Ahead of Evo 2024 Las Vegas’ Showcase, SNK has revealed the next King of Fighters fighter in… sillouette form. The question remains: who is this person? It’s hard to figure out which character it is. Thanks to the recent interviews from Summer Game Fest and the City of The Wolves push: it’s hard to determine who this really is. With the sharing of worlds happening with Capcom, Arc System Works(Baiken in Samurai Showdown), and even Ubisoft(For Honor), there’s a possibility that SNK is digging deep in the crates for this one.
SNK vs Capcom: Chaos would be evidence as to how obscure SNK can take things. For this 2003 game, Tessa from Warzard / Red Earth, and Zero from Megaman X, were brought into the company’s second crossover fighting game. Warzard’s characters didn’t make much appearances, in other games outside of Pocket Fighter, and Capcom Fighting Evolution, before this.
King of Fighters XV has also bent the rules recently with the Samurai Showdown team. Haohmaru, Nakamaru, and Darli Dagger, have come to the main timeline. This means that anything is possible. Perhaps it’s Yuki from SNK’s other weapon fighter, The Last Blade, also lost in time and trying to get back home.
Maybe The Next King of Fighters Fighter Is Closer To Home
Maybe this is internal moretimes outside of SNK’s realm. One fan theory has pointed to Vice and Mature – two of Iori’s original teammates in KoF ’96, which would definitely be possible. Again, the language dictates that it will be a “character”. Perhaps, it’s single entry mechanic of two characters with one being summoned to do special attacks. The enigmatic team leader decided to drop this squad again to join with Chizuru and protagonist Kyo to stop Verse in the current saga. Last time we did see Vice and Mature was in the previous game as phantoms since they’re technically dead. The shadow looks just like them if you look at it hard enough.
Other characters have been brought back from the “dead” including previous bosses such as the Orochi team, Goenitz(’96), and Rugal. Maybe this is more of a fan pull than anything else.
We have a few more hours left before Evo 2024 starts! Better to speculate now while we’re still in suspense.