Capcom vs. SNK

Review

by Michael Kwiatkowski

It's not often that two competing companies bury the hatchet and release a game together. After all, a game featuring both Sonic and Mario would surely be one of the signs of the coming Apocalypse. The early 90's rivalry between Capcom and SNK in the fighting game arena was no less heated, especially when SNK included Ryo, a blatant, toned-down version of Ryu in Art of Fighting. Capcom responded with Dan, a completely laughable variant of the fireball/uppercut fighter, and a parody of Ryo.

But a truce was called to give fans what they had been yearning for: a chance to pit each company's fighters against one other. Is it the sheer fighting bliss that has been expected? Sort of. What's here isn't bad, but it's not as exciting as, say, a date with Mai or Chun Li.

Still, players are treated to a nice intro when they boot up the game. Perhaps it's a bit excessive ("Everyone rumored!! No one believed!"), but it gets the adrenaline pumping. Too bad the mode selection is a bit disappointing once the game starts. Arcade and Versus modes have been standard since Street Fighter II on the Super NES, and the Training Mode has been a near-requirement since the 32/64-bit generation of gaming. Color Edit Mode, which lets you change the colors of a fighter's costume, is a nice addition but doesn't affect gameplay. And while Game Replay Mode lets you save a two player match to the VMU, it's only useful for hardcore can't-get-enough-of-this-game fans. So don't expect a huge amount of added depth and gameplay compared to the arcade version.

The game as a whole makes some interesting changes to standard Capcom tradition. Players choose between "Capcom Groove" or "SNK Groove," which deal with how super moves are charged (three-level super bars, or a bar you manually charge by holding buttons, respectively). Then you select the members of your team. Each character is assigned one, two or three points based on their power and abilities, with each team allowed a total of four points. For example, there can be a team of four one-point fighters, or one two-point fighter and two two-point fighters. Interestingly enough, the artwork displayed for the characters changes according to the Groove selection.

Before your match starts, there's a quick intro clip specific to each background. It's a nice touch, as some of them herald back to earlier games by the two companies. The fight itself uses the alternating style of King of Fighters instead of following the earlier Capcom "Vs." games. There are no air blocking or cancel moves, which makes the overall feel similar to Super Street Fighter II Turbo.

The eye candy is more tasteful and less over-the-top than Capcom's later efforts like Marvel vs. Capcom 2. The backgrounds in general are nice, and the effects at the end of each round consist of an explosion of flame or a rotating blue swirl, instead of the usual streaks of multicolored lines. The music is techno-inspired, but there are unexpected nuances that add to the game's atmosphere. If both teams are reduced to their last characters, the music changes to the game's driving, pulsing main theme, which adds greatly to the tension and excitement of the final battle. Also, the victory music starts from the moment the final blow is landed, and plays straight through to the opening screen of the next match, giving the game a sense of flowing continuity.

Capcom vs. SNK has 77 secrets locked away, but apparently the designers wanted it to be as annoying as possible to gain access to them. Most obvious is the ridiculous setup of the Secret Shop itself, as it only displays one possible secret at a time. This forces the player to manually scroll through all 77 any time they want to see what has been unlocked for purchase. Versus points are also awarded quite sparingly (expect about 300-400 every time it's beaten in Arcade mode), and with the best secrets costing several thousand points each, it takes quite long to unlock anything of value.

Some secrets also require you to have a certain GPS (groove point system) score to unlock them. While having the game judge your playing is a nice idea, the criteria used are baffling. You'll get docked points for incomprehensible reasons, including throwing your opponent if they're not moving (isn't that their fault?). Combine this with the often-frustrating AI, which, among other things, will sometimes play at level one as if it were eight, give you perfect victories if you continually walk up and throw, counter any special moves and almost always play Ken as if it were set at level 10.

Capcom vs. SNK isn't for everyone, nor does it pretend to be. It unquestionably has some flaws, and even though some of its problems are fixed by unlockable secrets (like extra game modes and the option to re-rank the fighter's ratios in Versus Mode), it takes so long to get these secrets that few will actually manage to unlock them. In order to balance the game, the included SNK characters all had their list of moves trimmed back, which might annoy longtime fans, and devotees of the Neo Geo Pocket Color version of the game won't find characters like Dan or Felicia anywhere in here.

Even with its flaws, Capcom vs. SNK delivers rock-solid gameplay to fighting fans who have been aching for this type of game for years. It succeeds in delivering a fun, fast crossover title that allows fans to determine, once and for all, who has the better fighters.