Where Street Fighter III brought back Ryu and Ken right away, and eventually Chun-Li in 3rd Strike, after vehement backlash from the fans, Mark of the Wolves only carries main series protagonist Terry Bogard to its roster, replacing him at the same time as main character with his adopted son, Rock Howard. Garou also aligns well with Street Fighter III in its cast of almost-exclusively new characters. Rock Howard may be nothing like his father, but he carries the same intimidation factor when it counts. These changes would also replace what had previously been Fatal Fury’s trademark mechanic, which had been multiplanar stages that would see players jump as needed from the foreground to the background, and vice versa. This would prove interesting as the two games shared very similar sensibilities, that advanced defensive systems should be put in place to eschew traditional mechanics like blockstun and chip damage, and that players should have certain ways to tweak and fine-tune their characters to suit their own particular tastes. Garou: Mark of the Wolves is SNK’s 1999 reinvention of the Fatal Fury series, which coincidentally released around the same time as Capcom’s Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. Now, it’s Garou: Mark of the Wolves’ turn. The King of Fighters 2000, both Last Blade titles, Baseball Stars 2, Twinkle Star Sprites, Samurai Shodown: Tenkaichi Kenkyakuden, and both Shock Troopers titles have benefitted from re-releases in 2016 alone. SNK’s recent revitalization has been a very successful one, not just due to the brilliance of their comeback game, The King of Fighters XIV, but in their ability to open their back catalogue to new and old fans alike on modern platforms.

Garou mark of the wolves terry bogard