Well it’s been a while but Fatal Fury mainstay Joe Higashi has finally made his mark in the Wolves era of the franchise. After missing out on Mark of the Wolves all those years ago Joe will be making his way to City of the Wolves this Fall, and he’s wearing glasses so that’s how you know he’s older!

With his signature wind powered muay thai (and, again, a spiffying new pair of glasses) Joe has been a series mainstay for a long time but vanished from Mark of the Wolves with absolutely no regard or reason being given as to why he vanished, unlike other mainstays like Mai and Andy who were featured in other characters’ endings and backstories. Turns out, Joe isn’t dead or retired, he just decided to take a break.

Those familiar with Fatal Fury or King of Fighters will see some old staples in that trailer like his Tiger Kick DP, his forward moving Slash Kick, his Bakuretsuken multi-punch, and of course his signature Screw Upper which summons a tornado from his uppercut. Like most KOF characters Joe is usually pretty rushdown focused, though he can be played a bit more patiently as well.

We won’t know how strong he is, but hopefully Joe shakes up the City of the Wolves meta a bit. As cool as Kain is, we don’t need entire top 8s filled with nothing but him.

It’s been a good year for Muay Thai enjoyers. Fahkumram released for Tekken 8 earlier this year, and just last month Sagat released for Street Fighter 6. Now, coming soon sometime this Fall we’ll be adding Joe Higashi to City of the Wolves. Be sure to keep a lookout for him, and look forward to Street Fighter guest character Chun-Li to follow soon after, with a release date of Winter 2025 we should be seeing her in City of the Wolves before the New Year.