The King of Fighters 15's initial wave of DLC announcements could potentially be the game's best. The starting roster of 39 characters features a mix of newcomers and returning favorites from across the franchise's history, including characters that haven't been seen since the franchise's days on SNK Corporation's Neo-Geo hardware. With the first set of King of Fighters 15 DLC announced for the upcoming title, it's apparent that SNK Corporation looks to continue that trend with its support post-launch, re-introducing characters from years past as well as popular characters from the previous title that didn't make the initial cast.
Since the start of the King of Fighters franchise, SNK Corporation has taken characters from its various series such as Fatal Fury, Ikari Warriors, and Art of Fighting to further supplement and compromise the backbone of the roster for each of its KoF titles. The extensive library of characters offered by this strategy allows the company to freely cycle characters out while still maintaining a robust roster of characters as other characters slide into background roles for years at a time. In the modern age of fighting games, DLC can now be used to bring these background characters back to the forefront or, alternatively, establish the presence of requested characters from other continuities in SNK's library.
SNK Corporation has announced the first two DLC teams for KoF 15 ahead of its February 2022 release, with both teams borrowing from similar history. Team Garou, consisting of fan-favorites Rock Howard and the returning characters Gato and B. Jenet, lead the way for a March release. The second team, Team South Town, is comprised of Geese Howard, Billy Kane, and Ryuji Yamazaki and is set for a May release. Both teams hail from different eras of KoF and Fatal Fury history, with Team Garou specifically boasting a trio that could make it an early favorite as the game's best DLC team.
KoF 15's Team Garou Could Be Its Best DLC
The announcement of Team Garou for The King of Fighters 15 brings with it three characters with plenty of history in SNK's fighting game franchises dating back to their debuts in Garou: Mark of the Wolves in 1999. Rock Howard, the biological son of Geese Howard and adopted son of Terry Bogard, acted as its main protagonist and has remained a fan-favorite since his debut despite seeing few appearances. In the King of Fighters series, his appearances have been relegated to non-canon spin-offs and, most recently, as a single character DLC for KoF 14. For his arrival in KoF 15, however, he comes with a team for the first time, introducing a new dynamic to the character.
Hailing from the same game as Rock Howard's debut are Gato and B. Jenet, completing Team Garou. Both characters have not been present in a KoF title since the release of KoF 11 in 2005 on PS2, making this their first appearance in the franchise in 17 years. Cycling the characters back into the franchise allows old fans to see them in a new light while introducing new fans of the series to old favorites. The trio has also been given a story according to the official SNK press release detailing their inclusion, marking their presence in the story itself and making Rock Howard canon to KoF for the first time.
Team Garou's inclusion as DLC for the latest title in the KoF franchise brings back two characters from the franchise's history and a returning favorite from the previous title while canonizing their appearance. The DLC follows the base roster's lead as well, bringing back legacy KoF characters that haven't been seen in quite some time to further supplement the already large, similar to the returns of Team Orochi and Chizuru Kagura. With a strong trio of characters with plenty of history in SNK's library, The King of Fighters 15 looks to start its post-launch roadmap with its best foot forward.
Source: Official SNK Website