Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001

"Definately the best of the crossovers, though it has it's rough spots"

As a big fan of fighting games myself, I loved Capcom vs SNK 2. I played the first one, honestly not even knowing who or what SNK was. Was able to get a chance to play some of the SNK games, and then I wished for a chance to try them out again. I got my wish with Capcom vs SNK 2. Played and have gotten fluent on the import and US versions of it, and it's gotta be the greatest crossover game I've played, but it could use some improvements.

Graphics 9/10

Not too bad for a 2d fighter, though they could have some more detail on some of the characters, especially on the Capcom side. The SNK characters look, for the most part, well drawn and good as ever. The Capcom ones, for some of them, you can tell the sprites are borrowed from previous games, especially when you play a Capcom character against an SNK one, there's a BIG difference. The backgrounds, for the most part, look really nice though, and those I think were well done.

Sound 8/10

Well, a lot of the character voices sound really nice. Like Boss Rugal's laugh when he uses Akuma's teleport move, it's like a cyborg gone mad or something (though I miss what he used to shout out when he did the Genocide Cutter from the import version). Listening to Yamazaki's crazed screams, or Blanka's roars, or Geese Howard shouting out ''DOUBLE REPPUKEN,'' are just awesome. Though I miss Guile's Australian accent from Street Fighter Alpha/Zero 3, and I wish they would give Akuma more variety in his lines.

On the other hand, the music ain't too great. They have some decent tunes, but let's face it, this isn't very good fighting music. While it's much better than Marvel vs Capcom 2, it still needs a lot of work.

Moves 8/10

Well, the moves themselves, most of them don't look too bad I think, with the exception of Morrigan. Her moves do look rather pixelated, but then again i hardly notice cause I don't play as her, no one i know does.

As for the other characters, the moves look like they should, though they could have each shotokan type character have more unique looking fireballs and such, to kinda make it a bit less generic looking. PLus, if I'm not mistaken, I remember Kyo's Ami and Douki Gamas looked more impressive in King of Fighters than in this game, and looked mroe powerful.

Controls 9/10

On the US version I like the controls better than the Dreamcast import. They are just more easily accesible and has a better all around feel than the DC. One exception being doing half circle motions, I found those kinda tough to do on the PS2 controller, but oh well.

Gameplay 10/10

Now this is what fighting games are all about. As with most 2d fighters, this is fast paced, yet fluid gameplay. You have three modes, you can go with the Ratio match, have a team of two ratio 1s and a ratio 2, have two man team and divy up the power as ya like, or have one ratio 4 character. It's good that you can now choose your own ratio instead of it being fixed like the first one. Course, you can do 3 on 3 King of Fighters Style, with all ratios equal, and if you want, you can to the traditional Street Fighter single matches, one character, three rounds of fighting. And since you have so many to choose from, you have to find one that you are good with eventually.

The characters are for the most part balanced, though a few may not seem to be in the hands of a good player, each one has at least one weakness. Even the ''boss'' characters (Shin Akuma/Gouki and Boss Rugal) have their weak health counter their incredible power. Of course, if they are an expert with either one (or just incredibly cheap), then it don't matter. And it's fun to fight the computer versions, seeing how they have mastered every move of that character and are able to do them on command.

The Survival mode is not too bad, and the secret boss mode provides a nice challenge. The groove and color edit modes are nice touches of course, though I wish they had mroe secret characters to find, instead of just Evil Ryu, Riot of Blood Iori, Shin Akuma, and Boss Rugal. To me half the fun in some games is getting all the secrets in the game, and I was a bit dissapointed to find there weren't more of them.

Replay 9/10

They could use a few more single player modes to do and such, but the multi-player is where it's all at. If you have anyone you know you can play against, this game will never get old. Definately worth a buy, or at least a rental. They still could have had a few more secrets, but I still waste countless hours on this game.

Overall 9/10

Despite the flaws, it's still a great game all in all. It also gives me a chance to practice with all my SNK favorites, since I don't get much of a chance to play any of the the other SNK games. It's kinda made more for hardcore fighting gamers, but others could still appreciate it.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/30/02, Updated 03/30/02