The King of Fighters XV Ruleset

Tournament Rules

1. Tournament Length

   This tournament is Double Elimination (Two total match losses).

2. Set Length

   All tournament sets will be best-of-three, until Top Three at which point tournament sets will be best-of-five. Rules below do not change between these two set formats.

3. Set Procedure

   1. Players select their team and assists. Either player may elect to do Double Blind Team Selection (see section 5)
   2. Players mutually agree on a stage (see section 4) or random.
   3. The players play the first game of the set.
   4. The winning player of the preceding game must keep their characters (order change is allowed).
   5. The losing player of the preceding game may switch characters and order.
   6. The next game is played.
   7. Repeat Steps 4 through 8 for all subsequent games until the set is complete.

4. Stage Agreement Clause

   Players may select any LEGAL stage if they both agree on it. Players may not play on illegal stages or change the length/terms of a set. If this is violated, both players will be subject to complete disqualification from the event.

5. Double-blind Character Selection

   Either player may request that a double-blind selection occur. In this situation, a pool captain, referee, or third party will be told, in secret, of each player’s character choices for the first round. Both players are to then select their characters, and the pool captain, referee, or third party will validate the character selection.

6. Pausing and the Home Button

   Pauses are not permitted once the game has started. Pausing is only legal for the purpose of summoning a Tournament Official for cases of controller malfunction, external interference, or case-by-case reasons as deemed valid by Tournament Officials. All other pauses will incur a round loss to the player who pauses the game (or game losses, if the round results in a decisive win).

7. Stalling

   Stalling, or intentionally making the game unplayable, is banned and at the discretion of Tournament Officials. Stalling includes but is not limited to becoming invisible, movement without any attack animation for an extended period of time, and reaching a position where the player’s character can never be reached by the opposing character. Stalling will result in a forfeit of the game for the player that initiated the action.

8. Draws

   If a game draw were to occur through a Double K.O. or a timeout on the game screen, the game will not be scored and both players will replay the tied game with the same character selections.

9. Color Request Clause

   Players may request that their opponent change colors to accommodate colorblindness. The request must be made before the game starts.

10. Warm-ups

    Warm-up periods, button checks, and “handwarmers” may not exceed 60 seconds on the game clock. Violation of this rule may result in a game loss at the discretion of the Tournament Official.

11. Tardiness

    Anyone who is not present for their set by ten minutes past the scheduled start time of the round is subject to a total disqualification from the event.

Game Rules

1. Game Settings

   • Platform: Playstation 4
   • Default Settings
   • Three Character Teams
   • Mutually agreed upon stage or Random Stage Select.

2. Additional Rules

   1. Patch

      FanimeCon 2022 will use whichever patch is currently live at 11:59 pm PST on Wednesday May 25th, 2022.