Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves has finally finished its second season of DLC, with some surprising guest cameos. Now, after six straight months of new characters being released, it’s finally time to take a look at City of the Wolves’ new DLC and discuss the great things about each character, as well as where each character is lacking.
Editor’s Note: The Guide Hall received a review copy of the game from the developer/publisher/PR for this review. Their generosity does not affect our overall opinion of the game!
Kim Jae Hoon
Kim Jae Hoon was a decent start to the City of the Wolves season pass 2. A character many fans have awaited to return from Mark of the Wolves, Jae Hoon specializes in invading the opponent’s space and fighting up close and personal. I found it fun to get up close and hit the enemy with a barrage of kicks. Jae Hoon’s aerial attacks are also pretty good, launching a flurry of kicks down towards the ground, giving him good coverage in the air.
That being said, overall, I am not a big fan of Jae Hoon. While he has decent coverage in the air and on the ground, he feels lacking, especially compared to characters like Terry and Billy. Jae Hoon’s lack of ranged attacks makes it harder to approach many of the characters in the game. That, combined with his overall generic attacks, makes Jae Hoon a character I don’t see myself coming back to any time soon.
Nightmare Geese
Nightmare Geese was a very hype inclusion for City of the Wolves’ second DLC pass. Originally featured in the base game’s story mode, there’s a lot to like about Nightmare Geese. His combos can lead to some damaging results for the opponent; he has good ranged coverage both on the ground and in the air, and he has some decent getaway options. My only big gripe with his gameplay is his entry options. I felt it was difficult to approach opponents, especially those with ranged options. That being said, he was overall still quite fun to play.
The biggest issue with Nightmare Geese, however, is the lack of an arcade mode for him. Now, I get that this was done for story reasons. After all, Geese is supposed to be dead in the Fatal Fury timeline, and SNK seems very committed to driving this home, even if it means that Nightmare Geese doesn’t get an arcade mode. That being said, it still feels quite disappointing. Every other character in the game, including every other DLC character, has an arcade mode, so I can’t help but feel like players have been cheated out of a feature that should come with the DLC character that they paid for. There definitely was a way for SNK to give Nightmare Geese some sort of arcade mode, but instead, it feels like they’ve shortchanged the fans, even if just a little bit.
Blue Mary
Definitely the best character in the first half of the DLC, Blue Mary brings a series staple into City of the Wolves’ second season pass. Mary is great on the ground, with a variety of options. She has good overhead attacks, good distancing options, and lots of great combos featuring grabs. Seeing Mary nearly break her opponents’ joints is a very funny sight, and overall, I feel she has way better options than the two characters that preceded her.
My main gripe with Mary, much like with Jae Hoon, is her lack of ranged attacks. Besides her low sweeping kick, Mary just doesn’t have great range, which puts her at a stark disadvantage compared to characters like Ken and Terry. This didn’t completely hinder my enjoyment of Mary, as, unlike Jae Hoon, she at least has some options. Even still, it did make some fights a little more tedious, and I could see this as a bad Achilles Heel that opponents can really take advantage of.
Related: New DLC Has Been Released for Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves
Wolfgang Krauser
The fourth character released for the City of the Wolves’ second season pass, Wolfgang Krauser, came with a few overhauls to the game itself. Krauser himself is a very fun character to play. His powerful combos make him a force on the battlefield, and with some great aerial and ranged attacks, he is quite the commanding force. My only real gripe with Krauser is, once again, a lack of options, although his are the best thus far, and his grab attack. Since Krauser’s grab attack is so high, its only real use is in combo chains, which is fine, but just a little disappointing compared to characters like Nightmare Geese who have a lot more versatility with their command grabs.
While not a part of the DLC itself, City of the Wolves received a major update that was released alongside Krauser to celebrate the game’s first anniversary. The update revamped nearly the whole game, adding new modes and features, and giving the game a whole new look. The changes are nice, making the game feel fresh while adding new mechanics like Knockout Matches. The biggest addition, however, was the new Wolves’ Destiny mode. The mode itself gives us an interesting look into the events post City of the Wolves’ story mode, focusing on the return of Wolfgang Krauser. It’s a nice little addition that helps to make Krauser’s release feel all the more special. That being said, there are quite a few problems with this mode. The plot doesn’t feel super coherent and feels like it’s going all over the place. The mode itself feels clunky, with panel boxes not disappearing after a scene transition or dialogue not matching the text. Finally, there isn’t really much to do in the mode; each chapter is basically fifteen minutes of dialogue followed by one fight. So while the mode is nice to have, it feels a little half-baked.
Mr. Karate
The first of two mystery characters from this pass, Mr. Karate, is also the first crossover character to be released in City of the Wolves’ second DLC pass. That being said, he is a crossover character by the loosest definition of the term. Mr. Karate, originating from the Art of Fighting series, is an all-around great character. He has great ground coverage with his specials, has a great ranged attack, and some powerful combos. He shares a lot of what I like about Terry and was genuinely more fun to play than most of the other DLC characters that have been released up to this point. His arcade mode was also great, having an ending that’s quite satisfying for the character and leaves me optimistic for upcoming DLC passes.
My only true gripe with Mr. Karate is his aerial attacks. His aerial coverage isn’t great, especially compared to characters like Krauser. This can be annoying for countering moves and makes Mr. Karate slightly less versatile. That being said, it doesn’t hinder Mr. Karate all that much. This might be my Terry bias speaking, but I really enjoy playing Mr. Karate overall, and he’s definitely a great addition to the pass.
Kenshiro
Last but not least, we have the first anime crossover character to be featured in an SNK game, Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star. Kenshiro was an interesting pick for the last spot, but he is a very welcome addition. His moveset consists of many of his iconic techniques from his Hokuto Shinken, including his Hokuto Hundred Kick Rush, Celestial Destruction, and the Hokuto Fist of Penitence. Kenshiro has a lot of great options when it comes to attacks and combos. He can unleash a barrage of hits and has several great ranged options that can make it hard for the opponent to get away. He also has great counters for aerial attacks with his Hokuto Soaring Split Kick.
Along with Kenshiro, a new map for Episodes of South Town was released and features a brand new story revolving around Kenshiro’s arrival in South Town. While it’s not too different from the story mode already in the game, it’s a nice little addition to round out this pass of fighters and tell a new and unique story with Kenshiro.
That all being said, however, Kenshiro is not perfect. For starters, while he has great aerial counters, he himself doesn’t have any great aerial attacks, at least in my opinion. He has some decent attacks he can hit in the air, but they’re nothing to write home about. Then there’s the issue of his range. Much like several other characters in the pass, he absolutely has no projectile attacks. In a roster where several characters have very decent projectiles, this puts Kenshiro at a massive disadvantage. Trying to use moves like Finger Snap of Emptiness can be impossible, especially if your opponent is heavy-handed with the projectiles. Now Kenshiro does have a projectile counter, which helps to mitigate this a little bit and gives him yet another great counter in his arsenal. So while these complaints did leave me a little disappointed with Kenshiro overall, I think he was still a great character to end the pass on.
Final Thoughts
Overall, this was a great DLC Pass. There’s an interesting lineup of characters, and many of them have been great additions to the game. That being said, I still have a few hangups with the Season 2 pass. Some of the characters lack options in combat; some are missing modes entirely, and characters like Kim Jae Hoon and Nightmare Geese felt like they should have been included in the base game, at least in my opinion. Even still, the number of characters, frequency of characters, and the great additions to the roster, all for a reasonable price, make this a very easy recommendation for fans of Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves.