King of Fighters XII Coming in July

Kris Erickson • Mar 4, 2009 • Comments (0)

Ignition Entertainment and SNK Playmore have announced today that The King of Fighters XII is releasing worldwide in July 2009 on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 video game consoles.

The legendary 3-on-3 fighting game series that united rival brawlers from SNK Playmore’s classic arcade franchises will celebrate its 15th Anniversary with the release of The King of Fighters XII. It's hard to believe that so much time has passed since the first game landed with such an impact in the arcades. But this new game will make some major improvements over the original formula. For the first time in its history, the series has undergone a complete graphical overhaul. The antiquated character sprites used over the past 14 years have been dropped in favor of all-new, high-resolution fighters fluidly animating across painstakingly detailed, 100% hand-drawn backgrounds. If it looks anything like the recently updated Street Fighter IV visuals, we will be very pleased indeed.

According to Ignition, the hand-drawn style was the only way to ensure that this King of Fighters sequel stayed true to the original feel.

“I couldn’t think of a more appropriate way to commemorate The King of Fighter’s 15-Year Anniversary than with a gorgeously animated, high-definition installment that updates the KOF legacy for a new generation. While other fighting games have abandoned the time-consuming process of creating beautiful 2D art, KOFXII fully embraces the refined aesthetic beauty that only human hands can produce.” A spokesperson for Ignition said.

True fighting fans might want to pick up a copy of The King of Fighters ’98: Ultimate Match for the PlayStation 2. This release includes a bunch of exclsuive content and videos about the making of KOF XII. We will of course have a full preview once we learn more about the game from SNK and Ignition.