Capcom vs. SNK 2 was a game I played a heck of a lot during college. I sucked at it, and could never win a single match. But I always enjoyed watching my friends play it, watching sparks fly, and arguments kick off due to cheap moves, cheap throws and death by Akuma's Shun-goku-satsu. Good times! We wouldn;t have had so much fun on this game unless it had the fundamentals of a good game, which this did.
At a time when 3D beat 'em up's seemed to be the rage. Capcom vs, SNK 2 was a stubborn as arse game that kept the 2D spirit very much alive, and cemented that the Dreamcast was THE console to own when it came to 2D Capcom beat 'em ups. As it didn't only exclusively (albeit temporarily) get the first Capcom vs. SNK game but it's sequel too.
As the title suggests, Capcom vs. SNK takes some of Capcom and SNK's better known characters and throws 'em all into a game. There is some bullshit story about some tournament and prize money. But f**k the plot. No one ever bought a beat 'em up because they liked the plot. Anybody who has played a Street Fighter game knows the deal. There's a tournament, we get fighters around the globe who are proud to be the archetypal stereotypes of the country they're from. They beat each other up. They trash talk. They seek happiness, but don't ever find it.
![Capcom vs. SNK 2 [screenshot courtesy of Fighters generation]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_ubex8iq_3AXy_fFlOhL9fIRQ2iRFoyJjI5QgR_ZjdD48K-VSK6DvnJD1NsUOS_gHytxwRlFvKVU7nzAqom4hAt22UWxGzhfaMxUHp1d2HUie9bjhE8qiltkekFVQT4NCYj0vaObvAiA8xMPE9dtJTigeTLJjQMeaumfLU4vfT4h8psj2Hojna2NLqEtzq9aI54tJhmOw=s0-d "Capcom vs. SNK 2 [screenshot courtesy of Fighters generation]")
![Capcom vs. SNK 2 [screenshot courtesy of Fighters generation]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vd31aKsTdU-OycehweCDyGTAZr9cR4xtuQIjPcAuf0Z_toWFzmIWRvWU54mY_as13_drbQ-GNjQRHk4JfWM5GFK4EmzmDTz2PueaZZQpP4tcDtZ629wfm-PyTZj7n0PF4m1UCl5w4Tj1feRmfCBXu5XEr09qAvVTeyoZBKiGsoh37SGAXWV6jJn62HXGlKRpbOIHH3=s0-d "Capcom vs. SNK 2 [screenshot courtesy of Fighters generation]")
The very first Capcom vs. SNK game introduced grooves. The grooves work in a similar way to Street Fighter Alpha 3's ISM's. How your super combo guage stocks and defensive maneuvers will differ dependant on which you pick. Capcom vs. SNK 2 improves on the first game by adding additional grooves. Where the first game only had 2, the second has 6. Each groove has its own pro's and con's. The Capcom grooves (C, A and P) tend to be alot more defensive, where-as the SNK grooves (S, N and K) are much more offesnive. Unlike the first Capcom vs SNK game where the 1 SNK groove was pretty much a waste of time, the new SNK grooves are more refined and actually worth using. Each groove is uniquely balanced to the point where they are all worth using, and you'll soon find that you'll favour one particular character with a specific groove than another. You can also adjust your ratio according to your own tastes, as opposed to the game setting the characters ratio's for you. This allows a great deal more flexibility than the first game. And also makes this slightly more balanced. But only slightly.
The new characters are all a cool bunch. Rock, Hibiki, Haohmaru, Kyosukue, Yun and Maki do a great job of adding variety to the existing cast. As well as showing love to some of both Capcom and SNK's lesser known franchises outside of Street Fighter and King of fighters. The balancing between the characters is incredibly off though. Blanka is still an arse hole whose moves take insane priority over pretty much everything. Good luck fighting a ratio 4 Blanka. You may as well put the pad down before the round starts. You'll be dead in 3 hits. 2 if you're really unlucky. And Haohmaru's fierce punch does so much damage that it should be a super attack.
