The King of Fighters XV

"Shatter All Expectations."

- Tagline

The King of Fighters XV (Japanese: ; Chinese: ), officially abbreviated as KOF XV, is the upcoming fifteenth instalment of The King of Fighters series. It was officially announced at EVO 2019 and was originally slated for release in 2020. However, the date was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More details were revealed on January 7, 2021. In June, SNK announced that the game had been postponed once again and will be released in the February 17, 2022, due to the rising cases of COVID-19 and the state of emergency in Japan. The game will be released for PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S, Windows 10, Steam and Epic Games. It is currently not known if the game will have crossplay or not. This is the first canonical game of the series to have Rollback Netcode (and the second mainline game with Rollback, being the first The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match).

This game is the second chapter of the fourth canonical saga for the series, and is the second SNK game to use the Unreal Engine graphic motor (Unreal Engine 4), the first being Samurai Shodown (2019). Yasuyuki Oda (Garou: Mark of the Wolves and The King of Fighters XIV) is the producer, Kaito Kusaka is the director, Eisuke Ogura is the creative director and Tomohiro Nakata is the main illustrator.

The promotion of the game is through trailers that were initially weekly, but due to the postponement of the game, they became biweekly. Starting with the 11th trailer (Yashiro's Reveal Trailer), SNK reveals silhouettes of the next characters to be confirmed the day prior to the trailer's release.

On October 27, SNK announced an Open Beta Test for SONY's PlayStation 4/5 systems. The purpose of this test is to improve the game’s online functions. A PlayStation Plus subscription is unnecessary to enter. This beta will be available from November 19 to 22. A demo was already available during the Tokyo Game Show, during the 4 days of the event. Both previews feature 8 playable characters, although they do not contain the same characters for each verison. Shun'ei, Kyo and Iori are the only characters available in the two previews.

Story
Only the world's toughest fighters can duke it out in the largest martial arts tournament in the world.

Though a mysterious being called Verse destroyed the KOF arena, its threat was quelled thanks to the brave efforts of the winning challengers.

Time has passed since the closing of that tumultuous tournament, and the next KOF begins, backed by a new sponsor.

Meanwhile, Chizuru Kagura senses something interfering with the seal of Orochi, otherwise known as Gaia's Will.

She teams up with Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami to join the KOF and investigate.

Amidst these myriad motives, fighters resurrected after Verse's defeat also join the fray.

Once again, a storm is on the horizon...

Development
Due to positive response to the marketing of The King of Fighters XIV, director Yasuyuki Oda said in August 2017 that The King of Fighters XV was possible, but SNK also wanted to focus on other franchises. Oda, instead, worked in the spin-off, SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy, a female character-driven fighting game and a spiritual sequel of SNK Gals' Fighters. In December 2018, SNK revealed the company was working on The King of Fighters XV, aiming to release it during 2020. Feeling the previous title had outdated graphics for a 2016 game, SNK chairman Zhihui Ge said that XV will use the Unreal Engine 4 graphic motor to provide a better presentation.

At the finals of EVO 2019, SNK announced that the game was in development. The title's creative director is Eisuke Ogura, who has previously worked as an artist on the series, beginning with The King of Fighters 2001. Most notably, he served as the main illustrator for The King of Fighters XIII and XIV. The director of King of Fighters XIV, Yasuyuki Oda, will serve as the title's producer. The character design is being handled by Tomohiro Nakata, which also worked on The King of Fighters All Star.

Gameplay
In The King of Fighters XV, many mechanics from the previous game, The King of Fighters XV, returns, such as Rush Combos. One of the new mechanics added is the Shatter Strike, that consists in defend and counter against any opponent.

MAX Mode returns with the established mechanics of XIV, but with added tweaks. Now, MAX Mode costs 2 bars of meter instead of 1. EX Special Moves can be used outside of MAX Mode, and now cost half a bar, and the character's attack and Guard Crush strength increases during MAX Mode. MAX Mode in this game also has a second version, labeled as MAX Mode (Quick). If the Player activates MAX Mode when they land a hit or guard against an incoming attack, the user will glow pink, and will activate MAX Mode (Quick). This allows you to combo immediately into the next action without leaving an opening; however, MAX Mode (Quick) does not increase its power for attacks and Guard Crushes, and has a less duration than the normal MAX Mode. This variant of MAX Mode acts similar to how Hyperdrive Mode from The King of Fighters XIII worked.

Some game modes present in the previous game reappears in this game. Beside that, there is the addition of a new versus mode: the DRAFT VS., in which the Player cannot choose the same character as the opponent.

