The creator of “FATAL FURY” reveals the secret of a new character in “FATAL FURY” after 26 years.
Recently, fighting games have become a huge movement with streamers, the rise of e-sports, and the success of professional gamers.
SNK, which has been promoting and supporting fighting games since the 1990s, has released “FATAL FURY” for the first time in 26 years since “FATAL FURY: MARK OF THE WOLVES” in 1999, as the legitimate successor to the popular “FATAL FURY” series, which has a long and storied history that began in 1991, The newest title in the series was released this past April, bringing a new wind to the industry.
We asked Hayato Chikaya, game director of the new “FATAL FURY: CITY OF THE WOLVES,” and Tetsuya Yamamoto, art director of the visual aspect of the game, about how the game was created, including some of its secrets. Cain and Grant: “Which one is the younger brother?
Cain and Grant: “I’m an apprentice of one or the other…”
–Which of the many games in the “FATAL FURY” series did you first encounter?
Chikatani: “I’m 30 years old, so I wasn’t around in 1991 when the first game came out (laughs). (laughs) I first encountered the “FATAL FURY” series with “FATAL FURY: MARK OF THE WOLVES,” which was released on Sony’s PS Vita handheld console and was the predecessor to “FATAL FURY: CITY OF THE WOLVES. I thought it was a cool game with cool characters, so I bought it.
–Yamamoto-san, who is in charge of the overall art direction, including the visual aspect of the world and the characters, how did you get involved?
Yamamoto: “I started with the first game. There was a game console in front of a bookstore, and I played it on my way home from cram school. After that, I followed the series all the way to “FATAL FURY 2,” “FATAL FURY SPECIAL,” and …….”
—Who is the character that you are most attached to?
Chikatani: “I would have to say Rock Howard, the main character in “FATAL FURY MARK OF THE WOLVES,” who I thought was so cool when I was playing it on the Vita.
Yamamoto: “For me, Terry Bogart, the main character from the first game, is the best. Next is Duck King, who became a player character in “FATAL FURY LORD SPECIAL. I have a strong attachment to him because of the cool look of his super special moves and the impact of the difficulty of his commands.
–Chikatani: “The old characters are popular, but can you tell us about the characters from the new game?
Chikatani: “I am very attached to the new characters “Box” and “Pritcha” because I worked on them myself.
–How did you go about creating the new characters?
Chikatani: “I thought about the relationship between them. I had the idea that Cain, the last boss of the previous game, and Grant, the middle boss, were related, so I thought about how they were connected.
We decided on the idea of a young man who was originally an assassin and had no self as a human being, but who is thoroughly beaten by Cain and Grant, pursues them, and learns from them, questioning himself and growing as a result. I wanted him to be an apprentice to one of them, and I thought, ‘Which one would you rather be? I decided to use Grant’s techniques.
I had the idea for Pritcha to be a disciple of Joe Higashi, the cheerful Muay Thai character from the first generation, and Joe was an innocent man who tended to act on the spur of the moment, so I decided to make him the opposite of that. Joe is intuitive, so I made Pritcha a calm, argumentative, theoretical woman.
Yamamoto: “From a visual standpoint, I wanted to give Pritcha a modern cuteness, so I took pains to make her hair pink. The effects are all pink, and her movements are cute, making her a fun character to play with.
Andy Bogart and Mai Shiranui’s Love Affair
–Your previous work, “FATAL WOLF – MARK OF THE WOLVES” ended in the middle of its story. How did you decide to continue the story 26 years later?
Chikatani: “There were quite a few people left in the company who knew the story back then, so it was helpful that we had materials on what was supposed to happen after the previous work, and we were able to hear their stories.
First, we looked at the story of the previous game from a bird’s eye view, and since the story of a fighting game is like a parallel world in which each character has a different story to tell, we decided to give each character a story to tell.
For example, “Kibatou” and “Hotaru,” who have appeared in the previous game, have a complicated relationship as brother and sister, and I thought it would be interesting to see what happens to them. I wanted to collect all the information. We worked out the details while communicating with various people.
–Chikatani: “Yes, that’s right.
