SNK Playmore company

SNK Playmore (also known as SNK) is a Japanese video game hardware and software company. SNK is an acronym of Shin Nihon Kikaku (新日本企画), Japanese for "New Japan Project". The company's legal and trading name became SNK in 1986.

The original SNK was founded in Osaka, Japan, in July 1978 by Eikichi Kawasaki, and existed until 22 October 2001. Anticipating the end of his first company, Kawasaki founded the company Playmore in August 2001, which in 2003 became SNK Playmore. Due to this strong resemblance to the previous company both in name and identity, SNK Playmore is sometimes referred to simply as SNK.

SNK is most notable for creating the Neo-Geo arcade system, and several franchises of games including The King of Fighters, The Super Spy, Burning Fight, Art of Fighting (Ryuuko No Ken), Metal Slug, Samurai Shodown (Samurai Spirits) and Fatal Fury (Garou Densetsu).