The King of Fighters XV

"Shatter All Expectations."

- Tagline

The King of Fighters XV (ザ・キング・オブ・ファイターズ　フィフティーン, Za kingu Obu faitāzu fifutīn), officially abbreviated as KOF XV (ケーオーエフ　フィフティーン, Kēōefu fifutīn), is an upcoming and fifteenth installment of The King of Fighters series. It was officially announced during the EVO 2019 and was originally slated for release in 2020. However, this date has been postponed to be released in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More details would be revealed in January 7, 2021. Recently, SNK announced that the game has been postponed and will be released in the first quarter of 2022, due to the rising cases of COVID-19 and the state of emergency in Japan.

This game is the second chapter of the fourth canonical saga for the series, and is the second of the company to use Unreal Engine graphics, the first being Samurai Shodown (2019) (in this case, Unreal Engine 4).

Eisuke Ogura is the creative director, and The King of Fighters All Star's Tomohiro Nakata is the main illustrator.

Confirmed Teams & Characters (Until Now)
KOF XV remains with the same voice cast of KOF XIV. The exceptions are the characters who weren't present in that game, whose most voice actors came from KOF All Star. Chris, member of the Orochi Team, earns a different voice actress from the mobile game. This game also has a profound change of teams compared to the previous game. The new formations are as follows:


 * At the request of his old friend Kyo Kusanagi, Benimaru Nikaido is tasked to watching and protect the series' new protagonists Shun'ei and Meitenkun, forming the Fourth Saga's Hero Team, rather than being named China Team due to the nationalities of one of the three. As a result, the young model and fighter leaves the Japan Team, and replaces the old master Tung Fu Rue;


 * The Sacred Treasures Team, which was once a special edited-based team in their three (four if counting '98/UM) previous appearances, is now an official and regular team. As a result, Kyo undoes the Japan Team, Chizuru Kagura comes back to the series after 18 years and Iori Yagami left the team that bears his surname. This is also the second game that the ancestral clan rivals Kyo and Iori have been together in an official team, the first being The King of Fighters XI;


 * The Orochi Team (formerly called the New Faces Team) makes their official canonical return, after 24 years of being dead since their cannonical debut (and 19 years since their last appearance in a mainline game of the series), due being revived at the end of XIV (with their resurrections confirmed with Shermie's presence in SNK Heroines);


 * After receiving an invitation from Ryo Sakazaki, King leaves the Women Fighters Team and replaces Yuri Sakazaki on the Art of Fighting Team. This is the third time that the French bartender joins with the classic team (the other times were in 2000 and XI), and the second time accompanying both Ryo and Robert Garcia (only in 2000, along with Takuma Sakazaki, Ryo's father and Robert's master).


 * Note: The Fatal Fury and Ikari Warriors Team remains with their classic formations (since '96 [sans XI] in the case of the second team).

Confirmed Teams= Teams confirmed until the current moment.

Hero Team

 * Shun'ei
 * Meitenkun
 * Benimaru Nikaido

Sacred Treasures Team

 * Kyo Kusanagi
 * Iori Yagami
 * Chizuru Kagura

Fatal Fury Team

 * Terry Bogard
 * Andy Bogard
 * Joe Higashi

Orochi Team

 * Yashiro Nanakase
 * Shermie
 * Chris

Art of Fighting Team

 * Ryo Sakazaki
 * Robert Garcia
 * King

Ikari Warriors Team

 * Leona Heidern
 * Ralf Jones
 * Clark Still

Characters already confirmed, either through individual videos or through the first promotional trailers.
 * -|Other Confirmed Characters=

Confirmed in Individual Character Trailers, Official First Trailer and/or Official Teaser

 * Mai Shiranui

Confirmed only in Individual Character Trailers

 * Yuri Sakazaki
 * Blue Mary
 * Luong

Confirmed only in the Teaser Trailer & Official First Trailer (Until Now)

 * K'


 * -|NPC Character=
 * Clemence Bellamy (KOF Tournament Anchorman)
 * -|Stage Cameos=

Fatal Fury series

 * Michael Max - Appears in the Beach Resort Stage
 * Richard Meyer - Appears in the Pao Pao Cafe Stage
 * Bob Wilson - Appears in the Pao Pao Cafe Stage

3 Count Bout

 * Terry Rogers - Appears in the KOF Stadium Stage
 * Master Barnes - Appears in the KOF Stadium Stage

Metal Slug series

 * Hyakutaro Ichimonji (presumably, along with other POWs) - Appears in the Sahara Stage
 * Rumi Aikawa - Appears in the Sahara Stage
 * SV-001 - Appears in the Sahara Stage
 * Super Vehicle "Camel" - Appears in the Sahara Stage

Stages
Team Stages=
 * Classical Chinese Garden — Hero Team: The Classical Gardens of Suzhou, in the Jiangsu province. The fight takes place in a red balcony in the Humble Administrator's Garden, at night. This stage features a giant dragon statue, inside, a small waterfall, in the right outside, the full moon, bonsai trees, aquatic flowers, flags, Chinese pillars and decorations, besides the Jinshan Temple in the background.


