Summary
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolvesis officially out, and while there iscrucial discussion around controversial guest characters,which fighters are the best, and the slew of new features and mechanics, we want to briefly shift the focus to the many stages present in the game.
There are a whopping 19 stages in City of the Wolves, which is relatively high for the launch of a 2D fighter. Despite every stage having the exact same dimensions across the board, some are still substantially better than others, as the background visuals can be hit or miss or downright distracting, compelling us to make this list!
Characters Associated
Training Stage is our first entry and serves as the obligatory ‘Training Stages suck’ pick, as they are never interesting. While it is much better than ‘the grid,’ it is still just a large empty warehouse with tiled flooring.
No one is in the background, the colors are very drab and dull, and it does nothing better than any of the other stages on this list, making it the default ‘worst’ stage in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves!
Freight Express is next, and is easily one of the worst stages in the game simply due to its nauseating background. As you can see from the image above, it can be very distracting, as random train carts blow past you, often looking smeary and blurry.
However, a trio of adorable ducklings will stroll on through occasionally, which can help quell the disturbance in your gut that the background introduced. The ducklings, and only the ducklings, put this stage above the Training Stage, and everything is on par or far worse!
After that, we have The Summit, which isn’t a bad stage at all; we quite enjoy it overall. It places you in a wooded area with South Town pictured deep in the background, across a vast ocean. The rays of light piercing through the trees are also a lovely touch.
While we enjoy this stage for what it is, it is just not nearly as interesting as the others, placing it near the bottom of the list. Make no mistake, however, it is leagues better than the previous two, as it doesn’t make you physically ill when playing on it!
From there, we’re moving onto the Training Ground stage, another solid arena all around, but its colors are a bit too bland for our liking. While we love the skybox and dragonheads breathing fire, the stage is essentially just various shades of brown.
The lighting is also quite excellent on this stage, which would have boosted it higher, but the general color palette and messy background place it near the bottom. It’s still an excellent stage, and we enjoy seeing it when it pops up in Arcade Mode or Episodes of South Town!
IP Science Center follows, featuring a zero-gravity background, complete with an astronaut, space shuttle, satellite, and planets from the solar system floating effortlessly around. It’s a pretty cool stage, but, as weird as it sounds, we wish it weren’t in the Science Center.
Things look too sterile, bright, and corporate. While we love the flashes of color that come from the different planets floating into frame, the rest of the background doesn’t land for us. The overly reflective surfaces and sea of grays and whites place it far lower than it should be!
Universal Arena enters the rankings next and offers a large wrestling ring for the contest to be held in, with a sea of fans cheering and booing in the background. While this stage is enjoyable overall, we can’t get over the fake flames in the background.
Additionally, the wrestling ring stage in 2D fighters is also a bit overdone and expected at this point, so it likely wouldn’t have been much higher even without the tacky flames that block most of the fans' line of sight. We love the colors, the vibes, and the presentation, but we refuse to place it higher!
Next in line is the B. Port stage, which takes place in front of an enormous, capsized ship, with drunken sailors in the background, either passed out or enjoying the fight taking place in front of them. This arena is very, very good.
We love the use of colors, offering splashes of yellow, blue, green, and pink, thanks to the graffiti painted on the side of the ship, making it contrast nicely with the rusted metal and black pavement. The background is also fascinating to take in, making it our best so far by a wide margin!
Ahead of that is Ganaxxi’s Skyvenue, dropping you in front of a rave underneath the night sky. While we feel it could be substantially better than it is, it’s still a pretty dang cool arena to fight in. We love the Deejay bringing the hype in the back of the inclined pickup, and the fans losing it in the background.
Furthermore, the use of colors is excellent, giving us lush greens with the trees in the background, which stand out lovely in front of the deep blue night sky. The ground is also splashed with yellow, purple, and blue paint, which matches the speakers in the background. It’s an excellent stage!
From the rave, we’re heading to the Yuri Fitness Club to snap ourselves back to shape, offering one of the more unique backgrounds in the game. Here, you will see a man banging on a taiko drum, another person rock climbing, and a bear in a gi watching the fight.
And, yes, the bear did bump this stage up the list quite drastically, how did you guess? But, come on, LOOK at the background - it’s even more wild than the rave, and we love everything about it, having it earn its spot within the top ten!
Hippopo Marina jumps in line next, giving us a cozy seaside restaurant with a large hippopotamus statue outside, holding a welcome sign. Across the vast ocean lies a lush hillside with houses lining its summit. Ships are also sailing across the waters, with some arriving at the docks.
If the remaining stages weren’t so good, this would easily be in the top five at least. The color palette is lovely, giving us a little bit of everything, from reds to greens, with hints of cyan and pink tossed in the mix. It’s a very lovely arena overall!
