Capcom vs SNK
The VS. Series is back and this time it brings together the universes of Capcom and SNK. Or more specifically Street Fighter and the King of Fighters games. Morrigan (Dark Stalkers) and Nokoruru (Samurai Showdown) are the only exceptions. The graphics are pure Capcom featuring vibrant anime-style 2D fighters. The backgrounds are done in 2D but feature plenty of special effects such as the combatants dancing shadows and a crumbling construction site. The presentation will surely impress you the first 20 minutes of play, but after that it gets a bit old. You might also notice a little bit of jaggieness due most likely to the scaled sprites (or at least that's what it looks like to me), but it's looks better than say the scaling in Marvel vs Capcom 2.
Gameplay wise it plays more like the recent King of Fighter games. Whearas it's strickly one on one battles with back-up characters who take over the fight when someone is defeated. So don't expect any tag-teaming or two on one fights. Combos and Specials also take a back seat to tecnhique and skill. There's a Grand Point System that rates your fighting abilities in real time. Monitoring your offensive and defensive manuevers. And each character is assigned a Ratio Number between 1 and 3. You can create a team of characters with a total ratio of 4. In otherwords you can have two Ratio 2 characters, a single Ratio 3 character and one Ratio 1 character, and so on. It's just a way to balance the fighters in actuallity.
Much like the recent VS Series, there's a ton of Secret Stuff to first open up and then purchase. But be prepared to spend alot of time earning cash because some of the features are expensive. For instance, you earn $400 for beating the game and an EX Version Character can cost you $3000 (keeping in mind there's over 25 characters to get). You can get alot more done if you own a Neo Geo Pocket Color with DC Link and a copy of Match of the Millenium or Card Fighter's Clash. Earning thousands of dollars in a short time. But since the little guy's gone you might have to do with slowly buying everything. By the way, alot of the extra features aren't all that special. A majority are new colors and EX version charaters (new moves). So it might not exactly be worth the time and effort unless you're truley dedicated.
A great buy for any diehard Capcom or SNK fan because of it's classic gameplay and vibrant graphics. But be prepared to spend some time and effort with this one if you're going to complete it 100%.
(thanks to www.gamefan.com for the pics)
| Category | Rating | How & Why? |
| Graphics | 9 | Flashy Presentation and Smoothly Animated Fighters / Great Background Effects / Characters still have that "Blown-Up" Look similar to Marvel vs Capcom 2 (though not as bad) |
| Music | 8 | Lots of Techno Remixes with the Original Tracks Hidden / New Clearly Audible Voice-Overs |
| Gameplay | 8 | Specials and Combos take A Backseat to Technique and Skill / Grade Point System grades your fighting abilities in real time / No Tag Feature but you can have upto 4 Fighters Depending on their Ratio / Still Entertaining but I'm a little burnt out on Street Fighter style games... |
| Innovation | 8 | A Mixture of KOF Gameplay with Capcom Style Graphics and Vs. Series Features / Linkable with the Neo Geo Pocket Color and the games: Match of the Millenium or Card Fighter's Clash |
| Replay | 8 | Plenty of Secret Stuff to Open and Buy / Without a NGPC, opening up stuff takes ALOT longer / Only 2 Endings and Sometimes Boring |
Overall 8.2
Written by ShinjZ on December 09, 2000