【KOFXV】Andy Bogard Character Trailer

The 8th character trailer for The King of Fighters XV adds in the “The Human Weapon”, Andy Bogard. This character is best known as the love interest of Mai Shiranui and the younger brother of Terry Bogard. I had absolutely no doubt that he was going to be in considering that he is a staple (not to mention Joe Higashi pretty much confirmed him and Terry; you CANNOT have a King of Fighters game without Team Fatal Fury). Though, let’s view the trailer and I’ll tell you my impressions.

The first thing that was noticeable was his aesthetic; everything looks TREMENDOUSLY improved over the entry seen in The King of Fighters XIV, maybe more so than all of the previous characters to date. Andy is supposed to have a “pretty boy” look about him, something that completely rivals his serious and stern demeanor which is opposite of Mai Shiranui’s playful attitude. I think they captured the portrayal of him perfectly, especially in the thumbnail they used as his still (the featured image on this article). The only thing I’m upset about is that they are still using the colors and pattern from KOFXIV which features a mixture of blue and red flames, rather than the more simple and effective approach they took in The King of Fighters XIII.

A lot of his moves look about the same as from his King of Fighters XIV iteration, though obviously they probably combo differently due to the system mechanics. His Super Desperation moves are all similar, and his combo path does seem similar in what he can cancel into his Shoryudan (which he does twice on his EX/Max Mode) and also his Kuuhaden. Hell, even his Neo Max is the same as it was in KOFXIII and KOFXIV. Seeing as I loved how he played in previous iteration, I am very excited to see that SNK did not try to reinvent the wheel and fix what was obvious not broken.

Overall I am very excited for Andy as he is a mainstay within my team (usually in 2nd position). His looks got updated for The King of Fighters XV (even if they kept his ugly outfit from KOFXIV), his moveset seems to be the same, and he still has a cool Neo Max that looks better than it did the previous game but not as good as XIII. Nothing to do now but to wait and see how they improved Terry, lol.