Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves Is A Scrubby Game... But It Can Be Fixed

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves might have plenty of offensive and defensive mechanics to make the game incredibly fun to learn. However, it's still a bit scrubby. That said, there might be an easy way to fix it.

COTW was officially released this past April 24. In my review, I called it one of the most fun fighters I've played in recent years. However, I did call out one specific mechanic, stating that it would become rather controversial: REV Blow.

REV Blow is a powerful defensive tool (that can also be used offensively as part of combos) that becomes available once your S.P.G gauge is active. It can tank as many hits as your opponents throw at you to deliver a powerful counter hit. Depending on the character, you can even get a full combo afterward if successful.

There are unique ways to beat REV Blow, but they are extremely expensive or situational. You can use Gears (Supers), grab opponents out of it if close enough, or do a Dodge attack (REV Guard + Heavy Punch) if you're fast enough, which isn't particularly easy. Of course, you can REV Blow back, provided you have your own S.P.G bar active as well.

You start to see the issues, right? Even if you're technically not in a situation where contesting REV Blow is impossible, it's an incredibly annoying mechanic to deal with.

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Credit: SNK

As soon as your opponent has the S.P.G bar on deck, you're forced to change your offensive approach as any risky pressure can be incredibly punished. Even defensive tools such as Just Defend aren't valid against it. Even anti-airing an opponent becomes risky as there is an air REV Blow designed exactly to beat that option.

To draw comparisons with Street Fighter 6's Drive Impact, REV Blow does feel a bit more oppressive. For one, DI is readily available for both players as long as they have Drive Gauge. If you're constantly in burnout, chances are your resource management is rather poor. More often than not, you put yourself in that situation and the risk of getting DI'd in the corner is warranted.

With REV Blow, it can be as simple as your opponent having the S.P.G on the initial portion of the health bar (you can choose at the beginning of a match where to locate it) while you opted to save it for the final third and treat it as a comeback mechanic.

So how do you fix it? The simplest solution to me: give REV Blow a set amount of armor. As it stands, regular strikes or special attacks do not beat REV Blow no matter how many times you hit it. Adding a fixed amount of armor will make it easier to deal with without S.P.G or extremely fast reactions.

It would make the spammy nature of REV Blow more punishable. You can just toss it rather easily and it will likely catch off guard even a seasoned player due to how fast you need to react with a specific option. If you make it tank at most three strikes then the story is different while retaining functionality against slower special moves.

Nerfing its defensive usage wouldn't be as bad considering the practical uses REV Blow has in offense and combos. Plenty of characters have access to new routes with it and SNK could keep that relatively untouched while making the mechanic feel less scrubby in other situations.

So, SNK, I plead my case. Please nerf REV Blow and make Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves less scrubby.