Today, during the Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves EVO showcase event, SNK revealed a returing character included in the game, Hokutomaru.
Following two rather weird reveals of real-world “celebrities” Cristiano Ronaldo and Salvatore Ganacci, SNK finally read the room and revealed a character that its fans actually care about.
Hokutomaru debuted in 1999 in Garou: Mark of the Wolves, and the accompanying press release provides an update on his story.
He’s a disciple of Mai Shiranui and Andy Bogarde’s apprentice. After the last tournament, he left the mountains and started living in the city with Terry’s help. Although he finds living a normal life challenging, he lives every day thinking about what he can do as a growing Shiranui fighter. Hokutomaru is participating in the new KOF tournament to verify his personal growth.
You can see him in action in the trailer below. The trailer embedded included the English voiceover by Caleb Yen. If you’re interested in the Japanese voice by Junya Enoki, you can find the related trailer on the official YouTube channel.
You can also check out the showcase for plenty of gameplay.
Lastly, we get a few official screenshots for Hokutomaru.
We also learned during the livestream that two-lane battles will return as a mode. It’ll be available at launch with a dedicated training mode. Lane switching is built into the combos, and more lane battle stages will come in future updates.
The Jukebox in the game will be massive, including around 390 tracks at launch. That’s every track from the Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting series. More music will be added in future updates.
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves will release on April 24, 2025, for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is a brand-new fighting game and the sequel to the old and glorious Fatal Fury series, known in Japan as Garou Densetsu (Legend of the Hungry Wolf).
The franchise, which spanned the Neo Geo era before going dormant, is not only known and loved by many fans for its gameplay but also for its intricate storytelling and interesting characters.
If you’d like to see more, we recently saw the reveal of Gato, Marco Rodrigues, and Kain R. Heinlein, on top of the theme song. The game will also appear at the Esports World Cup 2025.
