Capcom vs. SNK

"Two worlds combine into a pretty good game"

Anticipation has built up to the combining of Capcom and SNK for quite some time now. With rumors beginning ever since the initial release of X-men vs Street Fighter, teasers pictures (on SF3:3 backgrounds no less) and a ''mini'' version of the game on Neo Geo's own Pocket Color, everyone (okay, a good lot of us) has been waiting in drooling anticipation for the day that Terry and Ryu could meet in the arena. Now that SNK basically IS Capcom, the Dreamcast has found itself home to the ''Match of the Millenium''... and indeed it seems to be.

I could sum up the entire review in a few words. Capcom vs SNK is a good game. Not a GREAT game, but a good game. While its not really the tightest or most successfully implemented fighting game to date, it is also not the horrible mess which a LOT of individuals have made it out to be. Capcom has done a good job of merging the two worlds together, and if it wasn't for some seemingly ''lazy'' decisions, this game would have been truly the greatest fighting game Capcom has yet to produce.

Graphics: 8

The graphics are a mixed bag in Capcom vs SNK. To start, the SNK characters look fabulous having been redrawn by artists at Capcom and animated to a Street Fighter level (I was always disappointed with SNK animation except for Gaouru). Indeed the Street Fighters, at first, look as if they have been redrawn in a more mature fashion and animated as well (in the case of Ryu, Ken and Vega anyway)... but move onto the others and what's this? They're the SAME AS ZERO! Indeed this is the single worst aspect about the graphics. Why was Ryu redrawn, but Guile not? It brings up some rather odd ''Mugen'' like fights when you see a super sharp Mai vs a pretty blurry and cartoony Sakura. A very disconcerting sight if I ever saw one. As for the animation itself, it seems to follow more of the SNK tradition than Street Fighter. The characters do not swing or bob a lot in their animation and everything seems a lot more ''fixed'' and ''solid'' than other Capcom fighting games. In my opinion, the animation surpasses Zero by a bit, but can't even touch SF3. Special effects however are drastically different from either Capcom or SNK games. These effects are pretty mind boggling computer effects that generate some pretty cool lighting effects. As for the backgrounds, they are absolutely gorgeous, far beyond any Capcom fighter ever in history (again, they seem to have taken the SNK route in their regards). First, each background has a different opening animation (my personal favorite is this ghetto little racing game that turns into a crash thus leading to the ''Car Crash Stage'') and each is very, very cool. Most of the backgrounds themselves have huge amounts of movement (my favorite being the Capcom stage with the building that keeps breaking down) and can do everything but take your attention off the fight.
Finally, special mention needs to be made about the special intro animations for certain characters. Fight Ken vs Terry, Mai vs Chun-li or Guile vs Rugal to see what I mean...

Sound: 10

I love the SNK approach when it comes to voices, and luckily Capcom has opted to follow suit. From Terry's memorable ''Powwwaaa Wave!'' to Geese's ''You can't escape your doom!''... SNK english has always been... interesting, to say the least. While the SNK voices are great, the new Capcom voices are SO much better than the old actors. Finally Guile is no longer Australian (although I miss his own Guilenglish). The music is an array of pumping techno tracks which I happen to love as well (although they aren't quite as good as Street Fighter III 3rd Strike's sound track). I need that soundtrack...

Story: 2

Um... A fighting game. 'nuff said.

Gameplay: 9

This score depends. Are you a pure bred Capcom player? A pure bred SNK player? A Capcom player willing to adapt to SNK? You'll only really enjoy the game if you're one of the last two. Admittadely I'm mainly a Capcom player, but I know what a King of Fighters game feels like, and this is a KoF engine all the way. Just in the way of movement, feeling and speed it has the atmosphere of an SNK game. With this being said, going into the actual play of the game could take a very long time, but just to give you the jist of it. You get 2 ''grooves'' (super bars) which are Capcom and SNK. Capcom lets you charge 3 bars Zero style and SNK gives you 1 bar which can be charged and ''desperation'' attacks. You get rolling (from the KoF series) for evasion or even attacking purposes and a Guard Crush bar from the Zero series. All this works fairly well in unision.
In terms of choosing characters, you get 4 points. Strong characters are worth 3, medium strength worth 2 and weak characters worth 1. I have some issues with the characters Capcom decided to put in (No Guy? No Dan? No Leona? No Athena?) and some of the characters need shuffling (Dammit, Rugal should be a 4 point character!). In any case, this means you can have fights which consists of 2 teams of different numbers of players. Interesting eh? You don't get tag team action however, its strictly one after another. Again, this is basically KoF style, and I think it was a good move (makes the game far more methodical and less hectic). In any case, if you've ever played a KoF game then you basically know what you're in for gameplay wise. The fights almost remind me of the good old days of playing Street Fighter II Championship Edition on my PC Engine (wow... has it been that long?). In any case, only the HARDCORE fighting fans may need apply here, because fans of the ''million hit combos by pressing 1 button'' genre will find the pace too slow.

Conclusion:

In the end, I think Capcom vs SNK has received a lot of bad rap that it doesn't deserve. The game is a very good effort, and a very well playing game, but only if you're willing to change to playing SNK style. Even in Capcom groove the game is decidedly working on the SNK engine. This being said, millions will play the game just for its name and tournament status, so it hardly matters what I write. In the end, I think everyone should give the game a try, and see it for what it is. An SNK game with Capcom characters in it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/15/00, Updated 09/15/00