KoF Producer Leaves SNKP and President Wants to Shut Down Video Game Division

[Fran]

i think people do not understand / know the current situation of game centers in japan
specially,in the case of snkp,if we're talking about 2d games
if you want to have a chance to survive - you gotta make a versus game or a shooting game

i would kill for a top hunter 2 or nam 1976 or a maybe a new burning fight (in kyoto,this time)
i don't care if it's a sequel,eh (but just to throw out a couple names)

but those kind of games have disappeared so many years ago because people (the majority of people) simply don't want them anymore
and,again,specially if they are 2d

snkp could make a new league bowling (fully 3d) for the ds or the wii where you stick those stupid controllers up your arse and laugh and think you're having so much fun with your friends etc etc
that's what people want nowadays,or so i have been told

but snkp / snk are a bunch of stubborn people
they want to make 2d games like if we were still in 1997
partly because they're from osaka (so they're crazy)
and partly because that's what they are good at making
they are truly only capable of making arcade 2d games

they never had the money / resources (and the intention,i guess) of "selling themselves out"
(again,see sf iv etc etc)
they kinda tried with kof mi etc etc but i know that's not what they wanted to create
their hearts just weren't into it

and by the way
taito / konami / sega etc are all into the "pachinko / ufo catcher / big ass amusement machines" business
without that and without the money from mobile phone games..
well,you simply cannot survive
the truth is - snk used part of the "easy money" from pachinko and friend to make 2d games
i guess the new president doesn't want to waste money anymore
and,from a business p.o.v.,he's not that wrong

but maybe if they sold the ip's to capcom ?!!

 

[Taiso]

and by the way
taito / konami / sega etc are all into the "pachinko / ufo catcher / big ass amusement machines" business
without that and without the money from mobile phone games..
well,you simply cannot survive

but maybe if they sold the ip's to capcom ?!!

The pachinko and 'otaku' themed games are perfectly fine as long as they also give us good video games in addition to all of that money grab stuff.

Taito/Konami/Sega/etc have, for the most part, done that to one degree or another. So has Capcom.

SNK-P hasn't.

 

[The Spaceknight]

i think people do not understand / know the current situation of game centers in japan
specially,in the case of snkp,if we're talking about 2d games
if you want to have a chance to survive - you gotta make a versus game or a shooting game

i would kill for a top hunter 2 or nam 1976 or a maybe a new burning fight (in kyoto,this time)
i don't care if it's a sequel,eh (but just to throw out a couple names)

but those kind of games have disappeared so many years ago because people (the majority of people) simply don't want them anymore
and,again,specially if they are 2d

snkp could make a new league bowling (fully 3d) for the ds or the wii where you stick those stupid controllers up your arse and laugh and think you're having so much fun with your friends etc etc
that's what people want nowadays,or so i have been told

but snkp / snk are a bunch of stubborn people
they want to make 2d games like if we were still in 1997
partly because they're from osaka (so they're crazy)
and partly because that's what they are good at making
they are truly only capable of making arcade 2d games

they never had the money / resources (and the intention,i guess) of "selling themselves out"
(again,see sf iv etc etc)
they kinda tried with kof mi etc etc but i know that's not what they wanted to create
their hearts just weren't into it

and by the way
taito / konami / sega etc are all into the "pachinko / ufo catcher / big ass amusement machines" business
without that and without the money from mobile phone games..
well,you simply cannot survive
the truth is - snk used part of the "easy money" from pachinko and friend to make 2d games
i guess the new president doesn't want to waste money anymore
and,from a business p.o.v.,he's not that wrong

but maybe if they sold the ip's to capcom ?!!

I think the main problem is that they didn't start creating mainstream games to supplement their niche games that we love.

Biohazard was one of the main things that kept Capcom going and grew their company into what it is today. That's the thing. It both kept them relevant and contributed resources for Capcom to develop other games and IP, both new and old alike. SNK needed their own Resident Evil or Metal Gear Solid (of which, they could have farmed development of the first few games to save costs and resources). The problem is they didn't even ATTEMPT to create their own Resident Evil/Metal Gear Solid/Ninja Gaiden/Final Fantasy/etc.

It's possible that Kouldelka was their first try at doing so and it could have yielded results if they kept at it, but Aruze went and fucked all of that up.

 

[SouthtownKid]

Oh crap, I saw the name "Spaceknight" on the front page as the most recent poster in this thread, and I thought, "I wonder if that means ROM...nah, couldn't be. Who remembers ROM?" Another better-than-it-should-have-been toy tie-in comic by the great and much-missed Bill Mantlo...

 

[The Spaceknight]

Oh crap, I saw the name "Spaceknight" on the front page as the most recent poster in this thread, and I thought, "I wonder if that means ROM...nah, couldn't be. Who remembers ROM?" Another better-than-it-should-have-been toy tie-in comic by the great and much-missed Bill Mantlo...

That was my favorite Marvel comic, as well as one of my fav Marvel characters... obviously. Some of Mantlo's best work, along with Micronauts and Hulk. It's a shame Rom's rights are tied up with Hasbro. Isn't Marvel backed by Disney now? They could just purchase him outright.

 

[Taiso]

#1.) Bill Mantlo wrote The Micronauts, which may be one of my top five comics of all time, and I've been reading since 1976.

#2.) Rom Spaceknight was pretty fucking cool, too.

#3.) Mantlo's Hulk is the definitive run on that comic. David comes REALLY close, but no...it's Mantlo.

 

[YeldellGW]

But I didn't like Capcom's handling of the SNK characters in CvS, either. Shitty character designs and wacky presentation. If SNKP isn't going to use these characters and IPs, I'd just as soon no one did.

My sentiments exactly.

I love the IPs too much to see them fade into obscurity due to botched business decisions.

I understand why people would be willing to see them sail into the west, but I am not comfortable accepting them going onto the scrap heap of forgotten game memories.

You get use to it.

Capcom's not during shit with some of their own fighter IPs I cared about (Darstalkers and Rival Schools). I trust their handling of SNK's; to quote Cyclonus,"No further than I could throw Trypticon!"

if you really love snk


then you'd know when to let go

That's just crazy talk.

Though I see myself giving less a crap about the fighting genre these days.

I must say I'm surprised the majority of the replies on this topic weren't; to quote Grimlock,"Goodbye! Good riddance!"

To the End!

 

[Taiso]

You get use to it.

No, I really don't.

 

[ikariwarriorf22]

The Spaceknight, SouthtownKid, Taiso, Rom and Micronauts are...Awesome! Another one of my favorite non superhero comics produced by Marvel is also based on toys. They are the guardians of world freedom...The Shogun Warriors! It is a shame that Marvel cannot bring these classics back in trade paperback form.

 

[LoneSage]

Yeldell when did you turn into such a transformers freak

 

[SouthtownKid]

#1.) Bill Mantlo wrote The Micronauts, which may be one of my top five comics of all time, and I've been reading since 1976.

Yeah, I love Micronauts. I started buying it just as Guice began his run and loved it (still my favorite run of the series). Within a few months, I had gone back and got the entire series, which sadly ended not too long after that.

I read maybe the first couple issues of the follow up series but couldn't get into it. It's funny, but back in the early-mid '80s, I really didn't follow writers too closely; I knew the second series just felt different, and even with the Kelley Jones art which I liked, the book just didn't do it for me. I'm sure a big part of it was how well Mantlo ended things in the second-to-last issue of the original series. Anything after that was going to feel like cheap anti-climax anyway, but doubly-so thanks to Mantlo leaving.

 

[brentsg]

Wow.. I clicked this thread and the last thing I'd have expected is Micronauts discussion.

I was into the toys WAY back and I read the original comics from issue #1 through the end. I hadn't thought about them for a long time, but they are still bagged and stored at my mom's house someplace. I suppose by now she's given up on me ever moving all that old crap.

But yeah, Micronauts.. awesome...

 

[brentsg]

Oh shit, I shouldn't read threads back to front.

ROM was awesome too, wow.. I was into the comic bigtime, but I remember my buddy having the action figure!

 

[SouthtownKid]

I didn't know there was so much Rom love. I thought me and my friend were the only ones who liked that comic.

 

[YeldellGW]

No, I really don't.

Sucks to be you.

As the saying goes,"Nothing lasts forever."

Yeldell when did you turn into such a transformers freak

Oh Sage, I've always been a transformers freak. I just got back into my old hobby with a vengence due to my lack of interest in the gaming scene these days.

Last new game I purchased was Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, and that was months ago.

Most recent gaming purchase was last Monday when I went to a retro gaming store at the mall and bought 5 NES games:

TMNT
TMNT 2
TMNT 3
Star Tropics
Star Tropics 2
2nd NES controller (My 1 player controller died Halloween.)

The guy at the register and I got into a conversation over how much some of the old games go for these days and what I had in my NES collection and the next thing I know he throws in T & C Surf Designs with my purchase, free of charge.

Transformers, PC and Retro games are getting most of my money and time these days.

There's hardly anything new coming out I'm even interested in. Fighters, least of all...

To the End!

 

[Stefan]

Man, my first chance in a month to make a cursory check of this forum and the initial thread I click on has OG imagery of Baron Karza, ROM the Space Knight, and people actually discussing Micronauts comics' denouement and creators... Pretty awesome path to derail along, if you ask me.

Hey STK, thanks for posting that Craig Russell cover, I had never seen that previously nor knew of him contributing any ROM illustrations, for that matter! His Elric, Night Music, and Oscar Wilde adaptations are a part of my permanent comic library.

 

[Taiso]

As the saying goes,"Nothing lasts forever."

Tell that to Mario, Link and Ryu. Shit, this thread has gone the way of comic books so tell that to Captain America, Bucky and Namor while you're at it.

Tell it to the Transformers, for that matter.

The Spaceknight, SouthtownKid, Taiso, Rom and Micronauts are...Awesome! Another one of my favorite non superhero comics produced by Marvel is also based on toys. They are the guardians of world freedom...The Shogun Warriors! It is a shame that Marvel cannot bring these classics back in trade paperback form.

Man, I forgot about Shogun Warriors. Yeah, I remember loving every issue of that comic. Seemed to capture the 'young pilots of giant robots vs. giant monsters' feel of the source material very well, as I recall. Godzilla was another comic I remember fondly. I remember how fucked up absolutely crazy cool it was that Godzilla was fighting S.H.I.E.L.D., the Avengers and Fantastic Four. I've always been in favor of crossing escapist genres in storytelling. You never know what's going to happen when you do, and sometimes it's just so unconventionally fun. Really, if you think of it, using Dum Dum Dugan as the agent in charge of the Helicarrier pursuing Godzilla was a stroke of genius. There is always a scientist analyzing Godzilla's place in the world in the movies, a sympathetic child that befriends him and a government agency trying to stop him. You could even say the superheroes represented the other monsters Godzilla faced, to some degree. Plus, when Godzilla got transported to Devil Dinosaur's world...HOLY FUCKING SHIT. What a perfect crossover.

So yeah, Marvel's licensing arm was fucking killer back in the day. In fact, Marvel simply rocked in the seventies and eighties.

 

[The Spaceknight]

Here's an awesome site for Rom lovers:

http://home.hiwaay.net/~lkseitz/comics/rom/

 

[ikariwarriorf22]

Taiso, Marvel's Godzilla, unlike the other toy based comics, was collected in...Marvel Essential Godzilla, in full Black and White Glory! Red Ronin was also in the comic.

 

[ikariwarriorf22]

The Spaceknight, Thanks for the link to the cool...Rom site!

 

[Taiso]

Yeah, I have the Godzilla compilation. I'd much rather have a color compilation, but that's probably too costly for Marvel to produce for an obscure comic few people would buy. I've been thinking about just digging up my old copies or buying a collection online or something. I was just talking about how Godzilla was, generally, a part of that whole golden era of Marvel licensing.

 

[Viewpoint]

To those saying "good riddance," would you have a change of heart if SNKP were to start developing other IP's instead of just mainly fighters and shumps?

No not really. SNKP was drawing blood off an already dead corpse as it was. This is just something that should have happened sooner or later. The Neo was always a niche system to me even tho I loved the hell out of the games. Just let it die in peace already.

 

[The Spaceknight]

No not really. SNKP was drawing blood off an already dead corpse as it was. This is just something that should have happened sooner or later. The Neo was always a niche system to me even tho I loved the hell out of the games. Just let it die in peace already.

But if they develop new IP's and series, they would be doing the opposite. They don't have to be Neo games. Just mainstream stuff on modern platforms that could catch fire and help them achieve sustainability.

 

[Taiso]

But if they develop new IP's and series, they would be doing the opposite. They don't have to be Neo games. Just mainstream stuff on modern platforms that could catch fire and help them achieve sustainability.

And then people like me wouldn't be complaining about the IPs fading into pachislot hell because the company could do more than cash in on their legacies. Me and my ilk wouldn't ask for a decently run company to purchase the IPs because they'd already have a safe home to reside in.

 

[wataru330]

Since this thread is derailed like the Thomas playsets @ Merc's house, I
may as well...

Rom would be AWSOME in MvC 3. Iron Fist too, FTM.

And to bring it back on topic: flaming Fran is unneccessary. His passionate counter-point is appreciated. None of my favorite game companies are what they once were. Its not all bad either.

Lot of hostility in what is supposed to be a 'fun' hobby.

I really hope XIII makes it home, as I will take what I can get these days re: new sprite art. I'm not expecting much after that tho. Much like feature length animation that is hand drawn, we just don't get much anymore-and what we do get isn't what we remember. Case in point: the newest ghibli film isn't directed by miyazaki.

We are old. Our day is done. Jim Shooter won't be editing my favorite comics anytime soon.

Bah.