Fair Discovers Invincible Hotaru Tech in Fatal Fury: CotW

Fair has officially uncovered major tech, revealing a powerful invincible technique for Hotaru Futaba in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. The discovery has quickly become a focal point for the community, with players analyzing the potential need for an emergency patch.

Key Takeaways:

• The Discovery: Fair identified a mechanic allowing Hotaru to bypass incoming attacks with invincibility.
• The Tech: While demonstrated primarily on wakeup (knockdown), the technique applies to other scenarios, granting safe defensive options.
• The Reaction: The tech has sparked a debate on whether Hotaru requires an emergency hotfix before the next major competitive event.

Fair Finds the "Broken" Mechanic

While the FGC often looks to legends like Nemo for breaking the game, the latest discovery in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves comes from Fair. The player posted footage demonstrating Hotaru Futaba utilizing a specific technique that grants invincibility frames, effectively negating the opponent's advantage.

According to technical breakdowns circulating in the community, the tech involves buffering a specific movement command during the wakeup animation. This input trick seems to extend the natural invincibility frames of waking up while leaving Hotaru fully actionable. This allows her to "phase" through perfectly timed meaty attacks and punish the opponent's recovery frames. Unlike standard reversals that often carry heavy risks or resource costs, this technique appears to offer high reward with minimal downside.

Crucially, Fair clarified that this mechanic is not limited solely to wakeup scenarios. The invincibility properties extend to other gamestates, potentially giving Hotaru a "Get Out of Jail Free" card during blockstrings or neutral interactions.

Nemo Amplifies the Conversation

Japanese pro Nemo brought significant attention to the find later in the day, causing the clip to circulate rapidly through the eastern and western FGCs. Known for his "kusoplay" (unfair/cheap play) expertise, Nemo's interest validates the potency of Fair's finding.

The discovery has forced competitive players to re-evaluate their offensive flowcharts against Hotaru. If she can blow through pressure strings without spending significant resources, the risk-reward ratio for attacking her skews heavily in the defender's favor.

What’s Next

As the community digs deeper into Fair's discovery, players will look to define the exact limitations of this invincibility. Is it a bug? Is it a "Just Defense" mechanic exploit? Or is it an intended feature of the REV System?

With the meta for City of the Wolves still volatile, SNK will likely be monitoring this development closely. If Hotaru becomes too dominant due to this safe defensive option, a patch may be imminent.

Source: Fair on X