Garou: Mark of the Wolves

''Certainly, they existed... Those blinded by ambition.. Those consumed with vengeance. But here, they do not exist. Only winners and losers here. For here, THE MIGHTY RULE!''

-Intro

''Yes, they do exist... Those who sacrifice all for their ambitions. Those who endanger all for the taste of revenge. Whose actions are just? Justice is not the issue. The victorious will survive. The vanquished shall fall. This is the only justice. For ten years later... THE MIGHTY RULE!''

-Prologue

''Legends don't die... They get better!''

-Tagline

Garou: Mark of the Wolves or Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves for the Dreamcast release; referred to as Garou or MOTW for short, is the eighth and currently final game in the Fatal Fury series. It is known for pushing the graphical capabilities of the Neo Geo past its limit, utilizing pre-rendered 3D graphics rasterized as sprites to give the illusion of 3D depth and semi-transparency, as well as its well-balanced roster of characters and highly technical gameplay. The main illustrations of the game were made by Tonko.

As part of SNK's celebration of the series's 15 year anniversary, a retrospective movie was made to take place shortly after.

In December 2016, the game was released for three platforms: for PS4 and PS Vita, on day 3, and for Steam, on day 9. There was already another PC version, released by the Humble Bundle, in January of that year. In May 11, 2017, as part of ACA Neo Geo, the game is released for Nintendo Switch.

In January 22, 2020, Code Mystics updated the online mode of the game to utilize GGPO, also known as "Rollback Netcode," attested as one of the most reliable online play protocols in the industry. The same proccess occured with The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match and the two games of The Last Blade series.

The main illustrations are made by TONKO.

Story
Set ten years after the death of the notorious crime lord Geese Howard, the city of Southtown has become more peaceful. Now, the stage is in the neighboring city of Second Southtown. A new fighting tournament called "King of Fighters: Maximum Mayhem" starts in the area, and several characters related with the fighters from the old era of King of Fighters tournaments participate within it.

Develepoment
Multiple changes to Garou were made to show a bigger difference from previous games due to most characters being new. The character of Rock Howard was created by Nobuyuki Kuroki in 1998. Both he and Yasuyuki Oda wondered what type of hero would succeed Terry Bogard in Fatal Fury 's latest game, Garou: Mark of the Wolves. While they were not confident with Rock, they still decided to make him as the new protagonist. Rock was designed to contrast previous 'masculine' Fatal Fury characters by giving him a more bishonen appearance, something Nobuyuki Kuroki felt the sequel needed to balance the cast and an issue he felt Real Bout suffered. Similarly, Hotaru was given a moe inspired look to balance the playable characters. Terry was also redesigned, labeled as "cool" by the SNK staff was because they thought Terry's previous look had become outdated. Kengo Asai, who previously worked in Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer, Money Puzzle Exchanger and The Last Blade, is also involved in development of the game.

SNK director Nobuyuki Kuroki stated in February 2020 that he is personally interested in 'reviving' Garou, whose supposed sequel suffered from development hell and cancellation, presumably due to SNK's financial predicament at that time (and her bankrupcty).

Gameplay


Garou: Mark of the Wolves general gameplay mechanics and art style are changed to more closely resemble SNK's The King of Fighters series using a similar button layout ( for weak/light punch, for weak/light kick,  for strong/heavy punch and  for strong/heavy kick). However, chaining normal attacks into each other tends to be strict on timing, and may involve heavy usage of the recurring feint mechanic ( + and  or  +  and ) in order to cancel them smoothly. Stage gimmicks and plane-changing, as seen in previous titles, were removed.

T.O.P. System
The Tactical Offensive Position System or T.O.P., is a new system. Before each match begins, the player is given option to adjust the T.O.P. meter's influence onto three different places on their character's life meter (beginning, middle, end). When a character's life meter reaches the white T.O.P. section, the character will flash with their HP bar's T.O.P. section turning orange, and enter a special state which will grant them the following advantages:


 * Increased damage output
 * Slow health regeneration
 * Ability to perform T.O.P. attacks, which often deal heavy amount of reduction to the guard meter if blocked

Once the character's life meter falls out T.O.P. range, the character will lose these benefits.

Just Defense System
The Just Defense allows players to benefit from defending by activating it against incoming attacks at the last second within 7 frames. Players can perform Just Defense against any type of attack, even being able to Just Defend in midair despite the lack of air blocking. Just Defense has following advantages:
 * Small health recovery and Power gauge gain for each successful Just Defense activation.
 * Ability to Guard Cancel.
 * Guard durability does not decrease unlike when blocking attacks normally.
 * Less blockstun frames by 2 frames, which also results in less pushblock.
 * When done successfully, it is indicated by a larger blue-dome-esque flash effect upon impact of the defender and a different guarding animation.
 * Multiple successive hits can be blocked from continuous Just Defends rapidly like so.

