SNK History
In July 1978, a new game company established as a joint-stock company was established in Osaka, Japan. It was the predecessor of SNK, New Japan Planning Company. The company began the development and production of video games when it was founded. Soon, the company's first game "Yamato Battleship" was launched in Japan. This was a shooting game, and it was the debut of this new company, so it should have received strong attention from the video game market at the time. In the early days of its new opening, it mainly produced some shooting games and some action games. As it developed rapidly, it only launched two shooting games in 1979 and as many as seven in 1980. It was not until 1981 that New Japan Planning slowly attracted the attention of Japanese players and became one of the more popular companies.
After 1982, New Japan Planning began to develop steadily, and the company began to develop and grow. In the late 1980s, in order to change the single type of games it developed, the company began to try to develop other types of games, many of which are familiar to us, such as the light gun shooting games we used in some large shopping malls. , among which are its works.
In April 1986, New Japan Planning officially changed its name to the "SNK" company we are familiar with. The three letters S, N, and K respectively represent the first letters of the names of the three main leaders who founded the company. Since then, the name SNK has symbolized the totem of fighting fans.
In 1986, SNK risked bankruptcy and launched an arcade game "ATHENA" that shocked Japan at the time. "Athena" is an action game in which players control Athena, the goddess of wisdom holding a long sword, to slay demons. At that time, SNK executives took a huge risk and added a self-developed sound chip, which had no similar product at the time, to the game's substrate to play the game theme sung by a well-known Japanese idol female singer at the time. song. In the same year, another game also attracted more attention, that is "IKARI WARRIORS". This is also a two-dimensional horizontal action game that tells the story of a mercenary organization defeating evil forces. Among them, the 1P protagonist is CLAKR STEEL, the 2P protagonist is RALF JONES, and the commander behind the scenes is HEIDERN. These men later reunited in King of Fighters. There is also a work that must be mentioned, "Heroes of Cuba". "CUBA HEROES" (CUBA HEROES) I believe friends around the age of 25 have seen it in the airport when they were children. This work tells the story of the older generation of revolutionaries Che Guevara and Castro, the current leaders of Cuba, who together defeated the dictator and established a socialist country! The game process is extremely exciting, and for the first time, a "ride" system is introduced in the game. Players can ride on tanks to attack enemies, and even use the "invincibility time" of getting on and off tanks to save their lives! All this was reproduced in the later classic "METAL SLUG"! Some people may think why SNK can make such a good shooting game "Metal Slug"? Maybe that’s because SNK originally started out by making shooting games!
In 1987, the sequel to the popular "Athena" was released, which was also very popular. 1988 was a good year for SNK, with 10 works finally on the market, including many classics. For example, "PRISONERS OF WARS" I believe everyone played its FC version when they were children! Moreover, among these 10 games, 5 are action games, which can be said to be experiments.
In 1989, SNK returned to its roots in action games. Half of the 11 games released that year were action-based.
At the AOU (ARCADE OF UNIVERSAL) International Arcade Exposition in the summer of 1990, SNK exhibited their "multi-line video system" (referred to as MVS substrate) called "NEO GEO".
This is the main arcade baseboard that accompanied SNK through its glory days.
In July 1991, the cartridge-type home game console "NEO GEO" with the slogan "bringing the arcade home" was officially launched! During this period, in order to cooperate with the launch of the console, SNK held game competitions featuring the "NEO GEO" game in 12 regions in Japan. Participants thus deeply experienced the effect of "bringing the arcade home"! However, because the console and cartridges were too expensive, and the game types were too single, the sales of "NEO GEO" were not ideal. In November, the first version of SNK's fighting game "Hungry Wolf" was released. "FETAL FURY" is a representative work of SNK fighting games. However, the original fighting game "STREET FIGHTERS" launched by CAPCOM, which was on the verge of bankruptcy at the time, caused a great response in Japan, so SNK temporarily decided to change the game type to fighting. This can be seen from the title screen of the game, because it not only has the standard options of 1PLAYER and 2PLAYERS action games, but also a "two-player cooperative mode", which means two people play the computer together. From then on SNK began to produce a large number of fighting games!
