SNK vs Capcom: Card Fighters 2 Expand Edition

"Woah... just woah... (take 2)"

One of the biggest reasons to own a Neo Geo Pocket Color was that it was the first platform to feature crossover action between two of the most important creators of fighting games in the business: SNK and Capcom. Not only did we get an acclaimed fighter for the platform, but a card game as well! And what a card game, featuring many of the major characters from almost every key series and game put out by both companies.

Unfortunately, by the time the sequel which I am reviewing came out, SNK was dead here in the states. So the only version of the game I had to review was the Japanese version. And I don't know Japanese. Uh-oh...

Fortunately, I already knew the mechanics of the game by heart. And by the time I got ahold of it, there was an excellent translation/FAQ right here by Z-Force. So getting around in the game wasn't so bad after all, once I had gotten the hang of the menus.

The major attraction for this latest (and to date, last) installment in the series are the reaction cards. They're just like action cards, but you can only play them when your opponent attacks you. This may not seem like much, but any serious collectible card game player will tell you that this sort of thing adds a serious new level of strategy to the game. So long as your opponent has cards in his hand, he or she can wallop with a nasty surprise, draining your special points, forcing your characters to form a unite attack, or destroying one of your characters. Once you get hit by the Galactica Phantom, you'll think twice about unite attacking, that's for darn sure.

After that, there's a few new action cards, and each side gets 40 new character cards. These fill in the gaps in popular series, adding faces like Tron Bonne, Raiden/Big Bear, Gill, Ryuhaku Todoh, Son-Son, Rock Howard, Hyo Imawano, Yuki, Eagle, Rugal Bernstein, and others. Still, some characters remain conspicuously missing, like Laurence Blood of Fatal Fury fame and Dr. Wily from the Mega Man games.

Furthermore, many character cards have been changed around. E. Honda, Dhalsim, Hon Fu, Cham-Cham and several others all gain special powers in this game. Arthur now has back-ups that are not himself. And Yashiro's special ability now can only effect the card that's in front of where you place him. What's more, each character card has completely new art, and much of it is fantastic.

I honestly can't say much about the game's plot, not knowing how to read kanji if my life depended on it. But another new feature allows you to go back and take on previous opponents without being inside the game's story mode. This is, in fact, the only way to get the S-rarity cards in the game, and most of these suckers are worth the time and effort. Besides, you still win more cards either way, and collecting them is a decent part of the fun in the game.

Graphically, the game is certainly passable. New damage effects for the cards is a nice touch, I might add. The music is just there, though. No catchy remixes of old game themes this time around. Still, if you can get past the language barrier and know how to memorize which card does what, then you'll be in for a treat with this game, as it really tops it's predecessor in almost every department. Now if only that Chizuru card wasn't so hard to find...

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/22/02, Updated 09/25/02