Thursday 11 November 2010

The Collection of Drafts about SNK Design Works - A Quick Look



As i mentioned in the previous blog entry i came across this mook as a friend helps me look for SNKP/Neo Geo related goods in Japan, apparently it only cost him 100Y (about 77p!!) but after shipping costs it cost me a bit more than that...

The mook itself was published in 1996, and is vol.40 in the Gamest Mook series.

As you can guess by the title it is a collection of sketches and designs of some of the older SNK titles. In terms of KOF content it only covers KOF95.

Underneathe the cover is actually a different set of images, instead of the usual black and white version of the cover that you get on Japanese books.





The contents page showing all the titles which are covered in this particular mook:



In true SNK fashion there are of course spelling errors in English, the images below show how some of the images changed between the rough design stages and the final product.









After that the mook shows the games in their own section, showing things like sketch work for the manuals or works from Shinkiro's sketch book and in the case of Samurai Shodown it shows sketchbook work from Shiroi Eiji. Stupidly i didn't get any photos of the Art of Fighting stuff, i may upload these into a seperate entry at another time when i get the chance.
















Although i'm not much of a fan of the SamSho games (don't really understand how to play them!), the sketchbook artwork is really gorgeous and probably the best stuff displayed in this mook.

To finish up the mook shows some works from other older titles made by SNK such as Baseball Stars 2, Sengoku Denshou 2, amongst others. It was nice to see some of this stuff particularly as these may (or may not) be considered as lesser known titles in the SNK library. (Often overshadowed by the SNK fighting games.)







Overall this is a very nice mook, really pleased that i managed to get hold of it and would recommend it to anyone who ever comes across it. Not much text in it too so you can just open it up and enjoy the images without worrying about having to read Japanese to get the full enjoyment out of it.

If there are any requests for some more images i'll be happy to put up a few more if i have the time to do it.



5 comments:

  1. My i got this book in the attic old days kuso if u wanna borrow some books and take pics for your site your more then welcome.

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  2. Just came across your site and I have to say that only upon coming across your entries did I realize what I have been missing in my life: SNK Illustration books! Could you please recommend where I can find these books for 2nd hand in Japan? I will be making a trip there soon. Thanks in advance!

    PS. You could also collect Neo Geo CD games; they go for 100 yen a piece when I was in Akibahara. Made me remember buying them at S$120 Singapore dollars 17 years ago when I have a Neo Geo CD game system, which is ALOT of $ then :( Even the MVS roms there dirt cheap, tho their actual price escapes me right now.

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  3. Hi there, i've not been there before but from what i've been told Mandarake is good and also Book Off (which is a second hand bookstore).

    Actually i have quite a few NGCD games already xD
    I think i have about 16 so far, which were all about 100Y each, but i don't have the NGCD console yet hahaha.

    I'll be looking for MVS as well, do you remember which stores are good for buying MVS ?

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  4. Well, I remember the bigger 2nd hand video game shops in Akihabara has a section for Neo Geo MVS games but I was just browsing through and wanted to leave the place already cos my heart sank when I saw the prices the NG CDs are going for haha. Sorry I can't help you on that! Been to Book off a couple of times already to look for 2nd hand DVDs and clothes and it never occured to me to look for art books until I saw your entry. Sigh. And Mandrake has a HUGE section for slash dojin so its quite daunting to look for stuff there heh. Will start checking this site regularly and will let you know my findings if my trip to Japan in Dec is confirmed!

    PS. I own a NG CD & NG CDZ and the controllers are easily spoilt due to the design so that's something to take note of. I do remember the PS2 has a replica of the NG CD controller and NG arcade stick for the PS2 so maybe those can be your targets as well haha!

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  5. From what i've heard Mandarake stocks Neo Geo Freaks magazines, which are quite good if you've never seen them before.

    I've got one of the Neo Geo sticks for ps2 (Garou:MOTW design), though haven't got any of the official pads.

    I did get a guy to convert a SNES pad to use in my AES though xD

    I'll probably get a ngcd eventually, it's the only neo system i don't own yet.

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