The Nerd Stash has been in Los Angeles this past weekend to attend a Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves preview event. But beyond the playtest itself, we were invited to speak with members of the development team too. I was able to sit down and briefly speak with director Hayato Konya about the upcoming game, and reflect on how the game performed during our session. In particular, I was keen to learn more about the team’s wider design philosophy and some some the fun throwbacks to the series’ lineage that we can expect in the full version.
Editor’s note: Some of the questions and answers in this interview have been lightly edited for clarity.
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves Interview With Hayato Konya
Reviews Editor David Rodriguez: I want to say it’s an honor to be invited to check out City of the Wolves. I remember playing Garou at a small mom-and-pop shop with many Japanese imported Neo-Geo games, so it’s neat to see this series making a comeback.
Hayato Konya: Thank you!
Modern fighting games usually have to offer a lot of content and ease of use compared to legacy fighters. While designing City of the Wolves, how much of the core design was meant to appeal to the hardcore veterans versus appealing to a new and wider audience?
Hayato Konya: We definitely consider both player bases. We included elements designed to make old fans happy, such as braking, cancels, and Just Defend. We also have different stances to allow newer players to enjoy the experience. Smart Style allows new players to pick up the game and have an easier time initially. We hope that this system allows veterans and new players to play together relatively seamlessly.
The mechanics seem very offense heavy, but I noticed as I played longer that good defense could lead to big momentum-changing swings. When it comes to design, how much do you consider balancing the experience for offensive-minded versus defensive-minded players?
Hayato Konya: This game favors a more offensive style. We developed the REV system, which you have experienced yourself in your demo. The Overdrive meter will deplete much faster if you are putting pressure on your opponent, kicking, punching, or even just normal attacks. If you are standing there, just holding block, it will drain much slower. We want to incentivize attacking your opponent.
I am a big body main in almost all fighting games, but they can be very difficult to balance. If you make them too strong, they can disrupt the core game design, but if they aren’t good enough, then it feels oppressive to try and pick them up and use them in such an explosive and fast game. What’s the team’s philosophy for designing grapplers to compete with the rest of the roster?
Hayato Konya: Are you speaking in broad terms or more about Tizoc?
Well, with him, in general, despite being a grappler, it did seem like he had options to get in without putting himself in too many disadvantageous positions. That can be tough for new fighters to figure out but it felt very easy to ramp up my comfort level with Tizoc in a relatively short amount of demo time.
Hayato Konya: Well, when you play as Tizoc, he isn’t designed as a “traditional” grappler. He has attacks like his flying elbow, which you can use to get around and punish your opponent outside of his grabs. So that was key in our design for him.
While you were developing all of the combat systems, how many of these elements were designed for the hardcore tournament scene of players versus Joe Blow, who just wants to button mash and see cool stuff happen with relatively little effort or experience?
Hayato Konya: Of course, we consider those pro players and the ones who loved the original Garou: Mark of the Wolves. I don’t consider myself a pro player, but I like them and what they represent, so often, while designing the game, we will test things out to ensure nothing is too difficult to get into. We try to make sure casual players can still have access to the same tools that the pros use.
I still vividly recall seeing Garou for the first time back in 2000 and being blown away by its visual style and how the sprites were rendered. I felt that same wow factor again when I first saw City of the Wolves in motion. Do you think this visual style and the harsh cell shading will resonate with fans?
Hayato Konya: We still have artists who worked on the original Garou, and these artists truly know these characters. They lived through that period of development, and they know best how to interpret that character in this 3d style for them and fans of the series.
The Fatal Fury and King of Fighters series have a lot of lore and deep story connections throughout their history. This history will likely be lost on a lot of new players. Will Story Mode be doing anything that speaks to that history and helps bring new payers up to speed with what’s going on lore-wise?
Hayato Konya: Well, we do have character stories that will touch on why they want to fight and compete in this tournament. As for something that speaks to history and that aspect, we aren’t really sharing too much more about story details at this time.
I promise you I wasn’t trying to pry!
Hayato Konya: No, that’s ok, haha, but we will definitely have character stories that will absolutely flesh out their individual reasons for competing.
I love fighting games. I grew up with them, and there’s nothing like the reveal cycle of a legendary series such as this one. When designing characters or new reveal trailers, how motivating is it for you and the team to see the hardcore fans react and lose their minds? Does their reaction give the team motivation or inspiration as they work on crafting the best day-one experience possible?
Hayato Konya: When we made the first trailer, we kept it to just voices because we wanted fans to recognize them and be excited. We didn’t want to have a whole list of playable fighters outright. We knew it would be mysterious and would be fun for the fans. Then, we had a quick glimpse of Terry and Rock. We enjoyed the brief teasers rather than just blowing it out with a ton of footage right out of the gate. We look forward to showing more soon.
Thank you very much for your time. It’s a great honor to be invited here and to speak with you and the team, and we are looking forward to getting our hands on the full game down the road.
Hayato Konya: Thank you so much for playing!
If you want to see more details on the nuances of the REV system, some character details, and our overall impressions, please check out our hands-on preview here. Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is slated to release in early 2025 across all major platforms.
