The rumors, crazy as they seemed, were true. Soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is a playable character in SNK's upcoming fighter Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. He's not a skin, or an alternate look for an existing character. No, it's really Ronaldo, with a kicking/soccer based moveset. Here's the trailer:
And yes, they hired a voice actor to play Ronaldo. That's typical, as athletes aren't actors. LeBron James, for example, doesn't voice his Multiversus character. You'd think nobody would be better at voicing Ronaldo than Ronaldo, right? But while the soccer star has faced many challenges on the pitch, he's never had to fight off a bunch of martial arts hooligans throwing fireballs at him.
His character bio reads:
"One of the top football players in the world. He uses his time off to visit South Town to hone his new football skills. The various techniques he has developed playing football make him an unstoppable force, even to seasoned fighters.
I have a soft spot for weird character choices like this. I'm a LeBron main, so there's no doubt I'm playing Ronaldo. COTW is the first new Fatal Fury game in 26 years, although the characters have been steadily appearing elsewhere. Terry Bogard has shown up in Smash Bros and Street Fighter 6. Mai Shiranui is in the latest Street Fighter installment as well.
The SF6 crossover will go both ways, as Chun-Li and Ken Masters are planned DLC for City of the Wolves. Ken's slated for Summer 2025, while Chun-Li will arrive with the Winter DLC. The latest Fatal Fury installment drops on April 25, on PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.