Late last month, Ignition Entertainment announced plans to release Metal Slug 3 on PS2 and Xbox and Metal Slug Advance for GBA this October. Today the publisher has announced plans to further that deal and bring even more of SNK"s franchises to Europe between September of this year and early 2005, including King of Fighters, Samurai Shodown, Metal Slug and SNK Vs. Capcom. Ignition also plans to publish King of Fighters: Maximum Impact, the beat-"em-up series first foray into three dimensions.
"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," Ignition MD Vijay Chadha confirmed, while SNK NeoGeo USA president Ben Herman paid tribute to Ignition"s energy and originality in PAL territories.
Although Ignition"s announcement is light on specifics, it"s a safe bet judging by our chats with SNK staff this week that the line-up will follow the example set by SNK NeoGeo USA. Over there, some titles were bundled into double packs due to issues with Sony"s submission procedures on 2D titles, while others got their own full price offerings. That means Metal Slug 4 & 5 Double Pack (PS2, Xbox) and King of Fighters 2002 & 2003 Double Pack (PS2, Xbox) are almost certainly on the way, along with Samurai Shodown 5 and perhaps its "Special" bedfellow, and SNK Vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos for Xbox. In keeping with the US plan, all the Xbox titles should be Live-enabled for high score uploads too.