Ignition Entertainment has announced that The King of Fighters XII will be coming to North America in 2009. Only, they haven’t announced what systems it will be played on. While it isn’t directly mentioned, we are told that it is “newly hand drawn in high resolution.”

Also, this page located on Ignition’s website may be revealing a bit too much as well…

In celebration of its landmark 15^th Anniversary, The King of Fighters XII - one of the last great arcade 3-on-3 fighter games – is about to get even greater.  For the first time in its history, this ultimate fighting game has undergone a complete graphical overhaul.  All sprites used over the past 14 years have been dropped and replaced with new 2D high definition, high resolution sprites, on detailed 2D backgrounds, drawn 100% by hand.

“Dreams never die!” said Ajay Chadha, President of Ignition Entertainment. “I’ve been a huge The King of Fighters fan since 1994 when the game first debuted and I know original fans will be as excited as I am about this groundbreaking installment of this very popular series. And just as importantly, The King of Fighters XII should be a treat for the new gamers who’ve just been introduced to the hugely popular franchise.”

We’ll make sure to let you all know when we get more details…