In a move that players will either love or hate, SNK characters move sets are greatly simplified for this game. Despite the obvious similarities on the surface, Capcom and SNK beat 'em ups are very different. Where-as Capcom's beat 'em ups feature easy to pull of moves and are more accessible to newcomers - SNK's beat 'em ups feature near impossible to pull off moves and aren't games you can instantly get into. This has been remedied by Capcom making the SNK characters move sets more Capcom-esque. Capcom fans will dig this as it allows them to use more of the SNK characters. But SNK fans I'm sure are reeling and are probably cussing Capcom out on how they f**ked the characters up.
![Capcom vs. SNK 2 [screenshot courtesy of Fighters generation]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vcrjIsDTNRRn934LKCLkdtU-FK4PvK00NhNW7-oK21qoj48YtChMHnfYqwdqkkNrbwtLzq12AamSUEF4sRMOE_pZYHnFVUjdjtYXuPaKbF7iGAruO8i_T1_krYV-k4_CyBm61acAu7JwHLcs67Y6KRyyOt7viW_rk3kDeDHeP9JNjp5PxEgKGwDXXg1MhnwAqlnwaA=s0-d "Capcom vs. SNK 2 [screenshot courtesy of Fighters generation]")
![Capcom vs. SNK 2 [screenshot courtesy of Fighters generation]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_v6A_kjz74HDRXgqCFy2LeHmwGKbr6oqtB90cLFMXNDMJvH0I-ank4mWev_Qwf7ubU44gxkStTkpbEa7e-ZkB1Fxp8uzYhLeOVNmbhHRBr2ZOZW80ml841zx47egTtUxV6TLIsmBIOV6CAatrHthjic4w6KL_rIUyiouwOVdPz2jKvULNkpBIIW299z1758fAAmcOGqNw=s0-d "Capcom vs. SNK 2 [screenshot courtesy of Fighters generation]")
Capcom vs. SNK 2 looks very nice. The backgrounds mix high resolution 2D images with 3D renders and as a result, they look great. The background are vibrant, have a lot going on and feature some cool cameo's from both Capcom and SNK fame. The characters themselves however, look like shit. The backgrounds which make great use of the hardware reveal just how dated the sprites are. What Capcom really should've done was re-drawn every single sprite. Ryu, Ken, Akuma and Chun-Li all sport new sprites which are derived from their Street Fighter III sprites, but the rest of the Capcom cast aren't as fortunate. It's like Capcom originally set out to re-draw all the sprites, but then thought "F**k it" mid way through. Whilst the SNK characters have been re-drawn, they still look like they were copied and pasted from a completely different game and aren't animated as smoothly as the Capcom characters. There is a definite dosage of disparity when it comes to the character sprites, especially with Morrigan who does not fit in at ALL. She looks like somebody used an Action replay to hack her into the game. It's a real shame, because the presentation on all other fronts is great. But the characters as a whole look a hot shoddy and inconsistent mess.
The audio is nothing special. But it gets the job done. The music volume by default is set pretty low, so it doesn't jump out at you during rounds. But the soundtrack features some hot compositions. God Rugal's theme in particular is a hot one. Although he'll probably kill you before you even get 10 seconds into the beat.
Capcom vs. SNK 2's replay value lies in its versus modes. In terms of single player longevity and replay value, there isn't much which is a shame. The first game featured a shop feature whereby players had to play the game extensively to earn points and unlock items in the shop. A similar feature for this game would've been nic. But instead additional character colours and boss stages are accessible from the start, and only 2 characters are unlockable.
Capcom vs. SNK 2 is a solid game because it improves greatly on the first. But it is far from perfect, and players may become fed up with it after a while due to the lack of modes and longevity the game offers in single player.
The good
+ A decent character roster
+ A solid sequel
The bad
- Not much in the way of unlockables
- Character sprites are inconsistent
- Character balancing is still an issue
At a time when 3D beat 'em up's seemed to be the rage. Capcom vs, SNK 2 was a stubborn as arse game that kept the 2D spirit very much alive, and cemented that the Dreamcast was THE console to own when it came to 2D Capcom beat 'em ups. As it didn't only exclusively (albeit temporarily) get the first Capcom vs. SNK game but it's sequel too.
As the title suggests, Capcom vs. SNK takes some of Capcom and SNK's better known characters and throws 'em all into a game. There is some bullshit story about some tournament and prize money. But f**k the plot. No one ever bought a beat 'em up because they liked the plot. Anybody who has played a Street Fighter game knows the deal. There's a tournament, we get fighters around the globe who are proud to be the archetypal stereotypes of the country they're from. They beat each other up. They trash talk. They seek happiness, but don't ever find it.
