Ángel has been revealed as The King of Fighters XV's latest character. There are only a few spots remaining in the launch roster for The King of Fighters XV, with 35 of the 39 characters revealed so far. Surprisingly, the majority of revealed King of Fighters XV characters have been fighters returning from previous entries, with just two newcomers joining the cast so far.
The longstanding franchise has a history of introducing new characters heavily influenced by pop culture trends that are popular at the time of the character's reveal. In The King of Fighters XV, both of the newcomers are a part of Team Rival, a recurring team in the King of Fighters franchise that act as direct antagonists to each game's Team Hero. First revealed was Chilean street artist Isla, a direct foil to current protagonist Shun'ei who shows similar powers. She is joined by psychic medium Dolores, who controls "Holy Earth" as a weapon.
Developer SNK has revealed the Mexican grappler Ángel to be the latest character returning to The King of Fighters XV. Ángel's design and moveset are heavily inspired by the pro wrestlers of the WWE from the early 2000s, most notably Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Terri Runnels. Her appearance in the game comes as a bit of a surprise, as it will be just her fourth time joining the cast in the history of the franchise (not including spinoff titles), and also her second appearance in a row. Prior to her two most recent appearances, the character had not been a part of the active roster since her last appearance in The King of Fighers 2001 and 2002, all the way back before SNK changed King of Fighters' naming system.
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Ángel is notoriously considered one of the most difficult characters to play as in a series already known for being difficult to play. This is due to a unique system called the Unchain Circle, a control style for her move inputs that differs from every other character in the franchise. These three-move chains, referred to as the "Rekka" system in the fighting game community, have dozens of possible combinations. This grants her an extremely broad set of moves and options that are difficult to master, but especially hard to fight against.
With King of Fighters XV's open beta now complete, there's very little to be announced for the title between now and its February release. Longtime series mainstays such as Kim Kaphwan and Kula have yet to be announced, and it is expected that at least one of them will take one of the four remaining spots on the starting roster. While anticipation for the latest entry of The King of Fighters is at its peak, some longtime fans are left wondering if any other new fighters will be joining the cast before launch.
The King of Fighters XV will be available for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, and PC on February 17, 2022.
Source: SNK Official/YouTube