SNK vs. Capcom Card Fighters DS

"Strangely Addicting and Surprisingly Full of Depth"

I should preface by saying that I used to enjoy CCGs (Collectible Card Games) like Magic, Shadowfist, and Rage. When I first heard of porting these games to consoles and computers, I thought the idea sounded ridiculous. But then again, Pokemon seemed to be doing pretty well on the Gameboy, and the concept was mostly the same, so one could see the possibility for the formulae.

I never gave card games on a console a chance. Not until I found a reasonably priced copy of SNK vs. Capcom. This game appealed to that old, nostalgic feeling of collecting those cards and using them to play a unique game.

STORY:

Well, this was the major failing of the game. I know I shouldn't expect Shakespeare out of such a game, but something slightly more palatable than the puerile drivel that came out of this game would have been nice. Then again, I also should've known that these kind of games are aimed at younger people, or at least younger than myself.

You are a "card-fighter," some kind of extrapolation from a martial artist, but in place of using combat techniques and kung-fu grips, you use cards. So, think of it like a Shaw Brothers film meeting up with some movie about gamblers and card-sharks like Maveric, and you might have an idea. Shaking your head yet? I was.

Anyway, your buddy from card-fighter school is some genius card-fighter because his rich daddy researches card-fighters and has made some special tower to research "card-fighters". The dynamic from these two characters is pretty derivative, if you have read the comic Naruto, you know exactly what they are like.

Continuing on, the tower has been taken over by the computer your buddy's rich daddy designed and you must card-battle your way up the tower to save your buddy's daddy.

If you are not rolling on the ground laughing at how preposterous this premise is, seek help.

GRAPHICS:

While not overly impressive, they do not disappoint. Pretty much everything looks like the same engine used to make Days of Memories and the Witch-touching game. The card profiles are impressive, they look very good, each having a unique portrait drawn by a different artist. The really rare cards even identify the artist for you. The animations in-battle are not overly impressive, but passable for this style of game. The real meat and potatoes of the graphics are the unique profiles for each card. Of course, the easily readable fonts for the descriptions was also a nice subtle feature of the cards.

SOUND:

The sound and music in this game were passable. They were not impressive, nor mediocre. The word I'm looking for is, repetitive. If you have a music player, whip it out for some more styling tracks to make your soundtrack. Different character cards have unique sounds to go with their attacks, and that is kind of nice. Not nice enough to make you want to play the game with the original music for long though.

GAMEPLAY:

This is the real reason you should give this game a try. The actual card battles themselves provide an interesting strategy game. You must manage your resources and hand well to succeed. You have three basic cards: characters, actions, and counters. You produce force to power your cards each turn based on how many character cards you have in the field. Force also have colour relations you need to be cautious of to use them effectively. Character cards also can produce force for you, or sometimes produce huge amounts depending on special abilities the cards may have. Most of the early battles can be won with very simple tactics, however as the game progresses you must use more elaborate strategies to fight your opponents. Of course, if you know anyone with the game, you can use the Wi-Fi of the DS to have interesting battles, much like the old days, but with less weight and clutter. Instead of bringing your entire well crafted deck with you, now all you need is the DS and game cartridge itself.

This also brings us to how you collect cards. In game, you can buy packs or scratcher cards. Packs will give you a random selection of cards based on the level of the pack. The level of packs you can buy depends on how high you have progressed in the card tower. It may take you some time to collect all the cards, which is of course one of the fun aspects of this game. Another interesting point is the scratcher cards, which is a randomised card you purchase and then scratch to find what you got.

Collecting all the cards can take some time, and can prove to make you remember those old days of going to the hobby store to buy the card packs for the different CCGs, and the exhilaration of finishing your collection.

You can also customise different decks for use, or even use deck recipes from bosses you have defeated. This of course can be completely aesthetic, or completely strategic. It's really up to you to organise your decks based on how you'd like to play.

OVERALL:

There is a decent and fun game hidden beneath an awful script and characters, and forgettable music. Is it for everyone? No. I think to enjoy this game, you must either have had some experience with CCGs, or you must REALLY like SNK and Capcom games. Even if you don't fall under these two categories, you might find yourself enjoying this game. It has a game play system well worth over-looking its great failings, and it can be enjoyed with friends, provided they have the game too.

I gave this a 6 originally, but then I thought of the great nostalgic memories it elicited and I was forgiving enough to bump it up to a 7.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/15/09

Game Release: SNK vs. Capcom Card Fighters DS (JP, 12/14/06)