity of classic entries in the series, they’re planning for long-term engagement in both casual and competitive scenes.
“We have players that are still playing Fatal Fury Special. And we’ve had our 30th anniversary tournaments going on,” Oda noted. “So especially for this game, we’re just looking maybe 30 more years in the future for this as well. We hope that the people that have been playing these games have stuck with us and they still are interested in it and want to continue playing competitively into the future as well.”
For players eager to experience the game, Oda offered valuable advice: “One of the good things about SNK is we have a lot of our old content on things like Switch and PS4 and such. And I’m pretty sure you can actually play every single Fatal Fury game, at least the Neo Geo ones on Switch.”
He encouraged newcomers to explore these earlier titles, suggesting that “I kind of want players before they get to play this game to go back and revisit the series, maybe play it for the first time, and just experience what South Town is like. So with a little bit more knowledge, I think they’ll appreciate it more if they go back and play some of the original titles.”
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