The first two titles out of SNK's coin-op division were Ozma Wars (1979), a vertically scrolling space shoot-'em-up, and Safari Rally (1980), a maze game with little noteworthy value save for the fact that "Shin Nihon Kikaku" was spelled out on the copyright notice. Shortly thereafter, noticing the rapid growth that was occurring in the coin-operated video game sector, Kawasaki expanded the company's endeavors to include the development and marketing of stand-alone coin-operated games.
SNK PLAYMORE SOFTWARE
Initially, the company's purpose was to design and produce software and hardware components for a variety of business clients. SNK (short for Shin Nihon Kikaku, or "New Japanese Project") Electronics Corp., the brainchild of Eikichi Kawasaki, set up shop in Osaka, Japan, in July 1978. Without these fine people, the story of SNK could not have been told.īefore all of the name changes, before the NeoGeo, and long before the company became known for its King of Fighters and Metal Slug games, SNK was just another startup trying to gain a foothold in the burgeoning video game craze of the early 1980s. The author would like to give credit to Andrew Alfonso, Chad Okada, Ben Herman, Shawn McCleskey, Kenny Perry Jr., Stuart Reynolds, Michael Shaver, and SnairDogg for their help with and input in this article, as well as to the fans of SNK and the NeoGeo all over the world who continue to show their undying love for the company's systems and games. The following sections document the entire 25-year history of the company-from it's founding in 1978, to the golden era of the early 1990s, through the unfortunate bankruptcy in 2001, and up to the present day. This History of SNK is an attempt to change all of that. Some people aren't aware that SNK actually went out of business in 2001 or that the company is back today as SNK Playmore. The average game player might recognize King of Fighters or Metal Slug or have a vague recollection of the big-budget NeoGeo console, but he or she probably doesn't associate them with SNK. This is how most people came to know of SNK.ĭespite SNK's contributions to our beloved hobby, the company doesn't have the same brand or franchise recognition that these other companies do. These games and their sequels, along with the NeoGeo, have made SNK an innovator in the world of video games and have pushed those other companies-primarily Capcom and Nintendo-to improve and develop their products at a much faster pace and at a much higher level of quality than they would without SNK in the picture. In the span of 25 years, the company has produced games such as Ikari Warriors, Fatal Fury, and King of Fighters, as well as a modular arcade hardware setup called the NeoGeo MVS. Seriously, who doesn't know the names of the companies responsible for Mario, Sonic, PlayStation, and the biggest monopoly this side of board games? When you speak of companies such as Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Microsoft, SquareSoft, Capcom, and Konami, chances are good that the average game player can tell you what games the company makes and what that company's significant contributions are to the world of video games in general. 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, but it was then revived in 2012, with the Neo Geo X.Ah, the original SNK logo that most fans love and adore. SNK is most notable for creating the Neo Geo family in 1990, which contained many game consoles and arcade systems throughout the 1990s. Due to this strong resemblance to the previous company both in name and identity, SNK Playmore is sometimes referred to simply as SNK. Anticipating the end of his first company, Kawasaki founded the company Playmore in August 2001 which became SNK Playmore in 2003. The original SNK was founded in Suita, Osaka, Japan, in July 1978 by Eikichi Kawasaki and existed until October 22, 2001.
The company's legal and trading name became SNK in 1986. "New Japan Project"), which was SNK's original name. SNK is an abbreviation of ( 新日本企画, Shin Nihon Kikaku ?, lit.
SNK Playmore Corporation ( 株式会社SNKプレイモア, Kabushikigaisha Esu Enu Kei Pureimoa ?, also known as SNK or Playmore) is a Japanese video game hardware and software company.
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