Another Capcom Classic (Capcom Vs SNK (DC))

Member Name: Guile176

Product:	Capcom Vs SNK (DC)
Date:	23/04/05 (206 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nice character line up

Disadvantages: The Extra's in the Pro edition feel tacked on.

When I first heard about Capcom Vs SNK being developed a few years
ago I was a happy man. Very very happy. I had dreamed of a Vs game
between the 2 for years. What I wouldn't give to pit Geese Howard
against Guile. Both Capcom and SNK are 2 of my favorite developers
out there. They also make the finest 2D fighting games you can get.

This review as mentioned in the title is actually a review of the
Pro edition released awhile back in Japan. What's the difference
between the regular and Pro? Not really too much im afraid. What you
get is every secret unlocked, 2 new characters and 4 new
backgrounds. Believe me this is alot less then it seems. Don't worry
whether your looking to buy the Pro or the original edition this
review can apply to both since their so similar. So no crying this
is posted in the wrong spot.

Secrets Unlocked: If you've played the original Capcom Vs SNK then
you'd need to spend hours earning points to unlock all the games
secrets. Now in Pro the points are gone and every character,
background, color and other secrets are all unlocked with no work
required to earn anything. This does take away much of the single
player play value but is more of a blessing if you own the original
game and have already unlocked everything.

2 New Characters and 4 New Backgrounds: Newly added to the already
large 33 character roster is Dan from the Street Fighter series and
Joe Higashi of Fatal Fury and K.O.F. fame. Dan is pretty much as
useless as ever and is more a joke character then anything else. As
for Joe Higashi Capcom managed to screw him up pretty good by taking
away some of his moves. Remember Joe's Machine Gun punch he's had
since the original Fatal Fury? Well kiss it goodbye since Capcom saw
it fit to remove it. This is the equivalent of taking away Chun Li's
Lightning Kick. What an insult. Also gone is the cool flip kick Joe
had in some of the K.O.F. games. To add the final insult he has only
1 super move. He may be a default Tier 1 character in this but
weakening him like this is unacceptable.

Now for the 4 new backgrounds. Ok remember how cool looking all the
original background were? They had the cool looking car wreck stage,
the ally with the ultra cool looking shadows on the walls and then
there was the Pao Pao Cafe which was a personal favorite of mines.
Well the 4 new backgrounds added to pro cannot compare (except maybe
Bison boring level) to the rest of the older backgrounds. The new
backgrounds lack serious detail and seem to be more an after thought
then anything.

Everything else in the game seems to be exactly the same as it was
before. In the single player mode you must choose a team of
characters out of 4 different tiers. You have 4 points to choose
characters. Each tiers characters have a different amount of points.
For example tier 1 consist of all weak 1 point characters such as
Dan, King, Cammy and Blanka. Tier 2 is pretty much the medium ranked
characters like Ryu, Mai and Chun Li. Tier 2 characters require 2
points to use. Tier 3 characters require 3 points and pretty much
consists of bosses such as M Bison, Vega, Rugal and Geese Howard.
Then finally tier 4 characters require all 4 points to use and are
the strongest of all characters in the game. These super characters
include Evil Ryu, Akuma and Orochi Iori.

When playing a 2 player game the tiers pretty much disappear and you
can set your own point value for each character. Don't like that
weak level one Blanka and want him to be as strong as a tier 4
character? The give him 4 points and make him the strongest he can
get. Of course like in the single player mode you are given 4 points
so if you want a 4 point character you cant pick anyone else. The
whole system seems a little confusing when reading about it but once
you sit down and try it you'll see its pretty simple.

Now another cool aspect about the game is the groove system. You can
choose either Capcom Groove or SNK grove. Depending on which groove
you pick it will alter your gameplay abit. For example choosing the
Capcom Groove will give you a super bar that can be charged to 3
different power levels. Energy in this bar must be charged by
attacking and blocking. You can only do a super move when at least 1
level of the bar is filled up. If you happen to have all 3 levels
filled up you can make your super move even more powerful. This of
course will drain your super bar down to empty and you`ll have to
attack and block to raise it up again.

