Events Reminder for this weekend

Nov 11-13 G.U.T.S. 4 CT, US

Nov 12 Gamelta Mexico

Congrats are due to SNK, who recently dropped “playmore” from it’s graphic branding and now will drop it from its company name in December. The old SNK that we know and love is back!

The future is now, again.

SNK PLAYMORE CORPORATION is proud to announce the change of its name to “SNK CORPORATION” from December 1st, 2016. https://t.co/CpzcAUdecH pic.twitter.com/EmGlW6tMGp — SNK GLOBAL (@SNKPofficial) November 1, 2016

And with that return comes the old games again, yet with no sign of the most popular releases.

ACA Neo Geo titles coming to Xbox One and Windows 10 https://t.co/LEJ5wwRgQm pic.twitter.com/pIZYFZmSPn — Gematsu (@gematsucom) November 10, 2016

SNK will release

KOF 94

KOF 95

World Heroes,

Metal slug

Big Tournament Golf

Nam-1975

Fatal Fury

Sengoku 1 and 2

on Xbox One and Windows 10.

Meanwhile on PS4 we know the following are in the pipeline:

Metal Slug

Samurai Shodown

Alpha Mission II

Fatal Fury

World Heroes

Neo Turf Masters

Nam-1975

We have seen most of these on PS3 already…. and the PS4 Metal slug anthology is/was already on sale in the US. So what’s the point? Sales say otherwise. People still want the same titles, to play the same old games, on new hardware. It seems true enough that we don’t normally have more than one console on the shelf and want access to our favourite games, even if only to know that they are there. Seriously who is still playing Samurai Showdown every day? At any rate, these games sell, why not take that money. It helps SNK develop new ones…

Last blade 2 is on ps4 and vita, also currently on sale. This is actually pretty huge, with versus netcode and everything. Yet the game is largely ignored with only 8 ratings on metacritic and 2 reviews!

Where did the hype go? As a KOF fan, I have no idea. The real question is, will it be the same with Garou? Are people wasting SNK’s time? Why spend time on developing games that people ask for when they don’t buy it in the end? It’s a hard question to answer!

So, back to KOF, the burning question from fans again is when’s 98 and 2002 um?

Let’s look at the releases:

98: ps1, ps2, dreamcast (aka kof99), psp, ios, android, ps3 (digital psn Asia), Xbox 360, PC-steam.

2002um: ps2 (via import), Xbox 360, Xbox one backwards compatible. PC-Steam.

Fans have been asking for 2002 um on ps3 for at least a decade. Wouldn’t it have been simpler to get an Xbox or steam account?

Interesting to note, 2002 fans don’t seem to care, they don’t even like 2002um, they generally stick to PC with illegal emulators, they are not part of this demand (yes I am generalising; some have only just started playing 2002um!).

KOF98 was released in the East on PS3 but not in the West. Why???

Were they saving the best for last? Or did they decide it wasn’t worth the cost? At any rate, it’s too late now for PS3. So, will we get PS4 KOF98 and 2002um before this generation of consoles becomes outdated?

One thing is for sure: KOF98UMFE is available on steam, it’s the easiest way for you to get access to the classic, plus it’s latest update. It’s rated 9/10 by community.

But if we look deeper, the stats confirm suspicions about players:

103,000 people own it, 55,000 actually played it AT ALL, and in the last week 2,500 played it, with 30 people playing it online in the last day. Online players hit a peak of 600 over ALL TIME.

2002um on steam has about the same stats, with double the players online.

So this confirms (on PC at least) that fans just really want to own games; some will load it up for a quick bash, and those who want online play are really, really in a minority.

With this is the state of affairs, I wouldn’t rush to release the game either!

While it would be nice to see 98 on PS4 (and I think it will happen), bible thumpers demanding netcode should reign themselves in. Even if there is perfect netcode, there won’t be many people to play with – something like 200 people in the world are still playing online versus on the illegal emulators (highest concentration being 150 in Brazil yesterday). If players want to go online, they should really try something new, like KOF14!

With a new batch of feedback coming, we’ll talk more about the newest KOF and the state of fighting games, soon….

Disagree? Did you buy Last Blade 2 on PS4? Did you care? Do you really want 98, or Garou on PS4? Or do you think people are just in love with the idea? Leave a comment!