In January 1992, due to the high price of SNK's home console "NEO GEO" and its cassettes, SNK began to carry out rental business of consoles and cassettes across the country, which was widely praised! In September, "Fist of the Dragon and Tiger", the first video game in history to reach a capacity of 100M, was released. In October, the "NEO GEO" host received the Excellent Design Award from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry. In November, the "NEO GEO" theme park opened in Osaka (OSAKA). "Hungry Wolf 2" will be released in December!
"ART OF FIGHTING" (ART OF FIGHTING) is the first fighting game in history to introduce the concept of super special moves. When the energy tank below the health tank of the character selected by the player is full, a super special move can be launched by inputting specific instructions. This game is very popular because of its huge characters and the ability to zoom in and out of the screen, which makes it a lot of fun.
In the popular sequel "Hungry Wolf 2", for the first time in the history of fighting games, commands for forward and retreat appear. As long as you quickly enter two commands in the same direction, you can move quickly. This command has become a standard command in fighting games. In April 1993, SNK cooperated with Japan Radio to launch a special report program about SNK and its games. In July, "Samurai Shodown" will be released! "Hungry Wolf 2" has launched an animated version. In September, "SPECIAL EDITION" was released. "SAMURAI SPIRITS" is the first game in history with the theme of samurai sword duel. Although the game does not have super special moves, the introduction of rage grooves and powerful slashes make people excited! ! This is the beginning of another legend! In March 1994, "Fist of the Dragon and Tiger 2" was released. In August, “King of Fighters ’94” will be released! ! ! In September, the "NEO GEO" CD version of the console will be released! In October, "Shen Samurai Shodown - Haohmaru Hell Transformation" will be released!
THE KING OF FIGHTERS'94 (KOF for short) and subsequent series of works are an indelible classic of SNK. Many players started with this game and its sequel KOF95. Contact with SNK games. It reunites the classic characters from its classic works of various periods, adds original protagonists, and creates an original 3-on-3 team battle system to create a new type of fighting game! For the first time, SNK has introduced an in-place side flashing system, a gas storage system and a big jump method in the system, making the battle more intense! Once this work was released, it caused a great sensation. "Shin Samurai Shodown Haomaru Hell Version" is a masterpiece with extremely high balance in combat. However, what is surprising is that such a masterpiece was actually produced by the original "Street Fighter 2" team that collectively moved from CAPCOM.
In March 1995, "Hungry Wolf 3" was released.
From March to April, the all-Japan "NEO GEO" concert tour was successfully held. In April, "Wind and Cloud Silence Record" was released. In July, “The King of Fighters ’95” was released. In November, "Samurai Soul--Zhanhonglang Wushuang Sword" was released. In December, "REAL BOUT Legend of the Hungry Wolf" was released. Construction of the "NEO GEO" theme park begins.
In March 1996, "The Fist of the Dragon and Tiger" using real-life images was released. “The King of Fighters ’96” will be released in July. In September, "Wind and Cloud: SUPER TAG BATTLE" was released. "Samurai Shodown--Amakusa Descends" will be released in October! In December, SNK's virtual character band "Fighters" was established! The all-Japan "SNK Supporters Alliance" was also established with the strong assistance of SNK. In "King of Fighters '96", SNK once again innovated, deleting the mature systems in the previous game and adding an emergency avoidance system, a body-receiving system, a multiple jump system, a defense collapse system (GUARD CRUSH) and a counterattack system (COUNTER). ), and when the blood red energy is full, it can even perform MAX super special moves. Starting from this game, SNK's fighting games took on a completely different style from CAPCOM.
In January 1997, SNK's 64-bit substrate "HYPER NEO GEO 64" was officially launched. In the same month, the classic "King of Fighters '97" was released. In the same month, SNK held a tour exhibition in five Asian cities. held,. During this period, SNK's portable console NEG GEO POCKET and its follow-up model NEO GEO POCKET COLOR were released. Later classics were released one after another. Originally, KOF had no intention of continuing in 1997, but unable to resist the strong requests and petitions from fans, SNK quickly created a new KOF and decided to continue KOF.
