With King of Fighters 15 not due until early 2022 thanks to some production delays pushing it out of 2021, SNK still has plenty of playable characters to announce for it. The company's official YouTube channel has quite regularly released new character trailers for the game, not only confirming who will actually appear but also what the official team compositions will be. And while the newest announcement has yet to be placed on a team, the return of King of Dinosaurs already makes his fans very happy.
For anyone unfamiliar, King of Dinosaurs is a character who was only introduced in the previous game, King of Fighters 14 (which, as a reminder, now has an Ultimate Edition for PC and PlayStation 4). A masked wrestler dressed as a tyrannosaurus rex, he was part of the Mexico team alongside Angel and Ramon (the latter of which will also appear in King of Fighters 15).
As King of Fighters fans likely already know, Dinosaur was never actually a new character to begin with. In truth, he is another character called Tizoc, a superstar wrestler who previously appeared in King of Fighters 2003 and King of Fighters 11. Initially a face (a heroic wrestler figure), he came back with a new identity and role as a heel (a wrestling villain) following a humiliating defeat at the hands of Nelson (an actual new character in King of Fighters 14), although some characters still know it's him despite the new mask.
Unsurprisingly, his gameplay style involves a lot of classic wrestling maneuvers, including grapples and suplexes. But he also attacks with his claws, tail, and even bites his opponents with his sharp teeth. He boasts some particularly fancy special moves too, with one attack seeing him grab his opponent and jump so high that he smashes them into a ceiling camera, cracking the glass. The final attack he performs on an unfortunate Clark (another returning character who originates from Ikari Warriors and later appeared in a couple Metal Slug games) even has him cause a volcanic eruption somehow.
While his team isn't confirmed yet, he'll likely be a part of the Mexico team again, especially since his old teammate Ramon is returning as well. It's also possible that Nelson will come back too since Dinosaur's personal story is all about getting revenge against him.
Curiously, King of Fighters 15's roster seems to lack any wholly original characters. So far, every confirmed fighter has already been established in the series previously, including mainstays like Kyo Kusanagi and Fatal Fury's Terry Bogard. While its important to feature these fan-favorites, it's slightly strange that SNK has yet to announce a single new character for the game, although that could very easily change down the line.
King of Fighters 15 releases in early 2022 for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.