Shin Nihon Kikaku

[NeoZeedeater]

Although SNK is best known for blurring the console/arcade lines with Neo Geo, their video game history dates back much further.

They released the arcade shooter Ozma Wars in 1979. It's not as colorful or memorable as Namco's 1979 shooter Galaxian but at least it had more enemy variety than many '70s shooters.


Safari Rally also came out in 1979. Like Sega/Gremlin's 1979 arcade game Head On, it was a car themed "dot-gobbler" but it wasn't designed in maze form. It scrolled vertically and continuously looped when you reached the top of the screen.


Their 1980 arcade game Sasuke vs. Commander was probably the first game to feature ninja enemies. It was a shooter where your character must defend the Shogun by throwing knives at approaching enemies. It's pretty cool stuff and certainly very original for its time.


The shooter Satan of Saturn was released in 1981 in Japan. The North American version was called Zarzon.


The horizontal shooter Vanguard came out in 1981 and was released in the West by Centuri. This and a few other 1981 games like Konami's Scramble were the first fully side-scrolling shooters that resemble the type that have defined the genre from the mid '80s onwards.


Vanguard was ported to the 2600 and 5200 by Atari.


It had a sequel in 1984 but it was quite a bit different. It used an overhead perspective and 360 degree movement.

Released in 1981, Fantasy was in many ways ahead of its time as it mixed in a variety of different game styles. The title screen started off with an intro showing your girlfriend being kidnapped. The game began with you having to land your hot air balloon on a ship. After you did that, it switched to an overhead view where you sword attack enemies. In addition to side-scrolling levels it had a climb the ladders level similar to Donkey Kong. Rock-ola published it in the West but it was never very successful.




Vanguard and Fantasy allowed you to continue from your last played level after it was game over. That concept is taken for granted today but it's likely these were the first games to allow you to do that(not including sports arcade games where you paid another credit for another round).

The 1982 arcade game Lasso involved lassoing your livestock to safety while throwing shit at predators trying to get them. It wasn't a great game but it was something different.


Munch Mobile was another game licensed to Centuri. You controlled a car that has an extendable hand to grab objects.


Almost every company had their own maze-chase game back in the early '80s thanks to Pac-Man's popularity. SNK tried something a little different with their 1983 release Marvin's Maze. It used an isometric view and multiple floors accessible by an elevator. Despite the fancy graphics, it isn't a classic like Pac-Man, although it isn't a bad game either.


I have seen SNK's name credited as the developer of Capcom's 1984 arcade shooter Vulgus. Vulgus wasn't bad but it hasn't aged particularly well. It was ported to the Commodore 64 and more recently to Pocket PC and in Capcom Generations 3 for Playstation and Saturn.

Also from 1984 was the isometric arcade shooter Mad Crasher. You controlled a futuristic car that could jump and shoot. The graphics almost looked polygonal in this game.


The arcade tank shooter TNK III was released in 1985. I haven't played it but it looks very similar to Iron Tank which was released on the NES a few years later. Maybe Iron Tank is a port of it.

http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/nes/01/irontank.html

ASO - Armored Scrum Object/Alpha Mission and HAL21 in 1985 didn't break any new ground for the genre but they were a solid arcade shooters. ASO was ported to the NES and later had a sequel on Neo Geo. http://www.vgmuseum.com/pics2/ASO.html

SNK was branching out more from science fiction games in 1986 and began making more military themed games. The first game in the Commando-ish Ikari Warriors series was released. The three Ikari games were successful in the arcades and on NES. The first game was also ported by Atari to the 7800 and the second game(Victory Road) was ported by Imagine to home computers.

Ikari III: The Rescue(1989)


SNK has long been known for having cute female characters(Me bouncy!), a trend that originated with their 1986 arcade/NES action game Athena. It's too bad the game was kind of dull.




Much better was the 1987 arcade shooter Psycho Soldier, Athena's second appearance. Imagine ported it to the Commodore 64, Spectrum, and Amstrad CPC but it didn't compare to the arcade game, which was one of SNK's better and more memorable '80s shooters. Imagine was bought out by Ocean soon afterwards.


Touch Down Fever came out in arcades in 1987 and was ported to the NES.


Similar to Ikari Warriors was the 1987 arcade game Time Soldiers, an overhead action game with battles fought in various time periods. Time Soldiers was developed by Alpha Denshi(ADK) and published by SNK.


ADK became a major developer of Neo Geo games for SNK in the '90s and I believe the company was eventually absorbed by SNK. ADK wasn't always attached to SNK though. Their 1984 arcade shooter Equites, for example, was published by Sega. And speaking of Sega, they did a quality port of Time Soldiers on the Master System. http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/sms/time.html

Another great Ikari-style game from 1987 was Guerrilla War. It was ported to the NES(and was better than the Ikari ports).



