The 3D character models used in this game are all cel-shaded, similar to the models of Samurai Shodown (2019) (the first SNK game to use Unreal Engine 4). 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 (andtheir Orochi versions), Ash, Isla, Dolores, Krohnen, Elisabeth, Jenet, Gato, Omega Rugal, Shingo, Goenitz, Duo Lon and Hinako, who have all-new 3D models and assets made from scratch.
This is also the only canonical game with all members of the clan playable.
This is the first mainline KOF game ever since its inception where it doesn't feature Kim Kaphwan in the initial roster. The reasons are explained in the Secret Agents Team's Story and in Luong's interview with Clemence Bellamy, where she mentions he was training in the mountains with his master and her lover Gang-il. This reason is also seen in Kim Team's ending in the previous game.
The other probable main reason of the character's non-inclusion in the initial roster is due to the recent death of the real Kim Kaphwan, founder of Viccom, a Korean company that for many years licensed SNK's games, and that inspired the fictional character.
Kim would later be added to the game roster as a DLC character on April 4th, 2023.
This is the second game in the series wherein every act of the fight is narrated, the first being KOF XIV.
This is currently the only game in the series which reunites all the protagonists of the mainline SNK series (KOF, FF, AOF and SamSho).
The Story Mode of the game has a fixed time of 60 seconds and can be changed by accessing the menu options before choosing the character's team in this mode (to 99 seconds or infinite time). This can also be done in the Boss Challenge.
Starting with the 1.20 update (and Omega Rugal's inclusion in the roster), it is possible adjust the difficulty level of the mode before selecting the characters.
This also marks the first time in which the timer of the Story and Versus Modes are different and can be adjusted in the game configurations.
In Story Mode, when the player chose the Team/Character Random option, there was a possibility of fighting against the same team twice, due to the system's division.
This is also the first game in which the two versions of the characters can be chosen in the same team.
The Story Mode has a special divison, in which the player fights with 6 teams and 2 bosses.
The first match and the two last matches have three special phrases spoken by the narrator. For the remaining matches, the phrase is "Your next challenger is 'TEAM ***'".
The phrases when the players faces the bosses are the following:
In this game and KOF XIV, the mix occurs with regular and DLC characters.
During the 1.62 and 1.63 updates, only the regular characters and Shingo Yabuki form a team in Story Mode, called Team KOF. With the inclusion of Kim Kaphwan in the game in the 1.70 update, all of the cast can be included in this team, who appear in the 3rd match and the Semifinals.
With all the DLC Season 2 released, the DLC matches happen in the 3rd match and in the Semifinals.
Starting from the 1.92 update, the free DLC bosses appears as playable characters in Story Mode, and always in Semi Finals, and the stage "Strange Plateau" appears in this mode.
During Team KOF matches in Story Mode, only the DLC teams/characters' song themes plays in the fight (if the DLC character was the first chosen in this mode).
Until the update 2.00, when a regular character is chosen as the first in the DLC stages, the following music themes are played:
Sympathy for the Wolves -KOF XV ver.- (Team Garou's theme): in the Strange Plateau stage.
Soy Sauce and a Dash of Sake for Geese (Team South Town's theme): in the Boulevard Riyadh City stage.
Starting from the 2.10 update, when the fights occurs in Team KOF matches, the music theme in the stage are always related to the first character chosen in this mode, no matter if it's a regular or DLC character.
In the Boss Challenge, starting with the 1.92 update, the narration for Omega Rugal changes to a new phrase: (i.e. "I got a bad feeling about this! Just what's gonna happen?" to "Take him out before he blows all of us up!!!")
Goenitz's phrase in Boss Challenge is "Good luck keeping your footing in this wild gale!"
Certain team formations in this game evoke details from past games of the series (or from the other SNK's franchises):
Benimaru teaming up with the current protagonists is a callback to how he can often be put in several story-relevant teams composed of varying members important to that saga, of which many of them resulting in their canonical victories within most of the KOF tournaments (particularly with the Hero Team). However, the third saga's case is instead the opposite, with Benimaru teaming up with its saga's Rivals Team during the eleventh tournament, Team Elisabeth.
Similar to Fatal Fury Team's classic formation, the Art of Fighting Team's formation in this game consists of the three main heroes/heroines who all debuted as playable characters 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).
Certain team endings in the previous game make clear of two current formations in this game:
The Sacred Treasures Team appear together during the Yagami Team's ending in KOF XIV, after Iori talking with his regular teammates. The three guardians find themselves near the crater where Orochi was found, in Hungary, and seal the evil entity away again.
Another scene in the Japan Team ending also suggests the formation. In it, after talking with Benimaru, Kyo reads a phone message of Chizuru, who arrives in Europe to resolve the matter concerning Orochi.
This game and The King of Fighters XI are the only mainlines game with profound team changes.
Certain classic teams, like the Japan Team, Yagami Team and Psycho Soldier Team, do not appear in this game, and the other classic formations receive new names.
This game is the fourth KOF mainline game, and the third KOF canonical game to have another variant of Women Fighters Team, in the form of the Secret Agents Team, thus making the team the third "all females" team to be another variant of the original team. The other games following this distinction 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 as a member of the Super Heroines Team was foreshadowed in twogames prior through her dialogues against the members of the original Women Fighters Team (those being her XIII intro dialogue with King, and XIV win dialogue against Mai).
Several references to SNK's universe can be noticed in many trailers, cutscenes and endings for the game:
The Shibuya Crossing, in Tokyo, appears in one of the scenes of the first trailer of the game (when Benimaru and Kyo talk to each other) and in the Story Trailer/First Cutscene (when Shun'ei and Meitenkun are seen in the street talking with Isla). This place also appears as a fighting stage in World Heroes Perfect.
When Clemence Bellamy appears in the first trailer and cutscene, 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 recreates the arcade cover of the first Fatal Fury game. Additionally, Kurikinton, a song from the arcade game, plays in a small match after the main trailer. Also in this trailer, the theme VS. plays before 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 indirectly quote the "Cross Changer" pose in their dialogue, a reference to Chojin Sentai Jetman, in which both characters would perform as their special interaction in the last twogames of theOrochi Saga. This later appears as their special pre-battle dialogue in the game.
In Story Mode cutscenes (more precisely, when the characters are in Shibuya), a poster of Athena Asamiya with her outfit in the previous tournament can be seen.
In the main trailer for the game (released during Gamescon 2021) and in the second cutscene in Story Mode, the appearance of Verse in the penultimate cutscene of the previous game can be seen.
During the ending of Team Sacred Treasures, the coat that Shingo Yabuki uses displays the first letter of the company's logo. This coat is very similar to the one he uses in his intro in The King of Fighters '99. The coat also appears as his new costume in this game with his confirmation as DLC character, although it is slightly different than the one in the ending.
The ending of Team Legendary Heroes (a special team) references some artworks and win screens seen in the series:
The post-credits scene of Team Ash references one of the scenes of Ash's ending in The King of Fighters XIII, where both a younger Ash and Elisabeth are seen standing at the Blanctorche's garden, with Ash putting a flower crown in the noblewoman's head.
The post-scene dialogue of the two characters also references Ash's attitude of erasing his existence and Elisabeth's effort to bring him back.
During the ending of Team Garou (more precisely during Gato and Hotaru's encounter), a new version of Fullmoon: Heartful (Hotaru's theme in MOTW) plays.
The post-credits scene of Team South Town references the main cover of Real Bout Fatal Fury, with Geese seated in a red throne and his subordinates standing before him. The only differences in the scenes are the color of Geese's necktie and the angle of the scene being shot.
During the ending of Team Awakened Orochi, a new version of The Origin of the Mind (Orochi's theme in KOF '97) plays.
The pre-battle dialogue of Haohmaru and Mai references the former's ending in the first Samurai Shodown, where he fights with a character that supposedly appears to be the latter.
The pre-battle dialogue of Shingo and Ash references the ending of Team Kusanagi-Yagami, where Iori, in his Riot of Blood state, attacks and tries to kill Shingo and Kyo. Suddenly, Ash appears out of nowhere and tells the two injured men that both "should head home before I [they] catch a cold".
Ash himself speaks the same line towards Shingo in said pre-battle dialogue.
Other references can be seen in some stages of the game:
In the Provence Main Street stage (All Versions), there is a store called "Soi-méne". This is a obvious to the developer Soimen, who worked in several SNK titles during the Playmore era.
In the Beach Resort stage (Sunset Version), the sails of the yachts shows the date 1994-08-25, right below the main logo. This date is the Japanese arcade release date of KOF '94, the first game of the series.
Also in both versions of this stage, a plaque shows the inscription PORT TOWN. This is a reference to Hon-Fu's stage in Fatal Fury 3.
The win screens of this game are very similar to, and are likely inspired from the prominent Capcom fighting games Super Street Fighter IV, Street Fighter V and Street Fighter 6, where the winning character performs a unique victory flourish as the in-game camera dynamically follows them in a cutscene-esque fashion before ending in a still scene featuring said character and their victory quote.
When the player chooses a team composed of the appropriate members, their team emblem appears in the lower corner of the pre-fight screen. When the chosen team is random, however, an emblem of the series appears.
In Single VS., depending on the character chosen, the emblem of the team/character where he/she belongs appears in the middle screen.
Starting from the 1.62 update (the start of Season 2), the KOF emblem appears for all the DLC characters released in the season, with the exception of Goenitz, who has his own Boss emblem similar to Omega Rugal's.
This is the only game in the series in which the narrator uses phrases in addition to the original narration, during the matches and the winner announcement.
This is the only game in the series to use the expression "Perfect Fight" in rounds, in lieu of the K.O. announcement at the end of the round. Separate announcements of a perfect victory are no longer done.
Certain DLC characters released in the previous entry appear in canonical base roster teams this time around. In the order of trailer's appearance, they are: Blue Mary and Vanessa (both in the Secret Agents Team), Heidern (Rivals Team) and Whip (K' Team).
Rock Howard & Ryuji Yamazaki return as DLC characters once more and appear in DLC teams in this current entry. Similarly, Najd also returns as a DLC character but remains a solo character unlike the aforementioned ones.
In contrast, Geese Howard, Billy Kane, Nakoruru, Kim Kaphwan and Sylvie Paula Paula, who all appeared as base roster characters in KOF XIV, return as DLC characters for this entry.
These are also the only games in the series so far with selectable character costume colors, no longer relying on specific button presses to select a color.
This game and The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match are the only games in the series to feature an updated version of a character that was removed in future appearances due to perceived copyright issues, internal design disfavor, publicity ruse and controversy.
This is the fifth SNK game (fourth considering that KOF XIII was produced by SNK Playmore, albeit only EX-style variations of pre-existing characters) to use DLC content (in this case, DLC Teams, DLC Characters and DLC outfits).
Interestingly, this only applies to the odd-numbered story arcs, those being featured in the Sacred Treasures Team (from the Orochi Saga, the first saga in the series) and Ash Team (from the Ash Saga, the third saga in the series).
The particular characters from the even-numbered story arcs, K' and Kula from the NESTS Saga (the second saga in the series), and Shun'ei and Isla from the New Age Saga (the fourth and current saga in the series), oppose each other through different teams, instead.
With the exceptions of Shun'ei, Meitenkun, Kyo, Iori, Terry, Mai, Dinosaur, Antonov, Geese, Billy, Nakoruru, Kim, Sylvie, Najd and the characters that weren't in the previous game, all the other characters retain the same Climax Super Special Moves in The King of Fighters XIV.
Some characters, even with the same Climax Super Special Move, earn new execution modes.
When a character defeats an opponent, the background screen radiates a color specific to the move used to defeat them, with those colors being:
Blue: if the opponent is defeated with a Super Special Move.
Red: if the opponent is defeated with a MAX Super Special Move.
Yellow: if the opponent is defeated with a Climax Super Special Move.
