Salvatore Ganacci in Fatal Fury: City of Wolves? This Isn’t a Fighting Game, It’s a Circus! | popgeeks.com
Salvatore Ganacci in Fatal Fury: City of Wolves? WTF!
What is happening to Fatal Fury? The once-beloved franchise has officially gone off the rails, and I can’t believe what SNK is doing to it. “Shatter your expectations,” they said. Well, mission accomplished. But it’s not the kind of shattering we were hoping for. After the somewhat understandable inclusion of Ken and Chun-Li from Street Fighter, and even the crossover with Mai and Terry in Street Fighter 6, things have now taken an absurd turn. Cristiano Ronaldo—yes, the soccer player—was bad enough, and we all thought that was an April Fools’ joke. But now? Now we have Salvatore Ganacci, the DJ and breakdancer, as a main character. This isn’t a fighting game, this is a circus.
Sure, I get that Ronaldo makes sense. His massive 651 million Instagram followers make him an easy marketing tool for attracting casual players who wouldn’t know a Power Wave from a Rising Tackle. But Salvatore Ganacci? Really? The guy doesn’t even have fighting skills! He’s known for his ridiculous breakdancing performances and DJ antics, not for any sort of combat prowess. His “fighting style” consists of fist pumps, spins, and the occasional “hip-hop” move. How does this even get a pass as a fighter in a fighting game?
And let’s talk about the numbers. Ganacci has a modest following of 435,116 Instagram followers—nothing to sneeze at, but nowhere near Ronaldo’s stratospheric numbers. So, what’s going on here? Did he pay SNK to get himself into the game? Did he cut some sort of behind-the-scenes deal to shoehorn himself into the roster? Fans are confused and honestly, so am I. This just doesn’t make sense.
Then there’s the announcement video. Oh, joy. Salvatore uploaded it to his YouTube channel, and it’s as embarrassing as it is baffling. The trailer starts with a flashback to his childhood, where a teacher asks her class what they want to be when they grow up. Little Salvatore, in his infinite wisdom, declares that he wants to be in a videogame. The class laughs at him. Fast forward, and little Salvatore is at home, playing Nintendo with his Fatal Fury cartridge. He blows into the cartridge, and—surprise!—a genie in a tank top who looks like a homeless guy pops out and grants him a wish. And what does this wish get him? Footage of Salvatore’s character—who, of course, doesn’t look like a fighter—defeating Terry Bogard with breakdancing. Yep, breakdancing. You know, martial arts… if that’s what you want to call it.
But it doesn’t stop there. The trailer goes on to show his full moveset, which, in case you missed it, is just more breakdancing and DJ moves. He’s literally Duck King 2.0—another DJ in the Fatal Fury universe—except this one’s actually real. Is this SNK’s way of telling us Duck King isn’t going to make the roster now? Are we really going to replace him with Salvatore Ganacci? Are we seriously doing this?
Fatal Fury fans have been eagerly awaiting the next roster update, and this is the result? I can’t believe it. This is a joke. Sure, Ganacci will be great for practice mode—at least we have a new training dummy, I guess. But for the love of all things sacred in fighting games, this is the character you choose to put in the game?
Are they trying to be the Fortnite of fighting games now? Just throw in every random celebrity and influencer who can grab a few eyes on Instagram and call it a “fighter”? At least Fortnite has the excuse of being a battle royale. But a fighting game like Fatal Fury? This is going way too far.
Let’s not forget, Mortal Kombat has had Arnold Schwarzenegger, Megan Fox, and Sylvester Stallone, but despite sharing their likeness, they’re playing a role, not themselves. Megan Fox plays Nitara, a character within the game’s universe. Arnold played Terminator and Conan, while Stallone played Rambo. They’re characters with an actual purpose. But Ganacci? He’s just Salvatore Ganacci… breakdancing his way through Fatal Fury. What’s next? Paris Hilton as a fighter? Please.