Chikatani “Yes, that’s right. I was 4 years old 26 years ago, but I can still feel and understand the feelings of those who have been waiting for 26 years. I want to respond to that.
–I don’t think I had an ego that said, “This is how I want to do it! Did you have an ego like “I want to do this!
Chikatani: “Only about the new characters. The rest, I thought it would be more fun to give a proper answer to the people who are waiting for it–I thought that would be more correct.
–Chikatani: “What exactly do you mean by a proper answer?
Chikatani: “For example, the idea that Mai Shiranui, one of the heroines, has fallen in love with Andy Bogart, one of the main characters and Terry’s brother, and has been chasing him for a long time, has been going on for a long time through our other series, “THE KING OF FIGHTERS”. This has continued for a long time through our other series, THE KING OF FIGHTERS.
I think the fans who have been waiting for this game for a long time may say, “How long have we been making them wait?” But at the same time, I also thought, “Maybe it would be best to maintain the same distance. But at the same time, I thought, “Maybe it’s best to keep the distance between the characters as it is.” I felt a lot of pressure to keep the relationship between the characters that has continued from the past.
–What was the part where you felt pressure?
Yamamoto: “First of all, it was my first challenge as an art director (laughs). (Laughs.) I had a lot of different ideas about the overall concept of the visuals for the work. As a result, we decided on a well-balanced mix of American comic style and current Japanese anime style, which was very difficult.
–The main character Rock uses the techniques of Terry, who is a surrogate for his parents and older brother, and Hokutomaru uses the techniques of Andy and Mai Shiranui. How did that come about?
Chikatani: “When adding a new element to an old character, I put myself in the character’s shoes and thought, “If I’m going to learn a new technique, why not use the technique of someone I’m being taught or someone close to?” I came to this conclusion. I came to this conclusion. That is why Rock uses Terry’s super special move, Hotaru uses her brother’s move, and Hokutomaru uses his masters’ moves.
–Chikatani: “Fighting games have a long history.
Chikatani: “Fighting games have a long history, so there are some basic rules that must be followed. For example, a move that can be performed with a single button while the player is in the guarding direction tends to break the game balance. We worked hard on the details while keeping those basic rules firmly in place (laughs).
(Laughs)” — Mr. Yamamoto, how did you plan to connect the legacy to the next generation of games?
Yamamoto: “There is a long history of dot-dot-picture movement, and we wanted to express it in a new way on today’s latest game machines. I really focused on creating movements that would look good even today, while reproducing the silhouettes that everyone knows and recognizes as cool.
–Regarding the character design, many of the characters who have appeared in the series before have not changed much from the previous game, have they?
Yamamoto: “That’s right. Yamamoto: “Yes, that’s right. We created the game based on the concept of not making major changes, even though it had been 26 years since the last game.
–Did you make any bold changes during the trial-and-error process of deciding on the concept?
Yamamoto: “Yes, we did. Yamamoto: “There were things like making it more realistic, but when we made the prototype, we decided it wasn’t right (laughs).
–Yamamoto: “For example, with Pritcha, how did you go about incorporating him into the world of “FATAL FURY”?
Yamamoto: “For example, with Pritcha, at first he was wearing a lab coat and had a lot more elements, but I thought it was too much, so I simplified it. But I thought it was too much, so I decided to keep it simple. I also wanted to make use of the fact that she is Joe’s apprentice, and I wanted to give her a cute silhouette with Muay Thai pants.
As for the box, the initial concept of the box was to have a dark hero-like look, so I made the box a little bad and strong. I wanted the box to look a little bad and strong. Also, we didn’t have a shaved head character, so I thought a shaved head would be good.
Change the pose of Hotaru’s big move “Tensho Ranhime”.
–Chikatani: “The heroine, Mai Shiranui, is dressed in a leather jacket and pants instead of the traditional kunoichi costume.
Chikatani: “A lot of time has passed in the “FATAL FURY” series, so I wanted to show that the heroine has “changed her image,” not that she has grown. The same goes for Hokutomaru, Mai Shiranui’s apprentice. The image of Hokutomaru, Mai Shiranui’s apprentice, has been changed quite boldly.
