Capcom vs. SNK

"Two worlds collide."

Once I think about it my review for the arcade version of Capcom vs. SNK was kind of short(Then again most of my early reviews are too short and even I myself admit it)but instead of updating that review(Might have to though)I'am going to write a review for the Dreamcast version of this awesome game. Well anyway I think us fighting game fans wanted to see a game where the two forces that are SNK and Capcom would join up together and well they did right here in this latest installment of the of the vs. series but don't expect laser beam supers,high flying air combos,or tag team action here pal because this game is more old school in some ways. So who's in well for the SNK side there is Kyo,Terry,Ryo,Mai,Vice,Iori,Yuri,Raiden,Gesse,Rugal,Yamazaki,King,Benimaru,Kim,and Nakouru(as a secret character). Representing Capcom is Ryu,Chun Li,Bison,Ken,Sakura,Cammy,Blanka,Sagat,Vega,Honda,Balrog,Dhalsim,Zangief,Morrigan,and Akuma(The last two are also hidden characters). Nice cast I admit but I wish some of my favorites made it like Lucky,Billy,Chris,D.Dark(Do I need to explain that part),Q,and Shoba from Rival Schools but maybe they will be in the sequel. There are two grooves here the Capcom groove which is the standard three level super meter from Street Fighter,and the SNK groove which is the powering up gague from the KOF games. The game alos introduces the ratio system in which certain fighters have a ratio and it is a number that goes from 1 to 4 and you have to make a team that equal to 4(You can have 4 ratio one characters or one ratio 4 character but there are only three ratio 4 characters). Pretty original but it also limits my picks for a team but its not a tremondus flaw. I guess you want to know who the boss is right now and well I should say bosses because you fight either M.Bison or Gesse Howard(One or the other not both). I thought Gesse was harder then Bison even though Bison sends out Balrog before you fight him but with Gesse you fight him twice and he sometimes kills me with that ridiculous Raging Storm super yet I can only perform it 35% of the time due to its hard motion. Anyway with Gesse's cheapness aside let go to the review now.

Graphics
Ryu's,Ken's,Akuma's,and Bison's sprites have been totally redone and look different from the Alpha series. The SNK fighters also gone over a little makeover too so they can fit in with the rest with the Capcom fighters(Even though Kyo looks better in KOF then he does here but they did do a nice job on his sprite). The rest of the Capcom fighters besides those 4 are the same as they always have and maybe it is not that bad but I think it would have been good it Morrigan and Cammy gone over a little makeover. The backgrounds were also great looking and two of my favorites were this back alley in the projects,and the rainy day level set outside Neo Geo Land(Japan Team's KOF'95 stage). Nice job on them overall.

Gameplay
The ratio system is kind of a pain at first but it wasn't that bad as I continued playing the game. The two grooves was a nice addition that way both fans of the two companies could play their representing fighting styles here. Besides the arcade mode there is the regular stuff like Training,and Vs. Mode but there is also the Game Replay mode where you and a friend could replay a match with the use of a memory card and the Pair Match Mode which you could unlock and that lets you have only two person teams but you can pick any two people(You can't put Honda and Rugal in a team in arcade mode but you can here because everyone in Pair Match is a Ratio 2). For some reason the gameplay is very addicting unlike some other fighters I have played but I can't really say how it is but I just found myself playing this for what seemed like long(At points I missed watching the Simspons because I was too busy playing this). There are also secrets to unlock but some of them take too long to get unlike in Marvel vs. Capcom 2 where things came to you more quickly but then again I guess this was an attempt to make you play the game longer and it did for me. The gameplay is great though.

Control
There are only 4 attack button here like in SNK fighting games and Marvel vs. Capcom 2 but I got used to it. Most of the SNK fighters don't have all of their moves and Capcom put in EX versions of characters that have missing moves but some of the alternative versions we don't need at all(What is the point with EX Kim and EX Guile?). I wasn't really that angry at the fact that there was some missing moves unlike some others because I was fine with it somewhat. There are rolls here like in KOF'96-98 and they are there regardless of what groove you pick(So if you are in the Capcom groove you can also roll like in KOF). The control is good so there.

Sound
The voices sound like they always have for the majority of the cast but Bison's voice now sounds more sinister then before and Sakura's new voice is now deeper. For second there I thought Balrog said in his victory pose ''I got laid'' and I also thought Gesse said ''I'll stain my head with your butt'' but that is only a sample of some of the Engrish spoken here. The new music sounds very good like the theme to the Pao Pao Cafe and for you old timers there is a hidden feature that allows you to listen to classic music from before(It sure is nice listening to Japan team's 94 theme and Bison's theme from SF2). Everything just sounds so nice.

Replay
There are a lot of things to unlock here including new modes and extra features like customize ratio numbers in Vs. Mode so at least I can form my dream teams there with a buddy. Because of the long time it takes for some things to get unlocked it also increases the replay value and the actual game is really fun to so I never got tired of it at all. The replay value is really high.

Final Word
I would be lieing to you if I said this is just good because it is more then just good but pretty great too in my book. This game also has its share of flaws like EX characters we didn't need but they didn't ruin the game itself. Capcom vs. SNK should deserve at least a rental if not a buy if you want to see what these two companies could pull off. Well Capcom now that you did a game featuring SNK characters with your fighters and you also put them with the Marvel Comics characters so how about making a game putting all three of them (Capcom,Marvel,and SNK) into one game. Okay maybe I should shut up starting NOW.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 06/03/01, Updated 06/03/01