Michael Max from Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves

[Pán-Brazílsky]

Hello! I'd like to introduce a project I've been working on: Michael Max, a character who debuted in the original Fatal Fury (1991) but did not appear in any other game in the franchise because he bore too strong a resemblance to Balrog (Mike Bison) from Street Fighter II.

My main idea is to create a version of Michael as if he were a playable character in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, adapting him to the game's lore while giving him a playstyle suited to the title and a new personal backstory—aging him up and providing a compelling reason for him to participate in this King of Fighters tournament.

My goal is to create not only a playable character, but a complete presentation with original animations, a stage and an original soundtrack.

Here are some of the animations I've completed so far:



This is still a work in progress, and I'm continuing to learn as I develop the project. Feedback is welcome, especially regarding the sprites, animation and how the character reads visually during combat.

Planned release: January 28, 2027, content designed for MUGEN 1.0.

This project is also part of a larger personal ambition: I'd love to someday see this version of Michael Max as a playable character of Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, so I'm treating this project as an opportunity to develop and demonstrate the character as seriously as I can.

Thank you for taking a look!

[Ehart2005]

Looking good! I think his idle could use a little movement on his legs, but not bad at all!

[Manson Rees]

That's great!
I really liked his portrait.
Do you have any ideas for his moveset?

[malevka1]

Looking good

[Larno]

Nice project. I'll be following it closely.
Good luck.

[Pán-Brazílsky]

The only way to start this post is by thanking @Ehart2005, @Manson Rees, @malevka1 and @Larno.

My work here isn't just about creating a playable character for MUGEN 1.0; it's about convincing as many people as possible that my version of Michael Max fits perfectly into Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves and that his inclusion will attract more buyers to the game.

And your likes and comments show that I'm off to a great start. Once again, thank you all for your attention.

But before showing the progress I've made on Michael this past week, I'll answer a few questions:

Looking good! I think his idle could use a little movement on his legs, but not bad at all!

I assume you're referring to the combat stance; my answer is that I don't see a need to incorporate leg movement. Why? I'll show you two examples:



These are two poses with absolutely no leg movement; they demonstrate a solid, grounded stance focused on delivering powerful, precise blows, while showing a willingness to wait for the opponent to make a mistake.

That is exactly what I want to convey with this pose of Michael—along with his rigid, inflexible personality and his inability to resolve problems in any way other than through aggression.

That's great!
I really liked his portrait.
Do you have any ideas for his moveset?

The general concept for Michael's moveset is that of a mobile grappler—someone with solid normal attacks and a strong neutral game, and whose command grabs deal significant damage, without being exceptional in any single one of these areas.

A few reasons for this unusual choice:
- To combine two fighting styles that are polar opposites in real life: boxing and grappling.
- To reflect the current state of this version of Michael Max: someone who has not only aged but also only recently returned to competition.
- To differentiate him from Rick Strowd; we all knew the conventional boxer in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves would be Rick, rather than Michael, Axel, Mickey, or Jess Young from the cancelled Garou 2.
- The only mobile grappler in the Fatal Fury franchise is Jubei Yamada, and no one knows if he is even still alive.

It is interesting, given that SNK popularized this archetype with characters like Clark, Daimon, and Shermie—yet all of them ended up being concentrated in The King of Fighters...

As for the attacks themselves, I will show them in due time.

This week, I managed to finish the key frames for his High Dodge Attack—a standard move designed to dodge high attacks and then counterattack the opponent. Here's what I've done:



I also created the first part of Michael Max's signature stage: the Southtown Baptist Church—which is also the title of the stage:



Before wrapping up this post, I'd like to ask a question:

What are the standard height and width dimensions for a low-resolution stage designed for MUGEN 1.0 without super jump access? I want to get an idea of ​​the measurements so I can better compose the scene, plan where and how much parallax to use, and so on...

Thanks for your time—now it's time to get back to drawing.

