The King of Fighters (KOF) is a series of fighting games by SNK that began with the release of The King of Fighters '94 in 1994. The series was initially developed for SNK's Neo Geo MVS arcade hardware and received yearly installments up until its tenth entry, The King of Fighters 2003 — thereafter, SNK moved away from annual The King of Fighters releases and games adopted a Roman numbered format, while simultaneously retiring the use of Neo Geo. The first major installment after this change was The King of Fighters XI (2005) on the Atomiswave arcade board. The series' most recent arcade hardware is the Taito Type X2, first used with the release of The King of Fighters XII (2009) and continues with the latest entry in the series, The King of Fighters XV (2022). Ports of the arcade games have been released for several video game consoles.
SNK Corporation is a Japanese video gaming and interactive entertainment company. It was founded in 1978 as Shin Nihon Kikaku by Eikichi Kawasaki and began by developing coin-op games. SNK is known for its Neo Geo arcade system on which the company produced many in-house games and now-classic franchises during the 1990s, including Aggressors of Dark Kombat, Art of Fighting, Fatal Fury, King of the Monsters, Metal Slug, Samurai Shodown, The King of Fighters, The Last Blade, Twinkle Star Sprites, and World Heroes; they continue to develop and publish new titles in some of these franchises on contemporary arcade and home platforms. Since the 2000s, SNK have diversified from their traditional arcade focus into pachislot machines, mobile game development and more recently character licensing.
Metal Slug is a 1996 run and gun arcade video game originally developed by Nazca Corporation and released by SNK for the Neo Geo MVS. It is the first installment in the eponymous series. Set in 2028, players assume the role of Peregrine Falcon Strike Force soldiers Marco Rossi and Tarma Roving on a fight against the Rebel Army led by Donald Morden and overthrow his coup d'état to prevent a New World Order.
Metal Slug 4 is a run and gun video game for the Neo-Geo console/arcade platform created by Mega Enterprise along with Noise Factory and Playmore. It was released in 2002 for the Neo-Geo MVS arcade platform, and is the fourth game in the Metal Slug series. Two years later, Playmore published Metal Slug 4 for consoles.
Mega Enterprise or also MEGA, was a South Korean company that specialised in developing video games. It was formerly located at Yeongdeungpo-gu in Seoul.
Metal Slug is a Japanese multimedia franchise and run and gun video game series originally created by Nazca Corporation before merging with SNK in 1996 after the completion of the first game in the series. Spin-off games include a third-person shooter to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the series and a tower defense game for the mobile platform. While originally created for Neo-Geo arcade machines hardware (MVS) and the Neo-Geo home game consoles (AES) hardware, the original games have also been ported to other consoles and mobile platforms throughout the years, with several later games created for various other platforms. The games focus on the Peregrine Falcon Squad, a small group of soldiers who fight against a rebel army, aliens, zombies, mummies and various other forces intent on world domination. Over the years since its debut, The franchise developed a small, but passionate cult following due to its unique visuals and slapstick humor.
Samurai Shodown II, known in Japan as Shin Samurai Spirits: Haōmaru Jigokuhen, is a 1994 fighting game released as the second entry in SNK's Samurai Shodown series. Like the original Samurai Shodown, the sequel was initially released for the Neo Geo arcade and home system.
Metal Slug 2 is a run and gun video game developed by SNK. It was originally released in 1998 for the Neo-Geo MVS arcade platform as the sequel to the 1996 game Metal Slug. The original version of the game had extensive slowdown and performance issues, eventually leading SNK to release a modified version in 1999 titled Metal Slug X: Super Vehicle-001 (メタルスラッグX). It has been ported to the Neo Geo CD, PlayStation, Virtual Console, iOS and Android, and to the Wii, PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 2. The game added several new features to the gameplay of the original Metal Slug, such as new weapons, vehicles and the ability to transform the character. It received generally positive reviews. It was followed by Metal Slug 3 released in 2000.
