After releasing a frankly gorgeous trailer for The King of Fighters XII, SNK Playmore and developers Ignition Entertainment have announced that the game will be available this July on Xbox 360 and PS3.

The one hundred percent hand-drawn animations and backgrounds in The King of Fighters XII mark the first time in a long time that the series has received a serious graphical overhaul, after the last few entries to the franchise re-used sprite animations from the older games. SNK Playmore’s Masaaki Kukino said:

“Our development slogan for KOFXII is “KOF Re-Birth” and we’ve aimed to create an entirely new King of Fighters game. To make this a truly unique fighting game, we’ve revolutionized the graphics by creating state of the art visuals - and made no compromises in that process whatsoever.”

Previous EGM/1UP editor, now New Business Development Director of Ignition Entertainment, Shane Bettenhausen added; “I couldn’t think of a more appropriate way to commemorate The King of Fighter’s 15-Year Anniversary than with a gorgeously animated, high-definition installment that updates the KOF legacy for a new generation.

“While other fighting games have abandoned the time-consuming process of creating beautiful 2D art, KOFXII fully embraces the refined aesthetic beauty that only human hands can produce.”

Look forward to The King of Fighters XII on Xbox 360 and PS3 this July.