8 Mistakes to Avoid in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is now out for fighting game fans to pick up. Experienced players will pretty much know what to get into, and newbies will get some help with its Smart Style system which, much like Street Fighter 6’s Modern controls, simplifies everyone’s control scheme to a more straightforward Smash Bros-style layout.

But even with Smart Style, beginners can’t just hammer the Special Move button and expect to get far in Arcade Mode or Episodes of South Town, let alone the online mode. Practice makes perfect, but new players can get a head start if they know what mistakes to avoid.

Best Fatal Fury Games- Real Bout Fatal Fury 2 Garou Mark of the Wolves Fatal Fury 2

Fatal Fury: Best Games In The Series, Ranked

If players want to sample the best games in the Fatal Fury franchise, it's hard to do much better than the following examples.

Posts

By David Heath

8 Jumping Too Much

Use Jumps Tactically or Get Juggled

Tap in an upward direction to pull off a Short Hop.
Press the direction for a full-on Jump.

This is more of a general tip for 2D-style fighters. It's tempting to jump a lot in these games, as an errant leaping strike can open an opponent up for combos. Some players can even perform cross-ups where, if they strike their grounded foe just on the back of their head, they’ll land behind them, changing which way they should block and leaving them open for a follow-up.

However, it also exposes them to anti-air attacks, which everyone on the roster has to some degree. Rather than breaking their defense, players can end up broken via their opponent’s juggling combos. Players have to know when and how high to jump. For example, short hops are good for nippy overhead attacks and baiting opponents into messing up.

7 Not Moving Enough

Even the Biggest Bruisers Need to Move

Press in an upward direction while Dashing or Sprinting (tap forward twice) to pull off a Dash Jump.

In turn, it’s no use staying on the ground on one part of the screen either. Some characters work better at controlling the screen space, like Billy Kane and his staff. But even they need to move around, or they’ll end up like a sitting duck. For example, knowing when to short hop can be an effective way to catch an opponent unaware with a quick attack.

Likewise, a good Dash Jump (leaping during a dash or sprint) can help close the distance and sort out zoners if they keep spamming projectiles. Many characters also have armored moves, where they can power through their opponent’s strikes to bring the pain. They’ll still take damage, but it will be reduced.

6 Falling Wherever They Like

Roll With the Punches to Fight Back

Press Light Punch+Left/Right for a short Tech Roll.
Press Heavy Punch+Left/Right for a long Tech Roll.

Another general 2D fighter tip is knowing when to get back up from a knockdown. It sounds simple, but each character gets up at different speeds. Depending on when their opponent strikes, they can keep the player grounded with the right assault. This is known as okizeme, and characters like Kain thrive on it. If players can't mix up their knockdown recovery, Kain and other characters will keep them down.

8 Best Fatal Fury Characters, Ranked

Fatal Fury has introduced many incredible fighters over the years. These are the best fighters from the Fatal Fury franchise, ranked.

Posts

By Eman Fatima

Luckily, FF: CotW offers a handy skill in the Tech Roll. With the above button inputs, the player will roll away or towards their opponent upon touching the ground. Rolling away can help them avoid further pain, while rolling towards can help them counterattack. However, tech rolling will leave them vulnerable to throws. It may be safer for beginners to roll back until they can form a good offensive approach.

5 Random SPG Placement

The SPG Can Be a Player's Ace-in-the-Hole

Accel Ratio (SPG at the start of the health bar) increases REV Gauge by 25%.
Flux Ratio increases the gauge by 19%.
Final Ratio increases the gauge by 17%.

Inspired by Garou: Mark of the Wolves’ TOP system, the SPG (‘Selective Potential Gear’) system lets players pick which third of their health bar they can enhance. That way, once they hit it, their attacks get a little bit stronger. They can pull off REV Blows that put some distance between them and the opponent, recover some life, and pull off their character’s Hidden Gear move, which is their most powerful super combo.

For beginners, the best place to put it would be in the middle (Flux Ratio) or at the end (Final Ratio) of their health bar. It doesn’t offer as much of a power boost as placing it first (Accel Ratio), but they'll have more meter to play with to make up for it. Then they can fight back with meaty REV Blow combos, or turn the tables with a Hidden Gear move.

4 Not Knowing When to Feint or Brake

Lull the Opponent into a False Sense of Security Instead

Press Rev+Heavy Kick, or Rev+Heavy Kick+Forward or Down for Feints (Arcade Style only).
Press Rev during certain special moves to Brake (Arcade Style only).

Smart players know how to bait opponents into making mistakes. Tricking them into moving one way or another can help open them up for punishment, like making them jump into an anti-air strike, switch up their tech roll distance to make them attack empty air, or dare them to throw a super before dodging around it.

FF: CotW aids this by letting players feint some attacks or put the brakes on them. Feints will cancel out the attack before it lands, putting the player back into neutral, ready to punish any errant strike. Brakes will let players cancel a move mid-strike into another attack, which can be handy at extending combos. By mixing both effectively, players can make an opponent expose themselves.

3 Overheating

Running The REV Gauge Too Much Will Burn The Player Out

Do Special Moves with both Punch or Kick buttons (Forward+Special+Heavy in Smart Style) to do a Rev ART.
Press both Heavy Attacks (or R2/RT) during SPG to do a REV Blow.
Hold R1/RB to REV Guard.

Once players are comfortable enough to go on the offensive, they can be tempted to go overboard with the REV gauge. It lets them pull off enhanced versions of their special moves via the REV Arts, pull off strong REV Blows while in SPG, and push aggressive opponents back with the REV Guard. However, each REV technique comes at a cost. If they use them too much, they’ll overheat.

In this state, players can’t pull off any REV techniques until their gauge cools down. It'll cool down faster if the player can keep on the offense, with each strike bringing it down. But it's still not ideal, as they'll have fewer options at hand. Blocking too much will also raise the REV Gauge, so players can't turtle all day.

2 Blocking When They Could Be Defending

Relying on Just Defends Works Better Than Just Defense

Press Back or Down/Back just before an attack connects to Just Defend.
Press Forward or Down/Forward during multi-attack strings for Hyper Defense.
Both will recover health and REV gauge, and cancel into multiple attack options from specials to supers.

Another disadvantage to overheating is that players can't pull off Just Defends. Returning from Garou: Mark of the Wolves, this mechanic restores a little bit of life each time a player pulls it off, and gives them the advantage to counterattack through their opponent’s strikes. That said, they're tricky to pull off, as they require holding back the moment the opponent’s attack is about to land.

But if players get the hang of it, they’ll heal a bit, cool off their REV gauge a touch while it’s still active, and leave the opponent open to attack. Players can get back on the offense with a special move, or use a super, which is guaranteed to connect after a Just Defend. Players can also try tapping forward during strikes a la Street Fighter 3's parries to pull off Hyper Defense. This offers the same advantages as Just Defend, and is better at handling multi-string attacks.

1 Skipping Training Mode

There's No Harm in Practicing Offline

Training Mode will help players experiment with their combos in different situations.
It offers many toggleable options, from different guard timings to combo trials.
Episodes of South Town will also help players learn as they fight as it scales gradually with the player's level.

Training modes in fighting games can be dry experiences, even with fancy combo trials and command lists. Still, they are essential to helping players figure out which of their character’s tools are the best at forming combos. It's better to see which setups risk making characters overheat while training than in the middle of an Online Ranked battle.

That said, if players prefer to learn while they earn goodies like avatars, color edit patterns, etc., they can give the Episode of South Town (EOST) mode a try. That way, they can gradually pick up on FF: CotW’s techniques in proper one-on-one encounters that scale up with the player’s skill. It’s trimmed down compared to SF6’s World Tour mode, but it focuses more on the main roster, giving the player more time to play with their tool kit.

Rating block community and brand ratings Image