SNK Corporation (Japanese: Kabushiki gaisha SNK) is a Japanese video game company. It was founded in 1978 as Shin Nihon Kikaku (meaning "New Japan Project") by Eikichi Kawasaki. The company started by creating arcade games. SNK is known for its Neo Geo arcade system, which helped the company create many popular game series in the 1990s, such as Art of Fighting, Fatal Fury, Metal Slug, Samurai Shodown, and The King of Fighters. SNK continues to make and release new games for modern arcade and home systems. Starting in the 2000s, SNK expanded its work beyond arcade games to include pachislot machines, mobile games, and character licensing.
In 2001, the original SNK Corporation had to shut down because of financial problems. Before the company closed, Kawasaki created Playmore Corporation, which took over all of SNK's intellectual property. In 2003, Playmore Corporation changed its name to SNK Playmore Corporation. In 2016, SNK removed "Playmore" from its name. Since 2022, SNK has been owned by Electronic Gaming Development Company, a part of the Saudi Arabian Misk Foundation.
History
SNK was founded in 1973 as Shin Nihon Kikaku. On July 22, 1978, the company changed its structure to become a stock company (kabushiki gaisha) and was renamed "Shin Nihon Kikaku Corporation." When Eikichi Kawasaki saw the growing popularity of coin-operated video games, he expanded the company to create and sell stand-alone coin-operated games.
At first, the company was called "Shin Nihon Kikaku" in katakana. In 1981, the name was changed to "SNK," using the initials from the Roman alphabet (Shin Nihon Kikaku). The English copyright notice was "SNK CORPORATION." The company moved to Sunnyvale, California, to sell its coin-operated games in North American arcades. John Rowe was chosen to lead SNK's operations in the United States.
SNK released its first two games, Ozma Wars (1979), a vertical space shooter, and Safari Rally (1980), a maze game. As the company grew, it began working with other companies to develop games. For example, Sasuke vs. Commander (1980) and Vanguard (1981) were made by Tose, a company that was not yet experienced in game development. SNK also allowed Centuri to distribute its games in North America. When profits from these deals were higher than expected, SNK started making and selling games on its own. The success of Vanguard helped SNK gain recognition. In 1981, an American branch called SNK Electronics Corporation was opened.
In April 1986, the company changed its name to SNK Corporation, using "SNK" as its official name. This was required because Japanese law at the time did not allow business names to be written in the Roman alphabet. In November 1986, a U.S. subsidiary named SNK Corporation of America was established in Sunnyvale, California. In March 1988, SNK moved its Japanese headquarters to Suita, Osaka, Japan.
At this time, SNK focused on creating and licensing games for arcades and later for early home consoles. Between 1979 and 1986, SNK made 23 stand-alone arcade games. Some popular games from this period include Mad Crasher (1984), Alpha Mission (1985), and Athena (1986), which became popular after being released on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1987. SNK's most successful game from this time was Ikari Warriors (1986), which was later released on several home consoles, including the Atari 2600, Commodore 64, and NES. SNK later released two sequels: Victory Road (1986) and Ikari III: The Rescue (1989).
During the 1983 video game crash in Japan, Nintendo remained successful. In 1985, SNK became a third-party licensee for Nintendo's Famicom (NES) system. SNK opened a second U.S. branch called SNK Home Entertainment in Torrance, California, to handle distribution of its home console games. John Rowe left SNK to start Tradewest, a company that later marketed Ikari Warriors in North America. Paul Jacobs took over as head of SNK's U.S. operations. He played a key role in introducing SNK's Neo Geo system outside of Asia.
Because of strong sales of its NES games, SNK began making original games for the NES. These included Baseball Stars (1989) and Crystalis (1990; known as God Slayer in Japan). In 1989, two new home consoles were released in North America: the Sega Genesis and the NEC and Hudson Soft TurboGrafx-16. Nintendo later released the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) in 1991. SNK did not compete in the "system wars" of the 1990s but instead focused on arcade games. Other companies, like Romstar and Takara, worked with SNK's U.S. division to license and port SNK's games to home consoles. SNK also allowed Tiger Electronics to sell handheld games based on its brands.
