fighting

At long last. One of the most anticipated fighting games of all time has finally arrived on our shores for the Dreamcast! The world's two biggest companies on the fighting circuit pit their baddest brawlers against each other in a no-holds-barred slugfest to see just who's the best. A lot of people have been waiting for this one to come out ever since Capcom and SNK announced late last year that they would be developing a game together, and now it's here in all its 2D glory. So, was it worth the wait? Does it live up to all the hype? Well...mostly. Overall, this is one of the most solid fighting games out there. The control is pure Capcom gold; tight and responsive (a little awkward for SNK veterans, but after a couple of games, it fits just fine). Four attack buttons instead of six means it even feels good on the standard DC controller. The gameplay is a little (okay, a lot) different than your average fighting game. You build a team of fighters using a points system. See, each fighter in the game has a rating of 1, 2, or 3, and you get 4 points to play with, meaning you can have anywhere from two to four fighters on your team! (The strongest characters have a rating of 3, the weakest a 1.) Not only that, you have two different fighting styles (Grooves) to choose from; an "SNK" style (which plays mostly like the King of Fighters series) or a "Capcom" style (which plays more like the Street Fighter Alpha series). Needless to say, strategy is this game's most important aspect, which is rare in a fighting game. The music is pretty much what you'd expect (some techno with guitar mixed in); nothing really memorable, but decent enough. There's a whole bunch of secret stuff to find in here too; mostly "EX" (alternate) versions of the original fighters, extra costume colors, and hidden stages, but enough to keep you playing for a good while to unlock them all. And lastly, the graphics. Since this game was developed by Capcom, all of the SNK characters were redesigned. They have a very "Capcom"-ish look to them; some King of Fighters fans may frown upon this, but the new looks fit the game pretty well. The biggest disappointment, though, is the fact that with the exception of Ryu, Ken, and M. Bison, all of the Capcom characters look exactly like they did in the Street Fighter Alpha series. When they stand across from the SNK characters, they look like they were just pasted in. Capcom really cheaped out on that count, especially when you consider how long it took for this game to come out. This flaw doesn't detract from the gameplay at all, though, which is the important thing. Backgrounds are top notch, and they all have a nice little "intro" sequence as well, which is an SNK trademark. Some of the stages will even interact with the ongoing fight, with toppling beams, shadows, and rustling leaves! When you put it all together, you've definitely got one of the standout fighting games of the year; overall great graphics, tight gameplay, a unique battle system, and even a decent replay value. Fight fans rejoice; the wait is over!

This is a very unique fighter, for it goes back to the old ways of Super Street Fighter 2. By this, I mean no air blocking, and character sprites similar to the 1993 CPS2 based arcade blow away. Morrigan is the sole character to make her way from the darkstalkers demon world, and I hope in the future it stays that way. Mai, Terry, Kyo, Iori, and many popular SNK fighters make there debut on stunning Capcom custom made sprites, featuring a wide variety of super moves and attacks. In the game, you can choose 1-4 characters,determining strength. Mai and Morrigan, my team of characters, are in the 2 range. Evil Akuma and Geese Howard are in the one range, Vega and Yamakazi in the 2 (except their partners have to be in the 4 range) and Cammy, Sakura, Blanka etc. in the 4 range. You can also select a 2 range character with 2, 4 range characters. Also, you must select a groove, either Capcom or SNK(Snk has much better artwork) and this matter with the super moves.

You can not do any 10 hit airial combos because the screen does not pan up when you hit your opponent into the air.

The graphics are very bad. It look like a SNES game. Don't wate your money on this, you will be disoppointed as I was. I expected much better from a game with SNK and street-fighter characters.