It all started with back in the days of the NES. At the time the video games market was recovering from a massive crash. The reason? Well, there are many, but perhaps the most prominent was the fact that the market was overwhelmed with huge volumes of titles. With no regulation in the industry, for every quality piece of software there were dozens of truly horrific pieces of code. With little way for the consumer to pick the good from the poor, disillusionment was spreading amongst the public as they were increasingly becoming less satisfied with the games on the shelves.

Nintendo recognised this problem, and the Nintendo Seal of Quality was born. To you or I this appeared as little more than a gold seal on the front of the box, but in reality it was far more. It was illegal to release NES compatible software if Nintendo had not licensed it under their quality assurance tests. Many in the were uncomfortable that Nintendo effectively had total control over all output of the system, not least because a game that had already cost thousands of pounds to develop could fail to get licensed right at the end of the project. On the whole though, it was probably a positive step for the industry and it was a certainly a huge factor in the success of the NES.

The same practices go on today with all of the big manufacturers. However, what quality assurance actually means is less black and white than you might think. You might expect that testing the quality of a game mostly concerns the stability and efficiency of the coding. Not so. Though these are of course important factors, commercial viability is nowadays perhaps the single aspect that the manufacturers are most concerned with. Driv3r proves the point perfectly - it's a shoddy title, unfinished by all accounts, yet it was passed in an instant because it will sell millions. Gamers all over were in uproar a few months ago when it had been announced that had denied licence for the publication of SNK's 2D masterpiece, Metal Slug 3. Why was it denied? Certainly it wasn't due to the quality of the game - Metal Slug games have always been at the forefront of 2D gaming. It was simply because as a 2D title it wasn't deemed suitable for the current gaming market.

Sacrilege? Certainly, and of the most heinous kind. So thank the lord then for the fine people of Entertainment who have recently concluded a deal to publish SNK titles in the European market. At EGN I was fortunate enough to speak to Vijay Chadha, Managing Director at Ignition. What's so refreshing about the meeting was that in an event primarily concerned with profit margins and commercial interests, here was a man who does what he does for the love of good gaming.

Having been a gamer since the age of 17, Vijay has always been a fan of the Neo Geo console range (home of the SNK titles). When the opportunity presented itself for a publishing deal, Vijay was instantly on a plane to the other side of the world to cement the deal. But we're not talking about a man with an eye for a quick buck here; when questioned Vijay wanted little more than to emphasise what an honour it was to have been entrusted with the job. This may sound a little hammy to you, but I can assure you that sentiments such as these are seldom found in the modern games industry and it's always a delight when you do stumble across it.

His true passion has also carried over to Ignition's work on the PAL conversions. As well as the obvious black border issues, a lot of thought has also gone into the finer details. For instance, it's standard for a Japanese version of a Metal Slug game to feature unlimited continues whilst iterations do limit continues. For the European release, Ignition has implemented a level specific continue function which grants you a limited number of continues per level without limiting the number continues needed to get through the game. It's a smart compromise that manages to both maintain a challenge (which has never been a problem for Metal Slug games) whilst not alienating newcomers.

The first batch of releases from ignition will plunder the vast back catalogue of SNK games available. The really exciting news is that once Ignition has caught up with these titles we may be looking forward to simultaneous worldwide releases in the future - a very exciting proposition. On show at EGN was an impressive range of titles, not least one of my personal favourites, Metal Slug 3 for both and Xbox. Looking every bit as glorious as it's US counterpart, way too much time was spent (though not wasted) enjoying the title. Also on offer was Metal Slug Advance, a great GBA port of the series that looks set to exceed the standards achieved with the versions currently available on the Neo Geo Pocket. Some slow down was still evident at this stage, but nothing that cannot be addressed before release and certainly nothing that should worry you. After all, the Neo Geo Pocket versions were partial to a wee bit of slowdown themselves yet were still superb titles.

Metal Slug aside, the most eye-catching title on offer was undoubtedly SVC Chaos, SNK's take on the Vs SNK titles already on our shelves. Not only does the control setup mimic the traditional King of Fighters scheme (four attack buttons as opposed to six) but the visuals are also far more SNK than Capcom. By that, you can expect darker, grittier graphics that are strikingly different from the usual bold, colourful looks that typify most Capcom fighters. It's quite exciting seeing Ryu, Ken and co styled in this manner, lending a darker feel to the title. As well as this, there were what appeared to be faithful conversions of both King of Fighters 2003 and King of Fighters 02. Finally, the long awaited incarnation of the series, King of Fighters Maximum Impact, was also present, and whilst I only had the chance to sample it briefly it certainly looked quite promising. Keep your eyes peeled for all four of the titles in the run up to Christmas.

By Ben Parfitt