The long-awaited launch of The King of Fighters 15 comes with a level of expectation reserved for very few in the fighting game sphere. Six years after the launch of the previous title, developer SNK Corporation seeks to continue its legendary franchise with a title that merges the old-school feeling of nostalgia from fighting games of the past with a direction that veers decidedly new-school in execution. The result is a mixture of development ideologies that result in a near-perfect blend for fans of fighting games regardless of their generation.
The graphical aesthetic of the latest title in SNK's near-30 year old series is a prime example of this particular blend. KoF 15 sees the developer switch from the in-house engine used in the previous installment for Unreal Engine 4, porting over the animations and the work done on previous King of Fighters into the new game. While fans familiar with the previous title may recognize the use of the same animations, the updated look and feel of the game does a great job of masking this. The visual flourish added by the new, vibrant character models and stages and the satisfying sounds of impact make it easy for the older animations to blend in seamlessly with the new game.
The basic gameplay of King of Fighters 15 is reminiscent of the previous title in part because of the animation porting that had taken place. New mechanics such as the Shatter Strike as well as reworked mechanics like the Max Mode and EX moves not only make the game more accessible to beginners, but they also give old fans something new to look forward to within the old fighting systems. The changes to the previous mechanics help make the game feel more streamlined and beginner-friendly without removing the depth that veterans will have become accustomed to over the years.
In keeping with an old-school "arcade" feel, King of Fighters 15 comes with a standard suite of modes across a roster of 39 characters at launch. A brief Tutorial is present for beginning players to quickly learn the game's mechanics along with a Mission Mode for players to take on a set of five combo trials for each character. Beyond the Mission Mode, however, there is a notable lacking of single-player content. There is a standard Vs. Mode that can be played against the CPU and a Tournament Mode that can be played with friends locally, but the main course of KoF 15's single-player content is its Story Mode.
Story Mode in KoF 15 acts as what most fighting games would call an Arcade Mode. Players assemble a team of three fighters to fight their way up through a six-stage ladder before entering a climactic clash with the game's boss encounters. On the surface, the Story Mode appears basic. Playing through the Story Mode, however, unveils a level of presentation not found in many fighting games of the modern era as characters that have an in-lore connection interact before fights, announcers give the opposing team's leading character a special introduction, and cutscenes unfold to drive the narrative on to its conclusion. All of these touches add much appreciated aspects of lore and flavor to the King of Fighters tournament with special Gallery and DJ Station unlocks tied to creating new Edit Teams based on lore and backstory, rewarding long-time fans for their knowledge of the franchise's storied history.
Beyond the single-player content is the online which comes with what could be considered a now-standard suite of modes. Ranked, Casual, and Room matches are all available with players able to spectate matches and even save replays of prior matches. Supplementing this online suite is the game's much-touted netcode, a highly praised aspect from KoF 15's Beta tests that continues to hold strong. Backed by the consultation of the development team at Code Mystics, King of Fighters 15's brand of rollback netcode runs and plays like a dream as of this writing, with matches played in over 250 ping resulting in a smooth, lag-free experience.
While the single-player offerings are decidedly paltry, the game's tweaked and revised mechanics along with its superbly gratifying presentation deliver in spades with an impressive roster that will only get stronger over time with at least 12 characters coming to the title as DLC. It is then that the lack of single-player content stings ever so slightly more, but with the incredibly smooth online experience offered by the title's rollback netcode, players will find plenty of reasons to return again and again. The announcement back in 2019 placed anticipation at an all-time high over nearly three years, and SNK Corporation succeeded in shattering all expectations with The King of Fighters 15, offering fans a title that holds its own among the best in the franchise that all began in '94.
The King of Fighters 15 releases February 17th for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Screen Rant was provided with a PlayStation 5 copy for the purposes of this review.