SNK has added two more guest characters to Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, and the fighting game community is split on whether the crossover roster has gone too far.
On September 9, the developer announced that Manjiro “Mikey” Sano and Ken “Draken” Ryuguji from the anime Tokyo Revengers are joining the game. They follow a string of outside characters that already includes Chun-Li and Ken from Street Fighter, pro footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, music artist Salvatore Ganacci, and Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star.
That is a lot of outsiders for a game that is only a little more than a year old. Ken and Chun-Li make sense, given the long history of crossovers between Capcom and SNK. The rest do not come from fighting games at all, and some players are calling the roster absurd.
The Tokyo Revengers Additions
Mikey and Draken are popular shonen anime protagonists, and their inclusion in City of the Wolves is a tonal shift. The game is a sequel to the classic Fatal Fury series, and dropping in two characters from a different kind of story is a new energy for the roster.
The reaction online was immediate.
“Lmfaoo, adding anything bruh. Kenshiro was dope, but what the f**k is this,” one player wrote on X.
“Funniest fighting game roster of all time bro,” another said.
“Love these two, but how did they get in over Baki, or hell, even Tokita Ohma?” another asked, referencing the martial arts anime Kengan Ashura.
The criticism is loud, and it centers on a simple question: how many guests is too many? For some players, the answer arrived with this announcement. For others, the additions are just more names on a growing list.
The Full Guest Roster So Far
The guest characters have arrived through seasonal updates, and the list keeps growing.
- Chun-Li and Ken from Street Fighter
- Cristiano Ronaldo, the real-life footballer
- Salvatore Ganacci, the music artist
- Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star
- Mikey and Draken from Tokyo Revengers
That is seven guests in a little over a year. Two of them, Chun-Li and Ken, at least come from another fighting game, and the Capcom-SNK crossover history gives them a natural home. The other five do not. The sheer volume in City of the Wolves is what is raising eyebrows, especially because the characters are not from other fighting games.
Ronaldo’s inclusion is notable for another reason: it is the first time a real-life athlete has been put in a mainline fighting game.
A Trend Across Fighting Games
Guest characters are not new. Mortal Kombat has been doing this for years, and it is perhaps the best example of the practice. The franchise has added Robocop, Omni-Man, Homelander, the Terminator, and Alien’s Xenomorph to its rosters.
Those additions follow a theme. They are violent, gritty, and fit the Mortal Kombat vibe. A murderous robot cop or a superpowered villain makes sense in a game where fighters tear each other apart.
The trend is also spreading to other major titles. Final Fantasy 7’s Tifa Lockhart is coming to Street Fighter 6 next year, while Baki’s Yujiro Hanma is set to make a splash in Tekken 8 in 2027. These one-off characters are not ruffling too many feathers within the fighting game community, since Tekken is a franchise known for including one or two oddball guests.
City of the Wolves is different. Its guests are all over the place. Ronaldo is a real person. Ganacci is a DJ. Kenshiro comes from a post-apocalyptic setting. Mikey and Draken come from a modern-day anime. There is no unifying theme tying them together, the way Mortal Kombat‘s violent, gritty picks fit that franchise’s vibe.
The sheer amount of guest characters in the game is what is raising eyebrows, especially given the fact that they do not come from other fighting games.
SNK’s Strategy
SNK clearly sees a path forward with these guest characters. The pattern is obvious: each season brings more outside fighters, and each announcement generates conversation.
That conversation is not always positive, but it is attention. A fighting game lives or dies on its player base, and crossovers are a way to draw new eyes to the franchise. Every guest reveal, from Ronaldo to Kenshiro to Mikey and Draken, has generated exactly that kind of conversation.
The sheer amount of characters SNK is adding per season is laudable. The roster is growing quickly, and the announcements keep coming.
Not everyone is hyped for each fighter they are putting out, though. Some players want more original characters. Some want more women on the roster.
The Reactions So Far
The fighting game community is divided, and the quoted reactions show the range of feeling.
One player called the roster funny. Another questioned the choice of Mikey and Draken over characters like Baki or Tokita Ohma from Kengan Ashura. That last reference is notable, since Kengan Ashura celebrated a collaboration with Street Fighter 6 not long ago.
The general split is between players who enjoy the guests and players who think the roster has become excessive. The source of the frustration is clear: five guest characters from totally unrelated franchises feels excessive to some players. Even the player who called Kenshiro’s addition “dope” balked at the Tokyo Revengers pair, which suggests the frustration is less about any single character and more about the accumulation.
What Comes Next
SNK has not announced who else is coming to City of the Wolves. The game is still young, and the guest characters are drawing attention. Whether that attention turns into a lasting player base is not known.
For now, the fighting game community is watching. Mikey and Draken are on the way, and the question of how many guests is too many remains open.
The answer may come with the next announcement.
Source: ign.com
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