All Of SNK's Major Announcements At EVO: Mature, Vice, New Art of Fighting & More
July 20, 2024
While SNK may not have had any super eye-catching announcements during this year's EVO, they did have a lot to share and that's great to see. This isn't the same company from just a few years ago that was struggling to release anything not related to The King of Fighters. Nowadays, there's a lot on their plate — re-releases, DLC, new character reveals, new games, you name it. We're witnessing a new age of SNK and that's just great for gaming.
Mature And Vice Are Coming to The King of Fighters XV
Turns out that sillhouettes are pretty easy to decipher when you don't actively try to hide distinguishing features. Yeah, this announcement isn't surprising at all thanks to teasers posted by SNK. To put a cherry on top, it was also leaked by SNK Korea some hours before the official announcement. Apparently, it was pretty hard to not make things so obvious. Regardless, it just made sense to bring back Mature and Vice. Their appeal shouldn't even need to be questioned. And with other antagonists being revived for...story reasons, the door was wide open for their return.
Mature and Vice will be released in December 2024. It's important to note that they've been marketed as "Special DLC" so they're unlikely to be part of any established fighter pass or any future passes. We'll have to wait a little while longer for some more confirmed information.
Kevin Rian Makes The City of The Wolves Roster
Kevin Rian makes his return to Fatal Fury. I can't say that he's a character who is remembered very fondly, but it's nice to see all of the old Garou cast making it into the new game. If you know the character well, you might have also noticed that Marky is back as well. He's rocking a slightly different look, but it's the same easygoing, little boy.
I guess, one other thing to note is that there's a South Town Zoo stage. Yeah, I'm reaching for straws here, there wasn't a whole lot of substance to this reveal. But hey, at least the playtest demo seems to be pretty popular at EVO!
SVC Chaos Is Available...Now!?
SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos has been re-released and it is available for purchase right now! On Steam, at least. If you're on the Nintendo Switch, PS4, or trying to buy it off of GOG, you'll have to wait a few more days until July 22, 2024. Very weird consoles to release it on in this day and age, I know.
If you were wondering, it is its own distinct version of the game; it comes with a few updates. Most evidently, this version is primed for modern online play. That means it includes the golden standard for online fighting today, rollback netcode. Its other changes are not nearly so significant, but they do make your life easier. One quality-of-life improvement is that Athena and Red Arremer already come unlocked. Originally, in the arcade version, they were secret characters so now you avoid that headache. And for the people who will practice this game heavily, there is now a hitbox viewer so that should provide a little bit more insight on how characters' moves operate.
There are other features available, but I honestly couldn't tell you if they're wholly new or not. For example, you can browse through key art and portraits which should be pretty cool honestly. There might be some hidden gems there that haven't seen the light of day yet. But yeah, if the game looks any bit interesting to you, be sure to check it out!
A New Art of Fighting And A Samurai Shodown RPG
When asked about what's next for SNK, the studio was more than happy to share that they had two big projects coming: a new Art of Fighting and a new Samurai Shodown RPG. Note that these are just the titles that they felt most comfortable sharing so there's actually more in the pipeline. But for now, there aren't any more juicy details. That being said, if you're a big fan of either of the two series mentioned, SNK would apparently love to employ you to help their dev teams. Can't hurt to brush off those old résumés to get some insider information, right?
SNK's total transformation is quite the sight to behold. With all kinds of new content coming, there's going to be so much for players to put their hands on. Some waiting will need to be done, but, hey, it won't be long. And actually, there's something available to play right now in SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos. Or, even, if you're at EVO, go ahead and play a couple of rounds of Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. These are some exciting times and things will only get better.
