In this eighth installment of the King of Fighters series, ten different teams once again battle it out in several countries to decide which team will be this year's King of Fighters. However, the NESTS organization is once again standing in the participant's way; they have deployed their own team of four fighters, lead by two individuals of high-rank within NESTS: a man claiming to be the original Zero and Igniz, the CEO of NESTS. The character roster has been updated yet again for this release in the series.