However, a lot has also changed. Let’s review 15 of the biggest differences between Garou and City of the Wolves before the latter’s launch.

Story Changes

Believe it or not, South Town and its denizens have seen numerous changes ever since the Maximum Mayhem version of King of Fighters. Kain R. Heinlein discovers that his sister and Rock’s mother is still alive and must team up with his nephew to rescue her in yet another tournament. Everyone else crosses paths once more, but who’s the host this time? And what could they possibly have in store?

New and Returning Fighters

Launching with 14 playable characters, Garou: Mark of the Wolves was notable for featuring all-new fighters alongside Terry Bogard, the only veteran from Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters. Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves packs 17 playable characters and changes things up significantly. Billy Kane and Mai Shiranui arrive from other titles while almost everyone from Garou – Kim Dong-Hwan, Marco Rodrigues, Tizoc, Hotaru Futaba, and more – returns. Of course, you also have debuting fighters like Vox Reaper and Preecha.

Playable Boss

If that wasn’t enough, Kain, previously limited to appearances and serving as the true final boss of Garou, is finally playable in City of the Wolves. His overall demeanor remains a mystery, but his attacks and mastery of fire are as deadly (and sleek) as ever.

2D vs. 3D Graphics

Another massive shift for the series is in the graphical style. Garou: Mark of the Wolves uses 2D character sprites and backgrounds, both looking absolutely gorgeous to this day. Meanwhile, City of the Wolves’ art style is fully 3D for characters and backgrounds, with its style taking multiple cues from The King of Fighters 15. It does feel more bombastic, with some animated flourishes that maintain that signature Garou feel, though.

Episodes From South Town

Garou’s Story Mode essentially entails fighting opponents in linear order – defeating them with an AAA rank at minimum would eventually unlock Kain as the final boss and a special ending on his defeat. On the other hand, City of the Wolves offers Episodes from South Town, where you can wander around the map and challenge various fighters. Win battles and earn XP, new skills, and cosmetic options, making for a World Tour-like experience. Of course, the traditional Arcade Mode is still available for those who want that old-school experience.

Improved Cosmetic Customization

Garou: Mark of the Wolves didn’t offer alternate outfits – you could recolor a fighter’s base outfit from several set choices, but that’s it. Not only does City of the Wolves have different outfits for characters like Terry and Mai, but it also has much more extensive color customization. You can separately adjust the colors for different pieces of clothing, set patterns, adjust texture size, and much more. It’s a huge step up in all the right ways.

T.O.P. and S.P.G.

The T.O.P. System returns in City of the Wolves and functions like before. When your health is in a specific range, it activates and offers enhanced attacks, health regen up to that specific point, an additional special move, and more. Perhaps the biggest difference is that it’s now called the S.P.G. System and offers the ability to execute the new REV Blows.

REV Combat System

Speaking of REV, it’s essentially the new combat system in City of the Wolves. Stronger versions of special moves encompass REV Arts, while REV Accel is used to chain attacks. The aforementioned REV Blows can help create space, though REV Guard is also good for breathing room if timed correctly. Compare all this to Garou’s more streamlined system, and there’s a lot to learn.

Overheat and More Aggression

While Garou is a pretty balanced game in terms of attack and defense, City of the Wolves definitely leans into a more aggressive play style with the REV System. This is due to Overheat, which triggers when the REV Gauge is maxed out and prevents the usage of REV moves. While you can wait for it to gradually deplete, landing regular attacks on your opponent is the fastest way to make that happen. It’s comparable to Street Fighter 6’s Drive system, and I’m keen to see just how much it dictates a match’s overall pace.

Just Defense and Hyper Defense

Just Defend is a Garou player’s bread and butter when it comes to defense, providing a bit of health and a counterattack. This naturally returns in City of the Wolves, but on top of REV Guard, there’s also Hyper Defense that can be used against multiple hits, expanding your defense even further.

