Garou: Mark of the Wolves coming to XBLA Wednesday, 6/24/09

[Mickeymac]

Source: Kotaku, Xbox.com, Team Xbox

The last, and most beloved entry in SNK's Fatal Fury series, Garou: Mark of the Wolves is slated to come to Xbox Live Marketplace this week, according to Kotaku.

I know that I personally am excited for this update. I've had a chance to play Mark of the Wolves already, and it is a fantastic fighting game! The balance is superb, and the fighting system(which has been completely reduxed from the last entry in the series) is deep and complex enough to keep any serious fighting fan busy, yet at the same time it's still possible to enjoy it without having to learn of the intricacies - the moves are very easy to learn, mostly just quarter-circles, even for the supers(x2 quarter-circles). The only legitimate complaint I have for this game is the small amount of characters - only about 14, about half the amount of characters in the last game, Real Bout Fatal Fury 2. However, MotW makes up for this in that most of its characters are so fun to use - considering the fact that I only ever use more than 4 or 5 characters in any given game(a true fighting fan, I am not ), MotW is unique in that it's the only fighting game I've ever played where I've repeatedly used and enjoyed using every single character in its roster.

Anywho, enough amatuer reviewing. As you can see, I am very exited for this game, as should just about any other fighting fan with an Xbox 360.
My only concern, though, is how the controls will feel. Judging from the article by Kotaku, it may very well be a port of the Dreamcast version, which had some serious control issues(input delays iirc). Couple that with the Xbox 360's controller(lets face it, no matter how you look at it, that thing is just not good for fighting games), and you'll be in for one seriously sloppy fighter. Of course, so long as it doesn't have the input delays the Dreamcast version reportedly had, a fighting stick should fix a number of the control problems, and considering the amount of online-enabled fighters on the Xbox 360, those sticks would a worthy investment for anyone with even a mild interest in fighters.

Hopefully, everything will turn out fine in the end, and we'll all be in for the fight of our life when Garou: Mark of the Wolves hits the Xbox Live Marketplace this Wednesday.

[Refa]

Nice article...OK, I didn't read it....*3-5 minutes later*

Mark Of The Wolves is a game I've wanted to try, because it's been compared to SF3 in all aspects (not a clone, but more along the lines of parrelelism). Easy moves to learn AND enjoyable characters? Count me in.

The DC version also had great fighting stick support, without input delays (from the stick, anyways), so there's a good chance the 360 version will have it...or not.

Which this was coming on PSN....

[Mickeymac]

I got to try the demo today(still waiting for my mum to come home so I can add the necessary funds), and so far it's been pretty good. The controls feel pretty smooth, even with the Xbox 360 controller(although back-stepping and running are pretty tricky to do with the analogue stick). The demo had my most-used character(Rock) and my least-used(Hotaru), so I got a chance to remember some old moves and learn some new. I still find that the moves in MotW are relatively easy to remember and pull off, it's just learning how and when to use them that the challenge really sets in.
I still need to unlock the full game in order to get a feel on the extra modes and characters, but so far, I'm pretty impressed with this port, and I'm glad we finally get to play this little gem, especially online.

[Mickeymac]

And now I officially got it. Not a lot of people online yet, but I guess that's understandable. If I don't go on vacation tomorrow(It's either tomorrow or Friday), I'll try holding a Custom Match for a while.