Overview
KOF XV keeps the voice actors for characters returning from The King of Fighters XIV (between veterans and debutants). For characters that weren't in the previous game, some voice actors from KOF All Star return to voice their respective characters with the exception of Chris, a member of the Orochi Team, who has a different voice actress than the one from the mobile game, and the newcomers Isla and Dolores.

The new characters confirmed on this game are:

This game also has a profound change in Teams compared to KOF XIV. The new team formations are as follows:

Initial Team Roster
Teams confirmed until the current moment.

Note: Some parenthetical citations are sometimes Japanese team names, sometimes shortened team names.

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

DLC Teams
Teams released through Downloadable Content (DLC). All the characters are available through Season Pass.

NPC Characters

 * Clemence Bellamy (KOF Tournament Anchorman and Reporter)
 * Verse - in Story Mode

Fatal Fury series

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

3 Count Bout

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

Metal Slug series

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

Teaser Trailers
Promotional trailers of the game.

Teamed Character Trailers
Characters with teams already revealed.

Individual Characters
Characters still with no team revelead.

Team BGMs
Music Themes of the Teams.

Idle Poses
Fighting poses of the teams (some with taunts and/or victory poses).

Drawing Video
A sample of the game and character's creation process.

TGS Special Program
A special program showing the mechanics and gameplay of the game, besides some new revelead characters.

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

Trivia

 * 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. The exceptions are Chizuru, Yashiro, Chris, Ash, Isla and Dolores, who had their models made from the scratch.


 * 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 KOF 2000 (if counting Takuma Sakazaki as Mr. Karate).


 * This game and The King of Fighters XI are the only mainlines game with profound team changes.


 * This game is the fourth KOF mainline game, and the KOF third canonical game to have another variant of Women Fighters Team, in form of Team Secret Agents, thus making the team the third all female teams to be another variant of the original team. The other games with another team of female fighters are The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match (with the Pretty Girls Fighters Team and the NESTS Team) and The King of Fighters 2003 (the High School Girls Team).


 * Athena's inclusion to team-up with one of the original Super Heroines Team members was foreshadowed in two games prior from one of her dialogues against one of its original member (XIII intro dialogue with King, and XIV win dialogue against Mai). Due to King returning to join with the Art of Fighting Team, it is possibly her request on granting Athena a permission to lead the Super Heroines Team in her stead, as first foreshadowed by their intro dialogue in XIII.


 * Many references to the SNK game franchise can be noticed in the promotional trailers of the game:


 * The Shibuya Crossing, in Tokyo, appears in one of the scenes of the first trailer of the game (when Benimaru and Kyo talks) and in the Story Trailer (when Shun'ei and Meitenkun are present in it). This place also appears as a fighting stage in World Heroes Perfect.
 * When Clemence Bellamy appears in the first trailer, flashes of the Kagura Stadium (The King of Fighters '96's Sub-Boss Stage) appears.
 * In Terry's Reveal Trailer (Character Trailer #10), the formation of the Fatal Fury Team reproduces the arcade cover of the first Fatal Fury game. Beside that, the song Kurikinton, from this game (Terry's Theme), plays in a small match. Also in this trailer, the theme VS. plays after the match.
 * The Opening Theme of the first Art of Fighting game, Dragon and Tiger, plays in Ryo and Robert's Shared Reveal Trailer (Character Trailers #16 & #17). Also in this trailer, the theme Wait, Yuri! plays during the team's formation.
 * In Ralf and Clark's Shared Reveal Trailer (Character Trailers #19 & #20), they make an indirect quote to the "Cross Changer" pose, a reference to Chojin Sentai Jetman, and made by the two military men in the last two games of the Orochi Saga.
 * In Story Mode cutscenes (more precisely when the characters are in Shibuya), a poster of Athena Asamiya with the outfit of the previous tournament can be seen.


 * This game, along with The King of Fighters '98 (and his updated version) The King of Fighters 2003, The King of Fighters XI, The King of Fighters XII and The King of Fighters XIII, are the only games of the series in which the character BGM plays after the round announce.


 * The win screens of this game are very likely similar to Capcom games Super Street Fighter IV and Super Street Fighter V's win screens, which the winner appears in the stage where he/she fought.


 * This game is the only of the series which the narrator uses phrases in addition to the original narration, during the match and the winner announce.


 * This is the only game in the series to use the expression "perfect fight" in rounds.


 * Some DLC characters released in the previous entry appears in canonical teams in this game. In the order of appearance, they are: Blue Mary, Vanessa, Heidern and Whip.