During the City of the Wolves Evo France Top 8, SNK revealed that Joe Higashi would be dropping on October 11, becoming the third DLC for the game following Andy Bogard and Street Fighter's Ken Masters.
As part of his release, a major patch also dropped, one that improves the online experience by adding a wi-fi indicator and separate ranks per character.
I had the opportunity to ask COTW director Hayato Konya-san and producer Yasuyuki Oda-san some quick questions regarding the development of Joe, his in-game transformation, which now sees him chasing Hollywood stardom with a new documentary, and which veteran character could get their own young apprentice next.
Gfinity: What were the challenges of bringing back Joe to Fatal Fury? Especially considering COTW introduced Preecha, a character that borrows a lot of his move set.
Konya-san: Conceptually, we approached the creation of Preecha and Joe in two separate ways.
Preecha was designed as a brand-new character who was introduced to players as Joe’s disciple.
Conversely, Joe was a character that people already had expectations for due to his appearances in past Fatal Fury games and KOF. So, we needed to make a version of Joe that exceeded those expectations.
As such, Joe wasn’t designed based on Preecha, but rather as a standalone character that would have fans thinking “This guy is so cool” and “he’s different from the KOF Joe!”
His complete Muay Thai skillset shares some similarities with Preecha’s, but I think fans will recognize that he’s one step above her in skill level.
Gfinity: Joe's always been on the goofier side of things, character-wise, in comparison to Terry or Andy Bogard: were there any plans of turning him into a more stoic, mature person, or was keeping him a light-hearted character always the goal?
Oda-san: Joe’s Fatal Fury iteration has him acting as a sort of sub-protagonist behind Andy and Terry, always supporting their journey to defeat Geese. So, he initially started out with a cool and serious personality.
In KOF, however, Joe does not have the same kind of aim or goal, so his lighter, goofier side is brought to the forefront instead.
Gfinity: Now that Joe has his own apprentice with Preecha following Terry and Rock, as well as Andy and Hokutomaru, which other characters would you like to turn into a mentor type for a newcomer?
Konya-san: I’d like to create a ninja apprentice for Mai. I think showing off a different style of Shiranui-ryu Ninjutsu separate from Hokutomaru’s would help expand the world of Fatal Fury.
…I was secretly hoping for a three-person apprentice team in KOF (Rock, Hokutomaru, Preecha), so having 4 apprentices might cause some problems (haha).
Gfinity: Joe's story in City of the Wolves revolves around his biopic documentary, The Legend of Joe. Who's your pick to play Joe Higashi in your ideal live-action adaptation of Fatal Fury?
Oda-san: It’s hard to say. If a heavyweight champion from some kind of combat sport took the role, it would be pretty impressive to watch, don’t you think?
Remember that you can enjoy Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves on PC, Xbox Series, and PlayStation 4 and 5. I personally think is one of the must fun fighting games in recent years, and with a full season of DLC being included with the base game, it's also one of the best offerings in terms of value for money currently in the genre.
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