- Legendary footballer Cristiano Ronaldo will be a playable character in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves
- A second open beta test is live now, running until the end of March
- The game will release in full on April 24, 2025
In what is quite possibly the biggest bit of fighting game news this year, Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo has been confirmed as a playable character in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves.
No, don’t click away. I promise I’m not just reporting on a particularly convincing fever dream. Ronaldo was initially teased to make an appearance in the upcoming SNK fighting game last year, but in what capacity we didn’t know at that time.
Now, the sporting icon has been outright confirmed as a playable guest character for Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. Developer SNK has also released a couple of trailers giving us a sneak peek at Ronaldo’s appearance and moveset.
As you might expect, the former Real Madrid superstar primarily incorporates a football into his playstyle, along with a good number of powerful kicks. At first glance, it looks like players will be able to keep opponents guessing with the placement of the ball, potentially making him something of a rushdown / zoner hybrid character.
I’ll admit it; it seems like an utterly bonkers idea for a crossover. But if you look at the history of fighting game guest characters as well as SNK itself, it starts to make a ton of sense.
For one, guest character inclusions have been an incredibly effective marketing tool for fighting games for decades now. Whether it’s Clive Rosfield (Final Fantasy 16) in Tekken 8 or Snake (Metal Gear Solid) in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, guest characters get people talking and have the power to expand a game’s audience.
Heck, the Soul Calibur series made this a core part of its identity, featuring characters like Link, Spawn, Darth Vader, Ezio Auditore, Geralt of Rivia, and 2B in various games.
‘But Ronaldo isn’t a fictional character,’ you might say. And that’s fair. On that front, it’s worth noting that both football and SNK-developed fighting games are especially popular in Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries including Brazil, Argentina, and Chile.
To players in those countries, Ronaldo’s inclusion is likely a very exciting prospect. And, y’know, he might also just be a globally celebrated sports icon who has played for clubs all over the world including Real Madrid, Manchester United, and Juventus.
In any case, you can get a taste of Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves right now ahead of its April 24 release. A second open beta for the game has just gone live across all platforms. It runs from today, March 27, all the way until March 31.
Sadly, Ronaldo isn’t playable here, but it does look to address issues from the first open beta by adding Tizoc as a playable character as well as a training mode.
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