Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves guide: Master SNK's REV system and dominate the fight

After 26 years, SNK's storied fighting game series Fatal Fury returns in Fatal Fury: City Of The Wolves. Terry Bogard, Rock Howard, and more fan favorites are heading back to South Town for some furious fighting action—along with a few familiar faces from the real world.

With a new Fatal Fury comes a new fighting style to learn, and while some of it will feel similar to other modern fighting games, Fatal Fury: City Of The Wolves includes a brand-new system that hopes to REV up the excitement. Read our guide to learn how to master Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves’ new REV system and dominate the competition.
 

Familiar on the surface

At the outset, Fatal Fury: City Of The Wolves can be approached like any other fighting game. The D-pad moves your character around, while each of the four face buttons represents a different type of attack—light and heavy punch buttons as well as light and heavy kick buttons. Successful attacks build the Power Gauge in the corner of the screen, and once built, that meter can be spent to unleash super powerful moves, which in Fatal Fury's case are called Ignition Gears.

With experience, you'll begin to pick up on some of the more advanced mechanics at play in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves and work them into your repertoire. For instance, Braking allows you to end a special move early. You'll still perform the attack, but you can opt to perform fewer hits in order to recover faster, opening up unique combo opportunities in the process.

Similarly, Feints are a great way to keep your opponent guessing, as they allow you to "pretend" to do a special move, only to cancel out of it and do something else. For example, you can pretend to throw a Power Wave while playing Terry, bait your opponent to jump, and then punish them on the way down.

The real meat of Fatal Fury: City Of The Wolves though—where it really separates itself from the competition—is the so-called REV System.

A fighting REVolution

The REV System is the gateway to some of Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves' flashiest and most powerful combos. You can use it to enhance your special moves with different properties, perform unique attacks that can only be unleashed under certain conditions, and maintain the advantage even as you defend against your enemy’s blows.

As powerful as this all sounds, abusing the REV System will eventually leave you vulnerable. Above the Power Gauge in the corner of the screen is a curved line called the REV Meter.

As you activate REV System abilities, that meter slowly fills. If it hits 100%, you enter the Overheat state and lose access to REV powers until the meter hits zero again. While you can speed up that meter reset with attacks and movement, it's still important to avoid Overheat at all costs.

Below is a breakdown of the REV System's specifics, split into offensive and defensive tactics. Keep these in mind as you learn more about your favorite characters, and you'll rule the streets of South Town in no time.

Offensive maneuvers

The most common use of the REV System on offense is for REV Arts, which are simply enhanced versions of a character's special moves. Rock Howard's Rising Tackle, for instance, will deal two extra hits for more damage when enhanced to its REV Art version. Most activations of REV Arts add a small amount to the REV Meter, so be mindful of how often you're enhancing those special attacks.

REV Accel builds on the REV Arts idea, allowing you to chain multiple REV Arts together for massive, high-damage combos. Mai Shiranui can start with her Sayo Chidori fan swipe, then immediately chain it into her dashing Hissatsu Shinobi Bachi special, and then chain again into the rising Hana Arashi spinning attack. As you might expect, these chains add a lot to the REV Meter, so while they can be super powerful, they can also quickly put you in a pinch.

The final piece of the REV System's offensive puzzle is REV Blows, or conditionally activated attacks that add a small wrinkle to your moveset at certain points in the match. Some characters deal a single vicious strike, while others fire off an instant combo—Marco Rodrigues's REV Blow is a 10-hit punching combo that ends with a massive uppercut.

REV Blows also add to the REV Meter, but with one additional caveat: They can only be activated when your character is in S.P.G. What is S.P.G.? Well…

The strategy of S.P.G.

S.P.G., or Selective Potential Gear, is a mechanic you'll set before the match even begins. First, you’ll highlight a specific section of your character's health bar. When your character's health drops to that section, they'll not only receive a power boost for as long as they're in S.P.G. range, but they'll have access to REV Blows and a souped-up super move called the Hidden Gear.

There are three options for S.P.G.'s range:

• Accel Ratio: The first third of the life bar, which means S.P.G. activates as soon as the match begins.
• Flux Ratio: The middle third of the life bar.
• Final Ratio: The final third of the life bar. Once S.P.G. activates, it will stay active until the end of the round, win or lose.

Choosing where to activate S.P.G. offers a strategic wrinkle to each match. Do you want to activate S.P.G. immediately and go for broke, or would you prefer to use it as a failsafe if your health gets low? The choice is up to you—and you might even find it depends on the character you're using—but it's important to weigh the options before deciding.
 

Best defense

The REV System doesn't just help you dish out attacks. It also offers some key defensive maneuvers to keep the fight going.

REV Guard is an enhanced blocking mechanic that manifests red swirling energy in front of the character when activated. Using REV Guard not only pushes an opponent away after blocking their attack, but also negates "chip damage,” or the small bits of damage special moves inflict on a blocking opponent. Each blocked hit adds to the REV Meter however, so don't go blocking big combos with this unless you want to Overheat.

The most advanced defensive moves are Just Defense and Hyper Defense. Just Defense is a special block—signalled by a big sphere appearing over your character when successful—that slightly increases your health and decreases the REV Meter. However, it must be timed perfectly with the instant an opponent's attack is about to land, or else it will fail to activate and you'll either block normally (if you're early) or take damage (if you're late).

Hyper Defense is similar in concept, but with one key difference—where Just Defense focuses on a single attack, Hyper Defense must be activated during an opponent's combo. If you manage to block the first hit of a combo normally, you can then activate Hyper Defense on a subsequent hit of that combo to get the same results.

Both Just Defense and Hyper Defense also enable Guard Cancel, where you can activate a special move, REV Blow, or Ignition Gear from your blocking stance. Guard Cancel provides instant retribution to an opponent whose attack you blocked, and can open the door to an even bigger combo from you in the process.

These are the nuts and bolts of the Fatal Fury: City Of The Wolves REV system. Learn these techniques and work them into your playing style, and you'll enhance your chances against even the toughest opponents.

Fatal Fury: City Of The Wolves releases on the Epic Games Store on April 24.