Gameplay in Mark of the Wolves is set on a single two-dimensional movement plane, removing the "lane" system from prior Fatal Fury games that allowed characters to move between the foreground and background. The game introduces a new mechanic called the "Tactical Offense Position" (T.O.P.), indicated by a highlighted area on the characters' life gauges. When the gauge reaches this area, the character enters the T.O.P. mode, granting the player's character the ability to use a T.O.P. attack, gradual life recovery, and increased attack damage; players can set which portion of their life bar activates the T.O.P. mode before the match begins. The game also introduces the "Just Defend" system, which rewards the player who successfully blocks an attack at the last moment with a small amount of health recovery and the ability to immediately counterattack out of block stun. Just Defend was later added as a feature of the K-Groove in Capcom's Capcom vs. SNK 2.
Similar to previous titles, the player is given a fighting rank after every round. If the player manages to win all rounds from the Arcade Mode with at least an "AAA" rank, they will face the boss Kain R. Heinlein, which unlocks an ending after he is defeated. If the requirements are not met, then Grant will be the final boss and there will be no special endings. Additionally, through Arcade Mode, before facing Grant, the player will face a mid-boss which can be any character from the cast depending on the character they use.
In addition to the standard Story mode, the console versions of the game include a second single-player mode, "Survival", in which the player must defeat as many opponents as possible while only regaining a limited amount of health after each battle. By completing each mode with different characters, the player will unlock new content in an in-game gallery such as character portraits and promotional artwork.
Playable characters
Mark of the Wolves features 14 playable characters. Terry Bogard is the only returning character from the previous Fatal Fury games, though many of the new cast are relatives or disciples of other characters from past entries.
Ten years after crime lord Geese Howard's death, the city of Southtown has become more peaceful, leading it to be known as the Second Southtown in reference to having formerly been corrupted by Geese. A new fighting tournament called "King of Fighters: Maximum Mayhem" starts in the area, and several characters related with the fighters from the previous King of Fighters tournaments participate in it.
Development
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Multiple changes to Garou were made to show a bigger difference from previous games due to most characters being new. The character of Rock Howard was created by Nobuyuki Kuroki in 1998. Both he and Yasuyuki Oda wondered what type of hero would succeed Terry Bogard in Fatal Fury's latest game, Garou: Mark of the Wolves. While they were not confident with Rock, they still decided to make him as the new protagonist.[1] Rock was designed to contrast previous 'masculine' Fatal Fury characters by giving him a more bishonen appearance, something Nobuyuki Kuroki felt the sequel needed to balance the cast and an issue he felt Real Bout suffered. Similarly, Hotaru was given a moe inspired look to balance the playable characters.[2] Terry was also redesigned, labeled as "cool" by the SNK staff was because they thought Terry's previous look had become outdated.[3] Kengo Asai, who previously worked in Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer, Money Puzzle Exchanger and The Last Blade series, is also involved in development of the game.
Release
Garou: Mark of the Wolves was originally released for Japanese arcades on November 26, 1999.[4][5] It was first ported to the Neo Geo on February 25, 2000, and to the Dreamcast on September 21, 2001.[6] The Dreamcast port was re-released on May 23, 2002, under the label of "SNK Best". The original Dreamcast version was the only port released in North America on November 23, 2001, being one of the last games for the system in that region. In such version, it was renamed Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves.[7] A PlayStation 2 port of the game was released in Japan on June 30, 2005, but was not released in North America. This port was re-released in the title of "NeoGeo Online Collection" and a "Limited Edition" of the same title on June 30. On June 21, 2007, it was once again released as "SNK Best Collection".[8] The title also came to Xbox Live Arcade[9] on June 24, 2009.[10] The PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita ports were later released, the latter for PlayStation Network in December 2016.[11] A Nintendo Switch port would be released by Hamster Corporation on May 11, 2017, digitally under the ACA Neo Geo label marking the first time the game is available for Nintendo players. The Xbox One wouldn't receive its own port of Garou until August 16, 2018, under the ACA Neo Geo banner. This version - a straight, barebones port of the original arcade game - was also released for the PlayStation 4 on the same day, separate from the online-capable version that had already been released for the console more than two years prior.[12] In 2020, GOG, Steam, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita versions of Garou featured rollback netcode from an update by Code Mystics, who also added their port of the game which replaced DotEmu’s port that was released on Steam.
Sequel
During the fan event 2005 KOF-party, illustrator Falcoon mentioned that the game's sequel was around 70% complete for the Neo Geo by the SNK team. Falcoon also confirmed that one of the new characters meant to appear was a student of legacy Fatal Fury character Joe Higashi.[13] In July 2006 SNK reported that they were still working on the sequel, saying that they will use modern high-resolution graphics instead of the resolution quality level seen in the original game.[14] During an interview in March 2008, SNK USA developers commented that there was not any concrete schedule of demands for the game and that they plan to make the sequel with some new technology.[15] In June 2016, SNK revealed the cast of the Garou: Mark of the Wolves's sequel.[16]
SNK director Nobuyuki Kuroki stated in February 2020 that he was personally interested in 'reviving' Garou.[17] During EVO 2022, it was revealed that a sequel was officially greenlit to be in development at SNK. At EVO 2023, SNK announced the game's title to be Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves.[18] The roster currently includes returning Mark of the Wolves characters, such as Rock Howard and Terry Bogard, along with characters from earlier Fatal Fury games, including Andy Bogard and Joe Higashi. More characters are expected to be announced leading up to the game's release.[19]
In Japan, Game Machine listed Garou: Mark of the Wolves on their January 1, 2000 issue as being the most-successful arcade game of the month.[29]GameSpot named Mark of the Wolves the best fighting game of 2001. It was nominated for the publication's annual "Best Game No One Played" and "Best Dreamcast Game" prizes among console games, but lost these respectively to Victorious Boxers: Ippo's Road to Glory and Phantasy Star Online.[30] It was also nominated for "Outstanding Fighting Game Sequel" by the National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers, but lost to Dead or Alive 3.[31]
Notes
^Japanese: 餓狼マークオブザウルブズ, Hepburn: Garō: Māku obu za Urubuzu, lit. "Hungry Wolf: Mark of the Wolves"
^"Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - TVゲーム機ーソフトウェア (Video Game Software)". Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 602. Amusement Press, Inc. 1 January 2000. p. 25.
