SNK developers Shinya Tamaki and Hayato Konya have detailed the creative process behind incorporating Kenshiro's iconic, albeit gory, special abilities into the upcoming fighting game Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. The primary challenge lay in translating Kenshiro's signature Hokuto Shinken technique, which traditionally causes opponents to explode, into a game that maintains a Teen ESRB rating.
Kenshiro, a guest character from the anime Fist of the North Star, will join the Fatal Fury roster in June. Tamaki, producer, and Konya, director, explained that balancing Kenshiro's identity as a Bruce Lee-inspired martial artist with his pressure-point-based fatal techniques required careful consideration. The team aimed to include the explosive finishers that fans expect while adhering to content restrictions.
To achieve this, SNK implemented a visual compromise for Kenshiro's special move. When an opponent is subjected to the Hokuto Shinken, their character model is obscured by a dark shadow against a deep red backdrop, implying an explosion without showing any explicit gore. This approach allows the satisfying visual flourish to remain while avoiding a more graphic depiction.
Tamaki elaborated on the design philosophy, stating, "As you know, Kenshiro's main fighting style uses channeling points on his opponents, and typically after he uses them, they explode in three seconds. It's a very striking feature of the show. But he's also a fighter, and for a fighting game, specifically, we wanted him to showcase both features. We wanted him to be a fighter and be able to use the channeling points as an actual gimmick. But of course, we couldn't have our characters exploding on screen, so we had to balance accordingly and make sure that it's not too gory, but also have these parts that fans are expecting and want to see properly come to life in the gameplay."
Kenshiro's inclusion in City of the Wolves is part of SNK's strategy to broaden the appeal of fighting games. Tamaki noted that Kenshiro's popularity, both in Japan and internationally, made him an obvious choice for DLC. By featuring well-known characters from other media, SNK hopes to attract players who might not typically engage with the fighting game genre. "Fighting games are a niche genre, for sure," Tamaki commented. "I think one of the biggest hurdles that we need to address is getting people that are not typically interested in the whole fighting game thing to actually turn around and say, ‘Hey, what's that? I want to try that out, I want to play that.’ We want to get new faces, new people to touch these games, and I think this is one of the most popular ways to do it."
The developers also addressed the possibility of a new Fist of the North Star fighting game from SNK. While acknowledging that some developers within the company would be interested, Tamaki clarified that the current Kenshiro in City of the Wolves is based on the recent reboot series, allowing for synergy with its ongoing media presence. He indicated that SNK's focus for this project is on the character's integration into Fatal Fury and supporting the new anime.
In other SNK news, Tamaki cautiously confirmed that a new project related to the Art of Fighting series is in development. While specifics remain undisclosed, he assured fans that "The Art of Fighting's story isn't finished yet." Additionally, SNK announced The Path of the Warrior: Art of Fighting 3 R, an updated version of Art of Fighting 3 for Steam featuring rollback netcode, rebalanced gameplay, and two new characters, though a release date is yet to be specified.