Garou: Mark of the Wolves

"'The Hungry Wolf' returns"

If the original Street Fighter was Capcom's fighter champion, Fatal Fury would be it's direct rival. Both games featured a Story Mode where you went around the place beating up people in search of the title of the strongest, and both had very good arcade prowess. In the end, Street Fighter was more popular due to it's expansion to other consoles. Still, Fatal Fury would be it's most powerful rival until the arrival of the arrival of the King of Fighters series. But in an a twist of fate, SNK created a new Fatal Fury (known as Garou Densetsu, meaning 'Legend of the Wolf', in Japan). Named Garou: Mark of the Wolves, SNK released it's first real Fatal Fury game in about 8 years, and that's not counting the Real Bout series.
The story begins in the SNK trademark city of corruption and crime: Southtown. It has been ten years since the death of the world's most notorious business man Geese Howard. Terry (SNK's poster boy and main character of Fatal Fury) finally defeated him, but was alarmed when he found Geese's son, Rock Howard. Terry adopted Rock like his father adopted him. He taught him the ancient Hakyokusaken style and both became formidable fighters. One day, Rock sets off into Southtown to find his long lost mother, who he hopes can explain his past. Terry, like any hero, goes after him and the 'Hungry Wolf' sets out into Southtown again. Garou has perhaps one of the best story's in a SNK game. Though the tale is somewhat confusing due to the ten year change in the Fatal Fury universe, it's a good base on which the game revolves. It sure beats the hell out of the story in Rage of the Dragons, as character endings are sensible here.
Being a Neo-Geo game, the sounds and graphics are quite dated and are not as well put out as other arcade fighters like Soul Caliber II or Guilty Gear X. Still, Garou has some decent tunes for you to fight to. Though it won't blow you away, the music adheres to the game's style, especially in Rock's stage. Voices are quite good and very clear. I still can't understand why Terry is still one of the few people who speaks English in the SNK universe.
Again, the old arcade hardware for Neo-Geo is not able to produce quality graphics and instead produces pixelated low-res sprites. Though the sprites are pretty well detailed, we just want to see more games like Sammy's Guilty Gear X, where all characters are in high-resolution. The backgrounds display a lot of detail. The bells in a church tower move methodically and helicopter blades spins smoothly as it hovers over a desert air base. While they are good, we're yearning for newer and crisper graphics.
Like all other Neo-Geo fighting games, Garou boasts spot-on control. Standard 4 button (light/heavy punch and light/heavy kick) control is present again. All moves are smooth and never require much effort to execute, except for Tizoc's/The Griffin's 'Justice Hurricane' and 'Big Fall', which are full rotations
And also like other Neo-Geo fighting games, playing the game is damned fun! . Garou's T.O.P. System gives you a certain portion of your life bar, where when you reach it, your character's defense and offense are boosted and you can execute T.O.P. Attacks. These attacks are not too spectacular, but they can come in handy. The power gauge is set up like the ones in Real Bout. You have two levels to build up: S (Super, the weaker) and P (Potential, the stronger). By using the weaker attack, kick or punch, you execute the Super Power Move. Though significantly weaker than your Potential, if you build you gauge up to a P, you can use two Super Powers instead of one. But using the stronger attack allows you to execute the Potential Power Move. The animation is more spectacular and deals out much more damage.
Due to it's being a arcade game, it's features and content are not exactly catered to a console. Home versions sport a few extras, such as the totally fun Survival Mode where you battle all characters before you run out of life or time runs out and some improved graphics. The two boss characters Grant and Kain are also readily playable. But there's nothing to really compel you to play this more. It's a good fighting game and all, but it has too little features to keep you playing. Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution's infamous Quest Mode or Soul Caliber II's Weapon Master Mode would have been a nice addition to a game like this, or any Neo-Geo fighting game.
Ultimately, Garou: Mark of the Wolves is a thoroughly enjoyable and great game. A sequel is really needed cause the story leaves you hanging, and this game's too good to just end. Being SNK though, they're probably developing one right now.

Rating: 8
Great game, but the platform as a whole needs to be overhauled for today's standards.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/15/04