Capcom vs. SNK

"Should've been called King of Fighters Millennium Fight 2000: Capcom vs SNK"

Capcom is probably the most famous game company to produce lots of fighting games like the almighty Street Fighter. While they maybe the king of fighting games.. I had a different opinion in my mind ever since I've played King of Fighter '96.

When I played that game, it was great, which I've believed SNK maybe the true king of creating fighting games. They got interesting characters with great background histories. Great storyline when playing the game and a unique gameplay (Desperation Moves, etc).

Ever since playing King of Fighter '96 and feeling the rage of the Riot Blood of Iori's, I've nearly quit playing any Street Fighter games (unless it's either Tekken Tag Tournament or too many people is playing on the NeoGeo arcade).

Now that Capcom created this game as part of the VS series.. is it a great as it looks? Let's see.

-GAMEPLAY/STORYLINE- [07]
**THIS IS NOT LIKE MARVEL VS CAPCOM 2 OR ANY OF THE OTHER VS GAMES!**
This game is exactly like King of Fighters, except with some Capcom flavors added on. First, you have three different ratio groups (1-3) and must form a team which is equivalent to ratio 4. What makes this interesting is that it may seem having 4 Ratio-1 characters for one player maybe cheap against a player with a Ratio-3 and a Ratio-1. BUT that Ratio-3 character can do 3X more damage than the Ratio-1 can! So while possibilities of forming a team may not be endless.. it can produce some nice cool looking teams! Of course there's a GROOVE system which you must pick.. CAPCOM or SNK groove. Capcom Groove is basically like Street Fighter Alpha series.. charge up your bar by doing something (getting hit, attacking, etc). While the SNK Groove is like the King of Fighters EXTRA mode (hold Hard Punch and Hard Kick) to charge up your bar... and of course, if you're near dead.. you can fire unlimited Level 1 supers forever.. that is.. until you're dead. This may sound cheap.. but CAPCOM GROOVE has #1 priority over SNK's desperation in terms of who hits first.. which makes it balanced. Anyways, to keep it short.. if you've played both games.. you're in great shape cause ALL the character's movements and specials are based on the game their from. If you're not familiar with one of the two games.. whether it's Street Fighter or King of Fighters.. you better learn quick. It may seem Capcom made their characters stronger (more attacks) and SNK weaker (removed some character's attacks).. it's pretty obvious since THEY ARE the one who created this VS game.. but SNK's characters, in my honest opinion, has a better ''strategies and attacks'' than Capcom. Plus, they ARE cooler looking (especially Iori ! hahahah *evil*).

The ONLY thing I have to complain is the lack of characters (we need more SNK characters!!!!) and lack of a storyline (if KOF can create a story with tons of characters in one game.. why can't this game be the same?!). This is the result of a score of 7. It maybe very fun (especially playing against friends).. but without as much characters as KOF or endings.. it can lower replay a bit.

-CONTROLS- [08]
Controls are great! There is one problem though... it's hard to get off actual HARD attacks sometimes (like Ryu's sweep kick is down-forward + hard kick). Also, the usual hard-control desperation attack method of KOF's (especially Geese Howard's Raging Storm.. one of the hardest desperation to do). Minor complaints.. but I don't have any trouble getting off moves or anything (except for the Raging Storm.. aughhhh)!

-GRAPHICS- [08]
Graphic looks like KOF... although it's made by Capcom. Beautiful and I don't really except anything new from them. It looks good for a fighting game and that's good enough for me (although Marvel vs Capcom 2's graphic are a lot better). Also, if you've noticed.. there are 2 artworks of characters (depending on which Groove you've picked). If I'm correct.. all SNK's artwork is in CAPCOM GROOVE while Capcom's artwork is in SNK GROOVE.

-MUSIC/SFX- [08]
Man, the announcer's voice is a robot! Although it's very interesting.. I wish he would say more stuff (especially when it's on the VS screen). Otherwise, the SFX and music is great! There's just one question that I haven't figure out yet:

''Does each stage have it's own music or it's played randomly or in a pattern? Cause I've noticed that when it's on the Final Round, they always play the same music.''

-REPLAY- [09]
Obviously, it's replayed a lot IF you like it.. cause you want to improve and unlock all the secrets! Very common for fighting games.

-THE FINAL GRADE- 08
This game SHOULD NOT have been called Capcom vs SNK: Millennium Fight 2000. It should've been called King of Fighters Millennium Fight 2000: Capcom vs SNK (backward). Why? Cause basically the game play (team ratio and such) is just like King of Fighters! There's not a single VS idea in here at all (no super high jumps, air block, insane overlooked supers, tags). Naming it like this will have gamers believe it's another Marvel vs Capcom 2 with SNK characters. Granted I thought it would be like that too (I was hoping for an awesome Iori's Maiden Smasher super in the VS.. see how it's overlooked and overblown).

IF you're a fan of King of Fighters.. then I'm sure you'll like this game (although you'll be pretty mad for some ''removed moves'' for Kyo, Iori and others.. plus you'll dislike the Capcom characters).

IF you're a fan of Street Fighter, then you'll like this game too (although you'll probably dislike the SNK characters and the KOF team style mode).

IF you're a fan for both you'll absolutely love it (like me ^-^).

Last.. IF you're a fan of the VS series.. look somewhere else.. cause this is NOTHING like it.

Either way, this is an above average game.. with a good promising start for the Capcom vs SNK series. I just hope the next one will have 50+ characters and a storyline for EACH team (like KOF96). Also, please no more unrealistic characters like Morrigan (it ruins the reality of it).

Overall Summery [+/-]
+ King of Fighter characters!! (Iori.. woo hoo!)
+ Ratio System = Interesting Matchups
+ SNK Groove and Capcom Groove (each has advantages + disadvantages and ARE BALANCED!)
+ King of Fighter Team-System*
+ Music, SFX, Graphics, Controls
- Need more characters (come on! Even KOF has more than this!)
- Some characters (especially SNK side) has moves removed.
- Need better storyline
- Need online play
- Having Morrigan ruins the ''realism'' looks for this fighting game.

Master LL- thinks Iori is the best fighter ever.. err.. at least the most craziest (especially the Riot Blood Iori version)!

Grade Scale (01-10):
01- Avoid like plague
05- Average
10- Perfect

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/28/00, Updated 11/28/00