We sat down with City of the Wolves director Hayato Konya to chat about Chun-Li’s inclusion in the game and the pressure of handling such an iconic character — as well as SNK’s cheeky reference to that iconic crossover art with Mai Shiranui.
Chun-Li is kicking her way into Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves as the game’s next highly-anticipated guest character from the Street Fighter series, following Ken’s release earlier this year.
Before she hits the roster this winter, Dexerto got the chance to speak with CotW’s director, Hayato Konya, who let us in on how the development team brought the First Lady of fighting games back into a new mainline SNK title after nearly twenty years.
SNK director opens up about the pressure of adding Chun-Li to CotW
It’s been 22 years since SNK vs Capcom: SVC Chaos released in 2003. All this time, fans of the crossover games had been anxiously waiting to see if these two companies would ever collaborate again.
Then, in 2024, Terry Bogard and Mai Shiranui were revealed as guest characters for Street Fighter 6, while Chun-Li and Ken were announced as guest fighters in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves.
This unexpected partnership came as welcome news to the fighting game community, and now, only Chun-Li is left to join the fray. It makes sense that she was the last of the lot, though, given that she’s one of the most popular female video game characters in history. (No, seriously: she’s one of the most-Googled female video game characters ever, second only to Princess Peach.)
In fact, she was the first playable female character in a major mainstream fighting game, and has remained popular ever since Street Fighter II hit arcades in the 90’s — so much so that even her Fortnite skin is a hot commodity.
As such, we had to know if the devs at SNK had any anxiety about translating Chun-Li’s iconic moveset into City of the Wolves’ battle system — and it turns out, they did.
“I definitely felt nervous, or rather, a strange sort of excitement,” Konya admitted. “To be honest though, I felt the same way with Ken, and working on the other Fatal Fury characters has its own strange sort of excitement, as well.
“Still, getting a SNES when I was very young and playing Street Fighter II on it — the deep emotions from that time are probably the strongest thing I’m feeling.”
SNK director wants to create “cherished memories” for players
Chun-Li’s gameplay trailer finally released in late October, giving fans a taste of what they can expect this winter. In the video, Chun-Li and Mai Shiranui’s rivalry shines, even including a reference to the famous SVC: Chaos promo artwork depicting the two characters.
This falls in line with SNK’s other references to past collaborations with Capcom in CotW, such as the callback to Ken’s iconic intro with Terry. For Konya, it was seriously important to get these classic interactions right and honor their ties with Capcom.
“With Chun-Li and Mai — characters who have represented female fighters in the genre for so many years — I really wanted the generation of players from the arcades to see this collaboration and get excited,” he told us.
“When I thought about what evokes the strongest memories of these two characters, I kept coming back to that one promotional artwork from SNK vs. Capcom. Bringing that art into 3D presented some challenges, but I’d be thrilled if seeing it brings back memories for players, or even makes them want to actually play both characters in game.
“Faithfully recreating these moments are important, but I think that more than that, I’m hoping these moments become cherished memories for the fans.
After all, I think what matters most is that both longtime fighting game fans and newcomers can enjoy it.”
Chun-Li is a smooth transition for Street Fighter players
We also got the chance to play Chun-Li prior to her release, and it’s safe to say that she’s extremely similar to her Street Fighter 6 iteration, much like Ken, give or take a few tweaks to fit CotW’s REV system.
Konya explained that SNK wanted Street Fighter players to feel right at home if they decide to pick her up, admitting that, just like Ken, they based her moves on how she plays in Street Fighter 6.
“This may sound a little bit complicated, but her basic movements and actions are based on Street Fighter 6. However, since Fatal Fury and Street Fighter 6 have slightly different commands and mechanics, that part of her is based on Fatal Fury.
“With all that being said, you should be able to comfortably play Chun-Li in Fatal Fury if you’re coming from Street Fighter.”
However, it wasn’t necessarily a plug-and-play situation. The team had to think hard about how to make both Street Fighter fans and SNK players happy, and that was a tall order.
“It definitely wasn’t easy, but the battle director for City of the Wolves has considerable knowledge of Street Fighter as well,” Konya said. “He is also a fan himself, so he thought deeply about what we needed to do to make fans happy.
“There were a lot of things to do, like modifying her gameplay to fit the REV system and thinking about how to balance her move set, but ultimately it wasn’t an impossible challenge.”
Chun-Li is set to release in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves in Winter 2025, available on PlayStation 4 & 5, Xbox Series X|S, Steam, and the Epic Games Store.
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