SNK Playmore
Encyclopedia
SNK Playmore Corporation (also known as SNK or Playmore) is a Japan
ese video game hardware and software company. SNK is an acronym of , which was SNK's original name. The company's legal and trading name became SNK in 1986.
The original SNK was founded in Osaka
, Japan
, in July 1978 by Eikichi Kawasaki and existed until October 22, 2001. Anticipating the end of his first company, Kawasaki founded the company Playmore in August 2001 which became SNK Playmore in 2003. Due to this strong resemblance to the previous company both in name and identity, SNK Playmore is sometimes referred to simply as SNK.
SNK is most notable for creating the Neo Geo family
in 1990, which contained many game consoles and arcade systems throughout the 1990s. Their most popular and successful console was the handheld, Neo Geo Pocket Color
from 1999, which was the last console of the Neo Geo family which ended in 2001. There was also the NeoGeoWorld theme park, based on the Neo Geo brand.
(1979), a vertically scrolling space shooter and Safari Rally
1980, a maze game. Game quality improved over time, most notably with Vanguard (1981), a side-scrolling space shooter that many people consider the precursor to modern classics such as Gradius and R-Type. SNK licensed the game to Centuri
for distribution in North America
, who ultimately started manufacturing and distributing the game themselves when profits exceeded expectations.
On October 20, 1981, the North American division (SNK Corporation of America) was opened. They established themselves in Sunnyvale, California
with the intent of delivering their own brand of coin-operated games to arcades in North America. The man chosen to run the American operation was John Rowe, the eventual founder of Tradewest
and current (as of 2008) president and CEO of High Moon Studios
.
SNK Corporation in Japan had at this point already shifted its focus solely toward developing and licensing video games for arcade use and (later) for early consoles. Between 1979 and 1986 they produced 23 stand-alone arcade games. Highlights from this period include Mad Crash (1984), Alpha Mission
(1985), and Athena
(1986), a game that gained a large following when it was ported to the NES
in 1987. Their most successful game from this time frame was Ikari Warriors
, released in 1986. Ikari Warriors was so popular that it was eventually licensed and ported to the Atari 2600
, Atari 7800
, Commodore 64
, Commodore Amiga, Amstrad CPC
, Apple II
, ZX Spectrum
and NES
. They followed up Ikari Warriors with two sequel
s, Victory Road and Ikari III: The Rescue.
Even at this late point, the home market was still suffering from the fallout caused by the North American video game crash of 1983
. Nevertheless, one console
manufacturer in particular seemed to weather the crash fairly unscathed: Nintendo
. SNK signed up to become a third-party licensee for Nintendo's Family Computer (Famicom
) system in 1985 and opened a second branch in the United States
, based in Torrance, California
and called SNK Home Entertainment that would handle the North American distribution and marketing of the company's products for home consoles. By this time, John Rowe had left the company to form Tradewest
, which went on to market SNK's Ikari Warriors series in North America. Subsequently, both halves of SNK America were now being presided over by Paul Jacobs
, who is notable primarily for having helped launch the company's Neo-Geo system outside of Asia
.
In response to strong sales of the company's NES ports, SNK began to dabble in the development of original software designed specifically for the NES console. Two games came out of this effort: 1989's Baseball Stars
and 1990s Crystalis
(God Slayer in Japan). 1989 also marked the release of two new home video game consoles in North America: the Sega Genesis and NEC's joint project with Hudson Soft
, the TurboGrafx-16
. Nintendo followed suit with a new system in 1991, the Super NES
. Rather than become involved in the early 90s system wars, SNK Corporation in Japan jointly with SNK Corporation of America chose to refocus their efforts on the arcade market, leaving other third parties, such as Romstar
and Takara
, to license and port SNK's properties to the various home consoles of the time with help from SNK's American home entertainment division. With console ports mainly being handled outside the company, they moved on to developing SNK branded arcade equipment.
SNK also licensed Tiger Electronics
to market handheld electronic games from some of its brands.
The MVS
was an immediate success. Arcade operators loved it because the setup time required for each game was nearly nonexistent, the floor space required was minimal, and the cost outlay for new cartridges was barely $500—less than half of what a traditional arcade unit cost at the time. But SNK also wanted to take advantage of people's desire to play arcade games at home, but without making the same compromises on CPU and memory performance that typical home consoles were forced to make.
was created, with the company released a home version of the MVS, a single cartridge unit called the Neo Geo Advanced Entertainment System
, or more simply, the Neo Geo AES. Initially, the AES was only available for rent or for use in hotel settings, but SNK quickly began selling the system through stores when customer response indicated that people were willing to spend the money. Several franchises of games derived from it, including Sengoku, The King of Fighters, The Last Blade
, Super Sidekicks
, Art of Fighting
, Metal Slug, Burning Fight
, Samurai Shodown and Fatal Fury. SNK also helped publish third-party Neo-Geo games including ADK's World Heroes
, Noise Factory
's Rage of the Dragons
and Sengoku 3, Sunsoft's Galaxy Fight: Universal Warriors and Waku Waku 7
, and Technōs Japan's 1995 Double Dragon arcade game
and Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer
. Besides the Neo Geo series of games, they are notable for some stand-alone arcade games and home console ports of them, including Vanguard, Athena
, Ikari Warriors
, Psycho Soldier
, Touch Down Fever, P.O.W.: Prisoners of War
and Street Smart
.
Compared to the other consoles of the time, the Neo Geo AES had much better graphics and sound. It featured two CPUs: a 16/32-bit Motorola 68000
main processor running at 12 MHz and a Zilog Z80
backup processor running at 4 MHz. The system's main CPU was 50% faster than the 68000 processor found in Sega's Genesis console and the Neo Geo AES also had the benefit of specialized audio and video chipsets. A custom video chipset allowed the system to display 4,096 colors and 380 individual sprites onscreen simultaneously—compared to 64 simultaneous colors, 2 tile planes, and 80 individual sprites for the Genesis—while the onboard Yamaha 2610 sound chip gave the system 15 channels of CD
-quality sound with seven channels reserved specifically for digital PCM sound effects.
