Capcom Vs. SNK

Pros • Long-awaited ‘dream match’ concept	Cons • Lack of character switches or assists makes ‘Tag Team’ concept worthless • Lack of techniques normally found in fighting games
Bottom Line When dealing with a concept like this, it’s impossible to please everybody, but this game doesn’t really attempt to please anybody. Two of the biggest names in fighting games, Capcom and the recently deceased SNK, come together to produce what should have been the fighting game to end all fighting games, but in reality, it doesn’t begin to live up to their legendary status. Through a lack of features, characters, and fun in general, this game succeeds only in driving a hardcore gamer’s long-cherished dream to ruin.

Those gamers fortunate enough to own SNK’s short-lived Neo Geo Pocket handheld system knew about the system’s premier title, Match of the Millennium, a game created through an unlikely and unprecedented alliance between two companies that had become legends in the realm of fighting games. The fruits of their labor shined in a glorious title that rivaled many console games in depth, animation, and the breadth of its options. It also featured ‘Olympic Mode’, a collection of mini-games that could have made an entire separate title, and featured link options not only for 2-player matches, but also a separate SNK Vs. Capcom trading card game, Dreamcast’s King of Fighters ’99, and a promised future title that would appear shortly in arcades and on the Dreamcast.

A year later, the gaming world has finished mourning the loss of SNK, the Neo Geo Pocket is all but forgotten and Match of the Millennium is little more than a footnote in gaming history. However, the real tragedy of all of this is what has become of the promised arcade/Dreamcast title.

Capcom Vs. SNK is one of those titles that make one wonder just how much actual effort went into its production. The character animations have been ripped directly from previous games without so much as a polish, and the characters’ move lists, especially those on the SNK side, have been inexplicably reduced. Worse, things like air combos, alpha counters, and guard breaks that have become commonplace in fighting games are sorely missing here. Even the unique tag team feature, which assigns a number of points to the characters according to their strength and limits the amount of points spent building a team to keep the teams relatively evenly matched, is made useless by the fact that the team members cannot be changed during the battle, nor can they assist their partners in any way. With the elimination of the Neo Geo Pocket linkup mode, and any hope of online play, there really isn’t much, if any, worth to be found in this title.

This game really should be called King of Fighters Vs. Street Fighter, since characters from any of either Capcom’s or SNK’s popular series have been eliminated from the final cut, save for a pair of extremely hidden characters. These two are the only hidden characters to be found in this game, and the inordinately difficult method for unlocking them or any of the game’s other laughable ‘secrets’ will have players online and looking for a save file to download in no time.

In its defense, Capcom Vs. SNK is built upon a solid foundation, with responsive controls and a decent, if unimpressive combo system. But these alone are no longer enough to make a truly impressive fighting game, especially not when dealing with characters that have been held dear to gamers’ hearts for nearly a decade and a concept that has been entrenched in their imaginations for almost as long.

Players who were led to expect a fighting experience to surpass even the legendary Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 will be sorely disappointed, as will those who savored the handheld Match of the Millennium and spent the past year in eager anticipation of this title. This title makes a tragic and callous waste of one of the hardcore gamer’s most cherished ‘dream concepts’, but what makes it truly inexcusable is that Match of the Millennium had already laid the blueprint for what this game ought to have been – Capcom needed but to follow that guide and all would have been well. It is sincerely hoped that gamers will send Capcom a strong message by leaving this title on store shelves this holiday season.

James Tapia

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