SNK has not let go of the home console market, and has ported versions of arcade games on both SS and PS. On SNK's self-developed console "NEO GEO", basically all games launched by SNK in arcades are available in cassette versions, but the prices are extremely expensive. Later, SNK launched the CD version of NEO GEO, which lowered the price of the software, but the reading speed dropped significantly. Later, the CD version NEO GEO with 2x speed was launched, but the speed was still not satisfactory. It is worth mentioning that SNK’s NEO GEO dedicated joystick is recognized as the best-feeling joystick in history! In addition to its own NEO GEO, SNK has successively launched self-developed portable consoles NGP and NGPC, and launched a large number of games on them. As a third-party software vendor, SNK is also very active in this area. The home version of KOF can be seen on PS and SS. Especially KOF98 and KOF99 on DC. In terms of original games, SNK has launched AVG games "THE KING OF FIGHTERS--KYO" (THE KING OF FIGHTERS--KYO) and "Athena--AWAKEN FROM ORDINARY LIFE" on PS. , but the result was unsatisfactory. When it comes to SNK's self-made games, we have to mention "Shenshō Samurai Shodown", which was launched on the three major consoles of PS, SS, and NEO GEO.
In the 1990s, due to the booming home console market, Japan's arcade machine market entered an unprecedented period of depression. Many famous arcade machine manufacturers either disappeared from the industry or fell into a trough. The emergence of piracy and emulators made SNK's life difficult. Due to the lack of support from third-party software vendors and the limited variety of fighting games, the handheld NGP and NGPC caused a huge disaster. In addition, the company overestimated its own strength. After only 6 months, it couldn't wait to launch NGPC after NGP, enter the 3D game industry, launch entertainment venues and other industries unrelated to games. As a result, SNK suffered a huge deficit. However, at this time, KOF2000 was launched.
Usually SNK triggers a new round of fighting craze every summer, but this time, KOF2000 is late! It wasn't until winter that "The King of Fighters 2000" appeared.
KOF2000 is the last work of SNK's authentic KOF series, and it is also the last work of the boxing champion's character designer Mori Qilou. It seems that he has planned to say goodbye to fans. KOF00 is full of familiar figures, and the excellent graphics make people unable to believe that this is still a work made on a 16-bit substrate that has been used for more than ten years.
At the end of 2000, SNK’s debt reached 38 billion yen. In order to survive in the industry, SNK had no choice but to let ARUZE, the famous Japanese pachinko industry giant, acquire 51's shares for 5 billion yen and become a subsidiary of ARUZE. However, the arcade market is still in a slump, and SNK's development is restricted by ARUZE. Finally, SNK decided not to sit still and wait for death. In April 2001, SNK applied to the Osaka District Court for "re-registration", hoping to re-register a new independent company under the name "SNK" in order to completely get rid of the shadow of ARUZE. But unfortunately, the Osaka District Court rejected SNK’s application. At this time, SNK was in a very embarrassing situation: ARUZE executives were furious! SNK immediately applied to the Osaka District Court for "civil rehabilitation procedures", which is bankruptcy protection. If successful, creditors will be temporarily unable to collect debts from SNK, so that the company can get a breathing space. However, on October 1, 2001, the Osaka District Court ruthlessly rejected SNK's application again. "SNK officially declared bankruptcy and immediately sold off all inventory and all entertainment venues under its name to repay debts." SNK has since launched its historical stage. The last time Master Mori drew for SNK, his name was KOF FOREVER.
Nowadays, we see fewer and fewer opportunities for the name SNK to appear. At the end of 2004, we once again saw the remake of its lifeblood "King of Fighters 94" ten years ago. . But the things that have long been sold to PLAYMORE have changed. When entering the screen game, I can't help but feel sad.
