Will this be a future legend? (Capcom Vs SNK (DC))

Name: Wolfzilla

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Product:	Capcom Vs SNK (DC)
Date:	09.01.08 (60 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It's good

Disadvantages: It should have been great

Once upon a time, a game like Capcom Vs. SNK, or Capcom Vs. SNK: Millenium Fight 2000 to give it it's full title, would never and could never have existed. But this was back in the good old days when Capcom and SNK's 2D fighting games ruled the arcades, and names like Fatal Fury, King of Fighters, Streetfighter and Darkstalkers wouldn't bring up a confused expression on young gamers faces, it probably would have got them giddy with excitement. How things change, and in an effort to keep the genre alive, it's two main forces combined their efforts in 2000 to create this game, every fanboy's wet dream for the past however many years.

I can remember this had just been released when I first got my Dreamcast, and I was quite possibly giddy with excitement. Even if I hadn't played an SNK game since Fatal Fury and half of their cast would be new to me, this was still a fairly monumental game, that quite naturally didn't get advertised or promoted in any way, such is the fate of the 2D game these days. The fact that the game is actually made by Capcom, who have European publishers, also meant that it would be the first time SNK's characters would be accessable in a game to me without importing for a good while.

Ah, now a little comment I slipped in there should tell you something about the game. It's a Capcom game, through and through. Basically the only SNK-related aspect to the product is their characters, make no mistake, this isn't an SNK fighter, they got to take their shot at the ultimate battle of 2D fighters in the subsequent release that was SNK Vs. Capcom for the Neo Geo, which later got ported to the Xbox. While this fact probably doesn't seem important now, I'll get back to it later.

The prospect of the game put Capcom at a decided advantage they had lacked with their fighters for years. Every 2D fighting fan was going to buy this, regardless of what kind of lame story Capcom bungled on or archaic sprites they re-used. While the game was never going to be a record-seller, it was a pretty sure-fire bet that near enough every Capcom and SNK fan would pop in for a look at least.

As you would imagine, Capcom Vs. SNK(CvS) is a 2D fighter, where the idea is to beat your opponent's health bar to empty, using a slew of different attacks, before they do the same to you. What I'm sure nobody saw coming was the bizarre format by which Capcom decided to set the game by. Now, before I begin, let me explain the system used for SNK's King of Fighters games. In those, you select 3 fighters, which order they fight in, and you fight your opponent's fighters in the order they set them in. The first two fighters battle until one of them's health bar is emptied, then the winner carries on, after a tiny health boost, against the next opponent until one team loses all of it's members. CvS works on a fairly similar principle, but it messes with it, and in turn messes it up. Capcom, in all their infinite wisdom, decided to assign every character in the game a 'Ratio' from 1-4, depending on how they rate their power. You must select your team, building it around 4 ration points, meaning that you will either have a team of 4 R-1 characters, 2x R1's and a R2, 2x R2, R3 +R1 or a single R4 fighter. This system is not only murder to explain to new gamers, but it's just stupid. You cannot honestly tell me Balrog is more useful than Ryu or Guile, or that Blanka, Dhalsim, Yuri and Vice against Ken and Terry is an equal fight, because quite frankly, it's a lie. Thankfully, once you earn a certain amount of points, based on your gameplay in Arcade mode, you can not only buy extra characters and costume colours, but also the ability to alter the settings of 2-Player matches, meaning you can have straightforward best of 3 fights, 2v2 matches and other more sensible options.

So that's the stupidity over right? not even half. There's the 'Groove' system. Before selecting your characters, you are prompted to select your 'Groove', either Capcom or SNK. This basically refers to the way you will play the game. The grooves dictate what parameters you can play within, such as rolling, dashing and so on, as well as altering the means by which you charge your super moves. Capcom groove works in the way you probably expect a super-meter to, where it fills up with each blow you land on your enemy. However, SNK groove works in a fashion I've never actually seen, where you hold down the two Fierce attack buttons to charge up your meter manually, and you also have the bonus of going into 'Desperation Mode'(ie you get infinite Super moves) when you take so much damage. As you can imagine, SNK groove is hilariously more usefull, so you really have to wonder exactly what Capcom were thinking here.

