The first official trailer for The King of Fighters XV will be shared with the world on 7 January 2021, SNK announced yesterday. The announcement came with a teaser trailer, offering a look at some character artwork, and a few insights from producer Yasayuki Oda and creative director Eisuke Ogura.
Though there’s no game footage in the teaser (it’s a teaser, after all), it does confirm a few characters who’ll be presented in The King of Fighters XV: Kyo Kusanagi, Benimaru Nikaido, Shun’ei, Leona, and K’. There’s a good look at concept artwork for the first three of those, but Leona and K’ are easy to miss, given that they only appear for a split-second each during a medley of character art. Pause and YouTube’s frame skip shortcuts (the “,” and “.” keys) are your friend.
According to Oda and Ogura, Shun’ei will definitely be the protagonist this time around, after even the creators were unsure if he filled that role in The King of Fighters XIV‘s story. He’s also got some new moves, and “looks a lot cooler as well”. Kyo is “a new man” now, but he’s rocking his classic jacket and bandana, while Benimaru returns to a more familiar sleeveless top, albeit with an “oriental flair”. They also said that team composition will be very different in The King of Fighters XV compared to XIV, but didn’t go into any further detail.
SNK first announced The King of Fighters XV at E3 2019, but this is the first update we’ve had since then. The full trailer for “our most ambitious KOF yet” will be released on 7 January 2020, Japan time. At the same time, SNK will reveal more information about the characters from the third season pass for Samurai Shodown, which will include a guest character from The Last Blade.
