[1] The single button "Rush" from The King of Fighters XIV reappears and is updated to help newcomers perform combos and special moves easier.

The Rush now has also been modified to help the player perform both a Super Move and Climax should be the bars be limited to only the former as in The King of Fighters XIV.

On a more critical analsys Destructoid compared Shatter Strike with a fully charged Focus Attack from Street Fighter IV.

[2] In XIV, combos from quick activation were the main way max mode was used so the gauge consumption was increased from 1 to 2 to prevent players from being overwhelmed.

Since Max Mode activations in neutral were almost nonexistent in King of Fighters XIV, the developers are giving more incentive to players to not just use it as a combo extender.

As confirmed by Kukri earlier, defeating Otoma=Raga and Re Verse does not erase the revived fighters’ existences once they survive the two entities’ rampages.

[3] The game's creative director is Eisuke Ogura, who has previously worked as an artist on the series, beginning with The King of Fighters 2001.

[12] Feeling the previous title had outdated graphics for a 2016 game, SNK chairman Zhihui Ge said that XV will use the Unreal Engine 4 to provide a better presentation.

[14] Thanks to the Unreal Engine, the team could create more cinematic cutscenes during rivals' clashes than in the previous games where they just moved the fighters.

[12] Additionally, the Unreal Engine allowed to improve the visuals of the Climax techniques the characters can perform like Kyo's who fires a projectile, punches the enemy with his flames and then covers them with the Kusanagi Crest.

[17] The trailer was, instead, revealed the next day and included game footage of Kyo, Shun'ei, Benimaru, K', Mai Shiranui and Leona Heidern, while also confirming a 2021 release.

[20] In February 2021, Oda announced on his personal Twitter account that the team is working on implementing rollback-based netcode for the game.

[25] Since the game takes after KOFXIV, the music was made to feel like the previous installment's while focusing that each theme represents the character's personality.

[26] The decision to revive characters killed off in previous KOF games was made during XIV's development and was based on XIII's themes of energies connecting the past to the present through space and time and Oda wondering how that would affect things in the future.

They brought back Clemence Bellamy, the story mode announcer from XIV, to appeal to the "tournament-likeness" of KOF and acknowledge that he was well received.

[3] Previous KOF heroes Kyo, K' and Ash Crimson have been more independent protagonists, but Shun'ei is a little bit younger than them and is more of a mentally unstable character.

[29] Ogura wanted to use Terry Bogard as part of Shun'ei's Hero Team because he is a disciple of Tung, just like newcomers Meitenkun and Shun’ei.

[32][33] Ogura said that while there are several characters like Athena Asamiya and Benimaru who are often revised, there are also fighters he cannot see without their unique outfits, specifically pointing Mai Shiranui.

[12] Meanwhile, Kyo's girlfriend Yuki was brought back for as Ureshino realized that their relationship stayed pure and faithful to the point he considers them a married couple.

[40] On the other hand, the rival team wanted to bring Isla's image to the forefront, so after discussing it with the planning staff, "Time for revolution It's our generation" was created.

[40] Asanaka himself says that he often names his characters themes after considering their hidden side, and for example, in the case of the Kronen team's "Liberty", he said that he imagined the freedom that they had seized.

[50] In addition, a free update on April 14 added Omega Rugal as a playable character to the game, and introduced the new Boss Challenge mode.

Six additional characters were also released as paid DLC throughout 2023 as part of a second season pass, along with a patch adding cross-platform play to all platforms and a second Boss Challenge in the form of Goenitz, who, like Omega Rugal, sports another unlockable outfit should he be defeated.

[72] Destructoid enjoyed its fighting action, its large roster, improved visuals, and revamped online options, finding them highly complex while still praising the accessible Rush Mode.

IGN heavily criticized the lack of content, insubstantial tutorialization, reused six year-old animations, and called its story mode "utterly bare bones."

[64] The DLC was generally praised for bringing back Omega Rugal, famous for his high difficulty to defeat,[73][74][75] as well as the Garou: Mark of the Wolves team, especially its rebalanced lead Rock Howard.

[76][77][78] Though the return of Geese was praised, his status of alive within the KOF franchise bothered The Gamer as he became one of the several fighting game characters who never die despite his fate in Real Bout Fatal Fury.

[79] Producer Yasuyuki Oda believes that the players' response to the game was overwhelmingly positive, which allowed them to properly work on early issues such as the online play.

[80] The PlayStation 4 version of KoF XV was the 8th bestselling retail game during its first week of release in Japan, with 9,062 physical copies being sold.

Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated The King of Fighters XV for Fighting Game of the Year.