This type of power carried a large price tag; the console debuted at $
599, which included two joystick controllers and a game (either Baseball Stars or NAM-1975). Within a few months of the system's introduction in North America, SNK changed the cost to $649 and changed the pack-in game to Magician Lord. The console sold for $399 with one control stick and without a game. Other games cost $200 and up—each. Each joystick controller was a full 2 inches tall, measured 11 inches long by 8 inches across, and contained the same four-button layout as the arcade MVS cabinet.
The quality of the games varied. Some, such as the Super Sidekicks
series, were all-new creations, while others were updated versions of earlier successes, such as Baseball Stars Professional
. SNK games were graphically bold and bright, with games such as Top Hunter: Roddy & Cathy
and the famous Metal Slug series being distinctive and instantly recognizable, no doubt contributing to the system's success in the arcades.
and CDZ, a failed, 64-bit Neo-Geo 64 system and two handheld systems, the Neo Geo Pocket
and Pocket Color
. Several of their more famous franchise titles, originally created for the MVS and AES systems, have been ported to other consoles such as the Genesis, Saturn
and Dreamcast, Super Nintendo Entertainment System
, PlayStation
and PlayStation 2
, Xbox
, and more recently, the Wii
.
was SNK's original handheld system. It was released in Japan
in late 1998, but quickly discontinued in 1999, with the advent of the Neo Geo Pocket Color
, due to lower than expected sales with the Monochrome
Neo Geo Pocket. The Pocket Color was later released in North America
and Europe
.
Even though the Pocket Color had a short life, there were some significant games released on the system such as Samurai Shodown
, King of Fighters R-1
, and Card Fighters Clash.
In 2001, the Neo Geo family ended.
, a company well known for its pachinko
machines. Instead of using SNK's franchises for video games, Aruze manufactured Pachinko machines featuring popular series such as King of Fighters. SNK saw little success on the video game market due to (reportedly deliberate) under-financing on Aruze's part, so the original founder, Eikichi Kawasaki left the company, along with other executives, to found the company named Playmore on August 1, 2001.
The highlight of 2000 came when Capcom
agreed to create a series of fighting games featuring both companies' fighting game characters. When Capcom vs. SNK
was released, it was a success but most of the profits went to Capcom as it developed the game. SNK released SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium and SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash
on the Neo Geo Pocket Color. Combined, both sold an unremarkable 50,000 copies. SNK closed all American operations in the summer of 2000.
SNK collapsed on October 22, 2001 when it filed for bankruptcy
and placed the intellectual property rights for its franchises on bidding. Much of the company's employees disbanded, with a number of them joining together to found the game and hardware developer Brezzasoft. During this time, SNK licensed game production and development rights for its franchises to several other companies, such as South Korean-based Eolith
(who gained control of the King of Fighters franchise between 2001 and 2002) and Mega Enterprise
(who produced Metal Slug 4), and Japanese-based Noise Factory
(who is responsible for Sengoku 3).
As a part of its efforts to reestablish its presence in the gaming market, Playmore purchased Brezzasoft and renamed it SNK NeoGeo Corp, giving the company an internal game development team. A Japanese commercial games distributor, Sun Amusement, was also purchased in order to provide the company with an arcade distribution outlet in Japan. International offices were established in South Korea, Hong Kong, and the United States under the SNK NeoGeo name for commercial, and later, consumer gaming distribution. All of these entities were later consolidated into SNK Playmore when Playmore regained the rights to use the SNK name for a holding company on July 7, 2003. During the same year, they also purchased ADK
shortly after it filed for bankruptcy and closed its doors, which was a third-party company that has been heavily associated with SNK since the late 1980s. Today, SNK Playmore in Japan highly resembles the original company. It employs a good proportion of employees from the old SNK and occupies its former building. However, the U.S division has drastically changed, with the office being located in Wall, New Jersey instead of California
. As of 2002, SNK Playmore's line of games have been distributed in Europe
by Ignition Entertainment
, a more recent videogames company based in Essex
, United Kingdom
.
In October 2002, Kawasaki sued Aruze for copyright infringement regarding SNK's intellectual properties which were used without authorization from Playmore, to the sum of 6.2 billion yen worth of damages. In January 2004, a preliminary decision was handed down by the Osaka District Court favoring SNK Playmore and was awarded 5.64 billion yen. Within that period of fall and winter of 2003, SNK Playmore obtained an injunction against a group of four different companies, which resulted in hundreds of AES cartridges being seized. But the following year, SNK Playmore struck a compromise with two of the companies as they were allowed to sell the AES cartridges, with the conditions that they could not be modified again and any legitimate materials were to be returned to them. SNK Playmore would within the same year discontinue the AES system, preferring to publish video games in cooperation with Sammy
, using its Atomiswave
arcade board, which would provide it a more secure platform for new arcade releases.
In September 2006 in the Tokyo Game Show
, SNK Playmore announced that it has ceased production of games on the Atomiswave, favoring Taito
's Type X2 arcade platform. To counter the decline in the commercial gaming industry, the company has in recent times shifted some of its development focus to consumer games, including original games for the PlayStation 2
, Nintendo DS
, mobile phones, and more. Games continue to be ported to the PlayStation 2 (mostly in Europe since most of the games did not get an approval from SCEA) and, in some cases, Microsoft
's Xbox
. Only in Japan, SNK Playmore has released the NeoGeo Online Collection for the PS2 containing some of its older games, containing emulations of its classic games, with the ability to play online by way of the KDDI
matching service. To date, 'The Art of Fighting Collection' (published by Crave under the title of 'The Art of Fighting Anthology'), 'Fatal Fury Battle Archives vols. 1 & 2' (published by SVG Distribution), 'World Heroes
Gorgeous' (Published by SNK Playmore Corp., developed by: Alpha Denshi Co., Ltd. (ADK), SNK Corporation, and known as 'World Heroes Anthology' in the US), and the SNK Arcade Collection vol. 1 have seen releases in the US. There are also original titles based on their existing properties, such as a Metal Slug 3D
and the KOF: Maximum Impact
series.
