Nobuyuki Kuroki

Japanese game designer working for SNK

Nobuyuki Kuroki (Japanese: 黒木 信幸, Hepburn: Kuroki Nobuyuki) is a Japanese game designer working for SNK. He did art for several Art of Fighting and Fatal Fury games and took a bigger role in The King of Fighters XIV and Samurai Shodown.

## Biography

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### Early life and preferences

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Nobuyuki Kuroki originally wanted to become a manga artist but felt he was not suitable for the job after going to an art school. Kuroki was a fan of John Wayne, Dragonlance and The Lord of the Rings.[1]

He found the requirement list for SNK on the bulletin board at his school by chance. Upon seeing the company SNK, Kuroki was amazed by the fighting game Art of Fighting which he considered a masterpiece. This inspired him to work at SNK. Kuroki studied in the same art school as Yasuyuki Oda, Osaka Designers' College.[2] His biggest impression from Art of Fighting was one of the main characters, Ryo Sakazaki.[3]

Kuroki's three favorite games include Fatal Fury: King of Fighters, Diablo III and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.[1] He also took a liking to the characters Terry Bogard and B. Jenet.[1]

### Career

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Kuroki joined SNK in 1993. His first job was developing Yuri Sakazaki and Geese Howard's stages from the sequel Art of Fighting 2. In regards to Geese's younger persona in contrast to his adult look from Fatal Fury, Kuroki was influenced by an original video animation that featured him in a similar form.[4] As he was an assistant, Kuroki had a bigger role in Fatal Fury 3 where he designed the new characters, the Jin Brothers which gave him pressure.[1] He also worked on Wolfgang Krauser in Real Bout Fatal Fury Special and Rick Strowd in Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers, as well as Ryo Sakazaki in Art of Fighting 3.[5]

The character of Rock Howard was created by Kuroki in 1998. Both he and Yasuyuki Oda wondered what type of hero would succeed Terry Bogard in Fatal Fury's latest game, Garou: Mark of the Wolves. While they were not confident with Rock, they still decided to make him as the new protagonist.[6] Kuroki considers Garou as one of SNK's best creations based on the appeal of the graphics despite being a Neo Geo game.[1] While he kept working in other games as artist while supporting other staff member, for the 2019 Samurai Shodown game, he took a bigger role in The King of Fighters XIV. Kuroki said staff wanted to captivate new fans with Kyo Kusanagi's larger design. Despite this, they accepted that any redesign of Kyo would elicit a mixed reaction and hoped older players of the series would understand he is still the same character despite any cosmetic changes.[7] He regarded The King of Fighters XIV as a success based on the number of players buying it.[1]

Kuroki debuted as game director in Samurai Shodown.[1] Kuroki felt proud with developing this game and being able to port to other consoles, most notably the Switch. For this game, Kuroki took advantage for the Unreal Engine in order to create art worthy of their preferences.[8] Kuroki aimed the fighting system to be faithful to their previous installments. He also felt that the game would be easy for newcomers in fighting games.[9]

Kuroki stated in February 2020 that he is personally interested in 'reviving' Garou: Mark of the Wolves,[8] with Kuroki having already done Rock and B. Jenet's animations before the sequel was cancelled.[1] Similarly, he is into the idea of rebooting Art of Fighting.[4]

## Works

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* Art of Fighting 2 (1994) - Pixel art
* Real Bout Fatal Fury (1995)- Pixel art
* Art of Fighting 3 (1996) - Pixel art
* Real Bout Fatal Fury Special (1997) - Pixel art
* Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers (1998) - Design front, pixel art
* Garou: Mark of the Wolves (1999) - Pixel art
* The King of Fighters XIV (2016) - Art director
* SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy (2018) - Thanks
* Samurai Shodown (2019) - Director, art director

## References

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1. ^ a b c d e f g h "Nobuyuki Kuroki (SNK) – Interview". Arcade Attack. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
2. ^ "Yasuyuki Oda". Facebook. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
3. ^ Nobuyuki Kuroki [@NobuyukiKuroki] (August 1, 2017). "Happy birthday Ryo. If he doesn't exist I will not make probably the video games. リョウがいなかったらゲームの仕事をしていなかっただろうなー#KOF14 #Art of Fighting" (Tweet) (in Japanese). Retrieved November 8, 2019 – via Twitter.
4. ^ a b "How classic SNK fighting game Art of Fighting was born". Blog PlayStation. August 29, 2017. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
5. ^ "Nobuyuki Kuroki". Japan Expo Paris. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
6. ^ "Nobuyuki Kuroki". Facebook. January 17, 2016. Retrieved September 9, 2017.
7. ^ The King of Fighters XIV artbook. Atlus. 2016. p. 21.
8. ^ a b "Feature: Samurai Shodown Director "Cried Out In Surprise" When He Saw The Switch Version". Nintendo Life. Retrieved February 22, 2020.
9. ^ "Nobuyuki Kuroki interview". Fighters Generation. Retrieved August 10, 2020.

## External links

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* Nobuyuki Kuroki on Twitter

* v
* t
* e

SNK

Hardware|

* Neo Geo
* CD
* X
* Hyper Neo Geo 64
* Neo Geo Pocket

Games|

* SNK games
* Neo Geo games
* Neo Geo Pocket games

| Franchises|

* Alpha Mission
* Art of Fighting
* Athena
* Baseball Stars
* Beast Busters
* Doki Doki Majo Shinpan!
* Fatal Fury
* Ikari Warriors
* The King of Fighters
* King of the Monsters
* The Last Blade
* Metal Slug
* Prehistoric Isle
* Pulstar
* Samurai Shodown
* Sengoku
* Shock Troopers
* Stakes Winner
* Super Sidekicks
* Twinkle Star Sprites
* Vanguard
* World Heroes

|

Compilations|

* Arcade Archives
* Metal Slug Anthology
* NEOGEO Station
* Neo Geo Online Collection
* Neo Geo Pocket Color Selection
* Samurai Shodown Anthology
* SNK 40th Anniversary Collection
* SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1
* World Heroes Anthology

|

People|

* Akihiko Ureshino
* Falcoon
* Hiroshi Matsumoto
* Nobuyuki Kuroki
* Takashi Nishiyama
* Yasuyuki Oda
* Eisuke Ogura
* Shinkiro

Related|

* ADK
* Aicom
* Nazca Corporation
* Noise Factory
* Sacnoth

* v
* t
* e

Fatal Fury

Video games|

| Main series|

* Fatal Fury
* 2
* Special
* 3: Road to the Final Victory
* Real Bout
* Real Bout 2: The Newcomers
* Mark of the Wolves
* City of the Wolves

|

Spin-offs|

* Real Bout Special
* Wild Ambition
* First Contact

Anime|

* Legend of the Hungry Wolf
* The New Battle
* The Motion Picture

Characters|

* Terry Bogard
* Mai Shiranui
* Geese Howard
* Rock Howard
* Ryo Sakazaki
* Chun-Li (Guest)
* Ken Masters (Guest)
* Cristiano Ronaldo (Guest)
* Salvatore Ganacci (Guest)

Crossovers|

* The King of Fighters
* Art of Fighting
* SNK Gals' Fighters
* SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy
* Neo Geo Battle Coliseum
* Neo Geo Heroes: Ultimate Shooting
* Dead or Alive
* 5: Last Round
* 6
* Tekken 7
* The Rhythm Of Fighters
* Fall Guys
* Fighting EX Layer
* Fighter's History
* Shinobi Master Senran Kagura: New Link
* Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
* Street Fighter 6
* Xuan Dou Zhi Wang
* Naraka: Bladepoint
* Hiroshi Matsumoto

* v
* t
* e

The King of Fighters

Video games|

| Main series|

* The King of Fighters '94
* '95
* '96
* '97
* '98
* '99
* 2000
* 2001
* 2002
* 2003
* XI
* XII
* XIII
* XIV
* XV

|

Spin-offs|

* The King of Fighters: Kyo
* R-1
* R-2
* Battle de Paradise
* EX: Neo Blood
* EX2: Howling Blood
* Neowave
* Maximum Impact
* Maximum Impact 2
* Sky Stage
* All Star
* '98 Ultimate Match Online

Other media|

* The King of Fighters: Kyo (manga)
* The King of Fighters Zillion (manhua)
* The King of Fighters 2003 (manhua)
* The King of Fighters (film)
* Destiny (web series)
* A New Beginning (manga)

Characters|

* Orochi arc
* Kyo Kusanagi
* Iori Yagami
* Rugal Bernstein
* Goenitz
* NESTS arc
* K'
* Ángel
* Tales of Ash arc
* Ash Crimson
* Guests
* Athena Asamiya
* Geese Howard
* Mai Shiranui
* Nakoruru
* Rock Howard
* Ryo Sakazaki
* Terry Bogard
* Yuri Sakazaki

Developers|

* Akihiko Ureshino
* Takashi Nishiyama
* Yasuyuki Oda
* Shinkiro
* Falcoon
* Nobuyuki Kuroki
* Eisuke Ogura
* Hiroaki Hashimoto
* Yuichiro Hiraki

Related|

| SNK|

* Fatal Fury
* Art of Fighting
* Psycho Soldier
* Ikari Warriors
* Samurai Shodown
* Aggressors of Dark Kombat
* Wind and Cloud
* Savage Reign
* Kizuna Encounter
* Buriki One
* Days of Memories
* Metal Slug
* Neo Geo Heroes: Ultimate Shooting
* Neo Geo Battle Coliseum
* SNK vs. Capcom
* SNK Gals' Fighters
* SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy
* The Rhythm of Fighters
* World Heroes

|

Misc.|

* Dead or Alive
* 5: Last Round
* 6
* Fighter's History
* Fighting EX Layer
* Million Arthur: Arcana Blood
* Soulcalibur VI
* Shinobi Masters Senran Kagura: New Link
* Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
* Street Fighter 6
* Tekken 7
* Xuan Dou Zhi Wang

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