Capcom designer makes jump to SNK ahead of King of Fighters return

Long-term Street Fighter designer Hidetoshi ‘Neo G’ Ishizawa has joined rival fighting game developer SNK.

Destructoid reports that Ishizawa is credited on a huge list of titles including Street Fighter III: Third Strike, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and Darkstalkers 3. He’s also worked on other non-fighting properties series such as Resident Evil and Devil May Cry.

However, with SNK having rejigged its operations and announced a brand new King of Fighters title, Ishizawa is swapping Ryu and Chun Li for Kyo Kusanagi and Athena Asamiya. He has been with Capcom since 1995.

SNK has also stated that, in part due to a decline of its pachinko business and in part due to its recent mobile and PC fighting game re-releases, it is also considering rebooting its Samurai Showdown and Garou: Mark of the Wolves series.

"Even as of now, we’re better known as a game company than a pachislot company," SNK gaming division boss Yutaka Noguchi previously told the site. "People still talk about us (as a game company) when we say our name."

A number of other veteran fighting devs have also been re-employed.