SNK Playmore USA released its first game on Xbox Live Arcade, which is Fatal Fury Special http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/f/fatalfuryspecialxboxlivearcade/default.htm. SNK is now currently supporting Nintendo's Virtual Console
service on the Wii
in the US with Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting, and World Heroes. On the PS2, The King of Fighters XI, and Neo Geo Battle Coliseum came out for the PS2 in 2007 (with US release dates of November 13 and December 17 respectively).
SNK Playmore also released the first adult-themed game franchise for the Nintendo DS
, Doki Doki Majo Shinpan!
, the first so far for any handheld console.
SNK Playmore USA Corporation handles software sales in the Americas.
Neo Geo do Brasil handles hardware and software sales in Brazil, 1993 to 1998.
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese video game hardware and software company. SNK is an acronym of , which was SNK's original name. The company's legal and trading name became SNK in 1986.
The original SNK was founded in Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, in July 1978 by Eikichi Kawasaki and existed until October 22, 2001. Anticipating the end of his first company, Kawasaki founded the company Playmore in August 2001 which became SNK Playmore in 2003. Due to this strong resemblance to the previous company both in name and identity, SNK Playmore is sometimes referred to simply as SNK.
SNK is most notable for creating the Neo Geo family
Neo Geo
was a family of video game hardware developed by SNK from 1990 to 1999, and fully discontinued in 2004.-Neo Geo MVS :The Neo Geo Multi Video System , is an arcade system board, being the first product in the Neo Geo family, and released in 1990...
in 1990, which contained many game consoles and arcade systems throughout the 1990s. Their most popular and successful console was the handheld, Neo Geo Pocket Color
Neo Geo Pocket Color
The Neo Geo Pocket Color , is a 16-bit colour handheld game console by SNK. It was the last console they produced in the Neo Geo family...
from 1999, which was the last console of the Neo Geo family which ended in 2001. There was also the NeoGeoWorld theme park, based on the Neo Geo brand.
Beginnings
When Eikichi Kawasaki noticed the rapid growth that was occurring in the coin-op video game market, he expanded SNK to include the development and marketing of stand-alone coin-op games. The first two known titles out of the new coin-op division were Ozma WarsOzma Wars
Ozma Wars is a 1979 scrolling shooter arcade game, which is the very first game developed and published by SNK. In fact, at the time of its creation the company was still known as "Shin Nihon Kikaku"...
(1979), a vertically scrolling space shooter and Safari Rally
Safari Rally
The Safari Rally is considered by many to be the world's toughest rally. It was first held from 27 May to 1 June 1953 as the East African Coronation Safari in Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika, as a celebration of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II...
1980, a maze game. Game quality improved over time, most notably with Vanguard (1981), a side-scrolling space shooter that many people consider the precursor to modern classics such as Gradius and R-Type. SNK licensed the game to Centuri
Centuri
Centuri, based in Hialeah, Florida, was one of the top six suppliers of coin operated video game machinery in the United States. Many of the machines distributed in the US under the Centuri name were licensed from overseas manufacturers, particularly Konami....
for distribution in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, who ultimately started manufacturing and distributing the game themselves when profits exceeded expectations.
On October 20, 1981, the North American division (SNK Corporation of America) was opened. They established themselves in Sunnyvale, California
Sunnyvale, California
Sunnyvale is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is one of the major cities that make up the Silicon Valley located in the San Francisco Bay Area...
with the intent of delivering their own brand of coin-operated games to arcades in North America. The man chosen to run the American operation was John Rowe, the eventual founder of Tradewest
Tradewest
Tradewest is a now-defunct American video game company based in Corsicana, Texas that produced numerous games in the 1980s and early 1990s. The company is best known as the publisher of the Battletoads and Double Dragon series in North America and the PAL region.The Tradewest name was revived in...
and current (as of 2008) president and CEO of High Moon Studios
High Moon Studios
High Moon Studios is an American video game developer, that used to be a part of Sierra Entertainment. After a period as independent studio, the developer was acquired by Vivendi Games in January 2006 and retained the current name...
.
SNK Corporation in Japan had at this point already shifted its focus solely toward developing and licensing video games for arcade use and (later) for early consoles. Between 1979 and 1986 they produced 23 stand-alone arcade games. Highlights from this period include Mad Crash (1984), Alpha Mission
Alpha Mission
Alpha Mission is a vertical scrolling shooter arcade game created by SNK in 1985. It was later ported to the NES/Famicom in 1986...
(1985), and Athena
Athena (video game)
is a platform arcade game, produced and published in 1986 by SNK. It was later ported to the NES, developed by Micronics. The NES version was the only one released in North America. Conversions were done also for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC in 1987 by Ocean Software under their...
(1986), a game that gained a large following when it was ported to the NES
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
in 1987. Their most successful game from this time frame was Ikari Warriors
Ikari Warriors
Ikari Warriors is a 1986 arcade game by SNK, published in the United States and Europe by Tradewest. Known simply as in Japan, this was SNK's first major breakthrough US release and became something of a classic. The game was released at the time when there were many Commando clones on the market...
, released in 1986. Ikari Warriors was so popular that it was eventually licensed and ported to the Atari 2600
Atari 2600
The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in...
, Atari 7800
Atari 7800
The Atari 7800 ProSystem, or simply the Atari 7800, is a video game console re-released by Atari Corporation in January 1986. The original release had occurred two years earlier under Atari Inc. The 7800 had originally been designed to replace Atari Inc.'s Atari 5200 in 1984, but was temporarily...
, Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
, Commodore Amiga, Amstrad CPC
Amstrad CPC
The Amstrad CPC is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom,...
, Apple II
Apple II
The Apple II is an 8-bit home computer, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer and introduced in 1977...
, ZX Spectrum
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...
and NES
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
. They followed up Ikari Warriors with two sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
s, Victory Road and Ikari III: The Rescue.
Even at this late point, the home market was still suffering from the fallout caused by the North American video game crash of 1983
Video game crash of 1983
The North American video game crash was a serious event that brought an abrupt end to what is considered the second generation of console video gaming in North America. Beginning in 1983, the crash almost destroyed the then-fledgling industry and led to the bankruptcy of several companies producing...
. Nevertheless, one console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
manufacturer in particular seemed to weather the crash fairly unscathed: Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
. SNK signed up to become a third-party licensee for Nintendo's Family Computer (Famicom
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
) system in 1985 and opened a second branch in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, based in Torrance, California
Torrance, California
Torrance is a city incorporated in 1921 and located in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. Torrance has of shore-front beaches on the Pacific Ocean, quieter and less well-known by tourists than others on the Santa Monica Bay, such as those of neighboring...
and called SNK Home Entertainment that would handle the North American distribution and marketing of the company's products for home consoles. By this time, John Rowe had left the company to form Tradewest
Tradewest
Tradewest is a now-defunct American video game company based in Corsicana, Texas that produced numerous games in the 1980s and early 1990s. The company is best known as the publisher of the Battletoads and Double Dragon series in North America and the PAL region.The Tradewest name was revived in...
, which went on to market SNK's Ikari Warriors series in North America. Subsequently, both halves of SNK America were now being presided over by Paul Jacobs
Paul Jacobs
Paul Jacobs can refer to:*Paul Jacobs , American activist**Paul Jacobs and the Nuclear Gang, documentary film about the above*Paul Jacobs , Flemish author*Paul Jacobs , professional hockey player...
, who is notable primarily for having helped launch the company's Neo-Geo system outside of Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
.
In response to strong sales of the company's NES ports, SNK began to dabble in the development of original software designed specifically for the NES console. Two games came out of this effort: 1989's Baseball Stars
Baseball Stars
Baseball Stars, released in Japan as , is a baseball video game developed by SNK. It was released for the NES in . It became a major hit in many countries worldwide, particularly in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico...
and 1990s Crystalis
Crystalis
Crystalis, known in Japan as , is an action RPG/action-adventure video game produced by SNK for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was released on April 13, 1990 in Japan and later that July in the United States. Though Crystalis never became a runaway hit, it is now considered a cult classic...
(God Slayer in Japan). 1989 also marked the release of two new home video game consoles in North America: the Sega Genesis and NEC's joint project with Hudson Soft
Hudson Soft
, formally known as , is a majority-owned subsidiary of Konami Corporation is a Japanese electronic entertainment publisher headquartered in the Midtown Tower in Tokyo Midtown, Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, with an additional office in the Hudson Building in Sapporo. It was founded on May 18, 1973...
, the TurboGrafx-16
TurboGrafx-16
TurboGrafx-16, fully titled as TurboGrafx-16 Entertainment SuperSystem and known in Japan as the , is a video game console developed by Hudson Soft and NEC, released in Japan on October 30, 1987, and in North America on August 29, 1989....
. Nintendo followed suit with a new system in 1991, the Super NES
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
. Rather than become involved in the early 90s system wars, SNK Corporation in Japan jointly with SNK Corporation of America chose to refocus their efforts on the arcade market, leaving other third parties, such as Romstar
Romstar
Romstar Inc. was a video game distribution company based in Torrance, CA that started operations in 1984. They originally started as the first American distribution arm for SNK . They were known for licensing arcade games from major makers for distribution. Among Romstar's clients include Taito,...
and Takara
Takara
Takara Co., Ltd. was a Japanese toy company founded in 1955, that merged with another prominent Japanese toy company, Tomy Co., Ltd., on March 1, 2006 to form Takara Tomy, also known in English as TOMY Company Ltd....
, to license and port SNK's properties to the various home consoles of the time with help from SNK's American home entertainment division. With console ports mainly being handled outside the company, they moved on to developing SNK branded arcade equipment.
SNK also licensed Tiger Electronics
Tiger Electronics
Tiger Electronics is an American toy manufacturer, best known for its handheld LCD games, the Furby, and Giga Pets. When Tiger was an independent company, Tiger Electronics Inc., its headquarters were in Vernon Hills, Illinois....
to market handheld electronic games from some of its brands.
Multi-Video System
During 1988 SNK began toying with the idea of a modular cabinet for arcades; up to that point, arcade cabinets typically contained only a single game. When an arcade operator wanted to switch or replace that game, they would have to completely remove the internals of the existing cabinet or exchange the entire setup for another game. SNK's new system, called Neo-Geo MVS (short for Multi-Video System), featured multiple games in a single cabinet and used a cartridge-based storage mechanism. The system debuted in 1990 and could contain one, two, four, or six separate games in a single cabinet. In order to swap in a new game, all the operator had to do was remove one cartridge and exchange it for another.The MVS
MVS
Multiple Virtual Storage, more commonly called MVS, was the most commonly used operating system on the System/370 and System/390 IBM mainframe computers...
was an immediate success. Arcade operators loved it because the setup time required for each game was nearly nonexistent, the floor space required was minimal, and the cost outlay for new cartridges was barely $500—less than half of what a traditional arcade unit cost at the time. But SNK also wanted to take advantage of people's desire to play arcade games at home, but without making the same compromises on CPU and memory performance that typical home consoles were forced to make.