Choosing the SNK Grove will give you a different type of super bar
which must be charged by holding down a combination of buttons. This
is a little risky however since your open to attack while charging.
Also when your characters near death their life bar will start to
flash red. When its flashing like this you can perform a super move
as many times as you like. Combine a flashing red life bar with a
fully charged super meter and then you a more powerful super move.

Overall both Grooves have their advantages and disadvantages. It all
depends on player preference. And one other thing I found really
cool is how the character art in the load screen changes depending
on which Groove you picked. Say you picked Guile and the SNK Groove
then you'll see a pic of Guile drawn by an SNK artist. Very cool

Graphics 9: Who ever said 2D graphics were dead in fighting games?
Im glad to see a few companies like Capcom still realize there's a
strong market for 2D fighters. The backgrounds for the most part are
exceptional in Capcom Vs SNK. These are perhaps some of the finest
i've seen in a 2D fighter. One level pits you fighting inside a
building that's being constructed. As the fight goes on the building
begins to fall apart. Its just too cool looking and must be seen.
There's also a nice little surprise in this background as well. Off
in the back you'll notice a small convenience store. Look familiar?
It should as it was the center of Ryu and Guys background in Street
Fighter Alpha 1. It's little details like this that show Capcom
really does care about it's 2D fans out there.

Characters are also animated extremely well. Not quite as good as
say Street Fighter 3 or Guilty Gear X but a definite step up from
the Alpha and K.O.F. games. One thing that puzzled me a little and
knocked a point off the score was the slightly pixilated characters.
My guess was this was done because Capcom drew the characters into
RAM smaller and then scaled them in slightly to save on RAM. I know
they did this for Marvel Vs Capcom 2. But unlike that game Capcom Vs
SNK has only 2 characters loaded into RAM at a time and not 6 like
in that game. Thankfully the problem isn't too noticeable unless
your playing though S Video or a VGA cord.


Sound 9: While not touching the soundtrack of the original Street
Fighter 2 series or K.O.F. 96 the music here is no slouch. Theres a
variety of hip hop and rock style beats in Capcom Vs SNK that fit
the action perfectly. There's also a few classic tunes thrown in
here as well. Geese Howard's theme being my favorite of course.

Sound effects are also very well done and pretty much what you've
come to expect in a Capcom or SNK fighting game. Character voices
are also pretty well done for most of the characters. There's some
broken English here on a few of the characters that sounds a little
on the goofy side. Most noticeably on Raiden, Guile and Geese
Howard. Raiden and Guile appear to be done by the same actor and
both sound like a French guy that doesn't know English too well.
Geese on the other hand sounds somewhat similar. His lines only
sound a little more broken.


Control 9: Control here is pretty much near perfect. Even on the
standard DC pad things work very well. Moves are all done by using a
mix of charge up and rolling motions. Anyone who's familiar with the
moves in almost any other 2D fighting game should feel right at home
here. Novices on the other hand will need a few days of playing to
get used to everything. Once you do though however things will
become much easier.

My only gripe about the controls is a few moves seem a little
tougher then they should be to perform. Most notable is Geese
Howard's Raging Storm super. It has a very awkward motion to do.
That's not where the problem is though. I had this super mastered in
Fatal Fury Real Bout and the motion was the exact same. It's just
for some reason it wont come out when I need it in this. This wont
be much of a problem for most players though since Geese is a pretty
tough character to use anyway and will most likely turn most away
for that.

Overall Capcom Vs SNK Pro is a great game. However there are
a few catches to buying Pro. First being you need to import it as it
most likely will never come out here on DC. The second is if you own the
original Capcom Vs SNK then there is no need at all to put down
another $50 or $60 to get this. It's essentially the same exact game
and you wont really find anything worth the extra cash for unless
your a massive Dan fan and need to have him. Joe Higashi fans are
best sticking to him in the K.O.F. or Fatal Fury games. Still though
if you are into importing and you don't own the original and can
find this for maybe $25 then by all means get it. Pay no more though
since you can get the domestic version of the original for $20 at
most places. Or better even yet get part 2 which is already out on the PS2
XBox, Gamecube and the Japanese Dreamcast.

By Guile176/Phantasystar77

Summary: