SNK Playmore registers trademarks for The Last Blade, The King of Fighters, Maximum Impact, Athena Asamiya - hints of new titles?

Posted by Cheng Kai 'KarbyP' Sim • August 25, 2014 at 3:29 p.m. PDT • Comments: 44

20 years ago, on August 25, 1994, the fighting game genre was irrevocably changed when SNK released The King of Fighters '94 for its MVS arcade system.

KOF94 was the first fighting game ever to feature characters from various different titles crossing over into the same universe for an epic dream battle -- an idea that would later make its way into other major fighting games franchises, including Capcom's Vs. series, Super Smash Bros., and PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale.

Today marks the 20th anniversary of SNK Playmore's KOF franchise. Unfortunately, it looks like the fighting games maker has nothing to announce on this momentous occasion.

But it isn't complete radio silence on the SNK fighting games' front; today the trademark_bot Twitter account has uncovered a number of noteworthy trademark registration filings that SNK Playmore has recently made.

- The Last Blade (Gekka no Kenshi)
- The King of Fighters
- Maximum Impact
- Athena Asamiya (note: this was filed earlier in 2014 as well)
- Beast Busters (a rail-shooting game franchise)
- Others (pachinko, mahjong, etc)

[商願2014-63193] 商標:月華の剣士 / 出願人:株式会社SNKプレイモア / 出願日:2014年7月28日 / 区分:9(コンピュータ用ゲームソフトウェアほか),28(業務用テレビゲーム機並びにその部品及び付属品ほか),41(オンラインによるゲームの提供ほか)
— 商標速報bot (@trademark_bot) August 25, 2014

[商願2014-63180] 商標:THE KING OF FIGHTERS / 出願人:株式会社SNKプレイモア / 出願日:2014年7月28日 / 区分:28(業務用テレビゲーム機並びにその部品及び付属品,スロットマシン,ぱちんこ遊技機,その他の遊戯用器具,携帯用液晶画面…
— 商標速報bot (@trademark_bot) August 25, 2014

[商願2014-63191] 商標:MAXIMUM IMPACT / 出願人:株式会社SNKプレイモア / 出願日:2014年7月28日 / 区分:9(コンピュータ用ゲームソフトウェアほか),28(業務用テレビゲーム機並びにその部品及び付属品ほか),41(オンラインによるゲーム…
— 商標速報bot (@trademark_bot) August 25, 2014

[商願2014-63196] 商標:[画像] / 出願人:株式会社SNKプレイモア / 出願日:2014年7月28日 / 区分:9(コンピュータ用ゲームソフトウェアほか),28(業務用テレビゲーム機並びにその部品及び付属品ほか),… pic.twitter.com/oK3cPHRI4I
— 商標速報bot (@trademark_bot) August 25, 2014

Granted, a trademark registration alone does not really mean much. But given that one of SNK Playmore's filings earlier this year was eventually released as an actual game, we may be hearing more about about these franchises in the near future. A 3D King of Fighters game is in the works, after all.

And since the Osaka-based games maker has actually made several filings for "Athena Asamiya" logo designs, there's a very good chance that a game or smartphone app of some sort starring KOF's pop idol psychic kung-fu pugilist would see the light of day.

Source: trademark_bot