Tokyo Revengers Joins Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves as Guest Character Debate Intensifies

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is expanding its crossover roster again, with SNK announcing on September 9 that Manjiro "Mikey" Sano and Ken "Draken" Ryuguji of Tokyo Revengers are headed to South Town. The pair are hugely recognizable shonen anime characters, and their arrival gives the game two more high-profile visitors from outside the long-running Fatal Fury universe.

It also adds new fuel to a conversation already running hot among fighting game players: when does a guest-character strategy become too much?

Guest fighters have been part of the genre for years. They can be exciting reveals, attract fans who might not otherwise try a game, and create memorable what-if matchups that no original roster could deliver. Yet the response to Mikey and Draken illustrates why the approach can also become divisive. For some players, City of the Wolves is building an unusually eclectic lineup at remarkable speed. For others, the growing collection is a sign that SNK is willing to take risks and keep the game in the spotlight.

Two Tokyo Revengers leads enter South Town

Mikey and Draken stand as the newest guest combatants announced for City of the Wolves. Both come from Tokyo Revengers, a popular series centered on delinquent gangs, loyalty, conflict, and street fights. On a broad thematic level, that makes them less difficult to imagine in a fighting game than some crossover characters: their identities are closely linked with brawling and rival groups.

For useful background on this topic, read Ace Combat 8's Tasha Became the Team's 'Most Expensive' Character After Long Design Process.

Even so, they are not Fatal Fury characters, and they are not representatives of another established fighting-game franchise. That distinction sits at the center of the reaction. The question is not simply whether Mikey and Draken can look cool in a one-on-one fighter. It is whether City of the Wolves should devote so much of its post-launch attention to characters from worlds that have little direct connection to SNK's own history.

The announcement follows a run of major crossover additions that has already made the roster one of the more surprising in modern fighting games. Street Fighter icons Chun-Li and Ken are among the guests. So are music artist Salvatore Ganacci, professional footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, and Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star.

That is a wide selection of inspirations: arcade fighting royalty, anime and manga action, music, and real-world sport. Mikey and Draken do not create the unusual crossover identity on their own. Instead, their reveal reinforces just how broad that identity has become.

Why the roster has sparked a different kind of crossover argument

Crossovers between Capcom and SNK have a long and celebrated history, so Chun-Li and Ken are relatively easy for many fans to accept. Those characters may come from a competing series, but Street Fighter and Fatal Fury occupy adjacent spaces in fighting-game culture. Their inclusion evokes decades of rivalry, collaboration, arcade nostalgia, and dream-match possibilities.

The other guests have generated a more mixed reaction because they are further removed from that shared tradition. Kenshiro is a legendary action hero whose combat style and imposing presence can fit naturally beside a fighting-game cast. But the overall group has no single obvious connection beyond name recognition and the potential for spectacle.

Ronaldo has been an especially striking example. A real-life athlete appearing in a mainline fighting game is an unusual proposition, and his presence invites the kind of playful question that has spread through fan discussion: what exactly is he doing in South Town? Salvatore Ganacci's addition similarly signals a willingness to reach beyond conventional martial-arts, gaming, or anime crossovers.

For critics, the issue is less about any one guest character than accumulation. A single unexpected combatant can feel like a novelty. Several can create the impression that the guest list is beginning to define a game more than its homegrown fighters do. With Mikey and Draken now joining the mix, some fans have described the roster as increasingly random, even while acknowledging that the individual characters themselves are popular.

Popularity is not the same as roster fit

One of the clearest responses to the Tokyo Revengers announcement is that many players like Mikey and Draken while still questioning their place in City of the Wolves. That distinction matters. Crossover criticism is not necessarily hostility toward the featured series or its audience. Rather, it often reflects concern about what players want a particular fighting game to represent.

Fatal Fury has its own legacy, its own setting, and a deep bench of potential returning characters. When a game brings in guests at a rapid pace, fans naturally begin comparing every announcement with the original fighters or related SNK characters they hoped to see. The result is not just a debate over licensing. It becomes a debate about opportunity cost, identity, and whose stories get to continue.

Some players have also raised other anime and manga combatants they believe would make more immediately intuitive fits. References to Baki and Kengan Ashura show that even fans open to outside properties may have different expectations for the kind of guests they would prefer. A martial-arts-focused crossover can feel more compatible with a competitive fighter than a celebrity or athlete appearance, though that is ultimately a matter of taste.

There is no universal formula. A guest can have a perfect thematic connection and still disappoint players who wanted a returning series veteran. Conversely, a seemingly bizarre selection can generate attention, entertain casual audiences, and become a gameplay favorite once people get their hands on the character.

Fighting games have always embraced the unexpected

The current discussion should not obscure an important fact: guest characters are hardly new to fighting games. Mortal Kombat is perhaps the clearest example of a series that has repeatedly built major crossover appeal around recognizable outside names. Its rosters have included RoboCop, Omni-Man, Homelander, the Terminator, Alien's Xenomorph, and many others.

Those guests can be wildly different characters, but they often share a violent, cinematic, science-fiction, horror, or action-movie sensibility that complements Mortal Kombat's established tone. That does not mean every inclusion is universally loved, but it gives the crossover program a recognizable lane.

Other major fighters are following their own paths. Street Fighter 6 is set to receive Final Fantasy VII character Tifa Lockhart next year, while Tekken 8 is set to add Baki character Yujiro Hanma in 2027. Tekken has long been associated with the occasional left-field guest, so one or two major outside additions can feel consistent with the series' history.

City of the Wolves is different largely because of scale and range. It is not merely bringing in a rival fighting-game star or a single headline crossover. It has assembled a guest lineup spanning several unrelated categories in a game that is only a little more than a year old. That breadth is what makes the current backlash--and the curiosity surrounding it--more intense.

SNK's strategy is clear, even if fans remain split

Regardless of where individual players stand, SNK appears committed to a guest-driven strategy for City of the Wolves. The approach provides regular talking points, gives every reveal a chance to reach beyond the traditional fighting-game audience, and makes the game feel unpredictable. In an environment where live-service support and seasonal character drops compete heavily for attention, unpredictability can be valuable.

There is also a positive angle to the pace of additions. The volume of characters being added per season is ambitious, and a steady supply of new fighters can keep a competitive community experimenting with matchups, strategies, and team favorites. The challenge is maintaining confidence that the game's original world is still receiving the care its longtime supporters expect.

Mikey and Draken will therefore be judged on more than announcement-day reaction. Players will want to see how their movesets, animations, visual style, and competitive tools translate into City of the Wolves. If they are enjoyable and distinct to play, some skepticism may fade. If the crossover slate continues to grow without satisfying fans eager for more Fatal Fury representation, the criticism may become louder.

For now, the Tokyo Revengers collaboration is another unmistakable statement of intent. City of the Wolves is not treating guest characters as rare exceptions. It is using them as a major part of its ongoing identity. Whether that makes the roster wonderfully unpredictable or overly scattered depends on the player--but the next crossover announcement will almost certainly restart the argument all over again.