Back in the 1990s, fighting games were all the rage and would eat up millions of kids’ quarters. Although Street Fighter was super-popular and even spawned movies based on the franchise, SNK Corporation had concurrently developed its own fighting game series. These included Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting, and of course, The King of Fighters.
Among SNK’s fighting games, The King of Fighters has had the longest run with the latest iteration, The King of Fighters XV (or 15) being released in 2022. It features a large roster of fighters, a few newer ones to numerous popular, returning KOF characters.
The King of Fighters series is back in action a full six years after the release of KOF XIV and this latest installment is an outstanding great sequel that will undoubtedly live up to the fighting legacy the franchise has carried since its first release back in 1994. The King of Fighters XV continues the KOF series’ legacy with its iconic 3-on-3 team battles and different teams have different stories and endings.
SNK has decided to release the Team South Town DLC for The King of Fighters XV on May 17th.
The DLC characters featured are Geese Howard, Billy Kane and Ryuji Yamazaki from the popular SNK hit Fatal Fury as they return to The King of Fighters XV in the form of Team South Town.
Here’s a breakdown of each character:
GEESE HOWARD
Geese Howard is Rock Howard’s father and the big bad boss of the Howard Connection, the behind-the-scenes superpower of South Town. Skilled in ancient Japanese martial arts, he specializes in countering his opponents’ attacks with devastating blows and throws. A charismatic villain, he exudes an overwhelming presence (voiced by Kong Kuwata).
BILLY KANE
Billy Kane is the flashy follower of Geese Howard and the second most influential man in the Howard Connection. He fights with an extendable staff that has an impressive reach to keep his opponents at bay. Billy is also known as the “walking deadly weapon” due to his hot-blooded personality (voiced by Masaki Masak).
RYUJI YAMAZAKI
Ryuji is a gangster type individual who made his name as an underground broker. He is also one of “Orochi’s Eight Hakkesshum” but only lives for his own benefit. At this tournament he appears to have been hired by the Howard Connection for a specific purpose but what that purpose entails is anyone’s guess (voiced by Tsuguo Mogami).
It must also be mentioned that each of these returning characters comes with an extra old-school costume! So matches against friends or random players online will be even more fun in these iconic costumes!
Also, on May 17th, all of the KOF XV characters already in the game will be rebalanced and tweaked. Yes, that’s right, coinciding with the release of Team SOUTH TOWN, there will be an update to adjust game balance for all characters. The purpose of customization is to adjust the characters and their overall performance during battles. Even if some of their techniques are toned down, this will be offset elsewhere. A new KOF XV gaming experience awaits its many fans.
In addition to the already available Team Garou (3 characters), Omega Rugal and the upcoming Team South Town (3 characters), six more DLC characters will eventually be released between 2 teams, by the end of 2022. Together with the 39 characters of the main game, that will bring the total number of fighters to 52.
And last but not least, songs from The King of Fighters Neowave will be added to the DJ Station for free, which will allow players to select their favorite songs as background music during battles. And here, too, many more songs will be added in the future, so keep your ears open!
The King of Fighters XV is available for PC at $59.99.