OK so they should have moved on from the MVS, but they shouldn't have developed the HNG64? I guess I don't quite understand this train of thought. Of course we all know that the HNG64 came too little too late, but hindsight is 20/20. A lot of arcade companies died off in this era, and it could be argued that SNK managed to survive, at least in some form, better than most.
Yea, they should have stopped making hardware altogether. Back in the early 90s when it was much cheaper to build your own hardware to play your own games it was fine. SNK had a great model in the early 90s of having SNK hardware playing SNK carts made mostly by SNK. That model changed and they were too thick headed/ stupid/ whatever to see the change. NGH64 should never of happened. They should have started making games for the Naomi board, the same board Capcom was using. There it wouldn't have been such a struggle for SNK, the arcade owner could swap out the games he wanted and not have to swap out a machine. SNK could have still rolled on with their niche 2d shit but it would have looked better and played better and been way more appealing to a general audience.
If you are someone who is just an average gamer walks into an arcade do you think they'd play KOF 99 over SF3? No way (actually they would play Tekken 3, but that isn't the point).
SNK was given so many chances to do things right. They did 3d KOFs which were actually a LOT of fun and were really going in the right direction. They did a 3d Metal Slug which actually wasn't bad either, and for a first go by SNK it was a fair attempt, but they didn't see instant success which after all their fucking around they NEEDED to stay afloat so they went the most profitable route yet the most pathetic. Making low budget psuedo porn games and pachi slot games while releasing a Metal Slug and a KOF once in a while just to straight up cock tease the old fans with nostalgia.
SNK will never make a new IP, and in 5 years they won't be making anything but pachinko games and porn games. I got into them in 2002, right at the corner of their first comeback and I loved all the old stuff and was really optimistic about the new stuff, and they eventually said fuck it.
Yes Capcom was a bigger company, but that doesn't mean SNK couldn't have beaten them. SNK just did all sorts of retarded shit. If they were smart they'd sell themselves to Capcom as a development studio (like Clover was). SNK IPs with a Capcom budget, I'd cream my corn at that happening. Then they could ditch the bullshit and make games that mattered. Make a new Last Blade, a new Garou, Make a new IP, revise an old one. Hell, I'd still be content with their arcade style, they could exclusively put their titles on XBLA or PSN for $15 bucks a pop, nothing huge, but loads of fun, like an arcade game should be.
