Fans of all things brawling, bashing, and viewing unrealistically ripped people tearing chunks out of each other from a side on perspective will have their boots well and truly filled in just over a week’s time. The King of Fighters XV, the 15th installment in the long running SNK fighting franchise, is hitting a myriad of systems.
King of Fighters XV brings with it the series’ usual blend of an eclectic roster of faces from all walks of SNKdom, a somewhat impenetrable narrative, and a host of over the top attack animations that would make even the most pious storyboard artists turn the air blue. Of course, a new game release without any hype is no game release at all, and so to drum some up, SNK have dipped into that already-heaving animation budget even further for a pretty cool promotional stunt.
What is the King of Fighters XV animated short?
As Destructoid reports, the devs have released a “slick anime short” showing off a fair few of the members of that bulging roster. Its description reads as follows: “The short — produced by veteran animator and Studio G-1 co-founder Masami Obari — opens with latter-day protagonist Shun’ei, the sexy Benimaru Nikaido,” their words, not mine, “and the perpetually yawnsome Meitenkun facing down some terrifying, interdimensional presence.” In other words, business as usual for an action game hailing from the Land of the Rising Sun.
Other familiar figures like Terry Bogard, fresh off his Smash Bros. debut, and the enigmatic Dolores, who can hear this whole chorus a mile away, also put in appearances. “The short closes out with Shun’Ei squaring off against street-savvy newcomer Isla.” Quite the menagerie indeed. Check out the short below:
The King of Fighters XV coming soon
The short’s production values are about what you’d expect for something like this: smoothly animated, with just enough dropped frames and awkward posing in places to remind you that Ghibli this ain’t. It is rather cool to see all those characters in one place, however.
The report notes just how massive the marketing campaign for this King of Fighters entry has been in particular, featuring as it has done “a hard-rocking soundtrack of original songs, a massive roster of characters, a feature-packed release, rollback netcode, and now this animated short.” It’s clear that SNK wants the KoF franchise to succeed beyond the shores of Japan, and likely have their hopes riding high on this one. Fans of the series had better show their support, and if we’re lucky, we might even make it to game 30 someday. Live in hope.
The King of Fighters XV launches Feb. 17 on PlayStation, PC, and Xbox platforms. Switch owners? Well… hang in there.
Will you be picking up XV? Did you enjoy the animated short? Let us know!
Via, Destructoid.