The character of GARO also appears in our other signature game, “THE KING OF FIGHTERS,” but that is a festive game, so it is difficult to express the passage of time. I believe I was able to do this because it is my main line of work.”
–Yamamoto: “For example, one of the main characters, Mai Shiranui, is a very good actress.
Yamamoto: “For example, I think everyone has a common image of Terry, one of the main characters. For characters who have been around for a long time, I thought about how to show something that has been around for a long time in a new form, rather than something new.
–A small detail that fans have been talking about for a long time is the change in the pose of the innocent heroine Hotaru at the end of her super special move, Tensho Ranhime. What about this?
Chikatani: “Oh, …… there were many opinions, but in the end, we decided to change it. There were a lot of different ideas, such as, “It’s not good if only that part is cut out and becomes a topic of conversation.
–In the previous version of the game, the “T” is a system in which a character’s fighting ability increases when his or her remaining strength reaches a certain point on the strength gauge. In the previous work, the system was called “T.O.P.”, but the name was changed to “S.P.G.” while the system is almost the same.
Chikatani: “T.O.P.” stands for “Tactical Offensive Power. We were told that this was Japanese-English, so we changed the name to “S.P.G.” for “Selective Potential Gear,” a term that would be understood worldwide.
–Chikatani: “In the past few years, we have seen a lot of changes in the rating system, and we have been trying to improve the rating system.
Chikatani: “The gaming scene has changed dramatically over the past few years. Therefore, “You can play the same way you did in the previous game” does not fit the times. I felt that was not good enough. We wanted to keep up with the times, but at the same time maintain the flamboyance and coolness of the GARO style. We were conscious of that.
We also created a CPU opponent called “CLONE” from human data for beginners and those who are still afraid of playing against other players. There are several CLONE staff members, including “me” (laughs). (Laughs.) I hope that people will be able to play in a variety of ways, such as fighting AI fighters that move like humans.
–What are your plans for e-sports? Even if you’re thinking, “I can’t get into Street Fighter 6” or “Tekken 8,” both of which came out about two years ago and are already showing a lot of promise, “FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves” will allow everyone to start playing at the same time. I think there are quite a few people who are thinking about getting seriously involved in the world of e-sports.
Chikatani: “It’s hard for us to talk about this because it’s not something we as developers should be talking about, but I’ve heard that the scale of the competitions and the prize money for the competitions are also being considered very carefully. The company has officially announced that they want to release most of the popular characters from the FATAL FURY series.
The company has officially announced that they want to release most of the popular characters from FATAL FURY. We are hoping to create characters that will make tournaments more exciting. As a concrete measure, “FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves” has been exhibited at various events, and it has been announced that it will be an official event of the large-scale global tournament “SWC (SNK World Championship) 2025” hosted by SNK, with a prize money of 1.5 million dollars (about 210 million yen) for the tournament. The schedule for the qualifying rounds will be announced in the near future. The schedule for the qualifying rounds will be released one after another, so please keep an eye on the official website and SNS.
–Lastly, do you have a message for those who are playing this game?
Chikatani: “We all worked very hard on the settings, dialogues, and stories, so I would be very happy if you could write about them on SNS.
Yamamoto: “I am looking forward to seeing what you have delivered. We worked hard to make the movements look cool at a glance, so I’m looking forward to seeing some amazing moves that we didn’t expect.
A new fighting game with a long history is about to start a new era of e-sports. If you are interested in this world, why not give it a try?
Photography and text by Miyu Kurusu
Miyu Kurusu is a freelance writer. Her main areas of expertise include humanities, social issues, and subcultures, and she is active in reporting and writing articles for magazines, newspapers, the Internet, and other media. Author of numerous books.
SNK Official URL
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FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves Official Setting Documents + Artwork Collection
https://www.kadokawa.co.jp/product/322411000257/
©SNK CORPORATION ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. image courtesy of SNK “FATAL WOLF – MARK OF THE WOLVES” image taken from the PS4 version / Kurusu
