SNK tells Ken on Deadly Anger, Chun-li Tea and Capcom vs SNK

One of the most exciting games to watch on EVO 2025 is Deadly Anger: Wolf Market. From Kojikog's memory and dramatic reactions to his losses in the top 8reaching the incredible finals between GO1 and ET, and all the exciting moments in between. This is a good reminder of the fun of the game. While I can’t talk to anyone on SNK in the actual show itself, producer Yasuyuki Oda and animator Masami Obari are friendly and can answer several of my questions via email, which are related to Ken’s posting in Wolf Market, and I feel like these topics are very interested in SNK and fans of SNK and Gearing Games.

Once I approached my SF6 rival with Ken, one of my biggest surprises was his similarities, although it was a completely different game. Can you talk about some challenges that involve taking a beloved character from a series and fitting it into a whole new rule and mechanic?
Yasayuki Oda, the main producer of the deadly anger: Wolf Market: Our initial focus was to find out how to bring Ken into the deadly anger game system and world without damaging his identity as a character. There are a lot of people on our development team who are passionate about the Street Fighter franchise and I think their love and dedication to the series are radiating in all the little details we work for Ken. As time goes by, we slowly studied how to incorporate Ken's fast speed and flashy-based flame attack into the wolf market system, constantly asking ourselves “What is missing?”, “What can we improve?”, “What are Ken's advantages, and where can we take advantage of this?” After repeated trials and repetitions, this version of Ken finally showed it.

Ken is a character who has been very strong in Street Fighter 6, thanks to the ability to convert most regular hits into Jinrai kicks, which forces some risky decisions to the risk of defense, which is closer to the block gap in his heavy dragon kicks, plus a very good neutral button and balanced tool kit. Have you ever been worried that some of these elements might make him a little too strong in his deadly anger?
oda: As you said, the way Ken was brought to Street Fighter 6 would undoubtedly make him a powerful character in Wolf Market. Of course, we have to make careful adjustments when we adapt him to the game. Integrating mechanics like brakes and Rev Accel is challenging, but I think we can highlight what is unique, while also giving fans the opportunity to experience different play styles in the Wolf Market system. We look forward to seeing the fans’ thoughts and how they interact with this version of Ken.

With Terry and Mai appearing in Street Fighter 6, now Ken, and later Chun-li fell into deadly anger, are you interested in working with Capcom and competing again in the Capcom vs SNK series? Or is it an out of reach dream?

oda: What is that, isn't that? However, I have nothing to talk about at the moment. We are always happy to receive such questions as it shows fans’ enthusiasm for another Capcom vs. SNK. This is an important driving force for us.

How do you feel about the guest characters in a fighting game? Do you think this is a healthy trend, do you think we might see more in future SNK games, or even in the Deadly Angry Update?

oda: I think this is a big trend. Of course, it is important to respect the story and world of other games, but the introduction of visitor characters has great potential to create new “chemistry” in the future of combat games. That is, this can lead to unexpected results and give birth to something new.

As for Wolf Market, we still need to bring it back before we start thinking about more guest roles. Rest assured, we are now focusing all our attention on this. Even after Mr Big release, we are still working on new characters and aspects of the game, so look forward to them!

I know she has some aspects of the journey, we want Joe first, but can you share any details about Chun-Li's appearance in her deadly rage? It would be similar to Ken's approach, as you're looking for her iteration in Street Fighter 6 as a primary source of inspiration?

oda: We used her SF6 version as the base, but since many of our staff are fans of the entire Street Fighter series, we plan to add some surprises and details. We hope to make this version of Chun-Li, like Ken, is the climax of all her past iterations, so look forward to it.

For Obari-san, it feels like creating animated for iconic characters outside of the SNK world like Ken. Do you feel like you can add any signature touch or try to get things as close to the source as possible?

Masami Obari, Deadly Animator: Wolf Market: First of all, I want to say that it is a great honor to work on this project. I'm very grateful to Capcom for this opportunity. As for the original elements, I would like to say the most work done in designing these characters in my style. I want to call it Bari-Ken! (Ha ha). It's very fun to draw Ken in the style and animation of the deadly angry anime.

Do you want to have any dream crossovers in the field of fighting games or outside of?

Obary: I'm a huge professional wrestling fan, so I'm happy to see working with real professional wrestlers. When it comes to fighting games, I was happy to see the crossover with the voltage fighter Gowcaizer, the game I was originally responsible for story and character design!

Finally, normatively speaking, who do you think will win in the battle between Ken and Terry?

Obary: Honestly, I think Terry will win. I think they match evenly in terms of strength, but Terry carries a lot on his shoulders, so his will is strong.

That being said, as director of anime, I don't want to decide and let the two work together to fight a common enemy.

Mitchell Saltzman is an editorial producer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @jurassicrabbit