I like it almost as much as its normal appearance
After being silent for more than a year, SNK is doing a good job of constantly releasing minor information about King of Fighters 15 even outside the trailers.
The game’s character designer and chief illustrator, Tomohiro Nakata, gives small developer insights on the look and feel of the cast with this week on Benimaru. It’s also a little different from the others we’ve seen so far, as we contain a new portrait of the handsome boy with his hair down.
Although we have seen him over the years in many introductions without the hair with an electric tip, it is rarer to get an official work of art depicting him in this way.
Nakata notes that the team has had a strict policy of not removing any features that make Benimaru at its core, and he assures fans that he is still as pure as ever before.
【KOF XV】
SNK dev vir [KOF XV] share their thoughts on BENIMARU NIKAIDO.
The character designer of BENIMARU NIKAIDO pays a little in-depth attention to his design process!#SNK #KOF # KOF15 pic.twitter.com/SwbhFNGnyv– SNK GLOBAL (@SNKPofficial) 29 January 2021
This time, Benimaru joins Shun’ei and Meitenkun in a new team to fight the main heroes where he is their protector and mentor – although some joke that Kyo has made him a babysitter as well.
Instead of the tight belly shirts or jackets he wore in previous matches, the KOF veteran looks more like a Chinese dress shirt this time.
It is interesting to see how just a change of hair can change the tone of a character, as Benimaru in this artwork looks much more serious than what we saw in the trailer.
With how big a grid King of Fighters 15 is likely to be, these weekly drops can still last for many months, although most fans apparently do not have a problem with it yet.