SNK NeoGeo range Ignites in Europe

Publisher Ignition Entertainment has announced that it is to bring a range of titles from the SNK NeoGeo stable to Europe, including Metal Slug, King of Fighters, Samurai Shodown and SNK vs. Capcom.

The first of the games to be launched will be Metal Slug Advance and Metal Slug 3, which appears on PS2 and Xbox in October, while the other games in the catalogue will roll out between autumn 2004 and spring 2005.

Included in the range alongside the 2D classics will be King of Fighters: Maximum Impact - the first 3D title in the hugely popular beat 'em up series. Details of the full range haven't been announced yet, but it's expected that European gamers will also get a taste of King of Fighters' 2D incarnations as part of the deal.

"SNK games have always proved very popular with gamers," according to Ignition's managing director, Vijay Chadha. "We're committed to working with SNK to officially bring their titles to all PAL territories. We're all massive fans of SNK titles here at Ignition, and are very much looking forward to bringing the SNK brand back to Europe."

SNK's titles have been published in the USA by SNK NeoGeo USA, and in order to comply with submission rules for 2D titles there, were largely sold as double packs - with Metal Slug 4 and 5 being bundled together, as were King of Fighters 2002 and 2003. It's not certain whether this policy will be continued in Europe.

In the USA, all the Xbox versions of the titles were Live-enabled for high score uploads as well, and this feature is expected to be carried through into the PAL versions of the games - with Live support for Metal Slug 3 already announced.