Start and original console
In 1990, the Neo Geo familyNeo Geo
was a family of video game hardware developed by SNK from 1990 to 1999, and fully discontinued in 2004.-Neo Geo MVS :The Neo Geo Multi Video System , is an arcade system board, being the first product in the Neo Geo family, and released in 1990...
was created, with the company released a home version of the MVS, a single cartridge unit called the Neo Geo Advanced Entertainment System
Neo Geo (console)
The is a cartridge-based arcade and home video game system released on July 1, 1991 by Japanese game company SNK. Being in the Fourth generation of Gaming, it was the first console in the former Neo Geo family, which only lived through the 1990s...
, or more simply, the Neo Geo AES. Initially, the AES was only available for rent or for use in hotel settings, but SNK quickly began selling the system through stores when customer response indicated that people were willing to spend the money. Several franchises of games derived from it, including Sengoku, The King of Fighters, The Last Blade
The Last Blade
, is a fighting game series created by SNK for the Neo Geo system. The Korean version of the game is known as "The Last Soldier". The Last Blade and its sequel are widely considered to be two of the most accomplished games available for the Neo Geo system, with fan opinion divided as to which is...
, Super Sidekicks
Super Sidekicks
Super Sidekicks, is a series of soccer video games made by SNK for its console, the Neo-Geo.- Original Super Sidekicks :Published in 1993, the original Super Sidekicks was SNK's first soccer video game...
, Art of Fighting
Art of Fighting
is a trilogy of competitive fighting game titles that were released for the Neo Geo platform in the early 1990s. It was the second fighting game franchise created by SNK, following the Fatal Fury series and is set in the same fictional universe...
, Metal Slug, Burning Fight
Burning Fight
is an arcade game created by SNK in 1991 for the Neo Geo MVS system. This game is a beat 'em up, very similar to Crime Fighters. Three years after its release in arcades and on the Neo Geo AES, it was released in the Neo Geo CD as the only other home version of this game.The producer of this game...
, Samurai Shodown and Fatal Fury. SNK also helped publish third-party Neo-Geo games including ADK's World Heroes
World Heroes
is a series of fighting games created by ADK originally created for the Neo Geo MVS arcade cabinets with the assistance of SNK, though some of the games in the series were also ported to the Neo Geo AES and Neo-Geo CD platforms, as well as some non-SNK platforms such as the Super NES and the Sega...
, Noise Factory
Noise Factory
' is a Japanese company that specialises in developing video games. It is one of the developer companies of SNK Playmore. Its more known games are Rage of the Dragons and the new Power Instinct games .- Games :* Gaia Crusaders* Metal Slug 3 * Sengoku 2001 / Sengoku 3* Metal Slug 4...
's Rage of the Dragons
Rage of the Dragons
is a 2002 tag team head-to-head fighting game released for the Neo Geo hardware by Playmore . The game was co-developed by the Mexican team Evoga and the Japanese company Noise Factory...
and Sengoku 3, Sunsoft's Galaxy Fight: Universal Warriors and Waku Waku 7
Waku Waku 7
is a SUNSOFT fighting game initially released as an arcade game for the MVS / Neo Geo system in 1996. It was later ported to the Sega Saturn. An arcade-perfect port is included in the 2008 Playstation 2 release, Sunsoft Collection. The Neo Geo version will be ported to the Japanese Virtual Console...
, and Technōs Japan's 1995 Double Dragon arcade game
Double Dragon (Neo Geo)
is a 1995 fighting game spinoff of the Double Dragon series developed and published by Technos Japan. It is based on the 1994 Double Dragon movie, which in turn was based on the original arcade game. It was originally released for the Neo Geo and later released for the Neo Geo CD and PlayStation...
and Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer
Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer
is a superhero-themed head-to-head fighting game produced by Technos Japan Corp. for the Neo Geo arcade and home console. It was the companys second attempt at a fighting game, following the Neo Geo fighting game version of Double Dragon. It features character designs by artist Masami Ōbari, who...
. Besides the Neo Geo series of games, they are notable for some stand-alone arcade games and home console ports of them, including Vanguard, Athena
Athena (video game)
is a platform arcade game, produced and published in 1986 by SNK. It was later ported to the NES, developed by Micronics. The NES version was the only one released in North America. Conversions were done also for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC in 1987 by Ocean Software under their...
, Ikari Warriors
Ikari Warriors
Ikari Warriors is a 1986 arcade game by SNK, published in the United States and Europe by Tradewest. Known simply as in Japan, this was SNK's first major breakthrough US release and became something of a classic. The game was released at the time when there were many Commando clones on the market...
, Psycho Soldier
Psycho Soldier
is an action arcade game developed by Japanese software company SNK that was originally released in 1986 and internationally in 1987. It is somewhat of a sequel to Athena released a year earlier, Psycho Soldier continues the adventures of Athena, and is noteworthy for being the first video game...
, Touch Down Fever, P.O.W.: Prisoners of War
P.O.W.: Prisoners of War
is a side-scrolling beat 'em up produced by SNK originally released as an arcade game in 1988. A home version was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System on June 30, 1989 in Japan and on September 1989 in North America...
and Street Smart
Street Smart (video game)
is a 1989 beat 'em up arcade game developed and published by SNK. The game's objective is to win money, girls and glory on the streets. It is notorious for its level of difficulty requiring a great deal of brawling before the player's opponents go down...
.
Compared to the other consoles of the time, the Neo Geo AES had much better graphics and sound. It featured two CPUs: a 16/32-bit Motorola 68000
Motorola 68000
The Motorola 68000 is a 16/32-bit CISC microprocessor core designed and marketed by Freescale Semiconductor...
main processor running at 12 MHz and a Zilog Z80
Zilog Z80
The Zilog Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor designed by Zilog and sold from July 1976 onwards. It was widely used both in desktop and embedded computer designs as well as for military purposes...
backup processor running at 4 MHz. The system's main CPU was 50% faster than the 68000 processor found in Sega's Genesis console and the Neo Geo AES also had the benefit of specialized audio and video chipsets. A custom video chipset allowed the system to display 4,096 colors and 380 individual sprites onscreen simultaneously—compared to 64 simultaneous colors, 2 tile planes, and 80 individual sprites for the Genesis—while the onboard Yamaha 2610 sound chip gave the system 15 channels of CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
-quality sound with seven channels reserved specifically for digital PCM sound effects.
