We've seen some bizarre celebrity guest appearances in video games over the years. Michael Jackson in Space Channel 5, Phil Collins in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories... Colonel Sanders in Street Fighter. Now SNK is putting Cristiano Ronaldo into Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. And no, it's not yet 1 April.
CR7 won't just make a cameo appearance or be a skin either, it seems he'll be a playable character in the fighting game. And we have so many questions (also see our feature on the Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves character design).
Fatal Fury: City of Wolves marks the return of an iconic fighting game series for the best games consoles. Developer SNK teased a collaboration with Cristiano Ronaldo last year, and it's now revealed that he will be a fully playable character who uses his football skills to kick a flaming blue ball into rivals.
I can't decide if the move is marketing genius or just plain weird. Ronaldo is widely considered to be the world's second-best footballer after Argentina's Lionel Messi, and he's known to be a UFC fan. But he's a controversial choice considering certain accusations made against him over the years.
We assume the inclusion in the game may because of his current popularity in Saudi Arabia, where he's been playing for Al-Nassr since 2023. SNK is currently owned by Saudi crown prince and prime minister Mohammed bin Salman’s MiSK Foundation.
Fans are also perplexed. "I saw this in my recommendations and thought it was fan made," one person commented on the video above. "There's now a non-zero chance for Ronaldo to make it into Super Smash Bros," someone else added.
Others feel that the character being voiced by an actor makes the appearance even stranger, but using Cristian Ronaldo's real voice would probably have been even more distracting.
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves releases 24 April for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X and Series S. Other playable characters in the game will include Andy Bogard, Mai Shiranui, and Joe Higashi plus crossover appearances from Street Fighter's Chun-Li and Ken Masters.
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