No, really. It’s him. Arguably one of the greatest football player the world has ever seen, Cristiano Ronaldo, is has been revealed as the next fighter in SNK’s upcoming game Fatal Fury: City Of The Wolves.
Ronaldo has teased acollaboration with SNK a few months back, but apparently the two parties went all in with a crossover nobody expected.
In a cast featuring the likes of Rock Howard, Terry Bogard and Mai Shiranui, these stalwarts of SNK fighting game heritage welcome the Portuguese footballer to South Town for a pick up game. And probably a first-to-ten set as well.
Funnily enough, football moves translates well in a fighting game. CR7 here fights with some hand contact, but a lot of his moves are all inspired by the actions you’d see him do on a pitch. His projectile fireball is him shooting his conjured football. His football dribbling antics is a stance that can be followed-up with a variety of moves to keep opponents guessing: from a sliding tackle to a shoulder check.
And for those who might see Ronaldo being prone to dive, guess what, he can dive by using meter. And he can dive kick. Of course he does. And he also does his signature goal-scoring celebration pose after pulling his ultimate attack: a penalty kick. Detractors of “Penaldo” would get a kick out of this.
As absurd and unexpected this crossover is, Ronaldo sure has moves. Imagine seeing him shooting the ball and cancelling that into a deep, hard tackle in the next Al Nassr match. You can peruse his complete moveset here.
This isn’t the first time an athlete appears in a fighting game. LeBron James appeared in the soon-to-be-discontinued MultiVersus due to his connections with Space Jam 2 and the greater Warner Bros. universe. And like CR7 here, video game LeBron also has a professional voice actor doing the voice lines.
As for why Ronaldo appearing in an SNK fighting game, the most tenuous link we could find is that SNK is now owned by Saudi Arabian-based Misk Foundation. And Ronaldo is currently playing in the Saudi Pro League team Al Nassr.
SNK had previously gone on the record saying its new ownership won’t affect the creative output of the game publisher and developer.
Whatever the real reason by this surprising link-up is, the result of it is pretty sick. The moveset is clever and cool. Though fans that are expecting the return of their faves in the launch game roster (and have no interest in football) have definitely expressed disappointment on this announcement.
Fatal Fury: City Of The Wolves is hosting another round of open beta, though sadly Ronaldo isn’t part of the available roster.
If you want to go “Siuuu” as you dominate your opponent with your sick footballing tricks in a fighting game, you’ll have to wait until April 24 when Fatal Fury City: Of The Wolves releases for the PS4, PS5, PC (Steam) and Xbox Series X|S.