Interview with Hiroyuki Kōno about the Hyper Neo Geo 64, from the SNK Newsletter SSC Vol.1.
He is presented as Department Head of the Second Planning Department, within SNK’s Planning & Development Headquarters. He joined SNK in 1989 as a planning producer and had been involved in development since the launch period of the Neo Geo.
He later joined Dimps when the company was founded in 2000, and is now listed as Executive Officer / Head of the Business Promotion Headquarters.
_ SNK confirms that the 64-bit hardware had already been finalized, and that the teams were now working on the first games.
_ The first planned title was a polygon-based 3D Samurai Spirits, shown in the article through development screenshots.
_ SNK did not intend to abandon fighting games, but wanted to use this new hardware to expand into other genres.
_ 3D was presented as an important evolution, but not as the only point of the system, which was also said to have strong 2D capabilities.
_ Kawano explains that the real challenge was figuring out what SNK could bring to 3D, rather than simply following the trend.
_ The shift from the Neo Geo’s 16-bit CPU to a 64-bit CPU was meant to allow forms of expression that were impossible on the older hardware.
_ Future 64-bit games would not be compatible with the home Neo Geo systems, neither cartridge nor Neo Geo CD.
_ SNK still planned to continue developing games for the classic Neo Geo hardware.
_ The interview also shows SNK’s intention to produce more original titles for home consoles.
_ Kawano does not reveal a precise future line-up, but confirms that SNK wanted to explore several genres.
_ The article presents this hardware as an important step in changing SNK’s image, which had until then been strongly associated with 2D fighting games.
_ The general idea is that SNK wanted to enter the 3D/64-bit era while preserving its own identity.
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