It"s common knowledge amongst the Japanese development community that The King of Fighters XII, although undeniably awesome, exists as a significantly truncated version of the game"s initial vision. Owing to the massive amount of work that thousands of laboriously hand-drawn animation frames represents, several character sprite sets could not be finished in time for release.

One of the cut characters was even shown in early artwork for the game: Elizabeth Blanctorche, protagonist Ash Crimson"s rival. But take a look at the screen above... everyone"s favorite riding crop-brandishing bitch is back, baby! Purchasers of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game will get at least two bonus characters: Elizabeth, as well as the cold and severe Mature, one-time secretary to evil mastermind Rugal. Where"s her head-swap compatriot, Vice? Don"t ask us; maybe Mature got that new cotton eyepatch when she killed her, or something.