“Capcom vs. SNK 2 EO” is the newest “Capcom vs. Somebody” game, in a series that also includes “Capcom vs. Marvel”. It is a fighting game, with all the things you expect from a fighting game; a two-dimensional background, thousands of combos, and an announcer yelling “YOU WIN!!!” at the top of his lungs when you win. However, as with Super Smash Bros., what makes this game interesting is the selection of characters from all different games. On the Capcom side, you have the Street Fighter team: Ryu, Ken, Chun Li, Vega, and all the rest. SNK, however, made more than one series of game. It made quite a few games, many of which can be seen today in arcades throughout America, such as Fatal Fury, Samurai Showdown, and King of Fighters. There are a few characters from each game, including Haohmaru and Nakoruru from Samurai Showdown, Terry Bogart from Fatal Fury, and many more.

The main game is just like the Arcade version of this game, with you choosing either “Ratio mode” in which you allocate points to the members of your team, “3-on-3 Match”, in which you pick 3 people to go through the game with, and “Single Match”, which is the traditional “two people fighting each other, first person with two victories wins”. There’s also “Survival mode”, in which you either fight every character in the game or just an infinite number of random characters, VS. Mode, which is 2-player, Training mode, for practicing moves, and Color Edit mode, in which you can edit a color scheme of a character and even change their name (“Ryu? I change your name to POKEMON!”).

The controls in this game are top-notch. You can either choose “GC-ISM” or “AC-ISM”. “GC-ISM” is Gamecube controls. They are very simple. The shoulder buttons are for punches and kicks, and how hard you press it indicates the power. Special moves are done with the C-Stick. Every character has a “wheel” for special attacks. For example, Ryu’s “Hadoken” attack is done by pushing the stick to the left exactly, while an advanced “Hadoken” is done by pressing the stick a little bit higher or lower. There are special angles that every character has, and it is better to take the time to understand one character’s wheel than to try to memorize them all. Some of the special attacks are pretty cool, such as Vega’s leaping attacks, in which he leaps off, rebounds off the edge of the stage, and slashes the enemy with his three-bladed glove.

The “AC-ISM” is much harder than the “GC-ISM”. AC stands for Arcade, which means that there are more controls. There are buttons for high, low, and medium-powered punches and kicks. Special attacks need to be done, well, as special attacks are usually done: By a mind-boggling series of “Up-left-punch-right-kick-left-down-punch!” This mode is for experts, such as the kind of people who actually enjoy punching in 40-part moves to do one little fireball. Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit, but combos are still pretty hard. Most of the time you have to input them in about .2 seconds, and if you mess up one part you FAIL!

There are also “grooves” that you can pick. Each groove has a certain number of actions related to it. Some of the grooves allow you to roll past your opponent, and some allow you to reflect shots. All the grooves have some form of gauge, and when it fills different things happen. For one of the grooves, your speed increases, allowing you to do a super fast series of blows. Another makes you angry, and you do more damage (think “Hulk SMASH!”)

The graphics in this game are pretty good. The backgrounds are smooth and 3d, but the characters are still cartoon looking. Of course, I guess they had to be, what with the Color Edit mode. Luckily for them, the characters look good as cartoons, and it’s better than if they had tried to do full 3d and failed.
The sound is also very good. Most of the characters have some little thing they say before the match, but it’s usually in Japanese (except for Terry Bogart from Fatal Fury, who says “Hey! Hey! C’mon! C’mon!”). Occasionally, the characters say their attack names in English (except for those who have attacks like “Hadoken”.) The music is good, giving either a pulse-pounding beat, or a calm, serene melody for levels such as a windmill field. Both fit nicely into the game.

This game is an excellent fighting game. The one thing I think that it really lacks is more one-player diversity and history of the fighters. (The real problem is that I know Capcom, but I don’t know as much about SNK, but there’s no SNK website because it went out of business a few years ago). Overall, I give it an 8/10.

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Capcom vs SNK 2 EO Walkthrough