Latest King of Fighters trailer showcases The Enchanting Beauty Luong

Following last week’s news of KOF XV’s delay into 2022 comes a new character reveal that feels a bit like a personal apology from the developers to the fanbase.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opNubV7j1Tc

Vietnamese femme-fatale Luong was one of the most well-received newcomers from the series’ previous entry, managing to outshine favorites like Sylvie and even poster boy Shun’ Ei, and naturally maintained popularity with a sizable portion of the fanbase that was rooting for her return in the upcoming sequel.

Visually her redesign follows in the same vein as the other new character models, swapping the highly detailed but darkly lit and slightly uncanny look of XIV for the brighter and more colorful anime aesthetic XV has been nailing so far. Design is a subjective factor so it is hard to call XV’s models flat upgrades (except in Andy’s case) but the unified cartoon style certainly feels like a better fit for a KOF game, on top of animations that look and feel smoother than before.

While her move set remains intact and mostly unchanged, keen-eyed viewers made note of a new stepping double-kick with cancelling and wall bounce properties as well as a mobility change to her one of her specials, enabling her to immediately follow up her Geki kick with a forward dash where before the move would leave her standing in place.

As for her role in the story carrying over from XIV, it is unclear whether she will be part of the central narrative but a brief shot from the trailer showed a special pre-round interaction with Shermie, which could indicate a connection with Team Orochi.

Also worth noting is that contrary to some fan speculation she is not the final member of the Women’s Team, which leaves Mai and Yuri in the lurch going on four months and sets up expectations for next week’s trailer. The pattern established over 22 trailers so far, with only the Women’s Team as an exception, has been to reveal team members sequentially and cap off with an extended trailer featuring the captain and the whole team in action.

Based on that, it is reasonable to assume that next week’s trailer will be the second member of Luong’s team, and it is likely to be one of the series’ many Taekwondo practitioners due to her role as part of Kim Kaphwan’s team in the previous entry. Odds favor her love interest and teammate Gang-Il, who would also be returning following his first appearance in XIV, but could very well be the long-absent Jhun Hoon or fan-favorite May Lee. Regardless of who makes it in, if it's one of them then the following week’s trailer is almost guaranteed to Kim himself.

Provided, of course, that SNK doesn’t choose to shatter all expectations.

The King of Fighters XV is due out in Q1, 2022