SvC Chaos: Snk vs Capcom

A Quick Story:

The SNK characters play as you'd expect if you're at all familiar with the King of Fighters games, but the Capcom cast has some issues. It's not even the gameplay that is problem here. The problem I can most easily identify is in the actual animation frames and the size of characters. Traditionally tall characters with long reach like Vega (Claw) or Balrog (Boxer) are no taller than Ryu now, and their reach is constrained by the more realistic proportions of SNK/KOF character sprites. See, Capcom used exaggerated proportions on key frames of animation in their fighting games to give more impact to individual moves. Given the smaller sprites in SvC with the more realistic proportions, Vega's standing hard punch (long claw poke) isn't much longer than Terry's standing hard punch, for example. 

Key frames of animation are also sometimes unidentifiable. A great example of this problem is with Demitri from Darkstalkers. His sprite is absolutely beautiful, and all the animation in his move set really makes him stand out - the problem is that you're unable to tell when some of his moves should connect with the opponent's hurt-box. His crouching heavy punch, for example, has strong movement frames showcasing the detailed animation of his cape, but lacks the impact on a key-frame of animation that would clearly telegraph to the player what part of the move should connect with the opponent. There are further hit/hurt-box issues that compound this problem further that I'll detail below.

Another animation problem on the Capcom side of the fence is that some expected animation frames are just...missing. Vega (Claw) is a perfect example. With his Rolling Crystal Flash (ground roll) technique you can't even see him roll - it's almost like series of short teleports that ends up feeling and looking a bit janky. Other characters have some similar choppiness in their moves, like Bison's (Dictator) Head Stomp and Devil's Reverse. This isn't a game breaker, but it adds further frustration to the feedback problem that plagues the general gameplay. 

While the game looks a great deal like a King of Fighters title, it could not play more different. It carries the same four button set up of two punch and two kick buttons, but that is where the similarities to King of Fighters ends. Characters have a short dash rather than a full run, and you cannot attack/jump out of your dash. There are no dodge mechanics or air blocks, and throws are now designated to either A+B or C+D rather than an option select (forward+C or D). New to this game is the Maximum meter that acts kind of like the super meter in the Street Fighter Alpha games. The meter is divided into three segments, and each segment allows you to do one desperation move. When the meter is full it goes into maximum mode where your meter slowly drains back to zero. During this time you can either do a single, powerful super desperation move or you can use the time wisely and cancel out of most attacks to create some longer combos and pile on the damage.

There is also an additional mechanic called the Grand Step that allows you to sacrifice one level of your Maximum meter to cancel out of a move with a forward dash and follow-up with another move. Modern fighting game players would familiar with a similar mechanic in Street Fighter 4 called the Focus Attack. This mechanic can also be applied out of a guarding animation to break out of block stun.

There are no defensive mechanics to speak of outside of a safe fall done like King of Fighters by pressing both light buttons together just before you hit the ground. That's it - no dodges or rolls otherwise. The signature "SNK hop" that is present in most of their games is absent here as well, leaving the game looking a lot like King of Fighters but playing slower due to more limited mobility options. It's not a terribly complex game on the surface, and the complexities of the combo system are more due to the copious amounts of jank and imbalance in the game rather than being an intentional part of the meta. 

On paper the general gameplan doesn't sound too bad, but then you get your hands on the game you'll notice that something just feels "off" compared to other SNK fighters. This is due to oddly placed hurt boxes on the characters (the invisible blocks of data that tell the game where each character is vulnerable to attack) and weak impact visual effects that last just one frame. Basically, these two issues make many moves look like they should connect but often don't. A more casual player admittedly won't notice much. It's the seasoned fighting game player that may feel this game is sloppy in execution. 

Sound design is another missed opportunity here. Effects have an odd "crunch" to them, and are the same impact sounds that SNKP used for King of Fighters 2003. Fighting gamers rely on good sound design to provide unambiguous feedback when a move connects, and the weak impact sound effects, coupled with the weak visual effects, animation issues listed above, and the generally bad placement of hit-boxes are made worse because the impact sound effects play a frame or so after an action connects. The only high point of the sound design is that a good chunk of character voices were redone on the SNK side and the voice actors on the Capcom side did a great job reprising their roles. 

