Oh yeah, I have a blog. I should probably update it, since it's been two months since my last update, and much has happened in gaming during two months.
First off, I bought City of the Wolves. After a pretty weak showing during the Xbox 360 era, SNK is finally back to "bigger, better, badder" status, with fighting games that are as exciting now as their Neo-Geo counterparts were in the 1990s. King of Fighters 14? Oh, hey, this is a lot of fun! Can't see where this series goes next! Samurai Shodown 2019? Hey hey, this is a short thrill, but a visceral one, and the sumi-e art flourishes really work in the context of a series of feudal sword battles.
And now we have City of the Wolves, the long, loooong awaited follow-up to the late Neo-Geo hit Mark of the Wolves. Mark of the Wolves, you see, was SNK's answer to Street Fighter 3, a turn of the century continuation of the 1990s games, with everyone in the cast a little older and shaggier (or saggier, in Mai's case) than they had been at their peak. It's a cool hook for a video game series, and gave SNK and Capcom an excuse to introduce new members to the cast, to carry on the legacy of the first generation of fighting game heroes.
It's been twenty five years since Mark of the Wolves. You'd think the characters would be hobbling around with walkers at this point, but no, the South Town cast doesn't seem to have aged more than five years between the two games. More characters from Fatal Fury Special have joined the cast, including the always infuriating to fight Andy Bogard and a newly leather-clad Mai, and Krushnood Butt is back to being Marco Rodrigues/z, so he can show his driver's license in America without wincing at the reactions. Bratty ninja-in-training Hotokumaru has grown a few chest hairs and now thinks he's Damien Wayne. And somehow, Ken Masters from Street Fighter has wandered in from Street Fighter 6, looking for a scrap on the other side of the fighting game tracks. Capcom and SNK used to be bitter rivals, but the synergy between the two companies in 2025 has been a delight to watch. If we never get a Capcom vs. SNK 3, this will be just good enough.
Anyway, the game is polygonal, using one of those fancy artistic shaders that drops comic book-style crosshatching all over the fighters. It's... bold, I'll give it that. We've been doing this sort of thing in fighting games since Street Fighter 4, and I'm not totally in love with it. It's kind of like that whole cel-shading fad from the Playstation 2 era, where everyone was covered in thick outlines.
The game looks pretty good, in spite of the artistic excess. However, it plays way better than that, feeling tighter and more responsive than Street Fighter 6, but with some burly brawn that we didn't get from King of Fighters 15. Characters have weight, and impact to their punches and kicks. You feel it in their handling. It's not Tekken, all iron fists and leaden feet, but it's not the anemic pixies of BlazBlue flying through the air like Peter Pan, either. It finds a nice, meaty middle ground between "light as a feather" and "trapped on Jupiter." City of the Wolves is solid, rugged, and dependable, like a Jeep or a light truck.
It's also fun to play. There's a story mode that falls far short of Street Fighter 6's in both variety and content, but you won't care because beating down the dozens of Hypens, Mosbergs, and Buggz-es that live in South Town is hugely entertaining. The new rev system doesn't work anywhere near as well as Capcom's Drive Gauge (Capcom, make sure this remains in Street Fighter 7. Just sayin'), and the control feels just slightly off... good luck performing those Ignition Gears reliably! But despite all that, the fighting engine feels tight, restrained, but brutal in execution. Better than the previous Fatal Fury games for sure, especially the Real Bout games.
There's one other thing worth noting... this game is packed to overflowing with omake. If you're the type of nerd who geeks out over the mythology of video game franchises, City of the Wolves will satisfy like a sixteen foot long Snickers bar. Stages from past SNK games can be viewed in a menu, complete with conversations between the cast of characters and an exhaustively thorough description of the location. The writing in general is fantastic... luridly detailed and pulpy, a far cry from the silly SNK-glish of the Neo-Geo games.
I had my doubts in the 2000s thanks to Samurai Shodown Sen and King of Fighters 12, but now, it's clear SNK has finally nailed 21st century game design. City of the Wolves is how you make Fatal Fury relevant in a post-Neo-Geo world.
I've also got to give big props to Earthion. It's a Sega Genesis game that thinks it's a Neo-Geo game... and you'd be hard-pressed to convince yourself otherwise. Name a shoot 'em up on the Sega Genesis. I'll let you think about it for a moment... there were a whole lot of 'em. That shooter you were thinking of is not as pretty as Earthion. Nope, not Ranger-X. Not any of the Thunder Forces, and not the Toaplan shooters, either. In the crowded high school of Genesis shooters, Earthion is the valedictorian, using a huge cartridge size (7.5 megabytes!) to deliver big bosses, big explosions, and astonishing animation. You'll shout, "How did they do that on the GENESIS?!," as your ship rockets from home base and dances through space in a stylish introductory sequence.
The gameplay ain't nothin' to sneeze at, either. Here's how that works... you're given a small health bar and two weapon slots. When a weapon comes along, you can grab it to add it to your arsenal. These range from the utilitarian three way shot to explosive rockets to a wicked looking laser beam that obliterates enemies directly ahead of you. Some weapons are better for some situations than others, but if all your weapon slots are full, you'll have to jettison one weapon to claim the other. Even worse, there are adaptation pods that will fill a weapon slot without offering any immediate benefit. Nope, you have to get the pod to the end of the level to crack it open and find the secret toy surprise inside. Adaptation pods can increase your ship's shield power, add weapon slots, and offer special weapons that pack more punch than the already impressive firearms you'll find in the middle of a stage. Every good shooter needs a "hook," a unique play mechanic that distinguishes it from the rest of the herd, and Earthion's hook is as good as any you'll find in this genre.
There are a few issues, mostly minor ones. Earthion is tough but not always fair, with lasers that take you by surprise and background objects that may or may not be safe to touch. Vocal effects are hoarse even by Sega Genesis standards, with the Laryngitis Barber Shop Quartet greeting you with "YKGGG" when the game first starts. Annnd that's about where the flaws end. Earthion looks spectacular, sounds nearly as good thanks to the Yuzo Koshiro soundtrack, has a satisfying assortment of weapons, and is hard to pull yourself away from once you've started playing it. "Welcome to the next level," indeed.
What else? Oh yeah, I'm still cranking out ColecoVision games. My latest is Solar Fox 2: Space Evaders, available for five dollars on Itch.IO. Whack 'Em Smack 'Em Byrons didn't set the world on fire, but this seems to have caught the attention of ColecoVision owners, and even the retro gaming press. Here's a review by Willie of ArcadeUSA, and a news post about the game on Indie Retro News. Basically, it's a sequel to the pared down Atari 2600 version of Solar Fox, a fast-paced dot gobbler set in the void of space. There are no weapons in the 2600 version of Solar Fox, and you won't find any here, either... only fast fingers and a nimble brain will get you to the end of this one! Coming soon after that is the next Byron game, Operation Hibernation, with the rambunctious bear cub stuffing his face with fruit to prepare for the winter. If you like platformers like Donkey Kong, and zany cartoon antics, you're going to want a front row seat for this.
