Wolfgang Krauser is a mountain of mayhem in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves

Big moves, bigger Kaiser waves, and some nasty command throws make Krauser a wrecking ball in his latest appearance.

These days, if a longtime fighting game thinks of the Kaiser Wave, they probably think of Rugal Bernstein from the King of Fighters series. He was the most iconic character to use the move, but it originated, alongside his overwhelming SNK boss offense, from the mighty hands of Wolfgang Krauser in Fatal Fury 2. Krauser was a follow-up boss to Geese, a German mountain of a man, and while he was once thought dead, pride and vengeance have brought him to Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves as its latest character in Season 2. Krauser isn’t quite as overwhelming as he once was, but some key changes to his kit will make you feel like a brutal boss once you understand what he can do.

The Emperor of Darkness returns

Krauser is a giant and he shares many characteristics with Sagat of Street Fighter. He has a high and low fireball, a neutral skipping kick, and a solid DP that can jump fireballs and counter your foe into oblivion. He also has some very long-reaching and unique normal moves. His far Heavy Kick can almost reach the opponent from round-start, and his Heavy Punch has a follow-up Heavy Punch, both of which can be comboed. He’s also one of a handful of characters that have two types of feints. If you do a feint in neutral stance, he will feint his Blade Tomahawk kick, and if you hold forward and feint, he’ll feint his Blitz Ball fireball. The fireball feint is faster and can be canceled into a combo from a counter-hit, but the kick feint moves you forward more, so learning which one you need and when will be an interesting part of Krauser’s learning curve for advanced players.

His special moves are quite imposing. Krauser’s fireball can go high or low depending on if you use the light or heavy version of it, but it can also be charged to do more damage and throw your opponent’s timing trying to jump it. His EX fireball will also knock the opponent off their feet and allows combos. His Blade Tomahawk kick is a great neutral skip if you want to get in and get personal. Not only can he act first on hit, but it’s safe on block, allowing you to get close and defend before you arrange their destruction.

Maybe his best in-tool is his Knee Halberd, which is also his DP. It’s a two-part move in all forms, with the first activation starting the knee and the second sending a second kick. The light and heavy versions are incredible counter tools that will easily float your opponents on stray counter-hits, but the EX version is also a combo tool that will bounce the opponents off the ground. It’s easily the best connector he has and can be used just about anywhere in his flow with good rewards.

I might have considered Krauser a zoner-focused all-rounder at first for the way he excels at many of the things Sagat does, but his command grabs add insane utility for him up close and on defense. He has two command grabs: one going forward and one reaching up diagonally. The forward one - Phoenix Slam - has armor frames for a couple hits, so if you scope out an opponent’s jump attack, you can eat the damage and grab them through it. If you use the EX version, you can cancel into Knee Halberd and combo all the way to one of Krauser’s supers. Meanwhile, the diagonal command grab - Kaiser Claw - will snipe an aerial opponent under most circumstances. The EX version bounces the opponent off the ground, too, and not only can you use it as a combo starter to counter your opponent for some serious damage, but you can mix the EX version into the middle of a combo to keep it going off of the bounce.

One of the few things I wasn’t fond about with Krauser is that it seems you’re going to want to have full meters to use his supers in some of his best setups. Krauser certainly has one-bar Ignition supers, but I found myself whiffing with the lower-powered forms of Kaiser Wave and Gigantic Cyclone where the two-bar supers would hit to finish out my string. It was perplexing, and I kind of hope SNK fixes that because it’s a shame Krauser seems to need full meter to finish his best combos out with a super move right now.

I'll chisel your gravestone. Sleep well!

Wolfgang Krauser marks the return of the trifecta of Fatal Fury/Art of Fighting early bosses, following the release of Mr. BIG and Nightmare Geese. It’s absolutely wild to have these three back in the same game for one of the first times since they were in The King of Fighters 96’s Boss Team, but it’s even more splendid to see Krauser himself make an appearance in anything new. He’s been painfully underused as the precursor to the more popular Rugal, and his return feels grand. I feel like Blue Mary was cracked for her command step strike/throw game, but Krauser is still a sight for sore eyes, and I’m excited to finally play him in a modern SNK fighter. Learn to use his command grabs effectively, and I feel you’ll be on the fast track to glorious victory.

These impressions are based off an early build of the character offered on PC by the publisher. Wolfgang Krauser is out in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves on PS5, Xbox, and PC platforms now.

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