Metal Slug 3 is a run and gun video game developed by SNK. It was originally released in 2000 for the Neo-Geo MVS arcade platform as the sequel to Metal Slug 2/Metal Slug X. The music of the game was developed by Noise Factory.
Metal Slug, also called Metal Slug 3D (メタルスラッグ3D) to distinguish it from the original Metal Slug, is a third-person shooter run and gun video game for the PlayStation 2. It was developed and published by SNK Playmore.
Metal Slug 6 is a run and gun video game for the Sammy Atomiswave arcade platform in the Metal Slug series. It was released in 2006.
The King of Fighters XI(KOF XI) is a 2005 2D fighting game produced by SNK Playmore. It is the eleventh installment in The King of Fighters series following The King of Fighters 2003. Originally released as a coin-operated arcade game for the Atomiswave platform, a home version for the PlayStation 2 was released in Japan in 2006, followed by releases in the PAL region and North America in 2007. It is the second The King of Fighters game to not run on the Neo Geo following its predecessor, The King of Fighters Neowave and also the first major canonical entry to not be named after its year of release.
The King of Fighters 2000 is a fighting video game that was produced by SNK for the Neo Geo arcade and home consoles in 2000. It is the seventh installment in The King of Fighters series for the Neo Geo and the final game in the series SNK produced before the original company's bankruptcy. The game was ported to the Dreamcast and the PlayStation 2 in 2002. The game's story, a sequel to The King of Fighters '99 and the second part of the "NESTS Chronicles" story arc, focuses on a new tournament held by the commander of the Ikari Warriors, Heidern, who seeks to capture and interrogate former NESTS agents K' and Maxima into revealing crucial and critical information about the NESTS cartel. The gameplay retains the Striker system of the previous games in the series, but the assisting character can also cooperate with the playable character to generate combos.
Shock Troopers: 2nd Squad is a run and gun arcade game developed by Saurus and published by SNK in 1998 for the Neo-Geo arcade and home platform. It has no connection with the first Shock Troopers game. 2nd Squad was re-released for the Wii's Virtual Console service in the North American region in 2012. SNK Playmore released it for iOS, Linux and Windows via Humble Bundle and Steam in 2016.
Neo Geo Battle Coliseum is a fighting game designed for the Atomiswave arcade board developed and released by SNK in 2005. The game features characters from several SNK and ADK titles. Subsequently, a PlayStation 2 version of the game was released in Japan, North America, and Europe. The Xbox Live Arcade version was released worldwide on June 9, 2010. In 2020, a homebrew conversion was released for the Dreamcast.
Metal Slug Anthology is a video game compilation for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, PC and the Wii. The Wii version boasts different controller configurations, most taking advantage of the Wii Remote, with the Japanese version supporting the Classic Controller and all regional variants supporting the GameCube controller. The game also marks the return of SNK Playmore as a third-party developer for a Nintendo console since the SNES era.
ADK Corporation, formerly known as Alpha Denshi Corporation (アルファ電子株式会社), was a Japanese video game developer founded in 1980. ADK began as a developer of arcade games and is best known for their library of SNK Neo Geo titles, including for its home consoles, produced in partnership with SNK. Most notable among these are their fighting games and, in particular, the World Heroes series and Aggressors of Dark Kombat. The company closed with properties sold to SNK Playmore in 2003.
The Neo Geo X (NGX) is a hybrid video game console manufactured by Tommo, licensed by SNK Playmore and released on December 18, 2012. It features games that were on the popular on the original Neo Geo hardware and comes built-in with 20 original Neo Geo games, with additional titles available on game cards.
Stakes Winner is a horse racing arcade video game developed by Saurus, with additional support from AM Factory, and originally published by SNK on September 27, 1995. In the game, players compete with either AI-controlled opponents or against other human players across multiple races. Though it was initially launched for the Neo Geo MVS (arcade), the title was later released for both Neo Geo AES (home) and Neo Geo CD respectively, in addition of being ported and re-released through download services for various consoles. It was received with mixed reception from critics and reviewers since its initial release. In 1996, a sequel titled Stakes Winner 2 was released for the arcades.