The arcade shooter Bermuda Triangle came out in 1987. It didn't really stand out in any way, although the ship upgrades were kind of cool.


P.O.W. was one of the better arcade beat 'em ups in 1988. Its NES port was pretty good as well.


The arcade gun game Mechanized Attack was released in 1988. I haven't played it but I enjoyed the NES port, which was one of the better gun games on the system.

I liked Lee Trevino's Fighting Golf. It was also ported to the NES.


SNK also made Fighting Soccer. This one didn't get a home release.

Paddle Mania was a great four-player paddle tennis game. I loved how the swings were super smooth.

Chopper I was a good arcade helicopter shooter although it wasn't quite as cool as Sega's Thunder Blade or Konami's Ajax.


Alpha Denshi developed the shooter Sky Soldiers.


1989 was the final year of SNK arcade games before switching over to Neo Geo hardware.

Street Smart was an impressive fighting in a video game market still deprived of many fighting games. It hasn't aged well though since Japanese-style fighting games improved tremendously after Street Fighter 2. Street Smart was ported by Treco to the Genesis.


The awesome NES baseball game Baseball Stars came out in 1989. This series continued on NES and the Neo Geo. http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/nes/0...ballstars.html

SAR - Search and Rescue was one of SNK's best pre-Neo Geo games. It was an overhead action game like the ones already mentioned but it was weirder and more gruesome(there were bloody corpses lying around and enemies splattered). I loved how you could side-jump, kind of like Max Payne but without the bullet-time slow motion.


I loved the gun game Beast Busters back then although I can't say I remember it well now. It had a sequel in 1999.


]Prehistoric Isle was a neat shooter. I think Seven Force made a thread about it a while back.


Sky Adventure was another shooter by Alpha Denshi. Hey look, there's the Time Soldiers triceratops.


Super Champion Baseball was an arcade baseball game by Alpha Denshi.


For the NES, there was Little League Championship Baseball in 1990.

One of the best Action/RPGs of the 8-bit era was SNK's 1990 NES game Crystalis. NST recently remade it for Game Boy Color although I have heard complaints about that version.

Your thoughts on pre-Neo Geo SNK?

[Josh]

I never realied how much stuff they made that I liked back in the day.

Good thread. Thanks for the info.

[Johnny Nighttrain]

P.O.W. was a great game back in the day. i used to play it a loy at my local liquor store.

huge fan of Baseball Stars on NES. it's a toss up between this and Baseball Simulator 2000 for best baseball game on the NES.

only played Street Smart on the Genesis, was one of the first games i rented for the system. pulled a few all nighters with it, dunno why, it wasn't that great, but playable i guess.

the Ikari Warrior games are pretty decent although in part 2 (i think, could be another game in the series), you were really fucked by not being able to rotate, what the fuck were they thinking?

also, didn't they make NAM-1975? great game, but no Bloodbrothers.

[sleeve]

Oh man, Time Soldiers is one of the toughest games I've ever played.

Most memorable is the anguished scream of your character when he gets hit.

"AAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUGHHHHHHH!"

And yes, Iron Tank is essentially a port of TNK III, though like many NES ports it has a lot of exclusive content.

[Mr_Furious]

Dude, I wasn't even aware SNk made a bunch of those games, even though I loved them in their prime. Damn they got some history. SNK/Playmore needs to bring some of these back up to date!

[StriderKyo]

Awesome thread, man. About time you got around to them

I had no idea ADK was behind Time Soldiers. I used to get my ass kicked by that game all the time. Didn't it show up on the Master System? Or was that something with a very similar name?

Btw - Sie Kensou from team China in King of Fighters was the other character in Psycho Soldier. That's why the team is referred to as the Psycho Soldiers in KoF.

[NeoZeedeater]

Thanks, guys.

I did mention SMS Time Soldiers briefly. I enjoyed it a lot back then although it obviously isn't as awesome as the arcade game.

[Adrian]

I'm probably going to flamed for this but I really don't rate them at all. I didn't grow up with these games so they hold no nostalgic value to me and they have aged poorly whilst 1980s Sega/Taito/Capcom/Konami/Namco games still play beautifully.

Anyway thanks for the history lesson, it's good to be informed.

[Chux]

Zeedeaters knowledge NEVER ceases to amaze me. Keep up the great work!

[xS]

Great thread, NZE. Does anyone here have any hands on impressions on GCB crystalis?