Smart Style Controls

Like Tekken 8’s Special Style and Street Fighter 6’s Modern Style, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves features Smart Style for newcomers. You can execute Smart Combos by pressing Circle on PlayStation and Combination Attacks with Square when up close. However, you’ll miss out on high-level features only available in Arcade Style, like feints. Garou never offered such a control scheme, only sticking to the traditional setup.

Cross-Platform Play

Considering it first launched in 1999 for arcades before making its way to home consoles from 2001 onwards, the very state of online play in fighting games would hinder Garou’s reach. Of course, it’s since been updated over the years, even receiving cross-platform play in subsequent updates. Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, thankfully, offers cross-play out of the box, allowing PC and console players to go head to head from launch.

Launching With Rollback Netcode

As acclaimed as Garou remains among the FGC, it wouldn’t receive rollback netcode until January 2020, courtesy of Code Mystics, who also implemented the same for The King of Fighters ’97, KOF ’98 Ultimate Match, and KOF 2002 Unlimited Match. Thankfully, City of the Wolves players won’t have to wait long, as it’s available at launch.

Playable Street Fighter Characters

With Terry and Mai jumping over to Street Fighter as DLC characters in Street Fighter 6, it only makes sense that Capcom sends its best fighters to South Town. In a first for Fatal Fury as a whole, Ken and Chun-Li will be guest characters in City of the Wolves, with the former out this Summer and the latter launching in Winter.

Post-Launch Support

Garou receiving extensive post-launch support and new characters would have been the dream back in the day. Fortunately, SNK already has plans in motion for City of the Wolves. Its first Season Pass is included with the Special Edition, which retails for $59.99 and is the only edition available. You can also expect at least three years of post-launch support, meaning even more characters and new features alongside balance adjustments.

First released in 1999 for arcades, Garou: Mark of the Wolves would eventually arrive on Neo Geo, Sega Dreamcast, PS2, Xbox 360, PS4, PlayStation Vita, PC and mobiles. It introduced new mechanics like the Tactical Offense Position (T.O.P.) gauge for increased attack, life recovery and T.O.P. attacks when one’s health entered this portion. There was also the Just Defense system, which provided health recovery and quick counterattacks when blocking at the right moment.

Interestingly, the sequel was first mentioned back in 2005 and was said to be around 70 percent finished. SNK provided updates throughout the years but nothing definite has been confirmed until now. Could it have been the developer’s unnamed title on Unreal Engine mentioned back in February? Stay tuned for more details in the coming years.

For the entire month, Darksiders 3 will be available for all Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers. It was the latest game in the action series from THQ Nordic and Gunfire Games. For August 1st to the 15th will be Capcom’s Lost Planet 3, the final entry in that series and one that took a more narrative-based approach than its predecessors. From the 16th to the 31st is Garou: Mark of the Wolves, the final entry in the Fatal Fury fighting series. Rounding out, the original Yooka-Laylee will be available from the 16th going into September.

The slate of games will be available for subscriptions starting August 1st, and will be playable on all Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S consoles, with Lost Planet 3 and Garou: Mark of the Wolves also being playable on Xbox 360.

Who’s ready for some free games? We’re happy to reveal next month’s Games with Gold selections are Darksiders III and Yooka-Laylee, with classic titles Lost Planet 3 and Garou: Mark of the Wolves available via Backward Compatibility. https://t.co/InmY9e1Dkn

— Xbox Wire (@XboxWire) July 28, 2021

Leona Trial 10 – The King of Fighters 13

The Trials in The King of Fighters 13 represent a fine line between testing your skill and outright destroying your hand. Leona Heidern’s Trial 10 is a good example. It consists of 16 hits with the need to transition from a Moon Slasher to a Baltic Launcher by canceling out of the latter not once, not twice but three times in a row. Then you have to execute and cancel out of a Grand Saber run, perform the Moon Slasher to Baltic Launcher inputs again, execute a V-Slasher – an in-air Desperation Move that requires one directional quarter circle followed by a half-circle and either Low or High Punch – before ending with a Leona Blade Neomax, which is another quarter circle followed a half-circle into a Low or High Punch. Got all that? Naturally, you need to be frame perfect, especially with the cancels, to pull it off properly.