Some of you younger folks may not know, but longtime fighting game fans haven’t seen a new Fatal Fury game in years. The last Fatal Fury, or Garou, game released so long ago, most people recall playing it on the Dreamcast or PlayStation 2. Garou: Mark of the Wolves arrived in late 1999, and the series went quiet for 23 years. But no longer. During EVO 2022 this weekend, developer SNK announced that a new Fatal Fury game has been greenlit.
And that’s really about it, unfortunately. In what amounts to the teasy-est of teasers, SNK merely revealed some early game art, announcing the greenlit status. Naturally, this means we won’t see the next Fatal Fury/Garou for quite a long time. But if you’ve been waiting these last two decades for a new one, then a couple more years might not seem so bad. Of course, this will mean being without an iteration for a quart of a century, but that’s better than never at all.
The teaser reveals very little. In the short trailer, we can at least confirm the return of Rock Howard, who stands in a dark alley with his back to the camera. In the shadows we see the silhouettes of two others. The closest is wearing a long coat and dress pants, suggesting this is most likely Kain R. Heinlein, the final boss of Garou: Mark of the Wolves. In the furthest distances stands a figure who looks to be holding a sword or some kind of long weapon. The character looks to be hooded or wearing a bandana, so it could be Billy Kane. It’s hard to tell who it could be, but Fatal Fury fans may have some inkling.
Returning to the fight
Fatal Fury is one of the oldest fighting franchises out there. The original game launched as Fatal Fury: King of Fighters in 1991 in the arcades. The King of Fighters series branched off the franchise in 1994 (sharing its story and many of its characters like Geese), but Garou continued on as its own series until 1999.
We won’t know what the new Fatal Fury game will look like for some time. However, we’ll be watching.
