SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium

"I’ve got the power of SNK vs. Capcom in the palm of my hands…And I like it!!"

NeoGeo Pocket Color…Alas, we hardly knew ye…well that isn't entirely true. If that were the case, then I wouldn't be here now would I? I must say that despite some of the NGPC's hardware flaws, this game is pulse pounding fun and the best handheld fighter that I've played. It was fairly difficult to come up with my winning vote though…NGPC thrives with fighting games and not much else. King of Fighters R2, Last Blade: Beyond the Destiny, Samurai Showdown 2: The Pocket Series…wow. Although the others are decent in their own ways, SNK vs. Capcom (The Match of the Millennium) is the real cream of the crop. How should I put it? It's like madness converted into the shape of a small cart.

Graphics: 8.5/10
After looking at different games for NGPC, This game has some incredible graphics. The animations of the cute little guys are great and fail to do anything but impress. The backgrounds are excellent. I love the stage where the birds fly away in its intro. Things always try to stay vibrant in the backgrounds and they are colorful given the depth of colors that NGPC presents. The character portraits are colorful and look refreshing. This game is actually enhanced by SNK. Why? It's a known fact that SNK makes good animation in 2-D and its one of their specialties. You've got good looking characters with revitalizing SNK animation. Geese Howard's super combo is spectacular with it's animation. The special effects are pleasing to the eyes as well. Moves are crisp and clean and the characters are big for a handheld, but void of bad pixilation. Simple in their design, but they look good nonetheless.

Story: 4.5/10
Geese Howard and M. Bison are teaming together to find perfect fighters to become soldiers in their twisted army. The crossover series has had horrible stories ever since their launch. Why would it be different here? Surprisingly, its story is done better than Capcom vs. SNK for Dreamcast and Capcom vs. SNK PRO for Playstation. Why? For starters, SNK vs. Capcom is different from Capcom vs. SNK although they may sound exactly the same. Capcom vs. SNK is more on the Capcom edge while SNK vs. Capcom is on the SNK edge. It's just one of those things where order actually makes a difference. Capcom vs. SNK didn't really HAVE a story.

The story is cut up like this. You pick a person and (With rare exceptions such as with Guile) fight some matches. Vega (Or Billy) talk to their boss and decide they must eliminate you. You eventually meet them, and each character meets their “Rival” who bumps off Vega or Billy and you fight them instead. Afterwards, you fight off robots that the masters made (Geese and M. Bison) and you find them trying to brainwash Iori or Ryu. They (Iori and Ryu) become their evil versions and you must stop them from annihilating everything. You beat the game and you actually get an ending for each character. In other words, they don't all have the same ending. The endings in Samurai Showdown 2 were pretty horrible so this game has something in its story. Most fighting games (With few exceptions such as Evil Zone) have poor story because many feel that it's not necessary, which may be true, but its crap even still to say that. It's nice to know your characters. The translation of the game needs some work and the story itself is pretty generic, but they did try. They don't elaborate much with the story and the overall presentation is weak, but it's better than no story at all.

Sound: 8.5/10
The sound is pretty good considering the NGPC's sound processor. The themes for each character are pretty authentic and they don't borrow one another's BGM's. There are a number of BGM's to be had and they are pretty cool. Morrigan and Felicia's themes are exceptionally nice to listen to. Some of its tunes can become rather repetitive though and they sound a bit muffled (I don't know of a handheld that doesn't as of yet). The music is otherwise good so there isn't much to be said here.

Gameplay: 8.5/10
Here's what makes this game so great. Let's dive deep into the game and explain it. First, the game features MANY modes from which to choose from. You can start the game or enter “Set Up” which basically functions as your primary options menu. You can change many things such as the difficulty, time and controls (Rather unnecessary for a unit that possesses only two buttons, but what the hell?) . You may also listen to the music of the game and set “Easy Special Configuration Mode” (Known as “Able” in the game where pressing simple commands executes moves and super moves. Down+B for example allows Guile to pull off his Flash Kick attack…no charging necessary!).

Beyond the well done intro and Title Screen, you press “Start” and you are brought to six new options: Tourney (Tournament), Olympic, Sparring (Training), Vs Mode, Entry (For fun, you can make characters say funny stuff and have someone else's BGM instead of their own), and Record (To see your stats). There are also “links” available in this game. They are under Vs Mode. They are: CFC Link, DC Link, and KOF Link. These allow to exchange data between three games: Card Fighters Clash, the Dreamcast SNK vs. Capcom (As this game puts it) and King Of Fighters: Dream Match 99'. I felt they were worth little mention because it's interesting to have, but no one seriously uses those much.

Like any good fighter, the Practice Mode gives you various features to test out combos and hyper combos. You may fight on 9 out of 12 or so stages (You can't fight in the area where you fight the clones, M.Bison or Geese, and the ruined area after Iori or Ryu wreck the place). To make things a bit interesting, you can change stages from night to day. A bit disappointing because some stages hardly change at all when the time is changed. You also have the Olympic Mode. It's basically an area where you play various mini-games to test your skills. You gain different medals by doing these events satisfactorily. The better the medals you get, the more info Karin (or Rimururu) bestows upon you. The stuff they say is cute and amusing, but occasionally, they will tell you something rather interesting. Olympic mode is split up with an SNK and Capcom team. Each sponsor their various mini-games (Although the first three starting from the top are the same for both teams) and they say different things when you talk to them (Yes, you can talk to them). You can also purchase an extra hyper move for each character in Olympic Mode by gaining “Vs. Points”. It's good stuff.

There are a couple of other things that I need to mention. You have single, tag, and team matches that you may partake in. The default number of characters are 18: nine for SNK and nine for Capcom. Each side has four hidden characters for a total 26 characters plus a couple of “Variables” (as I call them). Evil Sakura is one of them. The controls, contrary to what some say about NGPC's control stick, are rather responsive and user friendly. Also, keep in mind that there is an aforementioned “Able” mode that allows for easy smooth control. Less frustration = more smiles. Unless control is actually bad (Like in games like Sonic R or Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout), it usually depends on the person, which is why you don't hear me speak much about it otherwise. If you have huge hands and you're playing something like the NGPC, of course the controls are going to be hard to use. That doesn't mean they are bad. You may just have big fingers using a small handheld or vice versa. Different strokes for different folks.

There are only two gripes that I have. The first is the control for the “Catwalk” mini-game. You must press stuff so fast and it becomes annoying. The second is the way you gain characters. You get a certain number of “Block Removers” by beating the game. Each hidden character is covered with nine blocks. To get them, you must get rid of the blocks. You can't use Block Removers. They are randomly distributed amongst the blocks so even if that spot doesn't have a block on it, it can be used on that empty spot and it's wasted. You must beat the game many times because of this to access a hidden character. For example, say that you are missing one block and beating it on normal gives you two Block Removers. You may hit two empty spots on the grid and not the spot where the one block is. Therefore, you must keep beating the game until you hit that spot to get rid of all the blocks. This actually boosts the games' replayability…even if it wasn't intentional.

To rent or to buy:
I don't know if you could ever rent these games back in 1999, and I'm not sure if you can now. You're better off buying it because I have two copies which I paid five dollars apiece for. They're cheap and well worth the price.

Overall: 9/10 (Rounds up)
This game is good. Is it worth getting the NGPC. Sure. It's not worth it if you buy the original NeoGeo Pocket though. That costs too much for monochrome technology. The fighters on this unit are worth checking out. It receives my recommendation 7 score and passes with flying colors. If you do intend to get this game, try getting some of the other fighters first. It's just not my style to ruin things. I'd save the best for last.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/18/04