News SNK Working On Art Of Fighting Reboot And "Action RPG" Samurai Shodown

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Update [Sun 21st Jul, 2024 09:15 BST]: SNK's Joshua Weatherford has reconfirmed that we're getting a new Art of Fighting and Samurai Shodown RPG at EVO 2024 (thanks, Gematsu).

There's a lot of stuff in the works. There's a lot of stuff I can't talk about. But we have said, and we're trying to—we've got a few projects that are very far out—we want to get more and more staff, because we need more people to make these crazy awesome games.
One that got a lot of press over here [at EVO] is that we have announced that we're making a new Art of Fighting actually. So you're going to see South Town in its full 70s glory brawling again. And also, one of the projects I'm in charge of, that we also mentioned at the same time, is a Samurai Shodown action RPG. Look forward to that—that one, we have a lot surprises in store for that one.

And if you're a fan of these franchises and you're looking for an in-development job, send in your applications, we need more people to help us make these awesome games. I need more people on that team for sure.

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Original Story [Tue 19th Sep, 2023 11:05 BST]: Yasuyuki Oda, General Manager of SNK Software Development Division 1, has revealed that early work has begun on a reboot of the Art of Fighting series, as well as a Samurai Shodown entry which isn't a fighting game.

Speaking to the Japanese site 4Gamer (thanks, gosokkyu) Oda said:

There are several titles that are currently in development, but this one is one that I'm thinking of going forward. We'll start with a team build, so technically we haven't even started yet, but first we're thinking of making a new version of 'Fist of the Dragon and Tiger' [the Japanese title of the game, 'Ryūko no Ken']. I'm thinking of making that series again. I'm also thinking of making Samurai Spirits, which is not a fighting game. So, I would like to recruit developers for that purpose.

Oda explains that the project is in its very early stages, and the team that will develop and design it is still being built. "It's a series that stopped running in the early 1990s, so we have to start by brainstorming how we can bring it back to life in this day and age," he says. "There is a vague idea, but if I say it, it will end up being the same, so I try not to say it."

He adds that it won't be a sequel to the original series, which ended in 1996 with Art Of Fighting 3: The Path Of The Warrior (known in Japan as Ryūko no Ken Gaiden). "There is actually a continuation of that story, but even if we were to do it, it wouldn't make sense unless we retold it from the beginning," he adds, before pointing out that the third AoF game "didn't go well," which explains why SNK hasn't returned to the franchise in such a long time.

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