Eolith and KOF 2001

sirlynxalot

Genjuro's Frog
Fagit of the Year
Joined
Apr 10, 2019
Posts
1,134
So old SNK went bankrupt and in the interim before Playmore existed it's well known that Eolith, a Korean game company, took things over to create KOF 2001.

But what does this mean? It strains credulity that a Korean game company with no neogeo experience and few games behind their belt was able to program a large and complex neogeo game from scratch within a year that at least in many important respects still feels like the previous games in the series and (arguably) keeps a similar art and animation style in terms of backgrounds and new characters. On some level there must have been collaboration between old-SNK and Eolith, its clear Eolith wasn't (for instance) re-drawing every Terry Bogard sprite for the game or re-dubbing every character, and were instead relying on the same character sprites and sfx/voices that had been used for years for returning characters.


1) Was KOF 2001 basically in a prototype stage by old SNK and then they passed their mostly finished codebase and graphics over to Eolith to assemble and put finishing touches on it?
or
2) Did Eolith just put up a bunch of money and hire ex-SNK devs as contractors and consultants, so you still had the same SNK people doing the programming/graphics/producing MVS and AES cartridges, etc?

Anyone know a bit behind the nuts and bolts of how Eolith "made" KOF 2001?
 

max 330 mega

The Almighty Bunghole
15 Year Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2004
Posts
4,300
I was always under the impression that when snk folded the top dude just headed straight to korea and formed playmore to continue making neo geo games. He dissolved the company in a tricky way where he could reacquire the IPS after the bankruptcy.
I may be totally incorrect though
 

SignOfGoob

Butthurt Enthusiast
20 Year Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2003
Posts
2,857
It was a relatively seamless transition from what I remember. SNK stuff kept coming but the logos changed. Perhaps SNK simply increased the extent of outsourcing beyond what they already did.

Evoga helped on some level also…
 

100proof

Insert Something Clever Here
10 Year Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2014
Posts
3,579
2001 is infamously ugly and jank. The artwork, backgrounds and UI were hideous/bland and the music was garbage. Especially coming after KoF 2000 (one of the best-looking/sounding games in the franchise's history), it was jarring as shit. The whole thing reeks of a hastily assembled and largely incomplete release.

I have to imagine it's more #2: they kept on as many SNK staff as they could as contractors to finish up whatever they were working on but likely a skeletal crew. Whether that was on Kawasaki's dime or some weird business/financial shenanigans, I couldn't tell you. Would make for a good investigative journalism piece if that was still a thing that happened.
 

DevilRedeemed

teh
20 Year Member
Joined
Nov 5, 2002
Posts
13,554
For sure.
That period as well as the end of times for old snk. Shrowded in pixeladed myst
 

NeoCverA

RevQuixo. Who He?,
20 Year Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2002
Posts
6,691
So then it's perfectly normal that my MVS KIT is Korean and even more authentic.
 

Neo Alec

Ned's Ninja Academy Dropout
20 Year Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2000
Posts
11,925
Eolith didn't do it alone. It was overseen by SNK, which didn't file for bankruptcy until October 2001. Almost all of the game credits for the programming and art are Japanese names. It was also developed by Eikichi Kawasaki's company, Brezzasoft, which later merged into Playmore. Even Mexican developer, Evoga, got involved.

The way I see it, they had the game code from KOF 2000 to work from, and a lot of the people who worked on the last game were involved. Eolith was just a very enthusiastic partner eager to help publish the next KOF game for a Korean market that was clamoring for the next installment.

This is further borne out by KOF 2002, which looks even more like an SNK product, except the new company was known as Playmore. For the most part, only the producer and director credits on both games were Korean. Unfortunately, the relative crappiness of 2001 and to a lesser extent the following titles, is due to a lot of the top talent from SNK leaving to such places as Dimps.
 
Last edited:

Johnny16Bit

Fio's Quartermaster
Joined
May 20, 2015
Posts
475
From what I understand, Eolith only bought their ticket to KoF history - they put the money on the table and probably requested adding that silly overpowered Korean bint (May Lee) to the roster. The game was made in Japan, not in Korea.

EDIT: what did Evoga do, btw? Design that ugly newcomers team? Angel does have something of ROTD's Sonia.
 
Last edited:

sirlynxalot

Genjuro's Frog
Fagit of the Year
Joined
Apr 10, 2019
Posts
1,134
Sounds like Eolith just brought money and a couple of ideas to the table, while SNK (or at least its personnel) were still the ones principally designing and making the game, its gameplay, art, music, etc. In that respect, the dumping on Eolith that I've seen elsewhere, for messing up KOF 2001, seems kinda unmerited as their creative contributions were probably marginal. In fact, without Eolith putting up the money, maybe there wouldn't have been a KOF 2001 given all the financial issues SNK was having at the time.

I'm surprised to hear about Evoga being involved with KOF 2001. While they are described as the creator of Rage of the Dragons and one of Mexico's first game developers, it seemed to me from reading about the development of ROTD that Evoga mainly provided ideas and money to Noise Factory (Japanese company) and Noise Factory did 100% of the labor making the graphics and programming the game based on Evoga's requests. In that respect, they just sound like a design studio, coming up with some aesthetic ideas.

I could certainly see the Angel character as being an Evoga contribution. Isn't her character's background story that she is from Mexico anyway (just like Evoga)?
 

