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The company SNK was originally Shin Nihon Kikaku, founded in 1973. What did Shin Nihon Kikaku originally manufacture in 1973? I would assume some sort of primitive computers or calculators, but searched Google and can only find answers pertaining to SNK in 1978.

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    Have you tried to look up at least according Wiki Pages?
    – Raffzahn
    Commented May 2, 2022 at 7:38

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(For most parts taken from the Japanese Wiki)

Eikichi Kawasaki operated a coffee shop and civil engineering business. When in 1973 asked to finance an electric engineering company of a friend, he acquired that company himself and founded Shin Nihon Kikaku (literally Project New Japan).

Further Steps:

  • 1978 the company structure was changed, legally founding the later SNK
  • The same year they ventured first into video games with a Breakout clone called Battleship Yamato (センカンヤマト), cashing in on the popularity of Space Battleship Yamato Anime and a licenced Space Invaders copy.
  • On products and advertisement the Kanji abbreviation エス・エヌ・ケイ (literally SNK) was used
  • Starting 1981 all material used the Latin abbreviation SNK as company name
  • In 1986 the company was restructured, now the official name was 株式会社エス・エヌ・ケイ, roughly SNK & Co LLC
  • 2001 the company went bankrupt and it's own subsidiary Playmore LLC (Latin spelling - by now Japanese law allowed company names in Latin) bought all game assets. Kawasaki still held >85% of the capital for this company
  • 2003 Playmore changed its name to SNK Playmore LLC
  • 2015 Kawasakis share of SNK Playmore was acquired by a Chinese investemnt company
  • 2016 The name was changed again to SNK and focussed again to capitalize on their rich history
  • Over 2020 to 2022 the Saudi investment fund MiSK Foundation bought the majority of SNK thru their subsidiary Electronic Game Development Company
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    Great info, but if I'm, not mistaken, the very question at hand is literally what did they manufacture before 78? (ie 73 - 78)
    – Fattie
    Commented May 2, 2022 at 14:06
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    @Fattie Which is what the part above the additional information is. Hence the divider. Chck the highlighted part.
    – Raffzahn
    Commented May 2, 2022 at 14:33
  • I've downvoted this because it doesn't answer the question
    – knol
    Commented May 2, 2022 at 18:04
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    @Raffzahn that’s still electronics. They built analog electronics. (Or relay-logic controllers, if that’s all they did)
    – fectin
    Commented May 2, 2022 at 20:06
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    @fectin Sorry, but no. Electronics require use of active components (tubes, semiconductors) for control. With only passive components (resistors, switches, capacitors and coils) it's still called electric engineering. It wasn't until the late 70s that electronics started to creep into that area. Complex operation were not controlled by processors but relay logic or, for higher power by motor operated cam switches (both digital) :)
    – Raffzahn
    Commented May 2, 2022 at 21:48

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