Masaaki Kukino (久木野 雅昭, Kukino Masaaki) is a Japanese video game producer. He worked for Konami and SNK Playmore. Masaaki Kukino was born in Kurashiki, Okayama. He studied to become a clothing/textile designer. While he was researching a number of fashion companies & clothing brands, actually he came across an interesting arcade game company. So, he started to work as a producer, a designer, a director, making side-scrolling beat 'em ups, sports, action, driving, and gun (shooting) arcade games. [1] He is the producer of The King of Fighters XII and The King of Fighters XIII. [2] [3]