Background:

If you don't know about a little game called Capcom vs SNK 2 (Or CVS2 for short) then something is seriously wrong with you or you don't know fighting games. Back during the ripe fighting game years of 1995 and the early 2000's, two huge companies began to be rivals due to their similar systems and sprite styles, yet different styles of play for their games. These companies were known as Fighting game giant "Capcom" and equally as big "SNK Playmore". These companies knew each other existed, even to the point of taking pot shots at each other with joke characters like Ryo in King of Fighters who makes fun of Ryu from Street Fighter. Or Dan Hibiki who makes fun of...well...King of Fighters as a whole. The constant back and forth of Capcom and SNK Playmore only meant one thing. Eventually they would have to put away their differences and get in bed together for a single romp of Fighting game goodness. Around 1999 a gaming magazine by the name of Arcadia decided to review two of the biggest fighting games in their respective franchises (At the time.) Street fighter Alpha: 3 and King of Fighters 98. But due to some clever or not so clever editing and picture work, readers mistook the magazine's bold reviewing as a hint that SNK and Capcom were making a crossover fighting game featuring their favorite characters. And thus the SNK vs Capcom series was born.

Graphics: 8/10

As I have said before in my previous reviews, this was the PS1 to borderline PS2 Era. Which means that graphics weren't so realism based and were more cartoon-ish and lively.  And since both companies, Capcom and SNK Playmore, were known for their spritework it was only natural to think of doing a sprite based 2D fighter series right? "Capcom vs SNK 2 - Millennium Fight" was a game that was the end all be all of fighting games. Not just for it's spritework and amazing and fluid animations, but because of it's artwork. Character portraits done by artists from both companies left no wondering what the favorite characters of players looked like in the worlds of Capcom or SNK Playmore. And that was just the character select screen! In the battle screen all characters looked at home in this fighter. Well save for some characters whose sprites were directly ripped from other games like Morrigan and Zangief. The characters were all in their respective colors and outfits and their animations were fluid and graceful. This would have been enough but the developers were not finished. They created, arguably, some of the most beautiful background pieces of fighting game history along with the characters designs. From a peaceful windmill filled hillside, to a city burning and on the edge of destruction as you fight on a rooftop. And were the developers finished? Still nope. Capcom vs SNK 2 went one step further than any game has done before with it's spritework by giving you, the player, control of their respective colors. That is right. YOU got to color your character and their outfit. If you didn't like the colors (I would have no idea why) of your favorite character, you could alter them in color edit mode. This mode gave you editorial freedom when it came to colors on a character. But as amazing as this sounds, this was not the reason why Capcom vs SNK 2 was so popular... 

Sound: 9/10

Music in fighting games back during the 90's were growing more and more into their own little thing. They conveyed the feeling you were suppose to have during the fight. That one piece of despair making you feel sorry for beating your opponent, or that extra little oomph during a musical score that gave you just the boost you needed to beat that final boss. Again arguably Capcom vs SNK 2 had some of the best, if not the best, music of any fighting game. From the most iconic song in fighting game history "This is true love makin' " to the Start screen, every song is memorable and never leaves you wanting more. The character select screen song is tense yet slightly carefree just as it's suppose to be to convey a sense of suspense and excitement. Every song in the game fits it's designed purpose. "This is True Love Makin' " was, and still is, one of the most iconic songs in fighting game history because of it's upbeat style and catchy vocals that just leave everyone wanting to sing along even if you were getting your butt beat like a bongo drum. But Capcom vs SNK 2 didn't just have upbeat and carefree songs that made you happy. It also had it's fair share of songs that left you desolate. Desperate and scared yet strangely excited when it came on the speakers. Final boss, and even to an extent mid-boss, music made it sound like the characters you were fighting weren't just people who were going to fight you. They were absolute bad asses about to make you their punching bag for the day. And while on the subject of punching, hitting punches and kicks in Capcom vs SNK 2 feels so satisfying in this game thanks in no small part to the sound effects designer. Hitting a punch or kick gives some of the most satisfying sounds I've ever heard. Hitting a slice attack with a blade, even more so. Even little pieces like landing on the floor, placing a blade back in it's sheath, or even the death scream of characters just fit so right and so perfectly I cannot, for the life of me figure out a single thing wrong with it. But that doesn't mean it is perfect.