In 1988, SNK created a new type of arcade cabinet called the Neo Geo MVS (Multi Video System). Unlike traditional cabinets that could only hold one game, the MVS used a cartridge-based system to store multiple games in a single cabinet. Operators could swap games by simply replacing one cartridge with another. The MVS was released in 1990 and could hold one, two, four, or six games at once. This system reduced setup time, saved space, and lowered costs for new cartridges to $500—less than half the cost of traditional arcade units.
SNK wanted to bring high-quality arcade games to homes without sacrificing performance. In 1990, the company released the Neo Geo family of consoles. The home version of the MVS, called the Neo Geo Advanced Entertainment System (Neo Geo AES), was initially available only for rental or in hotels. After positive customer feedback, SNK began selling the system in stores. The AES came with two joystick controllers and a game (either Baseball Stars Professional or NAM-1975). Prices later increased to $649 with a different pack-in game, Magician Lord. The console could also be bought for $399 with one controller and no game. Additional games cost at least $200 each. The AES used the same four-button joystick layout as the arcade MVS.
SNK released many games for the Neo Geo, including Sengoku, The King of Fighters, The Last Blade, Super Sidekicks, Art of Fighting, Metal Slug, Burning Fight, Savage Reign, Samurai Shodown, and Fatal Fury. Some of these series continued on later consoles. SNK also published games from other companies, such as World Heroes and Aggressors of Dark Kombat by ADK, and Breakers and Ganryu by Visco. Other games included Rage of the Dragons by Noise Factory and Galaxy Fight: Universal Warriors by Sunsoft.
The Neo Geo AES had better graphics and sound than most other consoles at the time. It sold for $599 (about $1,416 in 2025) and came with two joystick controllers and a game. Some games, like the Super Sidekicks series, were brand-new, while others were updated versions of earlier hits, such as Baseball Stars Professional. SNK's games were known for their bright colors and detailed designs. Examples include Top Hunter: Roddy & Cathy and the popular Metal Slug series.
Products
SNK is best known for creating 2D fighting games, many of which were released in the 1990s on its Neo Geo arcade system. The first of these games was Fatal Fury: King of Fighters in 1991, which started the Fatal Fury series. Later, other fighting games like World Heroes, Art of Fighting, Aggressors of Dark Kombat, and Samurai Shodown were released. This led to SNK’s most famous franchise, The King of Fighters, which began with The King of Fighters '94 in 1994. These games feature well-known characters such as Terry Bogard, Kyo Kusanagi, and Mai Shiranui. In other genres, the Metal Slug run-and-gun series is also a major franchise from SNK.
SNK created the Neo Geo arcade system on April 26, 1990. This system used swappable cartridges to store multiple games in one cabinet, which made it popular among arcade operators who needed to save space. The system, called MVS (Multi Video System), was very successful and served as the platform for many of SNK’s major franchises. The hardware used bright 2D graphics and was partly designed by Alpha Denshi, later known as ADK.
The Neo Geo also had a home console version called AES (Advanced Entertainment System), which used the same cartridges. At first, the home console was only available for rental to businesses like hotels and restaurants. After seeing demand, SNK sold the console to consumers for $650. A later version, the Neo Geo CD, used CDs instead of cartridges. SNK produced the Neo Geo until 1997, and new games for the system were released until 2004. Today, new versions of the Neo Geo, such as the Neo Geo X handheld (2012) and Neo Geo Mini (2018), are still made by SNK and licensed companies.
After the Neo Geo, SNK developed other hardware in the 1990s, but most were not successful. The Hyper Neo Geo 64 arcade system, released in 1997, had 3D graphics but failed due to few games being made for it. SNK also released the Neo Geo Pocket and Neo Geo Pocket Color handhelds, which were available globally. These devices were discontinued by 2000 in the West and in 2001 when SNK went bankrupt.