The very first Capcom vs. SNK game introduced grooves. The grooves work in a similar way to Street Fighter Alpha 3's ISM's. How your super combo guage stocks and defensive maneuvers will differ dependant on which you pick. Capcom vs. SNK 2 improves on the first game by adding additional grooves. Where the first game only had 2, the second has 6. Each groove has its own pro's and con's. The Capcom grooves (C, A and P) tend to be alot more defensive, where-as the SNK grooves (S, N and K) are much more offesnive. Unlike the first Capcom vs SNK game where the 1 SNK groove was pretty much a waste of time, the new SNK grooves are more refined and actually worth using. Each groove is uniquely balanced to the point where they are all worth using, and you'll soon find that you'll favour one particular character with a specific groove than another. You can also adjust your ratio according to your own tastes, as opposed to the game setting the characters ratio's for you. This allows a great deal more flexibility than the first game. And also makes this slightly more balanced. But only slightly.
The new characters are all a cool bunch. Rock, Hibiki, Haohmaru, Kyosukue, Yun and Maki do a great job of adding variety to the existing cast. As well as showing love to some of both Capcom and SNK's lesser known franchises outside of Street Fighter and King of fighters. The balancing between the characters is incredibly off though. Blanka is still an arse hole whose moves take insane priority over pretty much everything. Good luck fighting a ratio 4 Blanka. You may as well put the pad down before the round starts. You'll be dead in 3 hits. 2 if you're really unlucky. And Haohmaru's fierce punch does so much damage that it should be a super attack.
In a move that players will either love or hate, SNK characters move sets are greatly simplified for this game. Despite the obvious similarities on the surface, Capcom and SNK beat 'em ups are very different. Where-as Capcom's beat 'em ups feature easy to pull of moves and are more accessible to newcomers - SNK's beat 'em ups feature near impossible to pull off moves and aren't games you can instantly get into. This has been remedied by Capcom making the SNK characters move sets more Capcom-esque. Capcom fans will dig this as it allows them to use more of the SNK characters. But SNK fans I'm sure are reeling and are probably cussing Capcom out on how they f**ked the characters up.
Capcom vs. SNK 2 looks very nice. The backgrounds mix high resolution 2D images with 3D renders and as a result, they look great. The background are vibrant, have a lot going on and feature some cool cameo's from both Capcom and SNK fame. The characters themselves however, look like shit. The backgrounds which make great use of the hardware reveal just how dated the sprites are. What Capcom really should've done was re-drawn every single sprite. Ryu, Ken, Akuma and Chun-Li all sport new sprites which are derived from their Street Fighter III sprites, but the rest of the Capcom cast aren't as fortunate. It's like Capcom originally set out to re-draw all the sprites, but then thought "F**k it" mid way through. Whilst the SNK characters have been re-drawn, they still look like they were copied and pasted from a completely different game and aren't animated as smoothly as the Capcom characters. There is a definite dosage of disparity when it comes to the character sprites, especially with Morrigan who does not fit in at ALL. She looks like somebody used an Action replay to hack her into the game. It's a real shame, because the presentation on all other fronts is great. But the characters as a whole look a hot shoddy and inconsistent mess.
The audio is nothing special. But it gets the job done. The music volume by default is set pretty low, so it doesn't jump out at you during rounds. But the soundtrack features some hot compositions. God Rugal's theme in particular is a hot one. Although he'll probably kill you before you even get 10 seconds into the beat.
Capcom vs. SNK 2's replay value lies in its versus modes. In terms of single player longevity and replay value, there isn't much which is a shame. The first game featured a shop feature whereby players had to play the game extensively to earn points and unlock items in the shop. A similar feature for this game would've been nic. But instead additional character colours and boss stages are accessible from the start, and only 2 characters are unlockable.
Capcom vs. SNK 2 is a solid game because it improves greatly on the first. But it is far from perfect, and players may become fed up with it after a while due to the lack of modes and longevity the game offers in single player.
The good
+ A decent character roster
+ A solid sequel
The bad
- Not much in the way of unlockables
- Character sprites are inconsistent
- Character balancing is still an issue
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