Soccer’s most expensive legend is set to appear in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves when it launches in April. Developer SNK revealed the bizarre fighting game cameo in a new gameplay trailer in which the former Real Madrid star turned Al Nassr FC captain can be seen kicking a glowing blue ball to annoy his opponents.
The Fatal Fury series shocked veteran fans with its unexpected revival last year. The latest entry in the fighting game franchise that eventually spun off King of Fighters is out April 24 on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC, and can count having the weirdest crossover fighter of all time among its distinctions.
But the funniest part about Ronaldo being in the next Fatal Fury is that it only vaguely looks like him and seems to be voiced by someone else entirely. At least it doesn’t look as bad as his bronze statue:
Ronaldo was previously accused of rape in 2009 but reached a settlement with the alleged victim and claimed he was innocent, even though she later came out publicly about the allegations following the 2019 #metoo movement. Why is he now in, of all things, a deep cut 2D fighter from Japanese arcade gaming’s past? It’s probably not just because the developers one day saw players in the Fatal Fury community having fun and decided to turn those meme dreams into reality.
Ronaldo plays for Al Nassr FC after agreeing to take leave of Europe and help sportswash Saudi Arabia’s bad human rights record in exchange for over $200 million. Al Nassr FC is 75 percent owned by the Saudi royal investment fund which also happens to have a 96 percent controlling stake in Fatal Fury makers SNK.
“We’re not a political company or anything like that, so it doesn’t affect us in any way,” SNK designer and producer Yasuyuki Oda said of the Saudi investment when questioned by VGC back in 2022. “It has no–no–effect on our creative output. We have full freedom on what we want to create.” Hmmm.
I had the chance to play Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves at Summer Game Fest last year and it was shaping up nicely, with a cool comic book art style and a new combat system to give players more offensive options from the start of each match. I can’t say I’m looking forward to playing as Ronaldo, but him being in the game also means getting to beat up on anyone who main’s him.
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