Rest in peace SNK

SNK has closed its doors for good. The company whose obscure £100 beat 'em ups sold a ridiculous arcade-orientated console called Neo Geo for years, and who most recently won the hearts of gaming fans everywhere with the Neo Geo Pocket Color handheld, is no more. Effectively, SNK are the victim of Nintendo's portable monopoly. The GameBoy Color crushed the Neo Geo Pocket Color, despite arguably superior software lines on the smaller console. Games like Metal Slug, SNK Versus Capcom and Evolution sold the console to thousands of hardcore gamers, but evidently not enough. It was bad enough when European and American NGPC operations were canned, but now the whole company… it's just too much to bear. This means the end of a number of great SNK series, including Metal Slug, King of the Fighters, Samurai Showdown, Fatal Fury and countless others. And what of the Capcom deal? We don't know yet. Capcom Versus SNK 2 has just been released on the PS2 in America and is due out on the 30th of November here, but what's next, Capcom Versus Receivers? We'll leave you with the (roughly translated) parting message from SNK to all of its fans and customers… "It is with deepest grief that In the Autumn of 2001, SNK will close the company history in its business. It was all of your favour and encouragement which made our passion running to make better games for SNK fans. We'd like to take this opportunity to thank every one of you for the continuous help and assistance rendered to SNK [by you] since its incorporation in Japan [in] July,1978. Without your support, SNK Corporation would not have been possible throughout 23 years of operation. With all our heart-felt gratitude, thank you once again!"