RELATED: King Of Fighters: Best Characters In The Fighting Game Series, Ranked
If they don’t do that then that series may start to stagnate. That said, fans should know that The King of Fighters 15 does not represent that point in SNK’s series. However, some things that were off about the 2016 game still aren’t fixed in this sequel six years later. Hopefully, these ideas can be corrected through patches.
6 Add Tag Team
The King of Fighters 15 features stock battles with each team choosing three fighters. As soon as one fighter falls, the match will restart with full health going to the victor and the other side getting in a new combatant. This makes the idea of team battles feel less dynamic.
Some players may prefer games like Marvel vs Capcom that feature tag-team combat. In that series, characters can be swapped out whenever. Characters can also be committed to assist moves. Putting tag team matches into The King of Fighters 15 via a patch seems impossible. This might be more of a wish for a sequel or a full-blown expansion. Either way, tag teams would be great to see again.
5 Add More Odd Characters
The roster has a generous amount of fighters, with 39 characters being included. There are some new characters like Isla and Dolores but the majority return from past iterations of the series. The one downside to this roster is the lack of weird characters. For instance, Meitenkun is an oddball fighter who uses some form of sleeping martial arts. There is also Dinosaur who is a wrestler disguised as a dinosaur in the story.
RELATED: Fighting Games That Have Defined Evo Over The Years
SNK has already announced plans for future DLC with more characters, and the first wave looks good but mild. Hopefully, the next DLC will be wilder. Add in some chibi models from older games like Metal Slug. Seeing Marco or Fio from that series take on more serious fighters like Terry Bogard would be hilarious. Along with fighters, The King of Fighters 15 could use more stages.
4 Add Photo Mode
Most AAA action games have photo modes in them. Fighting games lack this feature more commonly though. Super Smash Bros. is the one big series that comes to mind. Photo modes are a fun way for companies to give players an incentive to share their experiences online. A good screenshot sent out to Twitter or Instagram could blow up the internet.
One never knows until they try. This could help get companies free publicity, even if it might not be the main reason photo modes are included in games. Nevertheless, The King of Fighters 15 does not have a photo mode, and it should.
3 Tweaks To Tutorials
There are two ways to train in The King of Fighters 15. First, there is a tutorial mode. If players jump into it, the game will go through step-by-step instructions on how to execute basic moves from light punches to strong kicks. There is no way for the game to teach individual fighters their special moves though. Players can’t even choose who they play as or who they fight against.
Training mode features more customizable options. Players can choose to have opponents fight back or stay still. They can even choose whether they stand or crouch. The options are more robust but there is not a step-by-step method in this mode either. It would be nice if these two modes could be combined and also fleshed out in a patch.
2 Add English Audio
The King of Fighters 15 predominantly features Japanese audio. This is true for matches and the story mode, although some fighters do speak English to match their native origins in the lore. It can be quite jarring since 95% of the cast do speak in Japanese only.
RELATED: The Biggest Gaming Franchises, Ranked By Number Of Titles
It would be nice to see the game receive a full dub in a future patch. Some players may be even willing to pay for this feature as DLC, although getting it for free would be a nice gesture from the developer. The subs vs dubs debate will always be around.
1 A More Involved Story Mode
Adding in English audio would be great but more so than that, the story could use an overhaul. There are 39 characters in the game divided up into thirteen teams. The story mode only features two of those teams. It doesn’t matter which characters players choose to fight, the story will always be the same. Characters chosen may say something different before a match and there are character-specific endings.
These endings are no more than a static image or two with a few words. Overall, The King of Fighters 15’s story mode feels like its budget was cut. Since the story has two teams featured now, there should be at least five more scenarios added into future updates or DLC packs. That will leave one team of the thirteen out, but that is better than leaving out eleven.
The King of Fighters 15 was released on February 17, 2022 and is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
MORE: The Lamest Fighting Game Characters Ever
