SNK started many 2D fighting franchises when times were better for them, and while the most notable remains the King of Fighters series, the Fatal Fury games were among SNK's first NeoGeo titles, and although the updates to the series are not as well known as their other games, this, the most recent of the series, is acclaimed by fighting gamers from around the world as one of the most accomplished and playable 2D fighting games ever released, by any company. Following ports of other games to the Dreamcast which were of variable quality, SNK have sensibly chosen one of their most popular titles - and one which very few gamers will ever have had the chance to experience first-hand. The myth of this game, and the price it commands in its original format, will ensure that interested players will buy it if only to find out what all the fuss is about.

Initial signs are not promising. SNK ports to date have hardly been notable for the attractiveness of their front-ends, and sadly this fares no better. A hideous background with an equally hideous font will ask you if it's OK to load the system file - these days, we like our games to do as much as they can behind the scenes and most of us select any available 'auto-save' facility - sadly, this game doesn't even feature an auto-load facility, much less the by-now standard auto-save. It's bad enough to have to opt to save data every five minutes; it's unbelievable that you should have to opt to load it the same way. This is an irritating oversight, and takes the edge off the title before you've even gotten into the game. The main menu is no better looking, although the original early-80's style music from the options screen will bring a smile to the face of any gamer old enough to reminisce over it. There is no significant language barrier here, although some of the choices in the options menu are somewhat cryptic.

Getting into the game, things suddenly improve significantly. Loading times are not too obtrusive (stage intros are removable for the most impatient of gamers), and the game looks as good as it ever did - which is very good, almost certainly as good as SNK have ever managed on their own hardware. The character graphics and background art are excellent, the animation is absolutely outstanding for an SNK title, and once again their knack for imbuing their characters with personality makes the game shine that little bit more. That said, putting this game in its proper context, the player can't help but notice how far things have moved on in this genre in the last few years, and put next to a game like Capcom vs. SNK 2, this title looks undeniably old-hat. Those who are, quite properly, more concerned about gameplay will be able to overlook this fact easily, but in terms of mass-market appeal (which, admittedly, this kind of title has never been about) the general public are unlikely to be convinced by a game looking like this in the 21st century - a sad but true reflection on the tastes of the 'new' gamer.

To play, Mark of the Wolves is a great game - quick, smooth and technical. At the risk of rousing the hordes of SNK fanatics, it would be fair to say that there is a feel to this game which has been absent from other SNK franchises, and it would be equally fair to say that the feel might have been inspired by influences external to SNK. Despite being a Fatal Fury game, the fighting system has been stripped down and rebuilt, and emerges feeling more like Street Fighter 3 than any one of the older Fatal Furies. It would be wrong to compare the games directly, but Mark of the Wolves has a similar feel in that multi-hit combos are easier to pull off than ever before, and the 'Just Defended' feature is a lot like Capcom's parry system which was introduced with Street Fighter 3. The 'Just Defended' is more natural to use than the parry system is, being activated (as the name would suggest) by leaving it until the very last minute to defend an oncoming attack.

Mark of the Wolves is still very much SNK's game, however - while one of the characters certainly bears more than a passing resemblance to Capcom's shotokan fighters, the majority of them are SNK through and through, and the new characters prove that SNK are a long way from running out of ideas in terms of design. The game shares the close-contact, minimal-projectile feel of many SNK fighters, and other touches which we've grown to expect from SNK are present and correct - the very well done stage intros, for example, and an ability-grading system which is far fairer, more balanced, and more considerably more complimentary than the one present in Capcom's Street Fighter 3. Unusually, given the lack of interest shown in polishing the rest of the title, the Survival mode is an interesting break from the norm, and the biggest surprise in the game, with successfully landed blows providing icons which will increase your fighter's health or time limit if they are walked over. This sounds gimmicky, and a retrograde step for such a refined genre, but actually works surprisingly well, and should ensure that players' interest is held long after the completion of the story mode.

Gamers who are playing on a PAL machine should note that, similarly to SNK's ports of their King of Fighters games, Mark of the Wolves will run in 50hz on a system which is 50hz as native, which robs the game of much of its pace and imposes borders on the screen; this will remind you of nothing so much as playing Street Fighter 2 on a UK SNES ten years ago, and while SNK can hardly be criticised for not optimising their game for a system it was never meant to be played on, it's interesting to note that their conversion of Last Blade 2 didn't suffer from this problem on UK machines. This kind of game suffers particularly badly from the slow pace of an unoptimised NTSC to PAL conversion, so gamers without a Dreamcast from an appropriate region should think twice about whether this is the game for them - although it's a great game, it's considerably less impressive when running at PAL speeds with squashed graphics and borders.

In conclusion, this is a difficult game to recommend to anyone but those already smitten by the 2D fighting genre; as an introduction to this kind of game, new players may find it too technical, and will certainly be disappointed at the quality of the graphics and the lack of customisation in comparison to a game like Capcom vs. SNK 2 or Street Fighter 3: Third Strike. In fact, seasoned players might also feel slightly short-changed after being spoiled so much by, in particular, Capcom vs. SNK 2, which scores over this title in several key areas. On the other hand, like Last Blade 2: Final Edition, this is a chance for many gamers to experience a truly classic title which is a rare sight in arcades, and the purity of the gameplay, while being a million miles away from the latest Capcom fighters, will be more than enough to satisfy those who like their fighting games to challenge them. Owners of NTSC machines who are even slightly curious about the game could do much worse than invest in a copy of it to see SNK at what was probably their peak - owners of PAL machines would do better to buy a Japanese Dreamcast to play it on first.