The King of Fighters XII/Trivia


 * This is the only KOF mainline game to not have Mid-Boss, Sub-Boss and Final Boss, and the only without team formations, despite the 3-on-3 game system.


 * This game and The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match are the only games with the logo commemorating the series' 15th anniversary (completed in 2009, the year both games were released).


 * This is the very first game in the series to have the announcer not simply say "winner" after an opponent has been K.O.'d. Instead, it has been reverted to the more traditional "You Win" and "You Lose" messages from Capcom's Street Fighter series. This message has also been used in the previous game.
 * For 2-player matches, the game would say "P-1 Win" and "P-2 Win", depending on which player wins the round. In The King of Fighters XIV, these two messages would be replaced by "Player 1 Wins" and "Player 2 Wins", respectively.


 * 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 XIII and The King of Fighters XV, are the only games of the series in which the character BGM plays after the round announce.


 * This game, The King of Fighters 2003 and The King of Fighters XI are the only games of the series without a color screen after defeating the last member of the opposing team. This feature comes back in KOF XIII.


 * KOF XII also hosts a ton of unused content:
 * An early promotional poster for the arcade version shows Elisabeth, a character that wasn't present in the arcade release and is only playable in the console versions. The same poster also shows Leona in her original outfit from KOF '96, even though she received a new design in the final game.
 * Artworks of Mai Shiranui and K' can be found in the official site, implying that they were planned to appear in KOF XII.
 * Unused content on the game disc files suggests that Vice, Hwa Jai, Takuma Sakazaki, Mai Shiranui, King, Yuri Sakazaki, Billy Kane, K', Oswald, Classic Iori, and an unknown Boss character were all planned to be playable, but were cut out for unknown reasons. There were also plans of three new characters, although it is not known if they were planned to be playable or NPCs.
 * There were also plans to have Teams in the final game, with most of the team lineup would be similar to the lineup of KOF XIII. This can be seen with many promotional artwork posters for KOF XII, | which | features | many | characters who do not show up in KOF XII.
 * According to a tweet made by Akihiko Ureshino on Twitter, Team Yagami was at one point going to consist of Iori, Oswald, and an new character "wearing a kimono".
 * KOF XII was also at one point in development to be as the conclusion to the Tales of Ash Saga, with KOF XIII acting as the "Dream Match" game. However, the final result is the thirteenth game being the final chapter of the saga, and the twelfth game being the Dream Match title, and a beta for the next game.
 * The Brazil Stage from KOF XIII was | planned | to | appear in this game, but was scrapped.
 * This is the only mainline KOF entry with English voice acting. It was planned for XIII as well, but was cut due to perceived negative feedback. A side-scrolling danmaku game, KOF Sky Stage, has full English voice acting, and is currently the last game to have such.