Preview: Tokyo Revengers Feels Right at Home in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves has been on quite a roll with its DLC characters and seasons, and for Tokyo Revengers fans, they’re being treated to not just one, but two DLC characters in SNK’s spectacle fighting game. Manjiro “Mikey” Sano and Ken “Draken” Ryuguji are bound to make a impact in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, and in my limited time with the DLC characters for this preview, it quickly became clear that Tokyo Revengers feels right at home as the game’s latest collaboration.

There’s no mistake in the timing of this release. The Tokyo Revengers anime recently entered its final saga in Tokyo Revengers: War of the Three Titans Arc, which is already streaming right now. This anime doesn’t have to be the series’ “final revenge,” though. Fighting games are timeless, so what’s better than bringing two characters from an anime full of brawls and drama? Mikey and Draken are characters who should be patrolling the streets of South Town. 

Mikey and Draken Make a Hard-Hitting Debut in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves

Representing the Tokyo Manji Gang, Manjiro “Mikey” Sano and Ken “Draken” Ryuguji are no stranger to the art of fighting. They bring their experience to Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves with a range of simple but effective attacks and skills. They’re the epitome of brawlers in which they focus on effectively beating down their opponent, but they’ve also got plenty of useful tools for countering and punishing, too.

Though, it’s definitely best to get acquainted with Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves’ combat system first, particularly with the REV and S.P.G. mechanics. Like other fighters on the roster, Mikey and Draken can make use of more powerful REV attacks, which can be variants of existing moves. I had the opportunity to test them out in training and offline VS only, but from what I gathered, these characters are very fun and both stand out.

Mikey and Draken look amazing in the game’s engine, and in my opinion, it’s their best representation outside the anime and manga yet. They’re quite expressive while retaining the artstyle from the anime, and their respective Japanese and English voice actors also return to reprise their roles. Each character is well designed with costumes representing multiple arcs from the anime and move-sets that are tailored to what we’ve seen in the anime so far. There’s also a Tokyo Revengers stage, where you can see Takemichi and other members of the gang cheering the fight on!

Mikey is Quick on his Feet

Let’s start with Mikey—he’s on the shorter side but he’s fast and can make use of some ground-based mixups. Although his reach isn’t that great, he’s quick and can pressure you into a corner to overwhelm you. His spinning kick special move, Scram!, lets you check opponents at medium range, so it’s a good move to punish them with. The long version of it makes the attack linger a little longer, making it perfect for keeping someone in a corner. You can sum up his playstyle by this point, but he does have some more interesting tools.

Mikey’s forward flying kick, “Shah!,” lets you close the gap on an opponent, but you run the risk of getting blocked and countered if you aren’t careful. Conversely, his “Get Out!” rising spinning kick can be used as a reversal for incoming aerial attacks, and it’s quick start-up and invincibility make it useful for returning to neutral. It’s also a good launcher, and you can even launch an opponent twice in the same combo.

If you want an easy special move to pull off, “I’ve Got You!” lets Mikey corner an opponent with a up to three kicks in a row. The latter two kicks are performed with additional kick inputs, so you could have a decent and repeatable string of combos with the latter inputs being cancellable. However, the kicks are unsafe on block in point-blank range, so it can be countered as well. Instead, you can start a combo and close the distance with “You’re Toast,” a quick stomp that checks your opponent. The long version of this stomp allows you to cross your opponent while maintaining them at close range.

Naturally, REV and REV Accel powers up these special attacks and deals major damage. Mikey’s kicks are taken to a new level with his REV Blows “Come On!” and “Having Fun?,” which can be used in S.P.G. Come On! is a powerful forward kick that bypasses any incoming attacks, while Having Fun? is a midair roundhouse kick that crushes your opponent down. Rounding out Mikey’s move-set are his Ignition Gears, which I’ll let you see for yourself in the game.

Draken is a Powerhouse that Gets to the Point

Mikey is flashy and lightweight with his kicks, but Draken prefers a more straightforward approach. With powerful throws and Guard Point attacks, Draken lets his fists do the talking. This can be seen right away with his “On the Attack” special move, which lets you rush down an opponent with a series of blows. On the Attack might be one of his most interesting and malleable movies too, since he can combo into other attacks with the heavy and REV variants. Plus, it gives you an advantage on block.

Like Mikey, Draken can also put a stop to midair attacks quickly, but with fists rather than kicks. His special move “HRAAH!” is essentially an uppercut, and the heavy punch version launches your opponent. You can even charge it by holding it down in the heavy and REV versions, if you’re bold. Similarly, his “Move It!” kick special move can be charged too, and it’s good at giving you some distance while dealing damage. The heavy version puts your opponent at a disadvantage, since it seems to be hard to punish on block.

Draken’s “Aim Well” special move is another hard punch, but it has a surprisingly quick start-up animation. It can also be used to negate projectiles, so it’s quite resourceful with the ability to follow up with another attack on heavy and REV variants of the move. This is one of Draken’s more technical moves to master, though. With correct timing, you can charge and make the move’s overall damage and launching power increase.

Draken has a throw special move called “Don’t Run on Me,” and like his other moves, he can also combo off of it with the heavy and REV versions. His “Watch Your Head” and “Try and Stop Me” REV Blows work similarly to Mikey’s REV Blows but with slightly more weight behind each punch and kick, respectively. Overall, Draken is a character that will reward you for linking together those extra hits. After all, in character, he’s wanting to beat his opponent down swiftly.

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves x Tokyo Revengers is a Match Made in Heaven

I thought Kenshiro’s inclusion could be the peak of what an anime crossover looks like in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, but Mikey and Draken really surprised me. They offer two different playstyles that respect the source material while also having some subtle similarities to characters from past SNK fighting games. Only time will tell for the meta, however. The preview wasn’t a launch build, and like all other modern fighting games, moves can be nerfed or altered over time.

That being said, Mikey and Draken are worthy additions to the Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves roster in Season Pass 3. You can try them out for yourself in the Starter Edition of Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves for Nintendo Switch 2 ($29.99), the Revenge Edition on all other platforms ($49.99), or Season Pass 3 ($19.99). 

Disclaimer: SNK provided access to the Steam version of Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves Revenge Edition for coverage.