Fatal Fury VII

[Asura]

You not buying classic (pre-Saudi) SNK software/hardware either?

Genuine question.

I haven't thought about it; like the situation hasn't come up - but then I got rid of my retro stuff years ago. I still enjoy the limited stuff I own.

I won't defend the company's prior history as some paragon of virtue; no ethical consumption under capitalism and all that. But there are a few videogames companies that that I don't presently patronise for various reasons.

[Dogg Thang]

The Saudi connection is, to some small extent (and should be to some very large extent), poison to SNK. On top of that, the marketing of this game with the "celebrity" characters was awful, total cringe. And beneath that, a mid-90s brand that people haven't been aware of in far too many decades.

I have to think it could have been pitched as a King of Fighters spin off and done a bit better. But even then, it's a hard thing to stand out these days and, while I'm sure the game is fine, I don't think it looked special in any way. So unless you knew the legacy, I don't know how well it would pull you in.

[hudson]

Weirdly, The Salvatore Gannaci character is kinda being warmed to. His story in Fatal Fury is set up to look canon. He is trained by

->Open Spoiler<-

Duck King

(a frequent night club visitor himself). Ganacci is a character himself. You only need to look at his music videos to see most of his move list He also attended Evo and stated his fave character is Robert Garcia.

Ronaldo can get in the mud

[wakka]

Every time this thread is bumped I assume they'll have added some new irrelevant celebrity.

Personally I'm holding out for a tag team Chuckle Brothers.

9000 units in Japan on release is staggeringly low. The marketing of this game has been a **** show. The stupid celebrity inclusions, no doubt at the behest of some clueless royal scion in Saudi, served only to generate negative buzz. That's an absolute killer when you're working with a long dormant brand like Fatal Fury in an incredibly competitive category.

This should have been a game marketed as something tailored specifically for the FGC, and looked to build its base from there.

The FGC alone won't give you the sales you ultimately need, but by being considered authentic and credible by that group you could see your way clear to building a reputation that would draw in a wider range of players.

Instead they pissed their marketing juice away on including a no-name DJ who's presumably pals with a crown prince.

Shame.

[Asura]

Presumably, also, there has to be some knock-on effect of including Terry & Mai in Street Fighter 6; that's going and including your top two visible characters in the game of your main competitor. Presumably there's a decent number of people in the FGC who weighed up buying the Terry & Mai DLC vs buying the actual Fatal Fury game.

And that DLC has been great, warmly received, and SF fans should feel fortunate about it... But maybe on SNK's side they'll wonder in future if they should've stuck to a cross-promo giving Ken a Terry outfit and Chun Li a Mai outfit.

[Dogg Thang]

Weirdly, The Salvatore Gannaci character is kinda being warmed to.

And yet this is how they chose to market the game:



That can only have done more harm than good.

[hudson]

Yeah they served these guest characters up on a dense plateau of cringe, for sure. But as I said, Ganacci has at least clawed some cred back doing interviews at Evo and talking like he at least has played the games in the past, but yeah there's still no taking away of how they got in the game. It was always going to be a double edged sword. One side absolute cringe and then the marketing of these real life characters to their respective fans. There will be die hard Ronaldo "SUUUI" shouting kids who may have picked it up just coz he'sin the game. I bet many slunk off after 20 mins though getting shmixed online.

[Dogg Thang]

I think it could have been a double edged sword for sure. That possibility was there. The reality, it seems, is that it turned out to be a pretty singular edge and it's not the edge they were hoping for.

[hudson]

Well clearly, it's it the Home Bargains bargain bin bucket at the checkout now for 4.99

[hudson]

It is a shame though. I am a bit gutted it didn't at least have a bit of an influx of more new players etc. Like SF6 did. That game really got a load of new to the genre player in and many stuck with it.

It's such a fun game.

[Neon Ignition]

With fighters, revived as its been since SF4, there's a need to appeal to a reasonable amount of the masses. I know MOTW has always been a well regarded game but it's 26 years old and outside of its core fanbase has never been the cornerstone of the franchise due to its limited releases and not bearing the Fatal Fury name. Between guest appearances and KOF it needed to be a clearer distinct offering from KOF to make its mark, in the same way Samurai Shodown is clearly different despite some crossover characters. I doubt SNK thought the game would hit KOF's success levels but I imagine this will shake them on their other revival plans. They're a very capable team but I wouldn't be surprised if they retreat back to KOFXVI moving forward and the original plan to do more franchise revivals slows - bearing in mind they are already working on Art of Fighting 4...

[hudson]

Again, an absolute shame as this COTW plays so much better that KOFXV in my opinion. People should just play the fricken game Everything else is waffle.

They could have released Facial Fury Street Fighter of the Bear and everyone would come in stroking a chin saying... "uhhm, SNK really need to make a new game"

[Dogg Thang]

I know MOTW has always been a well regarded game but it's 26 years old and outside of its core fanbase has never been the cornerstone of the franchise due to its limited releases and not bearing the Fatal Fury name.

That's it. Mark of the Wolves is incredible and still amazing after all these years, in my opinion, but as you say it didn't bear the Fatal Fury name and it was always niche, buried a bit in a Street Fighter world. As a brand, it feels like Fatal Fury was ditched a long time ago. And that's why I feel like tying this into KoF would have made sense - they're connected and always have been. If this was King of Fighters: Fatal Fury or whatever, it might have been tougher to ignore.

But I really do think, brand age aside, their marketing was poor. I'm not sure how much awareness there was of the game. And the result could simply be that, and no reflection on the actual game itself.

[hudson]

I mean, it's got Terry and Mai in it. Surely that enough of a clue that the game is some kof fatal Fury shiz.

[Dogg Thang]

The other thing is that the game is being judged on the very first sales. It may not be an instant must-have full price game for most but that doesn't mean it won't grow an audience.