Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves keeps dropping awesome fighters after awesome fighters. Whether it’s legends from their own series or classics from Street Fighter, the hits just don’t seem to stop. Well, one character was missing from the fray, someone who is core to the roots of Fatal Fury since the franchise’s inception: everybody’s favorite Muay Thai wind warrior, Joe Higashi.
We recently had the opportunity to sit down and interview Director Hayato Konya-san and Producer Yasuyuki Oda-san from SNK on Joe Higashi’s legacy, competitive balance in a DLC-fueled market, and much more. Joe Higashi is available to play right now.
The Nerd Stash: Joe Higashi is obviously part of the original group of Fatal Fury characters that have been there since the original. With him returning all this time later, with a full-blown student, how was the process of aging the “Young Champ of Muay Thai” into somebody who is older and wiser, in terms of his visual and gameplay design?
Konya san: Itโs very apparent in the trailer, but this is definitely a very Fatal Fury version of Joe, one that fans have definitely been waiting for. The tiger’s effect on his attacks was something we really made sure to make apparent when designing him.
When we were designing the look for Joe in CotW, we felt like having Joe fully clothed would reduce his Joe-ness too much. The Muay Thai outfit is just too perfect for him. We also felt that wearing it made it harder for people to sense the relationship with his disciple, Preecha, so I decided to give him a pair of glasses. That’s how we came about settling on his current look. It’s not due to any issues with his vision; Preecha just gave them to him as a gift. They suit him surprisingly well and make him look more intellectual, so he likes wearing them. As for the character, I consciously created him with a Fatal Fury-esque Joe in mind, while also making sure to emphasize that KOF’s Joe and Fatal Fury’s Joe are different. While there are similarities, I really hope everyone enjoys this cool iteration of Joe.
TNS: I still think of Joe as the first fighting game character with any sort of control over wind. Many fighting games have had their own version of this style of fighting and ability, including, most notably, Rashid from Street Fighter. Did you feel any pressure to really ramp up the gameplay and visual aspect of Joe’s abilities, especially with the stunning graphic style City of the Wolves possesses?
Konya san: Before Joe, we were working on buffing Preecha. We made sure that Preecha fit in with the art style of this entry in the series and worked on finding the right colors for her, along with how it felt to connect her attacks with her opponents. Because of that, we used her as a base in order to make Joe appear as even stronger than the buffed Preecha we worked on. We may have gone overboard with Joe, but we hope you enjoy just how strong he is in FF: CotW.
TNS: Joe wasn’t in the original Mark of the Wolves, and the story had him doing other things during the time period. Are there aspects of his core design that you really wanted to alter or change to separate his City of the Wolves debut from his Fatal Fury or King of Fighters incarnations?
Oda san: Fatal Fury characters are well known from their appearances in the KOF series, so we paid attention to make sure to show what Joe is like now that he is older in the Fatal Fury timeline. I think we were able to really give his kicks and punches a lot of weight.ย
TNS: On the contrary, when a classic, beloved character such as Joe is brought back as DLC, do you feel more or less pressure to stick to his classic design and fighting style? I imagine it’s a tricky balance when it’s an original, longstanding character like him.
Oda san: He is generally a very straightforward character, so we made sure to add a lot of originality to his moveset in order to ensure he didnโt overlap with any of the other characters.
TNS: My final question, and thank you all so very much for your time. It’s an honor. When creating a character like Joe, a veteran of the series, who returns in this fashion, are you super conscious of gameplay balance? Oftentimes, if a DLC character is overpowered, it can drastically alter the competitive scene. Conversely, if a DLC character is considered tame, it can lead to people not using him as much. What was this balancing act like for Joe’s return?
Konya san: We put a lot of work into making sure Joe was balanced when bringing him back to the series. As you noted, DLC characters require a lot of careful balancing because they can significantly impact the eSports scene and ranked matches online.
When evaluating character strength, we are always aware that what is asked for in the tournament scene differs from those in regular online play.
For example, a character boasting a high win rate online might struggle to perform well in tournaments, so we cannot simply say โthey can’t win in tournaments, so that means they are weak.โ
Ignoring these differences when making adjustments could lead to one-sided matchups in specific environments, negatively impacting the overall balance.
Certain matchups may limit a character’s strengths, making a broad perspective and extensive data essential for balancing.
We value not only characters that are strong and can win matches, but also qualities like being fun to play and feeling true to the character’s identity.
We pursue adjustments aiming for a more enjoyable game experience for everyone, focusing not just on win rates and usage rates, but also on the feelings players have when using each character.
Interview was lightly edited for flow and clarity.