The final gripe I have with the game is the one everyone could have seen coming, the roster. There are just over 30 fighters to choose from, and don't let the title mislead you, the game is really Streetfighter Vs. King of Fighters with a character each from the Samurai Shodown, Darkstalkers and Fatal Fury(although that kind of counts as King of Fighters thrown in to justify the title. While the Capcom side is more or less complete, other than the startling omission of Dan Hibiki, who actually parodies many of SNK's characters, all the expected fighters are present from the SF games. In fact, I'm pretty sure the entire cast of Streetfighter 2 is present, as well as some additions like Cammy, Sakura and Akuma(as well as the tedious inclusion of Evil Ryu). However, the SNK side leaves a lot to be desired. While Terry, Kyo, Iori, Mai, Geese, Rugal and Ryo are all accounted for, it wouldn't be until this game's upgrade that we got Joe Higashi, and if you had to resurrect a Fatal Fury character, why not make it someone like Richard Meyer,Andy or even better, Billy Kane. I don't recall Raiden ever having much of a fan following.

Actually come to think about it, that isn't my final grip at all. I'd like to point out, that in this wave of negativity I seem to be painting for the game, it still plays magnificently. Spot on collision detection, fast, but not silly-fast ala the other games with 'Vs.' in their title, and furious action, heated battles between characters you've always wanted to see scrap...on 2-Player this game has years worth of replay value. My only issue is that some of the SNK characters, most notably Terry, who is robbed of his Power Dunk, have been tinkered around with, and made a hell of a lot less potent in combat than they should be. Granted this only deteriorates from the game's awesome playing experience if, like me, you've played a lot of KOF with Terry and tried to play in the same fashion, because at the time I bought this game, I hadn't played the series anywhere near as much, and I enjoyed playing as him just fine. Even now I still find him useable, and he is still one of the first characters I pick, but I just feel it's worth noting.

Capcom opted to go for a more SNK styled control method for the game, with only 4 attack buttons, Light and Fierce Punch and the respective strengths of kick. This means that the DC controller can handle the game quite easily, although there are some fine arcade sticks for the console, and it would be a sin not to give one an outing on this enjoyable game.

Graphically the game is very hit and miss. While it's a relief to see the SNK characters get new sprites after all of these years, and they are all done in the more anime style of Capcom, and animated wonderfully, Capcom has short-changed many of it's own characters, dredging up the old Alpha sprites for all of it's characters other than M.Bison, Ryu,Ken and Morrigan, the latter of which uses that sprite that's older than most gamers, and Ryu and Ken use their Streetfighter 3 sprites.
One aspect of the game that is really cool graphically, is that all of the energy-based special moves (fireballs and so on) have been givena digital enhancement, so they look really flash and so much cooler than the old sprites to represent the projectiles. The backgrounds are also awesome, each one not only kicking off with a cool animated intro, but also giving the player a retake on some of both companies' most famous locales, such as outside the castle Ryu fought on the roof of in Streetfighter 2 or in the Pao Pao Cafe. They are all very well detailed, often with cameo appearances in the background, and in some cases interactive lighting(notice a slight orange glare on the side of the fighters as they duel against the car-crash background).

Sound is an aspect that the game comes close to being infuriating in, due to it's obnoxious techno score, but the game allows you to unlock an option where music from classic games from both franchises plays. It's awesome battling to the theme from Streetifighter, or to the ever awesome Geese Howard theme, given a reworking. Oddly though, the Final Fight theme tune plays on one level, even though nobody from that game appears.

While I do seem to be saying more negative things than positives, Capcom Vs. SNK, while guaranteed sales, was always going to come under a far more watchful eye than any other Capcom fighting release of recent years. While I enjoy the game, and ever since I bought it a few years back I've enjoyed it a lot, I think most of my problems with it lie in the fact it's a good game, but this was Capcom and SNK fighters in the one game, and as a fan of both camps, I really wanted it to be a great game, the best fighting game ever. It quite simply isn't that, and while I would recommend it to fans of both camps, especially seeing as it shouldn't cost much these days, it does come with a warning that you shouldn't expect it to live up to any astronomical expectations, because, sadly, it won't.

Summary: While it isn't as god-defyingly awesome as I hoped it would be, Capcom Vs. SNK is still enjoyable