TGS '07: SNK lays out upcoming lineup

TOKYO--Back in the '90s, when fighting games were trendy, SNK gained worldwide recognition for its numerous franchises, such as Fatal Fury, Samurai Shodown, and The King of Fighters. While the publisher is still in the arcade-fighter business, it also plans to broaden its portfolio to tap into the modern gaming industry.

During SNK Playmore's press conference at the Tokyo Game Show, content division chief Soichiro Hosotani addressed the company's new business strategy. First and foremost, Hosotani stressed that SNK Playmore will be dealing in various genres other than fighters, as well as creating new characters and franchises.

Hosotani noted that multiplatform releases would be core to SNK Playmore's new strategy. Up until now, the PlayStation 2 has been the company's main platform in terms of home console releases, but Hosotani said the company plans to make more games on the Wii and Xbox 360, which are more prevalent in overseas markets.

As for the Japanese market, Hosotani said that mobile phones have grown to become the largest gaming platform in the country. SNK Playmore has already been releasing various mobile games that are based on its popular franchises, but Hosotani said that the company will strengthen its support of the platform by developing original new mobile titles. Hosotani also emphasized that SNK Playmore is planning to distribute games through multiple mobile-service providers, as Japan's top carrier, NTT, is no longer as dominant of a player in the market.

SNK Playmore also plans to devote more resources to the Nintendo DS. The company announced a number of new titles at the Tokyo Game Show, such as Metal Slug 7. In the latest side-scrolling shoot-'em-up, players once again take the role as the series heavily armed protagonists (Marco and Fio have been confirmed). The game takes place on a location called Scrap Island, where remnants of General Morden's army have been discovered. Metal Slug 7 features a number of new additions and changes, including a new Metal Slug with customizable parts and, for the first time in the series, the implementation of a map screen. No release date was announced, but the game seems well into development, and a demo was playable on the TGS show floor.

SNK Playmore is working on its first role-playing game for the DS, titled Kimino Yusha (Your Young Brave Warrior). The 2D fantasy RPG is designed to be enjoyable with as short as 30 minutes of play per day. Though it was announced at TGS 2006, Kimino Yusha still wasn't playable at this year's show. Development on the game seems to be progressing, however, and the game is slated for 2008.

SNK Playmore also announced Dokidoki Majo Shinpan 2 for the DS. The original Dokidoki Majo Shinpan was an adventure game about a boy who needed to find witches disguised as ordinary schoolgirls in his junior high. It featured some risque dialogue, and discovering the witches is done by touching around their bodies with the DS's stylus. Series producer Yoshiyasu Matushita commented that the sequel will feature advancements on the touching system. The sequel seemed to be in its early stages of development, but a few tentative character illustrations and screenshots were shown.

Days of Memories 2 is yet another adventure game sequel that SNK Playmore is making for the DS. The dating sim game features female characters from the King of Fighters series in alternate settings and roles, such as police officers, hospital nurses, church nuns, and office girls. First created for mobile phones, Days of Memories was ported to the DS due to its popularity.

Fighting game fans hoping that some new titles or other information would be unveiled at this year's TGS were mostly disappointed. Only a logo and a few character illustrations were disclosed for King of Fighters XII, and no additional information was provided for the new 3D version of Samurai Shodown, Samurai Spirits Sen. However, the catalog given to booth visitors had a few small Samurai Spirits Sen screenshots, which confirmed the presence of the series characters Haohmaru, Genjuro, Hanzo, and Charlotte.

SNK Playmore did have one major fighting game announcement. King of Fighters: Maximum Impact Regulation A 2 is now in development, though no platform or release period was announced. Tatsuhiko Kanaoka, aka Falcoon, hinted that KOF:MIA 2 will feature additional characters from previous NeoGeo fighting games, such as the Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting series, and it will also include original characters.

SNK Playmore also announced a Sunsoft Collection (tentative name) for the PS2. The game will include Galaxy Fight and Waku Waku Seven, both of which were released by Sunsoft on the NeoGeo MVS system. No release date has been announced for the Sunsoft Collection.

Last but not least, The King of Fighters 98: Ultimate Match for the PS2 was playable at SNK Playmore's booth. The game features a number of upgrades from its nine-year-old original release, including 3D backgrounds, additional stage music, game balance fixes, gallery mode, color edit mode, and online play. KOF 98:UM will also feature a much larger roster than its original installment, including all the characters up to KOF 98 as well as 13 additional characters: Geese Howard, Wolfgang Krauser, Mr. Big, Eiji Kisaragi, Kasumi Todo, Goenitz, Orochi, Riot Iori, Riot Leona, Alternate Geese, Alternate Blue Mary, Alternate Yamazaki, and Alternate King. A mode to play the original NeoGeo version is also available. No release window was announced for KOF 98:UM.