 * Esaka Construction Site — Sacred Treasures Team: The Japanese city of Osaka, at night. The fight takes place in the expansion site of the Esaka Station, next to the Hanshin Expressway. This stage features construction workers cheering, construction materials, barriers, backhoes, buildings, a teddy bear and a construction worker signs, besides the SNK's headquarters, in the background, Hiragana signs and a "The Esaka Station is closed for expansion" sign. The game series' name can be seen all over the stage. Stage reminiscent of The King of Fighters '94 (Japan Team's [A.K.A. Hero Team] stage).


 * Beach Resort, Sunny Day (A.K.A. South Town Sound Beach) — Fatal Fury Team: The most famous beach of the American city, at a sunny day. The fight takes place next to the beach shops and to the entrance. The stage features a seafood restaurant, a surf shop with a mechanical shark sign, people cheering, parked bicycles, palm trees, the main church of the city, the tournament flags, a 4x4 car, balloons and a small ladder with a sun umbrella and a plaque with the sign WAVE SURF AREA, beside the South Town Bridge, in the background, and plaques with the signs PORT TOWN (Hon-Fu's stage in Fatal Fury 3) and CENTRAL CITY. Stage reminiscent of the first Fatal Fury game.


 * Concert Hall — Orochi Team: The fight takes place at a concert on the area of the main stage that has a checkered floor. This stage features the crowd cheering, screens (some showing the characters, other showing the game's name), stage structures, spotlights, sound boxes, a passageway and a band playing in the background, beside the game's logo in a big size.
 * Note: The band used in this stage is composed by NPC characters reused from The King of Fighters XIV (Villains Team's Stage).


 * Pao Pao Cafe — Art of Fighting Team: Richard Meyer and Bob Wilson's classic bar at night. The fight takes in the main saloon. This stage features the main bar, the public watching the fight, some drum players and the bar's logo, in the right, beside some decorations resembling Mudman (World Heroes' character). Stage reminiscent of the first Fatal Fury game and Fatal Fury 3.


 * The Sahara — Ikari Warriors Team: An oasis in the middle of the Egyptian desert. The fight takes next to a plane crash (General Donald Morden's M-32 Water Carrier Plane). The stage features palm trees, dunas, a pink sun umbrella, a wooden plaque with the name KOF and pennants (some with the series' logo), besides a teddy bear and stilts close to the plane's wreckage. Stage reminiscent of Metal Slug Infinity.
 * Note: The stage includes numerous references to the Metal Slug series (the "Danger" barrels, the weapon crates, several POWs, the SV-001, and the Camel Slug).


 * -|Other Stages=


 * Haunted Amusement Park (A.K.A. Dream Amusement Park) (tentative name): An old abandoned amusement park, at night. This stage features decaying mascots and rides, although many of them appear to still function, a carousel, a haunted house, a Ferris wheel and a candy store, beside a castle and some buildings, in the background. Stage reminiscent of Art of Fighting 2 (King's stage) and similar to the Amusement Park in The King of Fighters '99: Evolution (Dreamcast's exclusive stage).


 * Beach Resort, Sunset: The same stage as the Fatal Fury Team, in depths of sunset. This version of the stage features the sun setting, the empty beach and two yachts in the middle of the sand. Similar to the USA Stage in Real Bout Fatal Fury Special.
 * Note: The sails of the yatchs shows the date 1994-08-25. This date is the Japanese Arcade release date of KOF '94, the first game in the series.


 * KOF Stadium (tentative name): The main arena of the tournament, at sunset. Features two giant screens showing the fighters who are fighting, a crown-shaped structure, the crowd (Clemence Bellamy in the middle), giant trophies in both sides, some KOF-girls holding plaques, spotlights, a passageway and a meshed wall separating the audience from the stage. Beside, the game's name and logos (KOF '96 and the previous tournament) can be seen all over the stage.

Development
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Trailers
Teaser Trailers= Promotional trailers of the game.

Characters with teams already revealed.
 * -|Teamed Characters Trailers=

Ikari Warriors Team
Characters still without team revealed.
 * -|Individual Characters Trailers=

Music
Some themes played in the character trailers are references to the characters' old themes in past games. Below, the list:

Trivia

 * Similar to Fatal Fury Team's classic formation, the Art of Fighting Team 's formation in this game consist of three main heroes who were first debuted playable in the first Art of Fighting game. It would mark the second time to have a team formation based on the playable fighters from the first Art of Fighting game since 2000, if counting Takuma Sakazaki as Mr. Karate.
 * The character 3D models are made in Cell-Shading, similar to the models of Samurai Shodown (2019) (the first SNK game to use the Unreal Engine graphic motor). However, the vast majority of 3D models have been reused and remodeled from The King of Fighters XIV and SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy, with exception of Chizuru, Yashiro and Chris, who had their models made from the scratch.