Addictiveness: 8/10

Oh baby where do I even begin to start about this game being addictive? I'll start with a little game play basics. Capcom vs SNK 2 is a "Ratio" battle game. What this means is that, you can choose between 1-3 characters to represent you in the game. But there is a catch. The more characters you have, the more you have to distribute how much damage a character can do. Every player has 4 "Ratio Points" that allow a character to do more or less damage depending on how many points they have during the fight. After a player selects their characters, they choose what character has how many ratio points before the match. If they only chose one character, they would have a super powered Ratio 4 character capable of dealing massive amounts of damage. But they would also have no backup characters to fall back on if they were KO'd. Having two characters meant either a Ratio 2 split between both characters, or one character being Ratio 3 and one character being Ratio 1, meaning one character did a lot of damage while the other did significantly less and had to rely on more tactical maneuvers. Having three characters split your ratio points to the limit, meaning you would have two characters who would guaranteed be ratio 1, but one character who was ratio 2. But of course, you would have two characters to fall back on. This balancing system allowed a lot of creativeness with teams and singles as no one team was the best. A single Ratio 4 could beat a team of three characters, but that same Ratio 4 could be beaten by two Ratio 2 characters. On top of this, Capcom vs SNK 2 added one more amazing thing into the mix. "Groove Styles". Capcom and SNK games had distinctive styles of play in their popular works. So someone up top thought it would be a great idea to implement all of those styles into the game in the form of choosable grooves. And you know what? They were right as rain. Before you chose your characters, you had to choose what Groove or Style you would be fighting in. Both Capcom and SNK had three styles to choose from. C Groove, A Groove and P Groove for Capcom. S Groove, N Groove and K Groove for SNK. These grooves dramatically changed your play style by allowing you to do different things at the cost of others. Some would let you parry like in Street Fighter 3: Third Strike, but you wouldn't be able to keep more than 1 bar of Super Meter. One would allow you to just guard, but you wouldn't be able to block in the air. These grooves, combined with the Ratio system allowed creativity of teams at its fullest. Fighting characters in the many grooves, figuring out the intricacies of the grooves as well as the characters, finding combos and damage. All of this was the reason why Capcom vs SNK 2 was the most addictive (And in many opinions still is) fighter of the generation.


Story: 2/10

Story? In a capcom fighter? Well there's some? I am going to be completely honest with you. This section will be my shortest ever. Why you may ask? Because the story in this game is non-existent. There is none. The only I could find were little pits and pieces during the ending character dialogue and the final boss cut scene. Other than that, don't even attempt to look for story here.

Depth: 9/10

Another short section, the reason why this game is so deep is because of it's multiple grooves and Ratio combinations. This as well as the many many MANY character combinations you can choose and what order they go in make this game so deep it would go into the earth's crust. To add to the depth of the game, console ports got 2 additional "Custom Grooves" to play with. This let them do whatever they wanted to create or replicate their favorite style of fighting game. Seriously, it's the game that keeps on giving.

Difficulty: 10/10

Well what do you know, my first 10's. When someone gives a category or game a 10 out of 10, that means absolute perfection. It means there is not a single flaw found in that game or category. And in this case, that is 100% right. The difficulty of Capcom vs SNK 2 is so perfect it makes me want to cry, both in agony and amazement. At easy and normal difficulty, the difficulty scales according to your performance in the game's arcade mode. If you're doing well, the game ramps up the difficulty with slightly smarter AI the next round or next match. If you lost the match or round, it scales back the difficulty to give you a fighting chance. Of course this is seen less in higher difficulties but that will be explained later. Difficulty wise, the game feels as a fighting game should. Not to hard, but still a test of skill on how much you exactly know about the game and characters you're playing as well as the groove you're in and what ratio you used. But lose your grip on things and this game WILL show you no mercy. Capcom vs SNK 2 loves it's boss fights. There are many bosses from both companies hard hitting franchises in this game. But none are more brutal and more time wasting and skill testing like Ultimate Rugal and Shin Akuma. These two ALONE will make you want to tear your hair out, punch a baby and scream to the high heavens how much of a pain in the absolute ASS these two are. It's no secret that they cheat and read your inputs. Ultimate Rugal and Shin Akuma do not fight fair. That is correct. These bosses are the ultimate test of strength, skill and knowledge of the player. And because they are so hard and so infamous, beating them feels like you beat the impossible. And at higher difficulties it is almost damn near impossible to beat them without the use of exploits and AI tricks. But I encourage you to do so. On consoles though, as an added reward for beating the hardest bosses in fighting game history, you unlock them as playable characters. That's right. Now YOU have the power! Now YOU can make the computer fall on it's knees to tremble before your mighty m-*KO*...
Yea this game is still hard.


Overall: 9.4/10
This game is fan-freaking-tastic. It pays homage to both companies well, not dwelling on one more than the other. And the fact that this game was developed by Capcom makes this quite strange. But in all honesty it is, or was, a welcome change. It showed that both Capcom and SNK Playmore were willing to set aside their differences and create something truly beautiful. Back during the days when money wasn't the focus, but the gamers were. And nowadays that seems to have been lost. In the age of the 3D graphics and DLC packs, money is the main focus and the game and gamers themselves an after thought. And that is scary. So sometimes it's good to play gems like these. Relive the times when it was the gamer and the game that was the focus. And maybe...just maybe, Capcom and SNK can come together once again and create some "True Love Makin.' "
But don't take my word for it~ Try it for yourself!

Very good review. I like how in depth it was. And you even included some background as to the game. Very nice. Keep up the good work. 

thing1 : I always try my best for these reviews. I plan them out and type them as best I can. Thanks for the compliment!