This type of power carried a large price tag; the console debuted at $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
599, which included two joystick controllers and a game (either Baseball Stars or NAM-1975). Within a few months of the system's introduction in North America, SNK changed the cost to $649 and changed the pack-in game to Magician Lord. The console sold for $399 with one control stick and without a game. Other games cost $200 and up—each. Each joystick controller was a full 2 inches tall, measured 11 inches long by 8 inches across, and contained the same four-button layout as the arcade MVS cabinet.
The quality of the games varied. Some, such as the Super Sidekicks
Super Sidekicks
Super Sidekicks, is a series of soccer video games made by SNK for its console, the Neo-Geo.- Original Super Sidekicks :Published in 1993, the original Super Sidekicks was SNK's first soccer video game...
series, were all-new creations, while others were updated versions of earlier successes, such as Baseball Stars Professional
Baseball Stars
Baseball Stars, released in Japan as , is a baseball video game developed by SNK. It was released for the NES in . It became a major hit in many countries worldwide, particularly in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico...
. SNK games were graphically bold and bright, with games such as Top Hunter: Roddy & Cathy
Top Hunter: Roddy & Cathy
Top Hunter: Roddy & Cathy is a side scrolling arcade platform game developed by SNK for the Neo Geo in 1994. It was also released on the Neo Geo CD, and the Wii Virtual Console. The game has seen re-release as part of SNK Arcade Classics Vol...
and the famous Metal Slug series being distinctive and instantly recognizable, no doubt contributing to the system's success in the arcades.
Mid-decade
They also produced a Neo Geo CDNeo Geo CD
is a game console from SNK that was released in 1994, four years after its cartridge-based equivalent, in an effort to reduce manufacturing costs. It is the second console of the Neo Geo family. The system was originally priced at US$300 new. The unit's 1X CD-ROM drive was slow, making loading...
and CDZ, a failed, 64-bit Neo-Geo 64 system and two handheld systems, the Neo Geo Pocket
Neo Geo Pocket
The Neo Geo Pocket was SNK's first hand held video game system, released in Japan in late 1998; however, lower than expected sales resulted in its discontinuation in 1999, and was immediately succeeded by the Neo Geo Pocket Color. The system only had a retail release within the Japan and Hong Kong...
and Pocket Color
Neo Geo Pocket Color
The Neo Geo Pocket Color , is a 16-bit colour handheld game console by SNK. It was the last console they produced in the Neo Geo family...
. Several of their more famous franchise titles, originally created for the MVS and AES systems, have been ported to other consoles such as the Genesis, Saturn
Sega Saturn
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console that was first released by Sega on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America, and July 8, 1995 in Europe...
and Dreamcast, Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
, PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
and PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
, Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
, and more recently, the Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
.
End of the century, end of Neo Geo
The Neo Geo PocketNeo Geo Pocket
The Neo Geo Pocket was SNK's first hand held video game system, released in Japan in late 1998; however, lower than expected sales resulted in its discontinuation in 1999, and was immediately succeeded by the Neo Geo Pocket Color. The system only had a retail release within the Japan and Hong Kong...
was SNK's original handheld system. It was released in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
in late 1998, but quickly discontinued in 1999, with the advent of the Neo Geo Pocket Color
Neo Geo Pocket Color
The Neo Geo Pocket Color , is a 16-bit colour handheld game console by SNK. It was the last console they produced in the Neo Geo family...
, due to lower than expected sales with the Monochrome
Monochrome
Monochrome describes paintings, drawings, design, or photographs in one color or shades of one color. A monochromatic object or image has colors in shades of limited colors or hues. Images using only shades of grey are called grayscale or black-and-white...
Neo Geo Pocket. The Pocket Color was later released in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
Even though the Pocket Color had a short life, there were some significant games released on the system such as Samurai Shodown
Samurai Shodown
Samurai Shodown, known as in Japan, is a competitive fighting game produced by SNK for their Neo Geo arcade and home platform. In contrast to other fighting games at the time which were set in modern times and focused primarily on hand-to-hand combat, Samurai Shodown is set in feudal-era Japan ...
, King of Fighters R-1
King of Fighters
, officially abbreviated KOF, is a series of fighting games by SNK Playmore . The series was originally developed for SNK's Neo Geo MVS arcade hardware, which served as the main platform for the series until 2004, when SNK retired the MVS in favor of the Atomiswave arcade board...
, and Card Fighters Clash.
In 2001, the Neo Geo family ended.
Collapse
The year 2000 saw the beginning of the end for SNK. In January, its poor financial status led to an acquisition by AruzeAruze
, is a Japanese manufacturer of pachinko, slot machines, arcade games and other gaming products, and a publisher of video games. Aruze possesses licenses to both manufacture and distribute casino machines in the American states of Nevada, Mississippi and New Jersey. The company's corporate...
, a company well known for its pachinko
Pachinko
is a type of game originating in Japan, and used as both a form of recreational arcade game and much more frequently as a gambling device, filling a niche in gambling in Japan comparable to that of the slot machine in Western gambling. A pachinko machine resembles a vertical pinball machine, but...
machines. Instead of using SNK's franchises for video games, Aruze manufactured Pachinko machines featuring popular series such as King of Fighters. SNK saw little success on the video game market due to (reportedly deliberate) under-financing on Aruze's part, so the original founder, Eikichi Kawasaki left the company, along with other executives, to found the company named Playmore on August 1, 2001.
The highlight of 2000 came when Capcom
Capcom
is a Japanese developer and publisher of video games, known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Devil May Cry, Chaos Legion, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Resident Evil. Capcom developed and published Bionic Commando, Lost Planet and Dark Void too, but they are less known. Its...
agreed to create a series of fighting games featuring both companies' fighting game characters. When Capcom vs. SNK
SNK vs. series
The SNK vs. Capcom series is a collection of video games by either Capcom or SNK featuring characters that appear in games created by both companies. The "vs. series" terminology originates from the fact that many of these games are fighting games.As a rule, games in this series either contain...
was released, it was a success but most of the profits went to Capcom as it developed the game. SNK released SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium and SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash
SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash
SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash is a series of SNK Playmore games between 1999 and 2006 for hand-held consoles.This game has a CCG theme, spun off from the popular series of fighting games by SNK and Capcom, and also including references to many other kinds of games from both companies. The...
on the Neo Geo Pocket Color. Combined, both sold an unremarkable 50,000 copies. SNK closed all American operations in the summer of 2000.
SNK collapsed on October 22, 2001 when it filed for bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
and placed the intellectual property rights for its franchises on bidding. Much of the company's employees disbanded, with a number of them joining together to found the game and hardware developer Brezzasoft. During this time, SNK licensed game production and development rights for its franchises to several other companies, such as South Korean-based Eolith
Eolith (company)
Eolith was a South Korean based company. They developed The King of Fighters 2001 and 2002 after SNK was bankrupted. They also developed Double Dragon EX for mobile phones. Their last title released was Chaos Breaker, for Taito....
(who gained control of the King of Fighters franchise between 2001 and 2002) and Mega Enterprise
Mega Enterprise
Mega Enterprise is a South Korean company that specialises in developing games. Mega Enterprise is best known for developing Metal Slug 4 for the NeoGeo after the original developer, SNK, went bankrupt....
(who produced Metal Slug 4), and Japanese-based Noise Factory
Noise Factory
' is a Japanese company that specialises in developing video games. It is one of the developer companies of SNK Playmore. Its more known games are Rage of the Dragons and the new Power Instinct games .- Games :* Gaia Crusaders* Metal Slug 3 * Sengoku 2001 / Sengoku 3* Metal Slug 4...
(who is responsible for Sengoku 3).
Rebirth
In an attempt to regain control of SNK, Kawasaki's new company, Playmore, successfully bid for and was awarded SNK's intellectual rights in late 2001. The company then began to bolster its assets and rehire many former SNK employees.As a part of its efforts to reestablish its presence in the gaming market, Playmore purchased Brezzasoft and renamed it SNK NeoGeo Corp, giving the company an internal game development team. A Japanese commercial games distributor, Sun Amusement, was also purchased in order to provide the company with an arcade distribution outlet in Japan. International offices were established in South Korea, Hong Kong, and the United States under the SNK NeoGeo name for commercial, and later, consumer gaming distribution. All of these entities were later consolidated into SNK Playmore when Playmore regained the rights to use the SNK name for a holding company on July 7, 2003. During the same year, they also purchased ADK
ADK (company)
, also known as , was a Japanese video game production company founded sometime in July of 1980. "ADK" is an acronym for Alpha, Denshi, and the Japanese term for "corporation", Kabushiki kaisha...
shortly after it filed for bankruptcy and closed its doors, which was a third-party company that has been heavily associated with SNK since the late 1980s. Today, SNK Playmore in Japan highly resembles the original company. It employs a good proportion of employees from the old SNK and occupies its former building. However, the U.S division has drastically changed, with the office being located in Wall, New Jersey instead of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. As of 2002, SNK Playmore's line of games have been distributed in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
by Ignition Entertainment
Ignition Entertainment
Ignition Entertainment Ltd. is a British video game publisher formed in April 2002. It was created from a selection of smaller developers and publishers, such as Archer MacLean's Awesome Studios.-History:...
, a more recent videogames company based in Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
In October 2002, Kawasaki sued Aruze for copyright infringement regarding SNK's intellectual properties which were used without authorization from Playmore, to the sum of 6.2 billion yen worth of damages. In January 2004, a preliminary decision was handed down by the Osaka District Court favoring SNK Playmore and was awarded 5.64 billion yen. Within that period of fall and winter of 2003, SNK Playmore obtained an injunction against a group of four different companies, which resulted in hundreds of AES cartridges being seized. But the following year, SNK Playmore struck a compromise with two of the companies as they were allowed to sell the AES cartridges, with the conditions that they could not be modified again and any legitimate materials were to be returned to them. SNK Playmore would within the same year discontinue the AES system, preferring to publish video games in cooperation with Sammy
Sammy
-People:*DJ Sammy, a musician*Sammy Davis, Jr.*Sammy Ijaz*Sammy Sosa*Sammy Hagar*Sammy Cahn*Sammy Gravano*Sammy Fain*CeCe Sammy*Sammy Baugh*Sammy Kaye* Sammy Luftspring, Canadian champion welterweight boxer*Sammy McIlroy*Sammy Kershaw*Sammy Lee...
, using its Atomiswave
Atomiswave
The Atomiswave is a custom arcade system board and cabinet from Sammy Corporation. It is based on Sega's NAOMI system board...
arcade board, which would provide it a more secure platform for new arcade releases.
In September 2006 in the Tokyo Game Show
Tokyo Game Show
The , commonly known as TGS, is a video game expo / convention held annually in the Makuhari Messe, in Chiba, Japan. It is presented by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association and the Nikkei Business Publications, Inc...
, SNK Playmore announced that it has ceased production of games on the Atomiswave, favoring Taito
Taito
Taito may mean:*Taito Corporation, a Japanese developer of video game software and arcade hardware*Taito, Tokyo, a special ward located in Tokyo, Japan*Taito, also known as matai, paramount chiefs according to Fa'a Samoa...
's Type X2 arcade platform. To counter the decline in the commercial gaming industry, the company has in recent times shifted some of its development focus to consumer games, including original games for the PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
, Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
, mobile phones, and more. Games continue to be ported to the PlayStation 2 (mostly in Europe since most of the games did not get an approval from SCEA) and, in some cases, Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
. Only in Japan, SNK Playmore has released the NeoGeo Online Collection for the PS2 containing some of its older games, containing emulations of its classic games, with the ability to play online by way of the KDDI
KDDI
is a Japanese telecommunications operator formed in October 2000 through the merger of DDI Corp., KDD Corp., and IDO Corp. It has its headquarters in the Garden Air Tower in Iidabashi, Chiyoda, Tokyo....
matching service. To date, 'The Art of Fighting Collection' (published by Crave under the title of 'The Art of Fighting Anthology'), 'Fatal Fury Battle Archives vols. 1 & 2' (published by SVG Distribution), 'World Heroes
World Heroes
is a series of fighting games created by ADK originally created for the Neo Geo MVS arcade cabinets with the assistance of SNK, though some of the games in the series were also ported to the Neo Geo AES and Neo-Geo CD platforms, as well as some non-SNK platforms such as the Super NES and the Sega...
Gorgeous' (Published by SNK Playmore Corp., developed by: Alpha Denshi Co., Ltd. (ADK), SNK Corporation, and known as 'World Heroes Anthology' in the US), and the SNK Arcade Collection vol. 1 have seen releases in the US. There are also original titles based on their existing properties, such as a Metal Slug 3D
Metal Slug 3D
, also called Metal Slug 3D to distinguish it from the original Metal Slug, is a third-person run and gun video game for the Sony PlayStation 2. It was developed and published by SNK Playmore and was released in Japan on June 29, 2006...
and the KOF: Maximum Impact
KOF: Maximum Impact
The King of Fighters: Maximum Impact is a fighting game for the PlayStation 2, produced by SNK subsidiary Noise Factory published by SNK Playmore in 2004-2005. An enhanced version was released for Xbox and PlayStation 2 under the title KOF: Maximum Impact — Maniax...
series.
SNK Playmore USA released its first game on Xbox Live Arcade, which is Fatal Fury Special http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/f/fatalfuryspecialxboxlivearcade/default.htm. SNK is now currently supporting Nintendo's Virtual Console
Virtual console
A virtual console – also known as a virtual terminal – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some operating systems such as UnixWare, Linux, and BSD, in which the system console of the computer can be used to switch between...
service on the Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
in the US with Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting, and World Heroes. On the PS2, The King of Fighters XI, and Neo Geo Battle Coliseum came out for the PS2 in 2007 (with US release dates of November 13 and December 17 respectively).
SNK Playmore also released the first adult-themed game franchise for the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
, Doki Doki Majo Shinpan!
Doki Doki Majo Shinpan!
is a game developed by SNK Playmore for Nintendo DS.A game journalist from the gaming blog Kotaku asked an SNK spokesperson if this game would be released in the US, and the response was "...this title is only for Japanese market. We do not have any plan for localize to the other versions.",...
, the first so far for any handheld console.
Subsidiaries and related corporations
SNK Playmore H.K. Co., Ltd. handles character licensing, as well as hardware and software sales in Asia (except for Japan and South Korea).SNK Playmore USA Corporation handles software sales in the Americas.
Neo Geo do Brasil handles hardware and software sales in Brazil, 1993 to 1998.
See also
- Neo GeoNeo Geo (console)The is a cartridge-based arcade and home video game system released on July 1, 1991 by Japanese game company SNK. Being in the Fourth generation of Gaming, it was the first console in the former Neo Geo family, which only lived through the 1990s...
- List of games by SNK
- Neo Geo Pocket ColorNeo Geo Pocket ColorThe Neo Geo Pocket Color , is a 16-bit colour handheld game console by SNK. It was the last console they produced in the Neo Geo family...
- List of SNK characters
- Hyper Neo Geo 64Hyper Neo Geo 64The Hyper Neo Geo 64 was an arcade system created by SNK, and released in September 1997, being the first and only "Neo Geo" branded arcade system of the Neo Geo family....
- Ignition EntertainmentIgnition EntertainmentIgnition Entertainment Ltd. is a British video game publisher formed in April 2002. It was created from a selection of smaller developers and publishers, such as Archer MacLean's Awesome Studios.-History:...
- AtlusAtlusis a Japanese computer and video game developer, publisher, and distributor based in Tokyo, Japan, best known for developing the console role-playing game franchise Megami Tensei. The first Megami Tensei was a Nintendo Entertainment System video game published by Namco based on a trilogy of...
External links
- SNK Playmore Official Homepage japanese
- SNK Playmore (USA)
- SNK PLAY MORE OFFICIAL YOUTUBE CHANNEL
- SNK Playmore Corp. at MobyGamesMobyGames-Platforms not yet included:- Further reading :* Rusel DeMaria, Johnny L. Wilson, High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games, McGraw-Hill/Osborne Media; 2 edition , ISBN 0-07-223172-6...
- SNK interviews on COIN-OP TV (dead link)
History
- The History of SNK from GameSpotGameSpotGameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
- The History of SNK from Jap-Sai.com
- The History of SNK from Penny ArcadePenny Arcade (webcomic)Penny Arcade is a webcomic focused on video games and video game culture, written by Jerry Holkins and illustrated by Mike Krahulik. The comic debuted in 1998 on the website loonygames.com. Since then, Holkins and Krahulik have established their own site, which is typically updated with a new comic...
- The History of SNK from G4G4 (TV channel)G4, also known as G4 TV, is an American cable- and satellite-television channel originally geared primarily toward young adult viewers, originally based on the world of video games...
- The History of SNK from Planet-SNK
- The History of SNK from MobyGamesMobyGames-Platforms not yet included:- Further reading :* Rusel DeMaria, Johnny L. Wilson, High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games, McGraw-Hill/Osborne Media; 2 edition , ISBN 0-07-223172-6...