Rather than relying on 12 years of excellent music from SNK and Capcom for the soundtrack to further fuel the flames of the fandom in a once-in-a-lifetime crossover event like this, SNKP created an original music track for each the eight or so backgrounds. The whole soundtrack is brooding, dire, and dark. Each track is on a short, repeating loop devoid of the energy you'd expect out of a fighting game soundtrack. The soundtrack is dull and lifeless - just like the backgrounds.

Speaking of the backgrounds, these are some of the worst to ever come out of SNK - but are par for the course for the Playmore era. Low color, devoid of any life, and most with very little animation, none of these backgrounds tell a story or have any sort of consistency with each other. The only background that has splashes of brighter color (like green) is in the forest. Each background also has some weird "Engrish" name that accompanies it, like "The Naked Place." These names, complete with a time of day stamp, have no sense cohesion as there is no general story that ties the backgrounds together. It all just feels disjointed and uninspired - which is a shame as there was so much potential here to lean into the rich universes from SNK and Capcom like SNK/Yumekobo did with Match of the Millennium on the Neo-Geo Pocket Color. Hell, there aren't even any fun cameos from other non-playable characters hidden throughout the game to look out for. 

One of the few highlights of the game, and the only place where there is any sort of fan service, are the pre-fight conversations between characters. SNKP went the extra mile to fill these conversations with in-jokes and plenty of fan fodder to keep people interested in pitting different characters against each other just to see what they have to say to each other. Honestly, being a fan of each publisher for so long, these conversations are what kept me coming back to the game. But, outside of the character sprites themselves, this is where all the fan service is. 

Additionally, the AES version of the game also has poor presentation all around. The menus, for example, are just a black screen with small text for your options - it almost looks like a debug menu as the text is slightly off center with a...not sure what the cursor is supposed to be. There is a training mode, though, so that's a thing. If you have a Unibios installed, you can also easily unlock the 12 hidden bosses on the home version. But again, the secret bosses were never really meant to be played so these relatively unfinished and obscenely overpowered characters end up being a less than enticing incentive.  

To a fighting game enthusiast, SvC Chaos is a bland mess of a game. The gameplay is ultimately unsatisfying for fighting game enthusiasts, the Capcom characters feel under-cooked, the presentation is supremely spartan, the music is boring, hit-detection and game feel could have been tightened up, and the sound effects have no impact. Unlike the two Capcom produced crossovers and SNK's own Match of the Millennium on Neo Pocket, SvC does not do justice to the legacy of these games and characters. Hell, even the game's slogan makes no sense: "Not a match. Struggle!" What does that even mean!? I think the best thing to come out of this game is the awesome promotional art work done by Falcoon, one of SNK's best artists of the Playmore era. 

Listen, SvC Chaos is fine. It's perfectly playable even with its flaws and you can have a good time here. As a die-hard fan who grew up with SNK hardware and obsessed over fighting game during the entirety of the 1990's, though, this game still stings every time I play it. Modern players who got in to SNK or fighting games much, much later are more forgiving - but I'm not the only legacy fan who was put off by this game when it came out and still find it hard to play today. 

Is it worth your time and money? Maybe a bit of your time if you're a die-hard SNK and/or Capcom fan, but it's certainly not worth your money. This game is EXPENSIVE on AES. A complete Japanese version will run no less than $1000, but prices are steadily creeping up to around $1500 as of 2023. The US version? Be prepared to pay over $2000. There aren't a ton of other ways to play this game either - there is no modern Arcade Archives release or other modern way to get the game on the cheap digitally. You'll have to rely on console ports of out-of-date systems. The Playstation 2 and OG XBox got solid ports, but the Xbox version is the only one released in the US while the PS2 version stayed in Japan. The Xbox version is not backward compatible with the modern Xbox family of consoles, though, so the only way to play it is on an OG Xbox. The PS2 is a region locked console, so unless you have an import or modded PS2 you're out of luck. Thankfully the ports are not that expensive in the modern market, but prices are starting to rise in this console segment. You can also find it on Fightcade if you have a PC, and the game still has a decent fan community if you're looking for competition. Be warned - this game is much loved because of the jank and lack of balance, not in spite of it.

At the end of the day there are worse games - but there are also much, much, better ones on the Neo. If you want a great SNK Vs Capcom crossover, play Match of the Millennium on Neo Pocket. There just isn't a whole lot here to get excited about, and that's the saddest part - because there should be a lot to get excited about.