Zhu Xun added:
Rebirth
From being acquired by ARUZE to going bankrupt, many players lamented this, but no one thought at the time that this was just The beginning of a "conspiracy" by SNK's President Kawasaki.
Shortly after "throwing itself into the arms" of ARUZE, SNK proposed investing in South Korea. Due to the trust of ARUZE executives in SNK, the request was approved, and SNK secretly established a small company in South Korea (i.e. For the later SNK
NEOGEO
KOREA), it was Nagano, the head of SNK's sales department, who served as the company's president. SNK also retained all game copyrights and character portrait rights as well as "NEOGEO" The trademark rights are transferred to this company. The second step of Kawasaki's "conspiracy" is completed.
In April 2001, SNK filed for "civil rebirth" with the Osaka Court, but failed and declared bankruptcy in October. When the news came, arcade players were in mourning. However, Kawasaki thought of ways to exploit legal loopholes before going bankrupt.
In July 2001, Kawasaki invested and used the capital that ARUZE originally entrusted SNK to invest in South Korea, as well as the funds obtained from outsourcing "The King of Fighters 2001 and 2002" to the famous Korean arcade manufacturer EOLITH as the start-up capital. , PLAYMORE company was formally established and bought back SNK's office building from the bankrupt original SNK, which had transferred all the character and game copyrights. The three SNK theme parks have also become the property of Sun
Amusement, a subsidiary of PLAYMORE. (It is not difficult to see here that SNK’s so-called “sale of assets” is nothing more than Kawasaki transferring these assets from the left hand to the right hand.) The main former SNK employees have returned to Kawasaki’s account. The first step of the resurrection plan, "Escape from the Golden Cicada", was officially completed. Tens of billions of yen of debt were all thrown to ARUZE.
Here, I would like to mention that due to the great relationship that SNK had with many Korean companies during its rebirth, as well as the erroneous reports of many domestic media, as well as the reasons that will be mentioned later, Many people who don't know the truth mistakenly believe that PLAYMORE is a Korean company, and are repelled by the games it produces.
"The King of Fighters 2001" was released by SNK on the eve of its bankruptcy. It was a game produced by EOLITH, which once caused an uproar among players. EOLITH was not familiar with the functions of MVS, and the game's graphics became extremely rough and the colors were dull. Huang, the music production is rough and unpleasant to listen to. At the same time, due to the departure of Senqilou, the new artist's style is very different from before, and the characters of KOF2001 have become weird and ugly. Systematically, team battles have changed again, from the fixed three players in the first two games with one person supporting them to a player who can freely decide how many people will play and how many people will support them. The quality of the game is very low, and many players are disgusted with EOLITH. KOF2001 has become the worst game in the series.
In March of the following year, the first game "Steel Bug Master 4" under the name of PLAYMORE was released. It was produced by PLAYMORE's Noise Factory and South Korea's Mega Enterprise, which had participated in the production of "Warring States Legacy 3". ***Co-produced and published by PLAYMORE. The production quality of the game is also very poor. There is a huge gap with the previous work, which is known as the highest work in the series. Because of this, players generally expressed dissatisfaction with PLAYMORE.
In the autumn of 2002, after summing up the lessons learned from the disgusting KOF2001, PLAYMORE and EOLITH brought "The King of Fighters 2002" to the players. The game has canceled the support system that was widely criticized by players and returned to the past 3 vs. 3 battle mode, which makes people feel like they have returned to the era of KOF'98. And the plot is just like '98, it's a big brawl without a story, so in this game you can see the Orochi Eight Heroes and NESTS's Kula, K9999 and others performing a good show of "Guan Gong vs. Qin Qiong". The producers have carried forward the SUPER CANCEL system, allowing certain characters to form more and more ferocious combos (the biggest beneficiary is Kyo Kusanagi). There is a new "Hidden Overkill" that can be activated when the health is reduced to a quarter and there are more than two air gauges. It is very powerful, but unfortunately most people's uses are useless. The biggest drawback is that the picture is still poor and gray. The music also sounds like a strong plastic smell. Despite this, KOF2002 was well received in both China and Japan, and finally saved some face for the embarrassing situation in which the KOF series has been deteriorating since 1999.
In the same year, PLAYMORE also bought the copyrights from Technos and ATLUS and resurrected two classics: "Rage Of The Dragons", the sequel to "Double Dragon Fighting Edition" ) and "New Goxueji Clan: Fighting Marriage".
To be fair, the quality of these two games is not very high. Although with the efforts of Noise Factory, the graphics have become extremely gorgeous, which can be said to have maximized the functions of MVS. However, due to the failed system (the systems and graphics styles of the two games are exactly the same, and there are even four characters from "Dragon Roar" as hidden characters in "Dou Wen"), there is nothing except gorgeous graphics and beautiful characters. , and therefore became an empty aircraft in the lobby all year round.
In 2003, PLAYMORE released several more major games of the year - "SNK vs Capcom SVC Chaos", "Samurai Shodown V a.k.a. Samurai Spirits Zero) and Metal Slug 5 were released in July, September, and November of that year respectively. Throughout the first half of the year, PLAYMORE carried out a full promotional campaign for "SNK vs Capcom SVC Chaos".
"SNK vs Capcom SVC Chaos" is based on the brawl between characters from SNK and CAPCOM, two major arcade 2D fighting companies. Due to the publicity in the first half of the year, (PLAYMORE in the United States that year This was the focus of promotion at the E3 exhibition. The outdated 16-bit 2D graphics stood out among the booths filled with CG images. Players had high hopes for it, but in the end they were disappointed. This is a fighting game that is completely different from KOF. Its redesigned combat system is not very successful. There is no segment jump, no dodge, and only the hidden super kill "EXCEED" similar to KOF2002. The level of the game can only be described as average.
In June 2003, PLAYMORE suddenly changed the name of its SUN Amusements company to "SNK NeoGeo" (hereinafter referred to as SNKN), causing an uproar among players. Rumors spread for a while, and many players thought this was the original SNK NeoGeo. SNK is back, and there were rumors that "the reborn SNK will take back the copyright from PLAYMORE, and KOF2003 will be the last KOF made by Koreans." In fact, PLAYMORE is not a Korean company, and its cooperation with EOLITH was terminated after KOF2002. It suddenly announced the suspension of cooperation with another Korean company Unotac, causing the "King of Fighters Online Version" to be stillborn, which marked the complete relationship between PLAYMORE and Koreans. Cut off ties.
In July, PLAYMORE was renamed "SNK Playmore" (hereinafter referred to as SNKP), marking the completion of the second step of Kawasaki's plan, "Resurrection". At this point, SNK has officially completed its resurrection plan.
Rebirth
"Samurai Spirits Zero" (Samurai Spirits Zero), the US version is called "Samurai Shodown 5" (Samurai Shodown 5)
V is the first game of SNK after its resurrection. A game under the banner of SNKP, YUKI Company also participated in the production, "Samurai Shodown" that has been on hiatus for many years is back! ! ! Its character is Nobuhiro Watsuki, the author of the famous manga "Rurouni Kenshin". (Personally, I feel that his style is less suitable for "Samurai Shodown" and more suitable for "Moonlight Swordsman") Unfortunately, the system that was changed again also made players dissatisfied. The game canceled the settings of "Shura" and "Rakshasa" sword qualities. The Rakshasa versions of the four characters Haohmaru, Nakoruru, Kazama Hogetsu, and Kazama Cangyue were introduced as independent characters, and new elements such as sword energy, no realm, and meditation were added. However, the failed system ruined the The game, Samurai Shodown Zero was not a success.
In September 2003, SNKP participated in the 2003 Autumn TGS (Tokyo Game Show) with "The King of Fighters" which has been around for almost ten years. SNK's booth was not big, but it was the best among all booths. The most popular one, many players said "it feels like the old SNK." At this TGS, SNKP officially released "The King of Fighters 2003" and restarted the "King of Fighters 3D" plan, but this time it is not Hyper NeoGeo 64 baseboard, but will launch "The King of Fighters 3D" (tentative name, later changed to KOF Maximum Impact) on PS2 in the summer of 2004, and showed a CG trailer of the game. At the same time, SAMMY also announced that SNKP will participate in its three-party cooperation with CAPCOM. SNK will launch KOF's new work on SAMMY's Atomiswave substrate in the spring of 2004. It is said that AW-NET, a network service connected to Atomiswave, will be used to allow gamers to receive a number of different gifts - such as customizing character colors, adding online score rankings, downloading wallpapers to mobile phones, etc. The author believes that this will be a commemorative KOF to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the King of Fighters.
In the winter of 2003, "Steel Bug Master 5" was released in November. Although it cannot be said to be perfect, it finally gave players a satisfactory explanation. After playing it, most players said "It's better than the game." The fourth generation is much stronger." Due to the departure of the original team of generations 1-3, the new production team also made some shortcomings despite the lack of experience: such as too many bugs, too short process, unreasonable treasure settings, etc. wait.
In December, "The King of Fighters 2003", which had regained its production rights, officially debuted under much attention, with Falcon, a very popular illustrator in Japan, as the character. The system does not restore support, but it has a substitution system similar to "Dragon Roar". During the substitution process, a "swapping attack" that consumes one air tank can be implemented, causing the opponent to be in a state of stiffness for a long time and causing the opponent to lose. A character who enters the scene continues to attack, and combos can be formed during this period. However, due to restrictions on the timing of substitutions, substitutions cannot be made at will, thus avoiding infinite combos. The battle mode has also changed from the past turn-based system to a wheel-based battle - there will be no adjustment after the first character is defeated, and the second character will immediately come on board to continue the battle. There is also a "captain" setting. Each team can be designated by the player as a captain, and can use the "captain super kill" that is available only as a captain. The CD super hit has been cancelled, and the special moves have been simplified. In addition, there is a "bounce wall" setting, which will bounce back when the character is hit against the edge of the board, which can also form a combo. Speaking of ASH, the new protagonist of KOF2003, I really can’t figure out why he was designed to be such a shemale-like guy! (Among the other characters, there are two characters who are neither male nor female, and among them is Lukar’s son!) (My own note: I never think that they are Nujia’s sons, unless it is officially confirmed!)
This game also features multiple endings for the first time. If you defeat Kyo Kusanagi’s clone (also known as Kusanagi a.k.a. Kusanagi Kyo Zero) with normal skills, then you will face Lukar next. His son (self note: Don’t talk nonsense!) Adelheid, has the same moves as Nujia. This BOSS is relatively weak, but it is stronger than the previous BOSSs; if you defeat Kusanagi with special moves, then you have to face the Kagura sisters. After defeating them, you will be the real final BOSS-- Wu Jie is a much more terrifying guy than Igniz, the final boss of KOF2001, which was the No. 1 powerful player in the series. The final outcome is after defeating him. (It is too difficult to achieve this!)
When the KOF2003 system was originally released, it caused heated discussions. Some people asserted that it must be another bad work, while others took a wait-and-see attitude. Facts have proved that this system is quite successful. The author personally believes that if some improvements are made, this system has great potential.
By 2003, the MVS substrate had been used for 13 years and had already set a record for the longest usage time of game hardware. However, in order to save costs, SNK continued to use this MVS substrate, which was already far behind the times. Old substrate, (Beijing's Xiaoxitian Wanshiji branch once placed VF4 and KOF2002 side by side. Comparing the two games that were produced at about the same time makes people feel like they are from another world). However, in order to prevent piracy, SNK once again put MVS on A new encryption method is adopted, which is the third improvement of MVS since 1998.