[DatKofGuy]

I assume you're referring to the combat stance; my answer is that I don't see a need to incorporate leg movement. Why? I'll show you two examples:

Maybe not, but he is a boxer, who are known to have motion in their legs since there always ready. Even its just to have a short loop in between.
The current stance is a bit choppy though. Look at some body mechanics. His torso is static and just his arms and head are moving, thats not how the body works.

[Pán-Brazílsky]

As always, I'll start this new post by thanking everyone who liked this project—especially @DatKofGuy —for openly showing their support. It confirms I'm on the right track, convincing people that my version of Michael Max—The Darkest Face of South Town—would be a great addition to Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves.

Before showing what I've done over the last few weeks, I want to apologize: I realize I should have shared my progress sooner, and I'll make an effort to be more consistent with my updates.

But before I start showing what I've done, I want to answer two questions:

Maybe not, but he is a boxer, who are known to have motion in their legs since there always ready. Even its just to have a short loop in between.
The current stance is a bit choppy though. Look at some body mechanics. His torso is static and just his arms and head are moving, thats not how the body works.

Answer number 1:

I believe you are referring to the footwork that is typically a hallmark of boxers. I'll explain this using a real-life example:

The heavier a boxer is, the more static their fighting stance tends to be. Moving around less not only helps avoid the fatigue that comes from fighting while carrying a lot of weight, but it also provides a solid foundation for their punches—the heavier the fighter, the greater their capacity to land a knockout with just a few strikes.

And it's not just a matter of physical weight here; Michael Max also carries a great deal of emotional weight. The Darkest Face of South Town can no longer endure his suffering and seeks to destroy South Town in retaliation for everything it has done to him and his family.

Now for answer number 2:

I agree with you that my animation for the fighting stance is choppy. In fact, I'll place it between my two examples to show that my animation isn't quite up to par:



However, there's a catch: I haven't mastered subpixel animation, and I only managed to create this pose with outside help. I'm currently at a stage where I need to build something reasonably functional before worrying about refining elements that lack a solid foundation.

Furthermore, I believe that if I were to make the fighting stance completely fluid and visually polished right now, it would push back the schedule even further and make it much harder to hit the planned release date: January 28, 2027.

Now that the questions have been cleared up, I will begin to show what I've done over the last few days.

The first animation is the Low Dodge Attack, a universal overhead move that includes brief invulnerability to low attacks:


This is the grounded REV Blow, the Tornado Upper. It's a short-range projectile—traveling a maximum of half the screen—that cancels out standard projectiles and hits the opponent multiple times while knocking them down. The projectile only fires if Michael isn't hit while performing the REV Blow; otherwise, he simply executes an uppercut that forces the opponent to their knees:



Next is a variation of the aerial REV Blow: the Ground 'n' Pound. This specific animation plays if "The Darkest Face of South Town" gets hit while unleashing the attack; it becomes a simple overhead that drops the enemy to their knees:


Now for something less related to gameplay mechanics: Combat Callouts. I created all the in-match messages found in *Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves* (plus one extra I added to work around MUGEN 1.0 limitations), and here is the result:



Another element that falls into the "non-gameplay" category is the set of story-related animations. And here is the opening Arcade mode scene for each character in the seventh *Fatal Fury* game—which will obviously be used for Michael as well:



To clarify a few details and adjustments: the stage accompanying Michael Max—the South Town Baptist Church—will measure 1920 x 960 pixels. Since the church would look incomplete on such a large stage, I fleshed out the building with some extra details:



I also made an adjustment to the small portrait. Which version do you prefer?



I'll wrap up this post by sharing the Instagram account I created for this project. I'll be posting there more frequently and can respond more quickly to any messages. My goal is to convince those outside the MUGEN community that my version of Michael Max deserves to be a playable character in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves.

To that end, I created a large sprite that effectively showcases who Michael Max—the Darkest Face of South Town—really is:



Follow Michael Max on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/panbrazilsky/

Thanks for everything. Now, it's time to get back to work.

[Fob1aZ]

Interesting job! Good luck!