SNK revealed that Chizuru Kagura is ready to join The King of Fighters XV by forming Team Sacred Treasures with Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami. It deviated from the usual weekly schedule of a new character trailer every Wednesday night, like Chizuru’s reveal in COFFEE XV was created during the 2nd Japan Fighting Game Publisher Roundtable stream.
Chizuru debuted as the penultimate underboss in The King of Fighters ’96, the third game in the then annual series. Chizuru’s last playable appearance before XV was in the tenth game, KOF 2003This is the first time we’ve seen her fight in one KOF game with 3D models because she was not playable in The King of Fighters XIV
According to the series’ background settings, Chizuru, Kyo, and Iori are descendants of the three clans who each have a sacred treasure to seal the snake monster Orochi. Although the three literally worked together KOF 2003, they weren’t considered an official team, as Chizuru appeared there as the underboss too. This is the first time the three iconic characters have been officially grouped into a main line KOF title.
The confirmation from Team Sacred Treasures has further shattered expectations COFFEE XV characters would be grouped based on the order of the trailer’s reveal. Although Joe Higashi’s trailer came in between Iori and Kyo, it is not grouped with them.
The King of Fighters XV is currently under development by SNK with a release window for 2021.