SNK Co., Ltd. is the company behind the IPs of long-running, popular games such as "Fatal Fury," "THE KING OF FIGHTERS," and "METAL SLUG."
All the conference rooms are named after characters, and the company even has its own motion capture studio!?
In this report, we take a look at what’s happening right now on the SNK development front!
SNK Co., Ltd. Development Studio Tour!
SNK is set to release the Nintendo Switch 2 version of the fighting game “Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves” on Thursday, October 22, 2026.
To coincide with the release, we were invited to a development studio tour held at SNK’s headquarters in Osaka.
As soon as I arrived on site, I could feel the gaze of Haohmaru and the others.
A lineup of awards and commemorative merchandise! An entrance steeped in history
As I walked down the hallway, I came upon the entrance with the SNK logo glowing.
On the day of my visit, flowers sent to the company to celebrate the birthday of Shun’ei, the protagonist of “THE KING OF FIGHTERS XV,” were on display.
Apparently, the SNK headquarters often receives gifts from fans on the birthdays of various characters.
As we proceeded further inside, we came across shelves lined with commemorative merchandise.
Standing in front of the shelf lined with numerous awards and precious items, even I was left speechless for a moment.
Saiga NAK
In addition to the entrance area, I was also granted access to a separate area where valuable items were on display.
Standing before posters of SNK games with their long history, I couldn’t help but feel my heart racing.
There were so many exhibits that I’ll summarize them at the end of this article.
If you’re interested, please be sure to check them out.
SNK even names its conference rooms after characters!
What are the names of the conference rooms at your company?
I imagine most of you would think of names like A, B, C, or RED, GREEN, and BLUE, but at SNK headquarters, the conference rooms are actually named after characters.
First up is Haohmaru, arguably the face of SAMURAI SPIRITS.
Even though it’s a conference room, you might feel tempted to bring a sake bottle in.
You might think the room would just have chairs and desks, but look—there’s an illustration of Haohmaru!
The interior walls are printed with illustrations and signature colors of each character, creating an atmosphere that—in a good way—doesn’t feel like a typical meeting room.
Apparently, the other meeting rooms are also decorated with color schemes tailored to their respective characters.
Next up is Geese Howard, SNK’s iconic charismatic villain.
Even just the room sign exudes a powerful presence.
Inside the room, Geese was waiting for me, as expected.
His overwhelming presence made me sit up straight without even thinking.
The floor even features lightning effects inspired by Geese.
They really paid attention to every detail...!
In addition to this, the conference rooms were named after iconic SNK characters from throughout the series, such as Terry Bogard, Kyo Kusanagi, and Ryo Sakazaki.
There’s even a motion capture studio inside the company!
Next, we were shown the motion capture studio.
I heard it just began operations in March 2026.
The equipment, including the cameras, is state-of-the-art, and they say its performance is on par with the gear they used when they were renting external studios.
Surprisingly, this studio was created through a bold renovation of an area that was originally the entrance.
We can also see ingenuity typical of SNK, such as repurposing LED monitors previously used for gatherings for review purposes.
He spoke passionately about his goal to create games that more directly reflect the actors’ movements in the future.
A state-of-the-art sound studio equipped with spatial audio and more!
Next, we were shown the sound studio.
This is where the various “sounds” that bring the game to life are created.
This is the actual control room.
It’s directly connected to the recording booth and is used for recording voice actors and instruments.
Apparently, remote recordings involving overseas collaborators have been on the rise recently.
Sometimes, a single session spans multiple locations all at once—with voice actors in New York, overseas production studios in Los Angeles, and Japanese staff in Osaka, for example.
They also record in-game sound effects using actual props.
For example, to create footstep sounds, they lay down gravel and use shoes.
Apparently, there are even standard props used for specific sounds—like a particular jacket for the sound of Kyo Kusanagi’s jacket.
Room
The studio is fully equipped with a debug room for checking the sounds they’ve created.
They say they recreate actual user environments there to verify the texture of sounds that can’t be fully assessed with headphones alone.
Furthermore, instruments actually used in past recordings were displayed inside the sound room.
Saiga NAK
Among them were well-worn treasures actually used by the “New World Music Acrobatic Troupe,” the sound team from the old SNK era.
I’ll never forget Mr. Yamazoe’s words: “I just can’t bring myself to throw these away.”
Throughout the entire tour,
Throughout the tour, there were many moments where the staff spoke cheerfully, and it was clear they take pride in their work and enjoy what they do.
And at the very end, we were given a bottle created to commemorate the 30th anniversary of METAL SLUG!
The back is also packed with characters from throughout the METAL SLUG series!
We’re looking forward to the “ ULTIMATE COLLECTION ” too, SNK!
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That wraps up our tour of SNK Co., Ltd.’s development studio!
Thank you for reading this far !
The merchandise gallery decorating SNK’s offices!
Saiga NAK
Sorry, this article is only available in Japanese and 繁體中文. at the moment.
