Though itscharacters made cameosin other fighting game series, Fatal Fury didn’t receive an entry for 25 years when City of the Wolves came along. When a series has been away for that long, a comeback is a risky proposition. You want to make the veterans happy, but you can’t alienate newcomers.
Luckily, SNK was judicious with its use of Easter eggs inFatal Fury: City of the Wolves. This title is focused on the future, even if it can’t resist a few nods to the series' history. Most of its Easter eggs come about the way they did when SNK ruled the arcades: as subtle background details that made the game feel alive. Here are the best ones: see if you caught all of them.
8Training Stage Graffiti
A Nod To The Series' History
The beta of Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves lacked a training stage, so this Easter egg had to wait until launch. If you check the background, which you always shouldin an SNK fighting game, you’ll notice the KOF logo over the doorway, signifying the original Fatal Fury game’s subtitle, as well as its more renowned spin-off series.
If you inspect the other graffiti in the gym, you’ll find graffiti spelling out Garou, a reference to Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves' predecessor from 25 years ago. Walk a little to the right, and you’ll find a spray-painted Neo Geo logo, showing that SNK’s unforgettable arcade days are still fresh in the company’s mind.
7Amusement Park Balloons
Another Look Back At The Past
The Dream Amusement Park in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves has two versions: one in the morning, which allows for two-lane gameplay, and one at dusk. In the background, you’ll see happy families, stalls, and some heart-shaped balloons.
While they might appear to have generic flavour text like ‘Love’ and ‘Happy’ at first, look a little closer, and you’ll find the SNK andNeo Geologos in there too. Just in case you forget what game you’re playing.
6Salvatore Ganacci’s Concert Stage
A Bit Of Detective Work Tells You The Exact Place And Time
Salvatore Ganacciwas a surprise inclusion in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. This real-life DJ was reportedly delighted to be a character in the game, and composed the music for several stages as well. The Ganacci representation doesn’t stop there: an entire stage is dedicated to the musician.
While the musician’s branding in the background is fairly obvious, if you’re particularly eagle-eyed, you may pinpoint the exact concert this stage is set in. If you get the right camera angle in a victory screen, you can just spot a blurry MDLBeast logo in the background, a Saudi Arabian entertainment company that runs music events.
Using this as a reference, you can pinpoint the exact concert this stage is set in: Salvatore Ganacci performed for MDLBeast’s Soundstorm festival in December 2019.
5Hippopo Marina’s Background Boats
Bringing Life To Fatal Fury’s Stages
SNK’s fighting games were always a cut above the rest thanks to their lived-in stages. In the team-basedKing of Fighters, for example, you’d find your comrades taping up or eating meals in the background while you fought. Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves continues the trend: the stages are full of life, and you might take a hit or two while pausing to appreciate them.
In the Hippopo Marina, the stage starts with a boat approaching a harbour. Once it docks, it stays there for the rest of the stage while other boats sail by in the background. Maybe they’re waiting for the first boat to stop hogging all the space.
4Ronaldo Doesn’t Voice Ronaldo
The Football Star Stopped At Lending His Likeness
Cristiano Ronaldo isn’t just the most surprising guest character in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, he’s possibly the most surprising guest character in the genre’s history. Not since Gon featured in Tekken 3 has such an outlandish choice we made, but it did net SNK some incredible word-of-mouth in the days leading up to launch.
While Ronaldo does lend his exact likeness and his victory stance matches the real-life counterpart, the football celebrity stopped short of lending his voice acting talents. In his stead, Juan Felippe Sierra handles voice acting duties.
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is the first SNK game in 14 years to have English voice acting.
3The Misbehaving Ostriches
A Possible Metal Slug Reference
The South Town Zoo stage is another illustration of why SNK used to be the best at background design. You can spot ostriches misbehaving in all sorts of amusing ways, from a policeman using a riot shield to fend one off an unsuspecting family, to another one stealing the zookeeper’s shoes and being chased in the background.
Given that Cristiano Ronaldo and Salvatore Ganacci already made an appearance, it’s not too much to hope that these ostriches are a nod to Metal Slug, which featured the birds as combat vehicles in its third and seventh entries. A Metal Slug DLC character would be just the ticket to win goodwill from veteran SNK fans.
2The Blue-Feathered Duckling
Please Give Us Duck King Already
Duck King hasn’t made as many cameos as Terry Bogard or Mai Shiranui, but among the hardcore Fatal Fury fanbase, he’s a favourite due to his unique look and unorthodox fighting style. A breakdancer by trade, Duck King sports a mohawk with a blue stripe down the middle.
This makes the presence of three little ducks in the train stage, with the leader of the pack sporting a blue feather on its head, as overt a reference to Duck King as can be. From the very first beta, fans were hoping this meant Duck King’s eventual addition to the roster.
1Seven Claw Marks
The Series Canon Has Finally Been Established
The Easter eggs in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves begin at the title screen. The seven claw marks - presumably made by a wolf - aren’t just a reference to the lupine title, but show each game in the series that director Yasuyuki Oda considers canon. According to an interview with4Gamer, these are:
- Garou: Mark of the Wolves
7. Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves
This renders spin-off titles like Fatal Fury: Wild Ambitions non-canonical, while also bringing Real Bout Fatal Fury 2 back to canonicity after it was originally declared a spin-off. All in all, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves represents a fresh start for the storied series, and these are the seven games SNK wants you to hold as official from here on out.
