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The King of Fighters XV[a], also called KOF XV, is a fighting game developed by SNK. It was released on February 17, 2022, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S. It is the first game in The King of Fighters series created using Unreal Engine 4, and the first to implement GGPO rollback networking. Taking place after the events of The King of Fighters XIV, the narrative primarily revolves around two fighters with multiverse-related supernatural powers, Shun'ei and Isla, among other returning heroes facing revived threats. King of Fighters XV generally received praise for its character roster, team-based gameplay, and smooth online performance, but criticism for its story mode, complex tutorials, and mechanics.
Like its predecessors, The King of Fighters XV uses a fighting system involving teams composed of three fighters. The parry system also returns under the name Shatter Strike. It also reincorporates the common MAX Mode system where fighters can use stronger techniques once energy bars are filled. Unlike in previous game, but now just like super moves prior, characters can now use MAX/EX versions of special moves, with or without entering MAX Mode. The game features a wide variety of online modes, including Ranked Match, Casual Match, Room Match, and Online Training.[1]
The single button "Rush" from The King of Fighters XIV reappears and is updated to help newcomers perform combos and special/super moves easier. Shatter Strike was designed mainly as a defensive system but it can be used offensively when making use of guard points. Destructoid compared Shatter Strike with a fully charged Focus Attack from Street Fighter IV.[2] In XIV, combos from quick activation were the main way max mode was used so the gauge consumption was increased from 1 to 2 to prevent players from being overwhelmed. A neutral state in XIV was not seen often so in XV attack power and guard crush are increased when neutral is activated. Since Max Mode activations in neutral were almost nonexistent in King of Fighters XIV, the developers are giving more incentive to players to not just use it as a combo extender.[3]
The King of Fighters XV launched with 39 playable fighters, consisting of 13 teams with three fighters each. Additional characters were made available via seasons of paid downloadable content: Season 1 consists of 12 fighters spread across four teams, while Season 2 consists of six individual fighters. Much like Samurai Shodown (2019) and SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy, the DLC teams' involvements in the storyline are canon. The game features two non-playable bosses in the initial release, and two free playable DLC boss characters who are part of special boss challenges.[5][6]
Due to positive response to the marketing of The King of Fighters XIV, director Yasuyuki Oda said in August 2017 The King of Fighters XV was possible, but the company SNK also wanted to focus on other franchises.[9] Oda instead worked on a spin-off, SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy, a female character-driven fighting game and a spiritual sequel of SNK Gals' Fighters.[10] In December 2018, SNK revealed the company was working on The King of Fighters XV, aiming to release it during 2020.[11] Feeling the previous title had outdated graphics for a 2016 game, SNK chairman Zhihui Ge said that XV will use the Unreal Engine 4 to provide a better presentation.[12] They decided to make XV while they were still working on XIV but only started development after Samurai Shodown was completed.[3] At Evo 2019, SNK announced that the game was in development.[13] The game'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, serves as the producer for the title.[14]
Originally, the game was set to be released in 2020.[15] However, in late December, Oda and Ogura revealed the game would see release in 2021 with more content yet to be explored. During these announcements, the two developers revealed sketches of Shun'ei, Kyo Kusanagi and Benimaru Nikaido, with the former being set to be the protagonist of the new game. Ogura called it "our most ambitious KOF yet".[15] An official trailer was set for January 7, 2021 but was delayed for unknown reasons alongside the downloadable content for Samurai Shodown.[16] The trailer was, instead, revealed the next day and included game footage of Kyo, Shun'ei, Benimaru, K', Mai Shiranui and Leona Heidern, while also confirming a 2021 release.[17] The team focused on improving the visuals and increasing the fast-paced gameplay by adding new elements.[14] The game was developed for PC and ninth generation of consoles, and supports ray tracing on these platforms. The PlayStation 4 version was also created with fans of The King of Fighters XIV in mind: SNK wanted to release the game while the console was still popular and expects this version to be used during major tournaments. Much attention to the character lineup was given due to the worldwide popularity of the series. In total, around 400 people were involved with game's development.[18]
In February 2021, Oda announced on his personal Twitter account that the team is working on implementing rollback-based netcode for the game.[19] The team aims to improve the gameplay and graphics while also providing a more interesting story than the one from XIV.[20] SNK later confirmed that they were using GGPO for their rollback implementation.[21]
In promoting the title, anime director Masami Ōbari (who previously worked on Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture and 1995 Technōs' Neo Geo fighting game title Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer along with the OVA adaptation) created and directed a short anime based on the series, with his animation studio, G-1Neo, producing the short anime.[14] Yusuke Takeda and Hirotoshi Takaya have also worked on the short. In an interview with Famitsu, Ōbari has stated that he wanted this anime to be his best work yet, and that his team worked closely with SNK on the character design to make sure it has feature film level of detail put into every frame of animation.[22] The song "Now or Never" by Steven McNair plays during the short, and is also used as the main theme of the game.[23]
Character design is being handled by Tomohiro Nakata, who is also working on The King of Fighters All Star. Many returning characters received cosmetic changes. For example, Kyo Kusanagi was altered to overall look closer to his earlier appearances in the series, but different in other parts of his design like his jacket and gloves.[24][25] The decision to revive characters killed off in previous KOF games was made during XIV's development and was based on XIII's themes of energies connecting the past to the present through space and time and Oda wondering how that would affect things in the future. The deceased characters returning for XV were chosen based on fan requests and the aim of the roster was for it to have a 'fresh and festive feel'. They feel like the gathering of the KOF Heroes as well as the return of Team Sacred Treasures and Team Orochi helped them achieve this feeling. They brought back Clemence Bellamy, the story mode announcer from XIV, to appeal to the "tournament-likeness" of KOF and acknowledge that he was well received.[3]
Previous KOF heroes Kyo, K' and Ash Crimson have been more independent protagonists, but Shun'ei is a little bit younger than them and is more of a mentally unstable character. Oda has compared Shun'ei to Rock Howard, and says that his story could end up being as fun to write as Rock's. Oda feels that unlike the older fighting game protagonists, Shun'ei has a one-of-a-kind world view, and his values change as he grows older.[26] In regards to Isla, SNK wanted to introduce a rival to Shun'ei, so they let the design team to come up with whatever they could think of. The resulting draft had an impact on Oda, as it is very close to the final result, but he was initially worried about putting a character with that type of design into a fighting game. According to Eisuke Ogura, Isla is "not very much into actual fighting", and has a special and abnormal dance-like style.[27] Despite Shun'ei being the protagonist the story will explore Isla's character as well.
Meanwhile, the character of Krohnen has been noted to have multiple similarities with K9999 from The King of Fighters 2001 and The King of Fighters 2002 due to his similarities with the character of Tetsuo from the manga Akira and had to be removed from the franchise based on copyright issues.[28][29] Although SNK did not confirm his identity, artist Hiroaki was more open about it, calling him the revival of K9999.[30] Among other characters, the previous subboss, Antonov, became a playable character as a regular member of the cast. Oda stated that he was further changed based on the team's idea in regards of a manager.[31] The series' official website was updated with story prologues during development of the game.[32] Although the game gave closure to Shun'ei's character arc, SNK is not satisfied with the result, believing they could still focus on his role again.[18]
In June 2021, SNK announced that the game would be delayed to the first quarter of 2022, due to rising cases of COVID-19 in Japan.[33][34] In July 2021, SNK announced that the game would be released on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S via the Microsoft Store, Epic Games Store and Steam.[35] The game's international release is handled by the Embracer Group's Koch Media.[36] A demo became available in Tokyo Game Show 2021 featuring a total of eight playable characters.[37]
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