It’s been a long time hasn’t it, Rick?
Rick Strowd is a Fatal Fury character that debuted in Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers, but you’d be forgiven for not remembering him as he hasn’t seen the light of day since that aforementioned game. It’s been about 28 years since Strowd’s last playable appearance (funnily enough, that’s about how old Strowd was in Fatal Fury 2) but now it’s time to dust off this old classic character and bring him back to the stage for Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves.
Rick is a boxer archetype, and while that can mean a few things in the context of fighting games don’t let Rick’s bulky muscles fool you into thinking he’s some sort of immovable buffalo looking for one big punch; here Rick is on the faster side, ducking and weaving in and out of the opponent’s reach looking for an opening to unleash a flurry of offense and push his opponent from midscreen all the way to the corner off of a touch. This is pretty reminiscent of King of Fighters’ ever popular boxing mom, Vanessa (and teased at in this trailer by customizing Rick to give him Vanessa’s hair and clothing colors).
Rick’s classic Fatal Fury 2 moves like Shooting Star, Hellion, and Divine Blast make their return here, and his moveset has been expanded to emphasize his high speed full rush boxing style, capped off with a super that makes him move so fast it looks like clones of him are pummeling you.
Rick is the first character in City of the Wolves’ third season alongside Duck King, Kim Kaphwan, and Laocorn alongside two more DLC characters, who have yet to be revealed, giving us an unprecedented new DLC character every month and really blowing the doors off their competition in terms of new content for their game. Rick Strowd is set to release very soon, on July 23rd, 2026, but if you want some more footage of how he plays, SNK have been generous enough to upload some dev playtime with the character in the videos below: