What is it that makes SNK games so great?

SNK is unquestionably a company that spends great time and effort in making wounderfuly artistic games. Be it the music, character designs, sound or background art, SNK is turly a rare breed of talented artists in their craft. I have been a fan of the system since it's birth, and I still have yet to see this kind of creative work matched.What is it that makes SNK games special to you?


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"The un-examined life, is a life not worth living"


[This message has been edited by Verbatum (edited January 11, 2001).]

I like 2d games and SNK is a great company who makes 2d games. I think it is there style. There differents compared to other 2d games.

Cho

Probly because most of them are fun.

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http://prizmdash.cjb.net

I think it's the MSG

Haha...MSG...Unless you mean Metal Slug Game, then it wouldn't be funny...

Anyways, I like SNK cuz I love 2d fighters. The only other company that makes 2d fighters is Capcom, but theirs tend to be a bit "arcady". I'd rather take any KOF than Marvel vs. Capcom 2 anyday. Plus, like the dude before me said, they tend to be more fun.

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"Everyone's Gonna Die!!"

Good solid old school arcade action!! And having good 2d fighters dosnt hurt either!

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I think the art section. Almost all SNK games are using rich color background and beautiful animations. I remembered after I play Nam-1975 and Ninja combat from local arcade 9 years ago and then bought Neo AES Gold system by the following week.

For me it's based on the games they release & the support they give their hardware (well at least prior to the Aruze takeover) - all that makes me think that SNK is a company that cares about games more than they do the bottom line.

AES is released & it's monstrously expensive - rather than slash the price on the system in an effort to appeal to a broad range of gamers SNK keeps the price high & deliberately caters to those gamers able to recognize the quality of the games and system ... in other words, SNK doesn't sell out. Compare this to the modern console market, where competing companies routinely lose money on the actual console & attempt to make up the difference in accesories and software.

All of this would be just a 'nice effort, good job' on SNK's part if they weren't able to deliver the quality games to move the system. The bottom line is games move systems - I'm buying into Neo so I can play Last Blade and Metal Slug at home & I'm sure that most of the people reading these boards have had that encounter where, after experiencing a game in the arcade, you wanted to bring it home (I'm still thinking about the 8-way linked Daytona but that's another story). Let's not forget that SNK gave us one of the first TRULY perfect arcade-port-to-home systems out there - there are systems that have arcade ports on them, but running on different architecture, etc. In fact it's prompted a few companies to work consoles in reverse (Sega ST-V/Titan, N@omi; Namco's 'System' boards) ... rambling here but I think you get the gist of things ...

All this brings up the money question: so why are we still supporting SNK and the Neo scene in the face of technically superior consoles and arcade boards? It goes back to what I began my tirade with: because it's obvious that SNK cares about the games and the gamers, rather than about the absolute bottom line ($$$). Anyhow that's why I think SNK (as a company) is great - the great games are just a natural byproduct ... ^_^


Cheers - Mike

Originally posted by mliu92:
For me it's based on the games they release & the support they give their hardware (well at least prior to the Aruze takeover) - all that makes me think that SNK is a company that cares about games more than they do the bottom line.

AES is released & it's monstrously expensive - rather than slash the price on the system in an effort to appeal to a broad range of gamers SNK keeps the price high & deliberately caters to those gamers able to recognize the quality of the games and system ... in other words, SNK doesn't sell out. Compare this to the modern console market, where competing companies routinely lose money on the actual console & attempt to make up the difference in accesories and software.

All of this would be just a 'nice effort, good job' on SNK's part if they weren't able to deliver the quality games to move the system. The bottom line is games move systems - I'm buying into Neo so I can play Last Blade and Metal Slug at home & I'm sure that most of the people reading these boards have had that encounter where, after experiencing a game in the arcade, you wanted to bring it home (I'm still thinking about the 8-way linked Daytona but that's another story). Let's not forget that SNK gave us one of the first TRULY perfect arcade-port-to-home systems out there - there are systems that have arcade ports on them, but running on different architecture, etc. In fact it's prompted a few companies to work consoles in reverse (Sega ST-V/Titan, N@omi; Namco's 'System' boards) ... rambling here but I think you get the gist of things ...

All this brings up the money question: so why are we still supporting SNK and the Neo scene in the face of technically superior consoles and arcade boards? It goes back to what I began my tirade with: because it's obvious that SNK cares about the games and the gamers, rather than about the absolute bottom line ($$$). Anyhow that's why I think SNK (as a company) is great - the great games are just a natural byproduct ... ^_^


Cheers - Mike

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You make some great points Mike! sNK has always been about their craft, and not about pleasing the masses. It;s nice to know that their are people out there who understand, and embrace this!