Chun-Li recently joined the Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves roster as its fourth DLC character. Notably, she’s the second Street Fighter guest character after Ken.
As one might expect, incorporating a guest character like Chun-Li into the Fatal Fury cast is a little trickier than adding in a series mainstay. Of course, this is typically true of any guest in fighting games since developers have to juggle keeping the fighter familiar to their home series while also ensuring that they mix in well with the rest of the game and its mechanics.
Yasuyuki Oda, producer for Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, talked about the challenges associated with getting Chun-Li to cooperate in the game. Of course, these challenges also applied when they were adding Ken into the mix as well.
“Since Street Fighter 6 and City of the Wolves differ significantly in their core mechanics and visual presentation, simply copying and pasting a character from one game into the other isn’t possible.” — Yasuyuki Oda
“Bringing Chun-Li into City of the Wolves was no ordinary crossover. One of the core challenges and a major theme throughout development was integrating a character from a different game in a way that felt natural within City of the Wolves’ universe. This was also applied when Ken was introduced earlier this year,” said Oda in his recent blog post.
Not surprisingly, the developers couldn’t just borrow Chun-Li from how she played in Street Fighter 6. There was a bit more to the process than that.
“Since Street Fighter 6 and City of the Wolves differ significantly in their core mechanics and visual presentation, simply copying and pasting a character from one game into the other isn’t possible. Adapting a crossover character to fit seamlessly into CotW’s system requires a much more extensive development process than most players might expect,” continued Oda.
Without a doubt, SNK absolutely knew that they had to get Chun-Li’s legs and kick attacks correct. It’s a core part of Chun-Li’s identity, after all.
“One of the challenges during Chun-Li’s development was how to represent her legs — more specifically, her powerful kicks.” — Yasuyuki Oda
“One of the challenges during Chun-Li’s development was how to represent her legs — more specifically, her powerful kicks. According to the dev team, this was one of the most memorable aspects of the design process.
“When you think of Chun-Li, her strong, dynamic legwork comes to mind. For many fans, those kicks are her signature and we felt the same. But as we followed City of the Wolves’ core design philosophy, we noticed something: her legs came out a bit slimmer than in her original appearances. That sparked some debate within the team.”
Considering that SNK was working with one of the most iconic fighting game characters and video game characters in general, they felt it was necessary to “bend the rules” a little bit to ensure that Chun-Li was properly represented within Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves.
“Ultimately, we decided that preserving Chun-Li’s iconic look was more important than strictly sticking to the usual design rules. Her powerful legs are a key part of what makes her Chun-Li, and we didn’t want to lose that. So yes — we bent the rules a little to make sure her character shines through in the most authentic way possible,” declared Oda.