wraggster
September 21st, 2006, 16:39
News from Insert Credit (http://www.insertcredit.com/)
It looks like being a small developer in Japan today, there aren't many ways to stay alive. After learning it the hard way, freshly-reborn SNK is going the easy route: 3 new games have been announced for the DS, all moving drastically away from the punch-in-your-face approach the company used to be known for.
The first game is called "Dokodoki Majo Saiban" which, from the name and the description (a very evil girl is tricked by some god to participate to a witch hunt) might try to mix Disgaea and Gyakuten Saiban (mostly the latter, since it's an adventure game). The second is called "Denshi Maid Techô", and is a simulation game featuring Iroha, the Samurai Spirits maid created by Yuki. Finally, the last one is "Kimi No Yûsha" and seems to be an RPG aimed at light users.
Cashing on moe and low budget games might very well be the easiest way for SNK to survive, and quite a logical step towards the semi-professional-doujin game market (especially after releasing several copy-and-paste games that looked more and more amateurish, and the excellent KOF XI that sold nearly one tenth of Melty Blood, originally a doujin game). It could also be less risky than the recent addition of underaged girls Momoko and Malin to KOF, which alienated part of the series' core audience. The recent flow of ports and remakes (the Real Bout compilation or KOF 98 Ultimate Match) might be enough to keep this crowd hanging around during the company's transformation. Yeah, all 6 of them.
It looks like being a small developer in Japan today, there aren't many ways to stay alive. After learning it the hard way, freshly-reborn SNK is going the easy route: 3 new games have been announced for the DS, all moving drastically away from the punch-in-your-face approach the company used to be known for.
The first game is called "Dokodoki Majo Saiban" which, from the name and the description (a very evil girl is tricked by some god to participate to a witch hunt) might try to mix Disgaea and Gyakuten Saiban (mostly the latter, since it's an adventure game). The second is called "Denshi Maid Techô", and is a simulation game featuring Iroha, the Samurai Spirits maid created by Yuki. Finally, the last one is "Kimi No Yûsha" and seems to be an RPG aimed at light users.
Cashing on moe and low budget games might very well be the easiest way for SNK to survive, and quite a logical step towards the semi-professional-doujin game market (especially after releasing several copy-and-paste games that looked more and more amateurish, and the excellent KOF XI that sold nearly one tenth of Melty Blood, originally a doujin game). It could also be less risky than the recent addition of underaged girls Momoko and Malin to KOF, which alienated part of the series' core audience. The recent flow of ports and remakes (the Real Bout compilation or KOF 98 Ultimate Match) might be enough to keep this crowd hanging around during the company's transformation. Yeah, all 6 of them.