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if you were a regular visitor to the arcades of the Eighties and Nineties, the output of SNK would have been instantly familiar to you. It was the company that always seemed to push innovative ideas in its early days and it was the one that was always using those quirky little joysticks where you could shoot and move in different directions.

While it wasn’t as popular as Sega, Capcom or Atari (its earlier titles were rarely licensed as much as its competitors) it became a far bigger challenger, particularly towards Capcom, once it moved over to its Neo-geo hardware and began delivering awesome arcade experiences that ported flawlessly to SNK’S home console, the AES (providing you could afford the cost of entry).

Like many companies we have covered in Retro Gamer, the party didn’t last forever and SNK faced eventually bankruptcy, only to be resurrected in 2003 as SNK Playmore, and more recently it has rebranded back to SNK in 2016. Suitably reinvigorated, SNK has returned to developing games, releasing King Of Fighters XIV, SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy and a brand new mini console, as well as announcing a new Samurai Shodown game. It therefore seems the perfect time to look back at the developer that always pushed for technical excellence.

Enjoy the magazine!