In Story Mode, during the Final Match (before the Bosses Battles), some team plays fight against specific formations, due to the rivalry or plot importance of both. Therefore, the list is as follows:
Hero Team: Rivals Team (and vice-versa);
K' Team: Krohnen Team (and vice-versa);
Sacred Treasures Team: Orochi Team (and vice-versa);
Ash Team: Rivals Team;
Ikari Warriors Team: Hero Team;
Secret Agents Team: Rivals Team;
South Town Team: Fatal Fury Team;
Awakened Orochi Team: Sacred Treasures Team;
Other Teams: Random Teams.
The way that characters interact on gameplay intros, particularly individual Round 1 intro (except against bosses) and special intros is similar to the one seen in KOF: Maximum Impact series.
The same thing also can be seen in Samurai Shodown (2019), with the fateful battles and intros. But, unlike the KOF entry, the regular and DLC characters interact with the boss.
In this game, the single random mode can choose the characters with their DLC costumes. Until KOF XIV, this feature chose characters in their default outfits.
In the team endings, each team has a phrase featuring them. Below, the list:
Hero Team: A New Chapter in the Disciples' Journey.
Sacred Treasures Team: The Truce Goes Up In Flames.
Fatal Fury Team: Bromance on the Beach.
Orochi Team: CYS Back In The Swing of Things.
Art of Fighting Team: The Future of Kyokugen Style!?
Ikari Warriors Team: Facing The Demons of The Past.
Secret Agents Team: A Lady's Secrets Are Her Own.
Super Heroines Team: Idol Debut of The Super Heroines!?
G.A.W. Team: Golden Heroes of Siberia ~G.A.W. FOREVER~
Rivals Team: Normal Days Ahead.
K' Team: Kula Diamond Rescue Operation.
Krohnen Team: Gone In The Wind.
Ash Team: God's In His Heaven - All's Right With The World!
Garou Team: Young Wolves At Play.
South Town Team: The City That Never Wakes.
Awakened Orochi Team: The Awakening of Gaia's Will.
Samurai Team: One Journey Ends, and Another Begins...
Edit Team: Heidern Battle Report: Re Verse Incident.
The DLC characters of Season 2, due to the fact that they were released as solo characters, earns special formations and, therefore, this formations are classified as Edit Team.
Starting from the 1.51 update, the ending voice cast cutscene that appear before the credits earns the artworks of the DLC teams (only the initial roster appeared before the patch).
The Hero and Rivals Teams earn new artworks, showing the complete teams (the team's leaders had their own artwork prior to the patch).
Several references to SNK's universe can be noticed in the main graffiti that appears before the ending cutscene:
A pitbull dog, the same that appears in the main promotional flyer of the NEO GEO AES, and the slogan BIGGER, BADDER, BETTER.
The main slogan of the Neo Geo Mini, THE LEGACY LIVES ON.
The phrase "KING OF DUCK", referencing the character Duck King.
When the player fights with the Samurai Team, in any version (and if they win the match), the K.O. narration changes to the narration style used in the Samurai Shodown series (Shobu Ari, literally (now) there is an outcome for the fight or shortened as conclusion).
In the individual intros of this team, the main battle start theme of the series plays ("Iza Jinjou ni, Shoubu!").
About the leaks related to the game:
The last three characters revealed in the game's trailers (Maxima, Kula Diamond and Elisabeth Blanctorche) were leaked after Krohnen McDougall's confirmation in the game. Each character forms the three last confirmed teams in this entry (the K' Team, the Krohnen Team and the Ash Team, respectively).
The same leak showed the existence of the DLC teams and characters in the roster: the Garou Team (Rock Howard, B. Jenet and Gato), the South Town Team (Geese Howard, Billy Kane and Ryuji Yamazaki), the Awakaned Orochi Team (Orochi Yashiro, Orochi Shermie and Orochi Chris), the Samurai Team (Haohmaru, Nakoruru and Darli Dagger) and Omega Rugal. All the characters were confirmed and released during the year of 2022.
Another leak is confirmed, this time about the last 2 DLC characters of Season 2, and shows the characters Duo Lon and Hinako Shijo. This is showed through the special endings that the characters are inserted, and the characters were released in Autumn and Winter, 2023.
The combinations of the characters in the special are: Shingo & Kyo, Kim & Luong, Sylvie & Kukri, Najd & Ash, Duo Lon & Elisabeth and Hinako & Antonov.