DevilRedeemed

teh
20 Year Member
Joined
Nov 5, 2002
Posts
13,554
Eolith definetly did piss in the brew. That's one funky offbeat game. The shape of things to come for sure
 

Johnny16Bit

Fio's Quartermaster
Joined
May 20, 2015
Posts
475
It's a strange time when IPs, programming, and publishing did not rest in the same place. I don't think Evoga did anything about ROTD except pretend they would have the Double Dragon IP (and come with that load of BS characters instead); Noise Factory really made the game. Stealing 4 characters from them to add to the Matrimelee cast was probably some kind of "thank you" gift? :keke:
 

Fygee

Bewbs! Z'OMG, Teh BEWBS!,
20 Year Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2001
Posts
3,985
The first word that popped into my head when I first saw grainy, potato quality videos of 01 gameplay was "bootleg".

It looked and sounded like different groups of amateurs making a product as best they could to emulate what came before, but putting their own (not very good) spin on it.

Kinda like when you make food based off of what you saw a master chef make on a cooking show. Sure, you can follow the recipe to the letter, and maybe add a bit of your own flair to it, but a master chef you aint. What you'll end up with is something that looks mostly like the meal that chef made, but it sure as fuck won't taste like it.
 

DevilRedeemed

teh
20 Year Member
Joined
Nov 5, 2002
Posts
13,554
The first word that popped into my head when I first saw grainy, potato quality videos of 01 gameplay was "bootleg".

It looked and sounded like different groups of amateurs making a product as best they could to emulate what came before, but putting their own (not very good) spin on it.

Kinda like when you make food based off of what you saw a master chef make on a cooking show. Sure, you can follow the recipe to the letter, and maybe add a bit of your own flair to it, but a master chef you aint. What you'll end up with is something that looks mostly like the meal that chef made, but it sure as fuck won't taste like it.
Totally agree with you. When I first saw the game at a local arcade I was like what is this Sleeping Tiger Hidden Dragon 2.0 peace of shit? Really taken aback by the digital poop before me. It took me a while but I ended up lapping it up (lapping up poop sounds disgusting yes). The entry point was the freak portraits.
Definetly thought it was some jacked up hack at first though
 

Evan

Fio's Quartermaster
Joined
May 31, 2016
Posts
486
Yeah, I wonder if Eolith ever developed their own games by themselves. Maybe that was metal slug 4?
 

Ralfakick

J. Max's Chauffeur,
20 Year Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2001
Posts
3,733
Since Brezzasoft is mentioned here why was the Crystal System abandoned so quickly? Was it because the atomiswave was on the horizon? I’m sure it was underpowered but how many arcade systems like this are abandoned after only two games (I know the HN64 doesn’t have too many more games than this) and I’m sure money was invested into developing it.
 

DevilRedeemed

teh
20 Year Member
Joined
Nov 5, 2002
Posts
13,554
Since Brezzasoft is mentioned here why was the Crystal System abandoned so quickly? Was it because the atomiswave was on the horizon? I’m sure it was underpowered but how many arcade systems like this are abandoned after only two games (I know the HN64 doesn’t have too many more games than this) and I’m sure money was invested into developing it.
True. I don't think it was underpowered. Maybe compared to the Atomiswave, but then that system ended up being somewhat overpowered for a lot of what was made for it.
 

sirlynxalot

Genjuro's Frog
Fagit of the Year
Joined
Apr 10, 2019
Posts
1,134
Yeah, I wonder if Eolith ever developed their own games by themselves. Maybe that was metal slug 4?
It seems they might have made a few. Screenshots are here: http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/korea/part2/company-eolith.htm
I want to know WTF is going on in this game "Screaming Hunter"
screaminghunter-2.jpg
 

SignOfGoob

Butthurt Enthusiast
20 Year Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2003
Posts
2,857
From what I understand, Eolith only bought their ticket to KoF history - they put the money on the table and probably requested adding that silly overpowered Korean bint (May Lee) to the roster. The game was made in Japan, not in Korea.

EDIT: what did Evoga do, btw? Design that ugly newcomers team? Angel does have something of ROTD's Sonia.

KOF was very popular in Korea at that time. Any sort of fan service to them was seen as an investment and it probably paid off. Korea is cool if they’re keeping the series afloat.

Angel is essentially a female version of the guy at Evoga who designed her, crossed with The Rock.

While 2001 has a lot of crappy aspects (Striker city…) in fact there was a lot good design in this game and I’m sure somebody liked it. It has several new fighters, the endings are all very interesting, it moved the KOF story forward, but no of course I don’t like it as much. It’s probably the worst of the ten Neo KOFs. This or 94. Even a lame KOF is better than any Killer Instinct, Kombat, or 3D Street Fighter.
 

Fygee

Bewbs! Z'OMG, Teh BEWBS!,
20 Year Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2001
Posts
3,985
Since Brezzasoft is mentioned here why was the Crystal System abandoned so quickly? Was it because the atomiswave was on the horizon? I’m sure it was underpowered but how many arcade systems like this are abandoned after only two games (I know the HN64 doesn’t have too many more games than this) and I’m sure money was invested into developing it.
Lack of support and interest. Arcades were dying off, Brezzasoft was a new and tiny entity, and 2D games that weren't from established franchises just weren't cutting it anymore.
 

Neo Alec

Ned's Ninja Academy Dropout
20 Year Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2000
Posts
11,925
Lack of support and interest. Arcades were dying off, Brezzasoft was a new and tiny entity, and 2D games that weren't from established franchises just weren't cutting it anymore.
I guess so. I also thought the whole thing was just a stopgap until Playmore was formed. After that they just went back to MVS.
 
Top