It is comparable to the Street Fighter III series' Parrying, except the latter is more offense-oriented (done with a forward direction instead of back), has no pushblock, grants an attack reset and gives no life regeneration. Additionally, a mechanic similar to Just Defense was introduced in Street Fighter Alpha/Zero 3 that instead reduces guard meter consumption, made visually prominent by a brief white flashing of the character if successfully done.

Overview
Garou: Mark of the Wolves is noticeable for adding an almost entirely new cast of characters, with only one returning character. Due to being the main protagonist of the Fatal Fury series, Terry Bogard is the only veteran character present in the game. The new characters added to the roster are:

Bosses

 * Note: Both bosses are playable in all modes of the game.

Stages
Note 1: The intros appears only in Story Mode. The Sub-Boss stage don't have an intro.

Note 2: Marky, the little boy who appears along with Kevin in Story Mode, isn't present in Versus and Practice Modes.

Warning: The sight of some stages can cause epilepsy.

Normal Stages

 * Barbaroi Falls — Gato: The waterfalls. The fight takes next to the stones. Also can be seen shrubs. In the first round, it's sunset; in the second round, night; from the final rounds, morning, and vice versa (only for the 1st and final rounds).
 * Intro: a close in the stage until focusing on Gato.


 * Universal Arena — Tizoc: A big ring. Can be seen the crowd vibrating with the fight, a screen showing the active fighters, Tizoc and the crowd, plaques with the hour and the stage name and the game's logo in the floor of the ring. The billboard will show who's currently fighting on the stage, and more often than not, a footage of the crowd booing at the current player may be shown in view.
 * Intro: a close in the stage until focusing on Tizoc.


 * Sarah Forest — Butt: A forest. Can be seen tree trunks felled, wood swings, a cabin, a band with the Kyokugenryu symbol, a wrecking ball, a dumbbell, clothing and some animals, including wolves, a hawk, bears, squirrels, rabbits, deers and a porcupine, besides some trees in the background. As the round progresses, several changes including the wrecking ball falling can be seen.
 * Intro: Butt and a bear training a karate move and, then, greeting each other.


 * 5th Avenue and 2nd Street — Hokutomaru: An accident and a big traffic jam, caused by Hokutomaru. Can be seen cars, a bus, taxis, traffic lights, light posts, some cameos and guards, besides buildings, with advertisings, SNK's logo, a photo of Andy and Mai holding hands and the covers of Real Bout Fatal Fury and Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers.
 * Intro: the little ninja above a traffic light, looking both sides, and then falling to the ground, causing the accident and traffic jam.
 * Note: in each round, it's possible to observe more people and vehicles appearing on the stage, causing great chaos.


 * S.S.P. Maneuver Field — Kevin: A military field in the middle of the desert. Can be seen a truck, crates, light posts and military bases. In the 1st and 2nd rounds, can be spotted a helicopter, that disappears in the final rounds. In the first round, it's sunset; in the second round, the sun is already set; from the final rounds, it's night.
 * Intro: a gate that opens the stage and helicopters flying.


 * Slam Free Field — Freeman: An abandoned neighborhood next to a train line. The fight takes under the line. Can be seen peeled buildings, a destroyed car, neon signs, a light post, smokes, a hydrant, a barrel and a tire. Also can be seen a person scavenging the trash, in the background.
 * Intro: a train passing by the stage.

Boss Stages

 * Training Grounds (A.K.A. The Dark Palace Basement): A basement. Can be seen a circle of pillars, fire pyres and astec stone faces and a skull in the center. Associated with Grant.


 * The Dark Palace: The main balcony of a palace. Can be seen pillars and a dome structure, a flag, bands, a chess floor, a ladder, hawk statues, a portrait of Marie Heinlein, Rock's mother, painted at the background of the building, lights, and in the sky, a full moon and shooting stars. Associated with Kain.
 * Intro: a small close of the sky, descending to the point of the stage.

Cancelled Sequel
The game's sequel, tentatively titled Garou: Mark of the Wolves 2, was reported to be in the works on the Neo Geo system several times by Korean news sources. Since 2002, the project has been put on hold and eventually cancelled. According to Falcoon at the 2005 KOF Party, the game's sequel was around 70% percent complete by the old SNK team. Ureshino reported that a new grappler character and Joe Higashi's apprentice were added to the roster.

Critical Reception
In Japan, Game Machine listed Garou: Mark of the Wolves on their January 1, 2000 issue as being the most-successful arcade game of the month. GameSpot named Mark of the Wolves the best fighting game of 2001. It was nominated for the publication's annual "Best Game No One Played" and "Best Dreamcast Game" prizes among console games, but lost these respectively to Victorious Boxers: Ippo's Road to Glory and Phantasy Star Online.

Trivia

 * Just like Capcom's Vampire Savior, this is the first time SNK used the series' Japanese title name for a global release. Later console releases would restore the correct localized title, as seen in the game's Dreamcast release.
 * The game's proper English title can be seen in the rom tilesets, but for some reason, there is no way to make the game display it. The Dreamcast release uses a modified logo, replacing Garou with Fatal Fury, while retaining the Garou kanji in the logo backdrop.