The King of Fighters 15is the latest sequel in SNK’s long-running fighting franchise that began in 1994 in arcades. The previous entry was in 2016,The King of Fighters 14, and got fairly high reviews. The same seems to be true for this sequel, although numbers can be a funny thing.
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The King of Fighters 15is fairly close in aggregate review scores to its predecessor. Does that mean that nothing has changed in the six years between sequels? The answer to that is complicated. There are fresh elements to this game such as new fighters and super moves. However, other aspects are either removed or dialed back. Let’s see whyThe King of Fighters 15should make most fighting games fans happy and other fans sad.
8Best: Character Selection
KOF 15’s roster is smaller than its predecessor’s, but it is still bigger thana lot of fighting gamesat launch. Players can choose from 39 fighters. There is a decent number of male and female fighters who range from quick agile characters to strong, immovable brutes.
There should be someone here for all types of players. Longtime fans of the series should appreciate old faces like Mai returning along with new additions like Isla.
7Worst: Reused Animations
The one downside to the returning characters is that a lot of their animations are seemingly copied and pasted fromThe King of Fighters 14. While the moves still look great in battle, most fighting games keep skills in play but still change up animations. For example, aHadouken from RyuinStreet Fighter 4performs differently than the one inStreet Fighter 5.
They look similar but different enough whereasThe King of Fighters 15’smoves can be compared side by side with the previous entry and no changes are visible. After a six-year-long wait for this sequel, some fans may have expected more.
6Best: Stage Selection And Graphics
The animations for moves may have been repeated in some fighters, but the graphics and overall art style have improved in six years. JoiningKOF 15’s 39 fighters are 17 stages. That is less than one stage per character, which is not perfect, but it isn’t bad either.
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One of the most fun stages to look at is the one inspired byMetal Slug. All stages have fun NPCs in the background, but this is especially true for theMetal Slugexample. Ifonly that seriesgot represented more.
5Worst: Story Mode
The 39 characters are split into thirteen teams of three. Of those thirteen teams, only two are representedin the story. Regardless of the group chosen by the player, the main story will always feature Hero Team – Shun’ei, Meitenkun, and Benimaru – fighting against Rivals Team – Isla, Dolores, and Heidern.
That said, the stage dialogue may feature unique conversations between different characters and the ending will have an extra animated still in it. Still, overall the story mode is short and could use some work to make it feel more dynamic.
4Best: Online Connectivity
Fighting games would not be where they are today if not for multiplayer.The King of Fighters 15features classic 1v1 bouts so that players can face off against a friend while they both sit on the same couch, or they can take their grudge match online.
It’s easy to set up a room or to jump into random matches. There is a ranked mode for serious fighters as well as a casual mode for some off-the-cuff fights for fun. As long as the connection is good at home, the fights should look and feel seamless online.
3Worst: Stocked Team Battles
The King of Fighters 15can be played in 1v1 matches, but that is not the main attraction. Most of the game, including the story mode, is framed around taking three fighters into battle. However, this is nota tag-team fighting gamelike theMarvel vs Capcomseries.
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These are stock battles. Each side chooses three fighters. When one goes down, another takes their place. There is no switching out in mid-battle. This is disappointing as the stock team archetype can feel a bit dated in 2022.
2Best: The Movie, Voice, And Music Galleries
There are not many extra modes in this game other than different ways to fight in matches. This can be true for a lot of fighting game series, but what they andThe King of Fighters 15offer are galleries.KOF 15is packed full of music, movie, and voice galleries to geek out over.
The music gallery might be the best since it has tracks dating back decades. It’s a shame the sound test feature went away from games as they were huge in the ’80s and ’90s.
1Worst: Japanese Only Audio
Anotherreason the storymay let fans down is that it only features Japanese audio. Some players may prefer their audio in the pure, native language of Japanese. There is still a huge debate in anime as well regarding subs vs dubs.
The voices sound great inThe King of Fighters 15, but it also would have been nice to have an English option. Some fighters, like Terry Bogard, speak in English during fights. It’s a bit jarring to hear when most characters talk exclusively in Japanese.
The King of Fighters 15was released on June 05, 2025 and is available onPC,PS4,PS5,Xbox One, andXbox Series X.