In the past, the old-fashioned MVS had a structure in which a NEOGEO home machine cassette was inserted into a dedicated deck. However, starting from SVC, it changed to a new structure in which the deck and cassette were integrated, and two graphics were added. Like the chip, in the genuine arcade machines of SVC and KOF2003 that we have seen, the blood tank flashes at high speed to form a translucent effect. However, since pirates are not yet able to crack this encryption, we use pirated arcade machines and simulations. This effect cannot be seen on the machine, and the attack judgment part has also become unbreakable. Many people who have not played the KOF2003 genuine arcade commented that "KOF2003 feels too bad and the judgment is blurry, like playing MUGEN." The same as the game. "In fact, this is caused by the inability to crack. Pirates and ROM dumpers can only rewrite the attack determination part according to their own feelings, resulting in messy attack determination.
MVS is too old after all, and it is not an option to keep encrypting like this. (I heard that such encryption was also cracked by a simulation team before. Sorry... -_-, but fortunately they will strictly abide by the three rules. year standard, a fully cracked version will not be released within three years) and SNK announced that this fast substrate will be used until at least 2005. The only explanation is: Although SNK has been reborn after some setbacks, life is still difficult. Under the current situation, the low cost of the game is more important than anything else. This can also be seen from SNK's move to transplant home consoles and the ill-fated fate of "Metal Slug Advance".
Since 2002, PLAYMORE has resumed porting games to home consoles, but this time it is no longer PS and SS, but DC and PS2. "The King of Fighters 2000" and other works that could not be ported to home consoles during the SNK era have been "crazy" ported to the PS2. However, in addition to "The King of Fighters 2001" with enhanced graphics and "Steel Bug Master 3" with two additional mini-games , other works without exception have not changed at all from the NEOGEO home machine version - there is almost no improvement in the graphics and no original mode. It can be said that I am very sorry for the powerful functions of PS2. "FAMI" also gave these works extremely low scores of more than 20 points without exception. (a full score of 40 points) is considered a junk-level game. Some time ago, I heard that in order to open up the European and American markets, "The King of Fighters 2002" and "Steel Bug Master 3" will be transplanted to XBOX. If this is true, it is probably a waste of XBOX functions.
The news of "Steel Bug Master Advance" on GBA was released in 2002. It was initially scheduled to be released in the summer of 2003, and then it was repeatedly delayed, postponed, postponed, and postponed again. In the summer of 2003, The official finally released the poster and some screenshots. Just when fans were eagerly anticipating it, news came that the ticket had been delayed again, delayed to January 2004, and soon it was announced that the release date would be postponed indefinitely. SNK's difficulties are obvious.
At the beginning of its establishment, PLAYMORE was known as a Pachinko (commonly known as "little steel ball") manufacturer. Maybe it was influenced by ARUZE, maybe it was because of seeing the former Pachinko. SNK, a big-name manufacturer in the Brotherhood, is now relying on SAMMY's "Tools of Guilty" to be popular in the video game market. SNK knows that it cannot sustain it for a long time with the declining arcade industry and an old arcade baseboard that is more than ten years old. went on, so on January 13, 2004, the company announced that while continuing to develop in the gaming industry, they would shift their business focus to the extremely competitive and extremely profitable industry of pinball rooms, and released A slot machine with the theme of "Iron Bug Master". According to the author's analysis, SNK's move is to gain a firm foothold. After relying on this pillar to become fully fledged, it will return to the game market to regain its former position on an equal footing with big-name manufacturers such as CAPCOM and NAMCO. Is this really the case? We'll see.
Except for some people who still think that PLAYMORE is a Korean company, there are many people who think that SNKP is the original SNK. In fact, it is not the case. SNKP is just a part of it. There are also SNKN, Noise Factory, and SNK NEOGEO branches in Hong Kong, South Korea, and the United States. Among them, SNKP only owns the copyright of games and characters, and has no ability to develop games itself; SNKN and Noise Factory are responsible for the production of games; SNKN also owns the ownership of the three original SNK theme parks; Noise Factory is responsible for the development and sales of peripheral products. and game promotion, SNKN's three branches are responsible for marketing to the location and surrounding areas. The total of these is "approximately equal" to the original SNK - during the rebirth process, there were still some core staff that could not be recalled.
Okay, finally let us recall SNK’s slogan that has not yet been resurrected:
THE FUTURE IS NOW!